Computer applications in scientific balloon quality control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seely, Loren G.; Smith, Michael S.

Seal defects and seal tensile strength are primary determinants of product quality in scientific balloon manufacturing; they therefore require a unit of quality measure. The availability of inexpensive and powerful data-processing tools can serve as the basis of a quality-trends-discerning analysis of products. The results of one such analysis are presently given in graphic form for use on the production floor. Software descriptions and their sample outputs are presented, together with a summary of overall and long-term effects of these methods on product quality.

Bifurcation Analysis of a DC-DC Bidirectional Power Converter Operating with Constant Power Loads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cristiano, Rony; Pagano, Daniel J.; Benadero, Luis; Ponce, Enrique

Direct current (DC) microgrids (MGs) are an emergent option to satisfy new demands for power quality and integration of renewable resources in electrical distribution systems. This work addresses the large-signal stability analysis of a DC-DC bidirectional converter (DBC) connected to a storage device in an islanding MG. This converter is responsible for controlling the balance of power (load demand and generation) under constant power loads (CPLs). In order to control the DC bus voltage through a DBC, we propose a robust sliding mode control (SMC) based on a washout filter. Dynamical systems techniques are exploited to assess the quality of this switching control strategy. In this sense, a bifurcation analysis is performed to study the nonlinear stability of a reduced model of this system. The appearance of different bifurcations when load parameters and control gains are changed is studied in detail. In the specific case of Teixeira Singularity (TS) bifurcation, some experimental results are provided, confirming the mathematical predictions. Both a deeper insight in the dynamic behavior of the controlled system and valuable design criteria are obtained.

Mathematical Modeling Analysis of Operation Strategy after External Transmission Line Series Compensation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Peilei; Xu, Tianqi; Liu, Xiaoxin; Jan, Lisheng; Dai, Xiaozhong; Cai, Pengcheng

2018-01-01

Nujiang power grid is at the end of the Yunnan power grid, which is the side of power supply. Due to the regional restrictions and the lag of economic development and other factors, the structure of the power grid in Nujiang is relatively weak, and the voltage of the regional power grid is more prominent. Based on analysis on voltage exceeding limits of Nujiang different power grid, combined with the operating characteristics of regional power grid and reactive power compensation measures, this paper proposes measures for adjustment of Nujiang grid voltage, and analyses the result of adjustment of voltage exceeding limits, which can effectively improve the voltage and power quality.

Harmonic analysis and suppression in hybrid wind & PV solar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Tripti; Namekar, Swapnil

2018-04-01

The growing demand of electricity has led to produce power through non-conventional source of energy such as solar energy, wind energy, hydro power, energy through biogas and biomass etc. Hybrid system is taken to complement the shortcoming of either sources of energy. The proposed system is grid connected hybrid wind and solar system. A 2.1 MW Doubly fed Induction Generator (DFIG) has been taken for analysis of wind farm whose rotor part is connected to two back-to-back converters. A 250 KW Photovoltaic (PV) array taken to analyze solar farm where inverter is required to convert power from DC to AC since electricity generated through solar PV is in the form of DC. Stability and reliability of the system is very important when the system is grid connected. Harmonics is the major Power quality issue which degrades the quality of power at load side. Harmonics in hybrid system arise through the use of power conversion unit. The other causes of harmonics are fluctuation in wind speed and solar irradiance. The power delivered to grid must be free from harmonics and within the limits specified by Indian grid codes. In proposed work, harmonic analysis of the hybrid system is performed in Electrical Transient Analysis program (ETAP) and single tuned harmonic filter is designed to maintain the utility grid harmonics within limits.

Environmental review of Potomac Electric Power Company's proposed Station H Element I

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

Not Available

1990-04-01

The report has been conducted to evaluate the potential impacts to environmental and cultural resources from the proposed construction and operation of Element I (the combustion turbine portion) of the Station H power plant facility at Potomac Electric Power Company's Dickerson site. This review also presents an evaluation of air quality impacts of Elements I and II (combustion turbine and combined cycle components of the facility) and an assessment of compliance with state and Federal air quality regulations (primarily the ambient air quality standards and the air quality impact requirements of PSD regulations). Results of the Environmental Review analysis aremore » used as the basis for establishing preliminary recommended licensing conditions for operating the proposed facility. These recommendations are also included in the report.« less

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

Touati, Said; Chennai, Salim; Souli, Aissa

The increased requirements on supervision, control, and performance in modern power systems make power quality monitoring a common practise for utilities. Large databases are created and automatic processing of the data is required for fast and effective use of the available information. Aim of the work presented in this paper is the development of tools for analysis of monitoring power quality data and in particular measurements of voltage and currents in various level of electrical power distribution. The study is extended to evaluate the reliability of the electrical system in nuclear plant. Power Quality is a measure of how wellmore » a system supports reliable operation of its loads. A power disturbance or event can involve voltage, current, or frequency. Power disturbances can originate in consumer power systems, consumer loads, or the utility. The effect of power quality problems is the loss power supply leading to severe damage to equipments. So, we try to track and improve system reliability. The assessment can be focused on the study of impact of short circuits on the system, harmonics distortion, power factor improvement and effects of transient disturbances on the Electrical System during motor starting and power system fault conditions. We focus also on the review of the Electrical System design against the Nuclear Directorate Safety Assessment principles, including those extended during the last Fukushima nuclear accident. The simplified configuration of the required system can be extended from this simple scheme. To achieve these studies, we have used a demo ETAP power station software for several simulations. (authors)« less

Comparative Analysis of the Specifications on the Power Quality of the European Union and the Russian Federation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ded, A. V.; Maltsev, V. N.; Sikorski, S. P.

2018-04-01

Since July 2014 the interstate standard GOST 32144-2013 is the only document that defines standard requirements for the power quality in the territory of the Russian Federation. The new standard preamble specifies that this document considers the requirements of the European regional standard EN 50160-2010. However, GOST authors established the degree of standards conformity as nonequivalent. In connection with Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) all requirements for goods including electric energy should correspond the international standard requirements. The article analyzes the above standard requirements and assesses the requirements for the power quality standards used in the European Union and in the Russian Federation.

76 FR 60939 - Metal Fatigue Analysis Performed by Computer Software

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-30

... Nuclear Power Plants,'' Revision 2, issued December 2010, which recommends that the effects of the reactor... design control in accordance with Appendix B, ``Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and... Nuclear Power Plants.'' Intent The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this regulatory...

Comparative analysis of structural concrete quality assurance practices on nine nuclear power plant construction projects. Final report

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

Willenbrock, J.H.; Thomas, H.R. Jr.; Burati, J.L. Jr.

1978-06-01

The basic objective of this research effort was to perform a comparative analysis of the Quality Assurance practices related to the structural concrete phase on nine nuclear power plant projects which are (or have been) under construction in the United States in the past ten years. This analysis identified the response of each Quality Assurance program to the applicable criteria of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B as well as to the pertinent regulatory requirements and industry standards. The major emphasis was placed on the construction aspects of the structural concrete phase of each project. The engineering and design aspectsmore » were examined whenever they interfaced with the construction aspects. For those aspects of the Quality Assurance system which can be considered managerial in nature (i.e., organizational relationships, types of Quality Assurance programs, corrective action procedures, etc.) an attempt has been made to present the alternative approaches that were identified. For those aspects of the Quality Assurance system which are technical in nature (i.e., the frequency of testing for slump, compressive strength, etc.) an attempt has been made to present a comparative analysis between projects and in relation to the recommended or mandated practices presented in the appropriate industry codes and standards.« less

Capacity and reliability analyses with applications to power quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azam, Mohammad; Tu, Fang; Shlapak, Yuri; Kirubarajan, Thiagalingam; Pattipati, Krishna R.; Karanam, Rajaiah

2001-07-01

The deregulation of energy markets, the ongoing advances in communication networks, the proliferation of intelligent metering and protective power devices, and the standardization of software/hardware interfaces are creating a dramatic shift in the way facilities acquire and utilize information about their power usage. The currently available power management systems gather a vast amount of information in the form of power usage, voltages, currents, and their time-dependent waveforms from a variety of devices (for example, circuit breakers, transformers, energy and power quality meters, protective relays, programmable logic controllers, motor control centers). What is lacking is an information processing and decision support infrastructure to harness this voluminous information into usable operational and management knowledge to handle the health of their equipment and power quality, minimize downtime and outages, and to optimize operations to improve productivity. This paper considers the problem of evaluating the capacity and reliability analyses of power systems with very high availability requirements (e.g., systems providing energy to data centers and communication networks with desired availability of up to 0.9999999). The real-time capacity and margin analysis helps operators to plan for additional loads and to schedule repair/replacement activities. The reliability analysis, based on computationally efficient sum of disjoint products, enables analysts to decide the optimum levels of redundancy, aids operators in prioritizing the maintenance options for a given budget and monitoring the system for capacity margin. The resulting analytical and software tool is demonstrated on a sample data center.

Analysis of wind-tunnel stability and control tests in terms of flying qualities of full-scale airplanes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kayten, Gerald G

1945-01-01

The analysis of results of wind-tunnel stability and control tests of powered airplane models in terms of the flying qualities of full-scale airplanes is advocated. In order to indicated the topics upon which comments are considered desirable in the report of a wind-tunnel stability and control investigation and to demonstrate the nature of the suggested analysis, the present NACA flying-qualities requirements are discussed in relation to wind-tunnel tests. General procedures for the estimation of flying qualities from wind-tunnel tests are outlined.

Protective Controller against Cascade Outages with Selective Harmonic Compensation Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abramovich, B. N.; Kuznetsov, P. A.; Sychev, Yu A.

2018-05-01

The paper presents data on the power quality and development of protective devices for the power networks with distributed generation (DG).The research has shown that power quality requirements for DG networks differ from conventional ones. That is why main tendencies, protective equipment and filters should be modified. There isa developed algorithm for detection and prevention of cascade outages that can lead to the blackoutin DG networks and there was a proposed structural scheme for a new active power filter for selective harmonics compensation. Analysis of these theories and equipment led to the development of protective device that could monitor power balance and cut off non-important consumers. The last part of the article describes a microcontroller prototype developed for connection to the existing power station control center.

Comparative analysis of structural concrete Quality Assurance practices on nine nuclear and three fossil fuel power plant construction projects. Final summary report

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

Willenbrock, J.H.; Thomas, H.R. Jr.; Burati, J.J. Jr.

1978-12-01

A summary of two reports, COO/4120-1 and COO/4120-2, is given. A comparative analysis was made of the Quality Assurance practices related to the structural concrete phase on nine nuclear and three fossil fuel power plant projects which are (or have been) under construction in the United States in the past ten years. For the nuclear projects the analysis identified the response of each Quality Assurance program to the applicable criteria of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B as well as to the pertinent regulatory requirements and industry standards. For the fossil projects the analysis identified the response of each Qualitymore » Assurance program to criteria similar to those which were applicable in the nuclear situation. The major emphasis was placed on the construction aspects of the structural concrete phase of each project. The engineering and design aspects were examined whenever they interfaced with the construction aspects.« less

Study of ultrasonic melt treatment on the quality of horizontal continuously cast Al-1%Si alloy.

PubMed

Li, Xin-Tao; Li, Ting-Ju; Li, Xi-Meng; Jin, Jun-Ze

2006-02-01

The fluctuation of the melt temperature in a tundish was measured during casting and experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of ultrasonic melt treatment on the surface quality and solidification structures of Al-1%Si ingots. The results show that the uniformity of melt temperature was enhanced with the application of ultrasonic melt treatment. When the ultrasonic power is 1,000W, the surface quality was evidently improved and grains of cast ingots were refined. Moreover, EPMA analysis was adopted to study the relationship between the ultrasonic power and boundary segregation of Si element. The result shows that boundary segregation is suppressed with the increase of ultrasonic power and the phenomenon was theoretically interpreted.

Effect of Hartha and Najibia power plants on water quality indices of Shatt Al-Arab River, south of Iraq

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Aboodi, Ali H.; Abbas, Sarmad A.; Ibrahim, Husham T.

2018-05-01

The main object of this research is to assess the water quality of Shatt Al-Arab River and its suitability for various purposes near power plants (Hartha and Najibia) through physical and chemical analysis [temperature, pH, EC, Cl-, Na+, K+, Ca+2, Mg+2, HCO3 -, NO3 -, SO 4 -2 , Fe+, total alkalinity, total hardness, biological oxygen demand (BOD5), NH4 +, and NO2 -] using water quality index (WQI), organic pollution index (OPI), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and percentage of sodium ion (Na%) during the dry season (August, 2016) and the wet season (January, 2017). WQI of Shatt Al-Arab falls under very poor quality during summer season, while it ranges from very poor quality to unsuitable for drinking purposes during winter season. There is a clear effect of power plants on water quality. Hartha and Najibia power plants contribute to the deterioration of water quality by increasing the percentage ratio of WQI near these plants by 13.22 and 9.69%, respectively, compared to the north sites of these plants during summer season. The percentage ratios of increased WQI near Hartha and Najibia power plants compared to the north sites of these plants are 17.93 and 15.92%, respectively, during winter season. Water quality of Shatt Al-Arab falls under a high level of organic pollution during the summer and winter seasons. There is a slight effect by the power plants on the OPI. Hartha and Najibia power plants contributed to the change of the OPI by 10% compared to the north site of Hartha power plant. According to the comparison between the SAR values which represent the suitability of water for serve irrigation purposes and SAR values of Shatt Al-Arab, all sites lie in the first class (excellent). According to Na+%, the type of surface water in the studied area lies in good class during winter season and permissible class during summer season.

Power quality considerations for nuclear spectroscopy applications: Grounding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Hernández, J. M.; Ramírez-Jiménez, F. J.; Mondragón-Contreras, L.; López-Callejas, R.; Torres-Bribiesca, M. A.; Peña-Eguiluz, R.

2013-11-01

Traditionally the electrical installations are designed for supplying power and to assure the personnel safety. In nuclear analysis laboratories, additional issues about grounding also must be considered for proper operation of high resolution nuclear spectroscopy systems. This paper shows the traditional ways of grounding nuclear spectroscopy systems and through different scenarios, it shows the effects on the more sensitive parameter of these systems: the energy resolution, it also proposes the constant monitoring of a power quality parameter as a way to preserve or to improve the resolution of the systems, avoiding the influence of excessive extrinsic noise.

Quality of Education and Its Evaluation: An Analysis of the Russian Academic Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurova, Galina; Piattoeva, Nelli; Takala, Tuomas

2015-01-01

The article describes and critically analyzes how Russian education researchers approached the topic of quality evaluation in education between 1990 and 2014. Evaluation and quality have grown into major policy issues in education across the world, simultaneously acting as powerful steering mechanisms on national and transnational levels. Russia…

Development of a protocol to optimize electric power consumption and life cycle environmental impacts for operation of wastewater treatment plant.

PubMed

Piao, Wenhua; Kim, Changwon; Cho, Sunja; Kim, Hyosoo; Kim, Minsoo; Kim, Yejin

2016-12-01

In wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the portion of operating costs related to electric power consumption is increasing. If the electric power consumption decreased, however, it would be difficult to comply with the effluent water quality requirements. A protocol was proposed to minimize the environmental impacts as well as to optimize the electric power consumption under the conditions needed to meet the effluent water quality standards in this study. This protocol was comprised of six phases of procedure and was tested using operating data from S-WWTP to prove its applicability. The 11 major operating variables were categorized into three groups using principal component analysis and K-mean cluster analysis. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted for each group to deduce the optimal operating conditions for each operating state. Then, employing mathematical modeling, six improvement plans to reduce electric power consumption were deduced. The electric power consumptions for suggested plans were estimated using an artificial neural network. This was followed by a second round of LCA conducted on the plans. As a result, a set of optimized improvement plans were derived for each group that were able to optimize the electric power consumption and life cycle environmental impact, at the same time. Based on these test results, the WWTP operating management protocol presented in this study is deemed able to suggest optimal operating conditions under which power consumption can be optimized with minimal life cycle environmental impact, while allowing the plant to meet water quality requirements.

Muscle Power Is an Independent Determinant of Pain and Quality of Life in Knee Osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Reid, Kieran F; Price, Lori Lyn; Harvey, William F; Driban, Jeffrey B; Hau, Cynthia; Fielding, Roger A; Wang, Chenchen

2015-12-01

This study examined the relationships between leg muscle strength, power, and perceived disease severity in subjects with knee osteoarthritis (OA) in order to determine whether dynamic leg extensor muscle power would be associated with pain and quality of life in knee OA. Baseline data on 190 subjects with knee OA (mean ± SD age 60.2 ± 10.4 years, body mass index 32.7 ± 7.2 kg/m(2) ) were obtained from a randomized controlled trial. Knee pain was measured using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, and health-related quality of life was assessed using the Short Form 36 (SF-36). One-repetition maximum (1RM) strength was assessed using the bilateral leg press, and peak muscle power was measured during 5 maximum voluntary velocity repetitions at 40% and 70% of 1RM. In univariate analysis, greater muscle power was significantly associated with pain (r = -0.17, P < 0.02) and also significantly and positively associated with SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) scores (r = 0.16, P < 0.05). After adjustment for multiple covariates, muscle power was a significant independent predictor of pain (P ≤ 0.05) and PCS scores (P ≤ 0.04). However, muscle strength was not an independent determinant of pain or quality of life (P ≥ 0.06). Muscle power is an independent determinant of pain and quality of life in knee OA. Compared to strength, muscle power may be a more clinically important measure of muscle function within this population. New trials to systematically examine the impact of muscle power training interventions on disease severity in knee OA are particularly warranted. © 2015, American College of Rheumatology.

Opportunity or Exploitation? Women and Quality Assurance in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morley, Louise

2005-01-01

Based on interviews with 18 UK women academics and managers on quality and power in higher education, this article interrogates the impact of quality assurance discourses and practices on women in higher education. Micro-level analysis of the effects of audit and the evaluative state seem to suggest that hegemonic masculinities and gendered power…

Analysis of results obtained using the automatic chemical control of the quality of the water heat carrier in the drum boiler of the Ivanovo CHP-3 power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larin, A. B.; Kolegov, A. V.

2012-10-01

Results of industrial tests of the new method used for the automatic chemical control of the quality of boiler water of the drum-type power boiler ( P d = 13.8 MPa) are described. The possibility of using an H-cationite column for measuring the electric conductivity of an H-cationized sample of boiler water over a long period of time is shown.

Power Extension Package (PEP) system definition extension, orbital service module systems analysis study. Volume 4: PEP functional specification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

The functional, performance, design, and test requirements for the Orbiter power extension package and its associated ground support equipment are defined. Both government and nongovernment standards and specifications are cited for the following subsystems: electrical power, structural/mechanical, avionics, and thermal control. Quality control assurance provisions and preparation for delivery are also discussed.

Multi-Fresnel lenses pumping approach for improving high-power Nd:YAG solar laser beam quality.

PubMed

Liang, Dawei; Almeida, Joana

2013-07-20

To significantly improve the present-day high-power solar laser beam quality, a three-stage multi-Fresnel lenses approach is proposed for side-pumping either a Nd:YAG single-crystal or a core-doped Sm(3+)Nd:YAG ceramic rod. Optimum pumping and laser beam parameters are found through ZEMAX and LASCAD numerical analysis. The proposed scheme offers a uniform absorption profile along the rod. 167 W laser power can be achieved, corresponding to 29.3 W/m(2) collection efficiency. High brightness figure of merit of 8.34 W is expected for the core-doped rod within a convex-concave resonator, which is 1300 times higher than that of the most-recent high-power solar laser.

Quality engineering tools focused on high power LED driver design using boost power stages in switch mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ileana, Ioan; Risteiu, Mircea; Marc, Gheorghe

2016-12-01

This paper is a part of our research dedicated to high power LED lamps designing. The boost-up selected technology wants to meet driver producers' tendency in the frame of efficiency and disturbances constrains. In our work we used modeling and simulation tools for implementing scenarios of the driver work when some controlling functions are executed (output voltage/ current versus input voltage and fixed switching frequency, input and output electric power transfer versus switching frequency, transient inductor voltage analysis, and transient out capacitor analysis). Some electrical and thermal stress conditions are also analyzed. Based on these aspects, a high reliable power LED driver has been designed.

Children's Perceptions of the Qualities of Sibling Relationships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furman, Wyndol; Buhrmester, Duane

1985-01-01

Developed a framework for describing and assessing the qualities of sibling relationships by interviewing upper elementary school children and administering a self-report questionnaire to fifth- and sixth-grade children. Component analysis yielded four underlying factors: warmth/closeness, relative status/power, conflict, and rivalry. Relative…

Environmental Quality and the U.S. Power Sector: Air Quality, Land Use and Environmental Justice

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

Massetti, Emanuele; Brown, Marilyn Ann; Lapsa, Melissa Voss

This baseline report summarizes key environmental quality issues associated with electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and end use in the United States. Its scope includes non-greenhouse gas air pollution (i.e., sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants), land use, water pollution, ecological impacts, human health, and environmental justice. The discussion characterizes both current impacts and recent trends, as well as assessments of key drivers of change. For example, the air emissions section includes a quantitative decomposition analysis of the drivers of change in sulfur dioxide emissions reductions from coal-fired power plants. The report is divided into four topicalmore » sections: air emissions, land use and ecology, water quality, and environmental justice.« less

[Clinical applicability of evidence-based orthopedics--a cross-sectional study of the quality of orthopedic evidence].

PubMed

Vavken, P; Culen, G; Dorotka, R

2008-01-01

The demand to routinely apply evidence-based methods in orthopedic surgery increases steadily. In order to do so, however, the validity and reliability of the "evidence" has to be scrutinized. The object of this study was to assess the quality of the most recent orthopedic evidence and to determine variables that have an influence on quality. All 2006 controlled trials from orthopedic journals with high impact factors were analysed in a cross-sectional study. A score based on the CONSORT statement was used to assess study quality. Selected variables were tested for their influence on the quality of the study. Two independent blinded observers reviewed 126 studies. The overall quality was moderate to high. The most neglected parameters were power analysis, intention-to-treat, and concealment. The participation of a methodologically trained investigator increases study quality significantly. There was no difference in study quality irrespective of whether or not there was statistically significant result. Using our quality score we were able show fairly good results for recent orthopedic studies. The most frequently neglected issues in orthopedic research are blinding, power analysis, and intention-to-treat. This may distort the results of clinical investigations considerably and, especially, lack of concealment causes false-positive findings. Our data show furthermore that participation of a methodologist significantly increases quality of the study and consequently strengthens the reliability of results.

Analysis of apple beverages treated with high-power ultrasound: a quality function deployment approach.

PubMed

Režek Jambrak, Anet; Šimunek, Marina; Grbeš, Franjo; Mandura, Ana; Djekic, Ilija

2018-04-01

The objective of this paper was to demonstrate application of quality function deployment in analysing effects of high power ultrasound on quality properties of apple juices and nectars. In order to develop a quality function deployment model, joint with instrumental analysis of treated samples, a field survey was performed to identify consumer preferences towards quality characteristics of juices/nectar. Based on field research, the three most important characteristics were 'taste' and 'aroma' with 28.5% of relative absolute weight importance, followed by 'odour' (16.9%). The quality function deployment model showed that the top three 'quality scores' for apple juice were treatments with amplitude 90 µm, 9 min treatment time and sample temperature 40 °C; 60 µm, 9 min, 60 °C; and 90 µm, 6 min, 40 °C. For nectars, the top three were treatments 120 µm, 9 min, 20 °C; 60 µm, 9 min, 60 °C; and A2.16 60 µm, 9 min, 20 °C. This type of quality model enables a more complex measure of large scale of different quality parameters. Its simplicity should be understood as its practical advantage and, as such, this tool can be a part of design quality when using novel preservation technologies. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Advantages of Integrative Data Analysis for Developmental Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bainter, Sierra A.; Curran, Patrick J.

2015-01-01

Amid recent progress in cognitive development research, high-quality data resources are accumulating, and data sharing and secondary data analysis are becoming increasingly valuable tools. Integrative data analysis (IDA) is an exciting analytical framework that can enhance secondary data analysis in powerful ways. IDA pools item-level data across…

Power and Assessment: A Genealogical Analysis of the CLASS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaches, Sonya; Hill, Diana

2017-01-01

The CLASS (classroom assessment scoring system) has become integrally linked with quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) throughout the United States and other international locations. This relationship reinforces the neoliberal consumer-based perspectives of quality and devalues localized perspectives. This article challenges the notion of…

THE POTENTIAL MID-TERM ROLE OF NUCLEAR POWER IN THE UNITED STATES: A SCENARIO ANALYSIS USING MARKAL

EPA Science Inventory

With all nations facing enormous challenges related to energy security, sustainability and environmental quality, nuclear power is likely to play an increasingly important role in the future. In particular, the life-cycle emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG...

Power quality improvement by using STATCOM control scheme in wind energy generation interface to grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirmani, Sheeraz; Kumar, Brijesh

2018-01-01

“Electric Power Quality (EPQ) is a term that refers to maintaining the near sinusoidal waveform of power distribution bus voltages and currents at rated magnitude and frequency”. Today customers are more aware of the seriousness that the power quality possesses, this prompt the utilities to assure good quality of power to their customer. The power quality is basically customer centric. Increased focus of utilities toward maintaining reliable power supply by employing power quality improvement tools has reduced the power outages and black out considerably. Good power quality is the characteristic of reliable power supply. Low power factor, harmonic pollution, load imbalance, fast voltage variations are some common parameters which are used to define the power quality. If the power quality issues are not checked i.e. the parameters that define power quality doesn't fall within the predefined standards than it will lead into high electricity bill, high running cost in industries, malfunctioning of equipments, challenges in connecting renewable. Capacitor banks, FACTS devices, harmonic filters, SVC’s (static voltage compensators), STATCOM (Static-Compensator) are the solutions to achieve the power quality. The performance of Wind turbine generators is affected by poor quality power, at the same time these wind power generating plant affects the power quality negatively. This paper presents the STATCOM-BESS (battery energy storage system) system and studies its impact on the power quality in a system which consists of wind turbine generator, non linear load, hysteresis controller for controlling the operation of STATCOM and grid. The model is simulated in the MATLAB/Simulink. This scheme mitigates the power quality issues, improves voltage profile and also reduces harmonic distortion of the waveforms. BESS level out the imbalances caused in real power due to intermittent nature of wind power available due to varying wind speeds.

Predicting soil quality indices with near infrared analysis in a wildfire chronosequence.

PubMed

Cécillon, Lauric; Cassagne, Nathalie; Czarnes, Sonia; Gros, Raphaël; Vennetier, Michel; Brun, Jean-Jacques

2009-01-15

We investigated the power of near infrared (NIR) analysis for the quantitative assessment of soil quality in a wildfire chronosequence. The effect of wildfire disturbance and soil engineering activity of earthworms on soil organic matter quality was first assessed with principal component analysis of NIR spectra. Three soil quality indices were further calculated using an adaptation of the method proposed by Velasquez et al. [Velasquez, E., Lavelle, P., Andrade, M. GISQ, a multifunctional indicator of soil quality. Soil Biol Biochem 2007; 39: 3066-3080.], each one addressing an ecosystem service provided by soils: organic matter storage, nutrient supply and biological activity. Partial least squares regression models were developed to test the predicting ability of NIR analysis for these soil quality indices. All models reached coefficients of determination above 0.90 and ratios of performance to deviation above 2.8. This finding provides new opportunities for the monitoring of soil quality, using NIR scanning of soil samples.

A Hearing-Based, Frequency Domain Sound Quality Model for Combined Aerodynamic and Power Transmission Response with Application to Rotorcraft Interior Noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sondkar, Pravin B.

The severity of combined aerodynamics and power transmission response in high-speed, high power density systems such as a rotorcraft is still a major cause of annoyance in spite of recent advancement in passive, semi-active and active control. With further increase in the capacity and power of this class of machinery systems, the acoustic noise levels are expected to increase even more. To achieve further improvements in sound quality, a more refined understanding of the factors and attributes controlling human perception is needed. In the case of rotorcraft systems, the perceived quality of the interior sound field is a major determining factor of passenger comfort. Traditionally, this sound quality factor is determined by measuring the response of a chosen set of juries who are asked to compare their qualitative reactions to two or more sounds based on their subjective impressions. This type of testing is very time-consuming, costly, often inconsistent, and not useful for practical design purposes. Furthermore, there is no known universal model for sound quality. The primary aim of this research is to achieve significant improvements in quantifying the sound quality of combined aerodynamic and power transmission response in high-speed, high power density machinery systems such as a rotorcraft by applying relevant objective measures related to the spectral characteristics of the sound field. Two models have been proposed in this dissertation research. First, a classical multivariate regression analysis model based on currently known sound quality metrics as well some new metrics derived in this study is presented. Even though the analysis resulted in the best possible multivariate model as a measure of the acoustic noise quality, it lacks incorporation of human judgment mechanism. The regression model can change depending on specific application, nature of the sounds and types of juries used in the study. Also, it predicts only the averaged preference scores and does not explain why two jury members differ in their judgment. To address the above shortcoming of applying regression analysis, a new human judgment model is proposed to further improve the ability to predict the degree of subjective annoyance. The human judgment model involves extraction of subjective attributes and their values using a proposed artificial jury processor. In this approach, a set of ear transfer functions are employed to compute the characteristics of sound pressure waves as perceived subjectively by human. The resulting basilar membrane displacement data from this proposed model is then applied to analyze the attribute values. Using this proposed human judgment model, the human judgment mechanism, which is highly sophisticated, will be examined. Since the human judgment model is essentially based on jury attributes that are not expected to change significantly with application or nature of the sound field, it gives a more common basis to evaluate sound quality. This model also attempts to explain the inter-juror differences in opinion, which is critical in understanding the variability in human response.

A quality improvement management model for renal care.

PubMed

Vlchek, D L; Day, L M

1991-04-01

The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for applying the theory and tools of quality improvement (total quality management) in the renal care setting. We believe that the coupling of the statistical techniques used in the Deming method of quality improvement, with modern approaches to outcome and process analysis, will provide the renal care community with powerful tools, not only for improved quality (i.e., reduced morbidity and mortality), but also for technology evaluation and resource allocation.

Caffeine ingestion enhances Wingate performance: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Grgic, Jozo

2018-03-01

The positive effects of caffeine ingestion on aerobic performance are well-established; however, recent findings are suggesting that caffeine ingestion might also enhance components of anaerobic performance. A commonly used test of anaerobic performance and power output is the 30-second Wingate test. Several studies explored the effects of caffeine ingestion on Wingate performance, with equivocal findings. To elucidate this topic, this paper aims to determine the effects of caffeine ingestion on Wingate performance using meta-analytic statistical techniques. Following a search through PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and SportDiscus ® , 16 studies were found meeting the inclusion criteria (pooled number of participants = 246). Random-effects meta-analysis of standardized mean differences (SMD) for peak power output and mean power output was performed. Study quality was assessed using the modified version of the PEDro checklist. Results of the meta-analysis indicated a significant difference (p = .005) between the placebo and caffeine trials on mean power output with SMD values of small magnitude (0.18; 95% confidence interval: 0.05, 0.31; +3%). The meta-analysis performed for peak power output indicated a significant difference (p = .006) between the placebo and caffeine trials (SMD = 0.27; 95% confidence interval: 0.08, 0.47 [moderate magnitude]; +4%). The results from the PEDro checklist indicated that, in general, studies are of good and excellent methodological quality. This meta-analysis adds on to the current body of evidence showing that caffeine ingestion can also enhance components of anaerobic performance. The results presented herein may be helpful for developing more efficient evidence-based recommendations regarding caffeine supplementation.

A real time study on condition monitoring of distribution transformer using thermal imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mariprasath, T.; Kirubakaran, V.

2018-05-01

The transformer is one of the critical apparatus in the power system. At any cost, a few minutes of outages harshly influence the power system. Hence, prevention-based maintenance technique is very essential. The continuous conditioning and monitoring technology significantly increases the life span of the transformer, as well as reduces the maintenance cost. Hence, conditioning and monitoring of transformer's temperature are very essential. In this paper, a critical review has been made on various conditioning and monitoring techniques. Furthermore, a new method, hot spot indication technique, is discussed. Also, transformer's operating condition is monitored by using thermal imager. From the thermal analysis, it is inferred that major hotspot locations are appearing at connection lead out; also, the bushing of the transformer is the very hottest spot in transformer, so monitoring the level of oil is essential. Alongside, real time power quality analysis has been carried out using the power analyzer. It shows that industrial drives are injecting current harmonics to the distribution network, which causes the power quality problem on the grid. Moreover, the current harmonic limit has exceeded the IEEE standard limit. Hence, the adequate harmonics suppression technique is need an hour.

Assessment and mitigation of power quality problems for PUSPATI TRIGA Reactor (RTP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakaria, Mohd Fazli; Ramachandaramurthy, Vigna K.

2017-01-01

An electrical power systems are exposed to different types of power quality disturbances. Investigation and monitoring of power quality are necessary to maintain accurate operation of sensitive equipment especially for nuclear installations. This paper will discuss the power quality problems observed at the electrical sources of PUSPATI TRIGA Reactor (RTP). Assessment of power quality requires the identification of any anomalous behavior on a power system, which adversely affects the normal operation of electrical or electronic equipment. A power quality assessment involves gathering data resources; analyzing the data (with reference to power quality standards) then, if problems exist, recommendation of mitigation techniques must be considered. Field power quality data is collected by power quality recorder and analyzed with reference to power quality standards. Normally the electrical power is supplied to the RTP via two sources in order to keep a good reliability where each of them is designed to carry the full load. The assessment of power quality during reactor operation was performed for both electrical sources. There were several disturbances such as voltage harmonics and flicker that exceeded the thresholds. To reduce these disturbances, mitigation techniques have been proposed, such as to install passive harmonic filters to reduce harmonic distortion, dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) to reduce voltage disturbances and isolate all sensitive and critical loads.

Power Extension Package (PEP) system definition extension, orbital service module systems analysis study. Volume 12: PEP data item descriptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Contractor information requirements necessary to support the power extension package project of the space shuttle program are specified for the following categories of data: project management; configuration management; systems engineering and test; manufacturing; reliability, quality assurance and safety; logistics; training; and operations.

Basics of image analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hyperspectral imaging technology has emerged as a powerful tool for quality and safety inspection of food and agricultural products and in precision agriculture over the past decade. Image analysis is a critical step in implementing hyperspectral imaging technology; it is aimed to improve the qualit...

A Socioeconomic Analysis of Environmental Concern: Case of the Four Corners Electric Power Complex. Bulletin No. 626.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eastman, Clyde; And Others

Recently American attention has focused on the problems of pollution and environmental protection. Focusing on the Four Corners Interstate Air Quality Control Region, this study determined which socioeconomic characteristics were associated with concern for environmental quality as measured by willingness to pay for pollution abatement. Sample…

The application of nirvana to silvicultural studies

Treesearch

Chi-Leung So; Thomas Elder; Leslie Groom; John S. Kush; Jennifer Myszewski; Todd Shupe

2006-01-01

Previous results from this laboratory have shown that near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, coupled with multivariate analysis, can be a powerful tool for the prediction of wood quality. While wood quality measurements are of utility, their determination can be both time and labor intensive, thus limiting their use where large sample sizes are concerned. This paper will...

Simulation and study of power quality issues in a fixed speed wind farm substation.

PubMed

Magesh, T; Chellamuthu, C

2015-01-01

Power quality issues associated with the fixed speed wind farm substation located at Coimbatore district are investigated as the wind generators are tripping frequently. The investigations are carried out using two power quality analyzers, Fluke 435 and Dranetz PX5.8, with one of them connected at group control breaker of the 110 kV feeder and the other at the selected 0.69 kV generator busbar during the period of maximum power generation. From the analysis of the recorded data it is found that sag, swell, and transients are the major events which are responsible for the tripping of the generators. In the present study, simulation models for wind, turbine, shaft, pitch mechanism, induction generator, and grid are developed using DIgSILENT. Using the turbine characteristics, a two-dimensional lookup table is designed to generate a reference pitch angle necessary to simulate the power curve of the passive stall controlled wind turbine. Various scenarios and their effects on the performance of the wind farm are studied and validated with the recorded data and waveforms. The simulation model will be useful for the designers for planning and development of the wind farm before implementation.

Simulation and Study of Power Quality Issues in a Fixed Speed Wind Farm Substation

PubMed Central

Magesh, T.; Chellamuthu, C.

2015-01-01

Power quality issues associated with the fixed speed wind farm substation located at Coimbatore district are investigated as the wind generators are tripping frequently. The investigations are carried out using two power quality analyzers, Fluke 435 and Dranetz PX5.8, with one of them connected at group control breaker of the 110 kV feeder and the other at the selected 0.69 kV generator busbar during the period of maximum power generation. From the analysis of the recorded data it is found that sag, swell, and transients are the major events which are responsible for the tripping of the generators. In the present study, simulation models for wind, turbine, shaft, pitch mechanism, induction generator, and grid are developed using DIgSILENT. Using the turbine characteristics, a two-dimensional lookup table is designed to generate a reference pitch angle necessary to simulate the power curve of the passive stall controlled wind turbine. Various scenarios and their effects on the performance of the wind farm are studied and validated with the recorded data and waveforms. The simulation model will be useful for the designers for planning and development of the wind farm before implementation. PMID:25950016

System reliability analysis through corona testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lalli, V. R.; Mueller, L. A.; Koutnik, E. A.

1975-01-01

A corona vacuum test facility for nondestructive testing of power system components was built in the Reliability and Quality Engineering Test Laboratories at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The facility was developed to simulate operating temperature and vacuum while monitoring corona discharges with residual gases. The facility is being used to test various high-voltage power system components.

Testing the hospital value proposition: an empirical analysis of efficiency and quality.

PubMed

Huerta, Timothy R; Ford, Eric W; Peterson, Lori T; Brigham, Keith H

2008-01-01

To assess the relationship between hospitals' X-inefficiency levels and overall care quality based on the National Quality Forum's 27 safe practices score and to improve the analytic strategy for assessing X-inefficiency. The 2005 versions of the American Hospital Association and Leapfrog Group's annual surveys were the basis of the study. Additional case mix indices and market variables were drawn from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data sources and the Area Resource File. Data envelopment analysis was used to determine hospitals' X-inefficiency scores relative to their market-level competitors. Regression was used to assess the relationship between X-inefficiency and quality, controlling for organizational and market characteristics. Expenses (total and labor expenditures), case-mix-adjusted admissions, length of stay, and licensed beds defined the X-inefficiency function. The overall National Quality Forum's safe practice score, health maintenance organization penetration, market share, and teaching status served as independent control variables in the regression. The National Quality Forum's safe practice scores are significantly and positively correlated to hospital X-inefficiency levels (beta = .105, p < or = .05). The analysis of the value proposition had very good explanatory power (adjusted R(2) = .414; p < or = .001; df = 7, 265). Contrary to earlier findings, health maintenance organization penetration and being a teaching hospital were positively related to X-inefficiency. Similar with others' findings, greater market share and for-profit ownership were negatively associated with X-inefficiency. Measurement of overall hospital quality is improving but can still be made better. Nevertheless, the National Quality Forum's measure is significantly related to efficiency and could be used to create differential pay-for-performance programs. A market-segmented analytic strategy for studying hospitals' efficiency yields results with a high degree of explanatory power.

Static analysis of rectifier cabinet for nuclear power generating stations based on finite element method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Qiang; Chen, Tian-jin; Li, Wei-yang; Xiong, Ze-cheng; Ma, Rui

2017-09-01

In order to obtain the deformation map and equivalent stress distribution of rectifier cabinet for nuclear power generating stations, the quality distribution of structure and electrical are described, the tensile bond strengths of the rings are checked, and the finite element model of cabinet is set up by ANSYS. The transport conditions of the hoisting state and fork loading state are analyzed. The deformation map and equivalent stress distribution are obtained. The attentive problems are put forward. It is a reference for analysis method and the obtained results for the transport of rectifier cabinet for nuclear power generating stations.

High perfomance liquid chromatography fingerprint analysis for quality control of brotowali (Tinospora crispa)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syarifah, V. B.; Rafi, M.; Wahyuni, W. T.

2017-05-01

Brotowali (Tinospora crispa) is widely used in Indonesia as ingredient of herbal medicine formulation. To ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of herbal medicine products, its chemical constituents should be continuously evaluated. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint is one of powerful technique for this quality control process. In this study, HPLC fingerprint analysis method was developed for quality control of brotowali. HPLC analysis was performed in C18 column and detection was performed using photodiode array detector. The optimum mobile phase for brotowali fingerprint was acetonitrile (ACN) and 0.1% formic acid in gradient elution mode at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The number of peaks detected in HPLC fingerprint of brotowali was 32 peaks and 23 peaks for stems and leaves, respectively. Berberine as marker compound was detected at retention time of 20.525 minutes. Evaluation of analytical performance including precision, reproducibility, and stability prove that this HPLC fingerprint analysis was reliable and could be applied for quality control of brotowali.

Politics, Quality, and Passion: A Case Study of Reorganization in Higher Education. ASHE 1985 Annual Meeting Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, John Y.

The reorganization of the College of Education and Allied Professions at the University of Toledo is discussed. The analysis is based on Baldridge's political model, Bacharach and Lawler's views of politics and power, Pirsig's concept of quality, and the Oxford English Dictionary definitions of "passion." To investigate the…

Performance evaluation of power control algorithms in wireless cellular networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Temaneh-Nyah, C.; Iita, V.

2014-10-01

Power control in a mobile communication network intents to control the transmission power levels in such a way that the required quality of service (QoS) for the users is guaranteed with lowest possible transmission powers. Most of the studies of power control algorithms in the literature are based on some kind of simplified assumptions which leads to compromise in the validity of the results when applied in a real environment. In this paper, a CDMA network was simulated. The real environment was accounted for by defining the analysis area and the network base stations and mobile stations are defined by their geographical coordinates, the mobility of the mobile stations is accounted for. The simulation also allowed for a number of network parameters including the network traffic, and the wireless channel models to be modified. Finally, we present the simulation results of a convergence speed based comparative analysis of three uplink power control algorithms.

Harmonic analysis of traction power supply system based on wavelet decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dun, Xiaohong

2018-05-01

With the rapid development of high-speed railway and heavy-haul transport, AC drive electric locomotive and EMU large-scale operation in the country on the ground, the electrified railway has become the main harmonic source of China's power grid. In response to this phenomenon, the need for timely monitoring of power quality problems of electrified railway, assessment and governance. Wavelet transform is developed on the basis of Fourier analysis, the basic idea comes from the harmonic analysis, with a rigorous theoretical model, which has inherited and developed the local thought of Garbor transformation, and has overcome the disadvantages such as window fixation and lack of discrete orthogonally, so as to become a more recently studied spectral analysis tool. The wavelet analysis takes the gradual and precise time domain step in the high frequency part so as to focus on any details of the signal being analyzed, thereby comprehensively analyzing the harmonics of the traction power supply system meanwhile use the pyramid algorithm to increase the speed of wavelet decomposition. The matlab simulation shows that the use of wavelet decomposition of the traction power supply system for harmonic spectrum analysis is effective.

Assessment of Power Quality based on Fuzzy Logic and Discrete Wavelet Transform for Nonstationary Disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Pampa; Nath, Sudipta

2010-10-01

The main aspects of power system delivery are reliability and quality. If all the customers of a power system get uninterrupted power through the year then the system is considered to be reliable. The term power quality may be referred to as maintaining near sinusoidal voltage at rated frequency at the consumers end. The power component definitions are defined according to the IEEE Standard 1459-2000 both for single phase and three phase unbalanced systems based on Fourier Transform (FFT). In the presence of nonstationary power quality (PQ) disturbances results in accurate values due to its sensitivity to the spectral leakage problem. To overcome these limitations the power quality components are calculated using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). In order to handle the uncertainties associated with electric power systems operations fuzzy logic has been incorporated in this paper. A new power quality index has been introduced here which can assess the power quality under nonstationary disturbances.

Power Quality and Reliability Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Attia, John O.

2001-01-01

One area where universities and industry can link is in the area of power systems reliability and quality - key concepts in the commercial, industrial and public sector engineering environments. Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) has established a collaborative relationship with the University of'Texas at Arlington (UTA), NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC), and EP&C Engineering and Technology Group (EP&C) a small disadvantage business that specializes in power quality and engineering services. The primary goal of this collaboration is to facilitate the development and implementation of a Strategic Integrated power/Systems Reliability and Curriculum Enhancement Program. The objectives of first phase of this work are: (a) to develop a course in power quality and reliability, (b) to use the campus of Prairie View A&M University as a laboratory for the study of systems reliability and quality issues, (c) to provide students with NASA/EPC shadowing and Internship experience. In this work, a course, titled "Reliability Analysis of Electrical Facilities" was developed and taught for two semesters. About thirty seven has benefited directly from this course. A laboratory accompanying the course was also developed. Four facilities at Prairie View A&M University were surveyed. Some tests that were performed are (i) earth-ground testing, (ii) voltage, amperage and harmonics of various panels in the buildings, (iii) checking the wire sizes to see if they were the right size for the load that they were carrying, (iv) vibration tests to test the status of the engines or chillers and water pumps, (v) infrared testing to the test arcing or misfiring of electrical or mechanical systems.

Analysis and Design of Bridgeless Switched Mode Power Supply for Computers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, S.; Bhuvaneswari, G.; Singh, B.

2014-09-01

Switched mode power supplies (SMPSs) used in computers need multiple isolated and stiffly regulated output dc voltages with different current ratings. These isolated multiple output dc voltages are obtained by using a multi-winding high frequency transformer (HFT). A half-bridge dc-dc converter is used here for obtaining different isolated and well regulated dc voltages. In the front end, non-isolated Single Ended Primary Inductance Converters (SEPICs) are added to improve the power quality in terms of low input current harmonics and high power factor (PF). Two non-isolated SEPICs are connected in a way to completely eliminate the need of single-phase diode-bridge rectifier at the front end. Output dc voltages at both the non-isolated and isolated stages are controlled and regulated separately for power quality improvement. A voltage mode control approach is used in the non-isolated SEPIC stage for simple and effective control whereas average current control is used in the second isolated stage.

Development of an expert system for power quality advisement using CLIPS 6.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandrasekaran, A.; Sarma, P. R. R.; Sundaram, Ashok

1994-01-01

Proliferation of power electronic devices has brought in its wake both deterioration in and demand for quality power supply from the utilities. The power quality problems become apparent when the user's equipment or systems maloperate or fail. Since power quality concerns arise from a wide variety of sources and the problem fixes are better achieved from the expertise of field engineers, development of an expert system for power quality advisement seems to be a very attractive and cost-effective solution for utility applications. An expert system thus developed gives an understanding of the adverse effects of power quality related problems on the system and could help in finding remedial solutions. The paper reports the design of a power quality advisement expert system being developed using CLIPS 6.0. A brief outline of the power quality concerns is first presented. A description of the knowledge base is next given and details of actual implementation include screen output from the program.

System reliability analysis through corona testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lalli, V. R.; Mueller, L. A.; Koutnik, E. A.

1975-01-01

In the Reliability and Quality Engineering Test Laboratory at the NASA Lewis Research Center a nondestructive, corona-vacuum test facility for testing power system components was developed using commercially available hardware. The test facility was developed to simulate operating temperature and vacuum while monitoring corona discharges with residual gases. This facility is being used to test various high voltage power system components.

Formation of the Integral Ecological Quality Index of the Technological Processes in Machine Building Based on Their Energy Efficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egorov, Sergey B.; Kapitanov, Alexey V.; Mitrofanov, Vladimir G.; Shvartsburg, Leonid E.; Ivanova, Natalia A.; Ryabov, Sergey A.

2016-01-01

The aim of article is to provide development of a unified assessment methodology in relation to various technological processes and the actual conditions of their implementation. To carry the energy efficiency analysis of the technological processes through comparison of the established power and the power consumed by the actual technological…

Power Quality Improvement by Unified Power Quality Conditioner Based on CSC Topology Using Synchronous Reference Frame Theory

PubMed Central

Dharmalingam, Rajasekaran; Dash, Subhransu Sekhar; Senthilnathan, Karthikrajan; Mayilvaganan, Arun Bhaskar; Chinnamuthu, Subramani

2014-01-01

This paper deals with the performance of unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) based on current source converter (CSC) topology. UPQC is used to mitigate the power quality problems like harmonics and sag. The shunt and series active filter performs the simultaneous elimination of current and voltage problems. The power fed is linked through common DC link and maintains constant real power exchange. The DC link is connected through the reactor. The real power supply is given by the photovoltaic system for the compensation of power quality problems. The reference current and voltage generation for shunt and series converter is based on phase locked loop and synchronous reference frame theory. The proposed UPQC-CSC design has superior performance for mitigating the power quality problems. PMID:25013854

Power quality improvement by unified power quality conditioner based on CSC topology using synchronous reference frame theory.

PubMed

Dharmalingam, Rajasekaran; Dash, Subhransu Sekhar; Senthilnathan, Karthikrajan; Mayilvaganan, Arun Bhaskar; Chinnamuthu, Subramani

2014-01-01

This paper deals with the performance of unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) based on current source converter (CSC) topology. UPQC is used to mitigate the power quality problems like harmonics and sag. The shunt and series active filter performs the simultaneous elimination of current and voltage problems. The power fed is linked through common DC link and maintains constant real power exchange. The DC link is connected through the reactor. The real power supply is given by the photovoltaic system for the compensation of power quality problems. The reference current and voltage generation for shunt and series converter is based on phase locked loop and synchronous reference frame theory. The proposed UPQC-CSC design has superior performance for mitigating the power quality problems.

Modeling of the laser beam shape for high-power applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jabczyński, Jan K.; Kaskow, Mateusz; Gorajek, Lukasz; Kopczyński, Krzysztof; Zendzian, Waldemar

2018-04-01

Aperture losses and thermo-optic effects (TOE) inside optics as well as the effective beam width in far field should be taken into account in the analysis of the most appropriate laser beam profile for high-power applications. We have theoretically analyzed such a problem for a group of super-Gaussian beams taking first only diffraction limitations. Furthermore, we have investigated TOE on far-field parameters of such beams to determine the influence of absorption in optical elements on beam quality degradation. The best compromise gives the super-Gaussian profile of index p = 5, for which beam quality does not decrease noticeably and the thermo-optic higher order aberrations are compensated. The simplified formulas were derived for beam quality metrics (parameter M2 and Strehl ratio), which enable estimation of the influence of heat deposited in optics on degradation of beam quality. The method of dynamic compensation of such effect was proposed.

Klickitat Cogeneration Project : Final Environmental Assessment.

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

United States. Bonneville Power Administration; Klickitat Energy Partners

1994-09-01

To meet BPA`s contractual obligation to supply electrical power to its customers, BPA proposes to acquire power generated by Klickitat Cogeneration Project. BPA has prepared an environmental assessment evaluating the proposed project. Based on the EA analysis, BPA`s proposed action is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the following reasons: (1)it will not have a significant impact land use, upland vegetation, wetlands, water quality, geology, soils, public health and safety, visual quality, historical and cultural resources, recreation and socioeconomics, and (2)more » impacts to fisheries, wildlife resources, air quality, and noise will be temporary, minor, or sufficiently offset by mitigation. Therefore, the preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required and BPA is issuing this FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact).« less

Safety aspects for public access defibrillation using automated external defibrillators near high-voltage power lines.

PubMed

Schlimp, C J; Breiteneder, M; Lederer, W

2004-05-01

Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) must combine easy operability and high-quality diagnosis even under unfavorable conditions. This study determined the influence of electromagnetic interference caused by high-voltage power lines with 16.7-Hz alternating current on the quality of AEDs' rhythm analysis. Two AEDs frequently used in Austria were tested near high-voltage power lines (15 kV or 110 kV, alternating current with 16.7 Hz). The defibrillation electrodes were attached either to a proband with true sinus rhythm or to a resuscitation dummy with generated sinus rhythm, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia or asystole. Electromagnetic interference was much more prominent in a human's than in a dummy's electrocardiogram and depended on the position of the electrodes and cables in relation to the power line. Near high-voltage power lines the AEDs showed a significant operational fault. One AED interpreted the interference as a motion artifact, even when underlying rhythms were clearly detectable. The other AED interpreted 16.7-Hz oscillation as ventricular fibrillation with consequent shock advice when no underlying rhythm was detected. The tested AEDs neither filter nor recognize a technical interference of 16.7 Hz caused by 15-kV power lines above railway tracks or 110-kV overland power lines, as run by railway companies in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. These failures in AEDs' algorithms for rhythm analysis may cause substantial harm to patients undergoing public access defibrillation. The proper function of AEDs needs to be reconsidered to guarantee patients' safety near high-voltage power lines.

Model for Analysis of Power Quality Index and Determination of Its Causes and Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ballal, Makarand Sudhakar; Suryawanshi, Hiralal Murlidhar; Koshy, Subin Earecheril

2018-05-01

The Power Quality (PQ) gets affected not only because of the load but also because of the source as power electronics devices applications are widely spread in both sides. The renewable energy sources used power electronics converters and the nonlinear loads connected at consumer premises are the main causes of PQ distortions. This hampered PQ supply, when fed to equipments (or loads), affect the performance of them by increasing the energy lose, increasing the electricity bill and reducing their life expectancy. This article proposed a model for the analysis of different PQ events by means of Wavelet Transforms (WT) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) composition. The different types of PQ events are generated in the laboratory under the source and load distortion conditions. The supply side voltage waveforms under linear load condition and load side current waveforms under normal supply conditions are considered for analysis. These waveforms are processed by WT and the scaling coefficients are determined for various PQ events. These coefficients are used to train ANNs for decision making. The proposed model is developed in MATLAB for offline and online applications. The results obtained by both the methods are compared and found satisfactory. At the end, the losses incurred in the transformer considered for performance, its efficiency and life expectancy are presented for different PQ conditions.

Analysis of Optimal Jitter Buffer Size for VoIP QoS under WiMAX Power-Saving Mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hyungsuk; Kim, Taehyoun

VoIP service is expected as one of the key applications of Mobile WiMAX, but the speech quality of VoIP service often suffers deterioration due to the fluctuating transmission delay called jitter. This is commonly ameliorated by a de-jitter buffer, and we aim to find the optimal size of de-jitter buffer to achieve speech quality comparable to PSTN. We developed a new model of the packet drops at the de-jitter buffer and the end-to-end packet delay which takes account of the additional delay introduced by the WiMAX power-saving mode. Using our model, we analyzed the optimal size of the de-jitter buffer for various network parameters, and showed that the results obtained by analysis accord with simulation results.

Gibberellic acid (GA3) induced changes in proanthocyanidins and malt quality of two- and six-row husked barleys.

PubMed

Yadav, S K; Luthra, Y P; Sood, D R; Aggarwal, N K

2000-01-01

Analysis of husked barleys for proanthocyanidins and malt quality attributes has shown that not a single variety is free of proanthocyanidins. The proanthocyanidins in barley grains varied from 3.85 to 4.94 mg/g as catechin equivalent. The concentration of proanthocyanidins decreased, while total soluble sugars, reducing sugars, diastatic power and beta-amylase activity increased during maltings as well as with exogenous gibberellic acid (GA3) application. Alfa 93 (two-row) and RD2560 (six-row) varieties appeared to be superior for malting and brewing purposes on the basis of proanthocyanidins, total phenols, diastatic power and beta-amylase activity. It is suggested that exogenous application of GA3 at 15 ppm may be useful for producing good quality malt from barley grains.

Economic analysis of the design and fabrication of a space qualified power system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ruselowski, G.

1980-01-01

An economic analysis was performed to determine the cost of the design and fabrication of a low Earth orbit, 2 kW photovoltaic/battery, space qualified power system. A commercially available computer program called PRICE (programmed review of information for costing and evaluation) was used to conduct the analysis. The sensitivity of the various cost factors to the assumptions used is discussed. Total cost of the power system was found to be $2.46 million with the solar array accounting for 70.5%. Using the assumption that the prototype becomes the flight system, 77.3% of the total cost is associated with manufacturing. Results will be used to establish whether the cost of space qualified hardware can be reduced by the incorporation of commercial design, fabrication, and quality assurance methods.

Slow wave sleep in the chronically fatigued: Power spectra distribution patterns in chronic fatigue syndrome and primary insomnia.

PubMed

Neu, Daniel; Mairesse, Olivier; Verbanck, Paul; Le Bon, Olivier

2015-10-01

To investigate slow wave sleep (SWS) spectral power proportions in distinct clinical conditions sharing non-restorative sleep and fatigue complaints without excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), namely the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and primary insomnia (PI). Impaired sleep homeostasis has been suspected in both CFS and PI. We compared perceived sleep quality, fatigue and sleepiness symptom-intensities, polysomnography (PSG) and SWS spectral power distributions of drug-free CFS and PI patients without comorbid sleep or mental disorders, with a good sleeper control group. Higher fatigue without EDS and impaired perceived sleep quality were confirmed in both patient groups. PSG mainly differed in sleep fragmentation and SWS durations. Spectral analysis revealed a similar decrease in central ultra slow power (0.3-0.79Hz) proportion during SWS for both CFS and PI and an increase in frontal power proportions of faster frequencies during SWS in PI only. The latter was correlated to affective symptoms whereas lower central ultra slow power proportions were related to fatigue severity and sleep quality impairment. In combination with normal (PI) or even increased SWS durations (CFS), we found consistent evidence for lower proportions of slow oscillations during SWS in PI and CFS. Observing normal or increased SWS durations but lower proportions of ultra slow power, our findings suggest a possible quantitative compensation of altered homeostatic regulation. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Practical considerations for obtaining high quality quantitative computed tomography data of the skeletal system.

PubMed

Troy, Karen L; Edwards, W Brent

2018-05-01

Quantitative CT (QCT) analysis involves the calculation of specific parameters such as bone volume and density from CT image data, and can be a powerful tool for understanding bone quality and quantity. However, without careful attention to detail during all steps of the acquisition and analysis process, data can be of poor- to unusable-quality. Good quality QCT for research requires meticulous attention to detail and standardization of all aspects of data collection and analysis to a degree that is uncommon in a clinical setting. Here, we review the literature to summarize practical and technical considerations for obtaining high quality QCT data, and provide examples of how each recommendation affects calculated variables. We also provide an overview of the QCT analysis technique to illustrate additional opportunities to improve data reproducibility and reliability. Key recommendations include: standardizing the scanner and data acquisition settings, minimizing image artifacts, selecting an appropriate reconstruction algorithm, and maximizing repeatability and objectivity during QCT analysis. The goal of the recommendations is to reduce potential sources of error throughout the analysis, from scan acquisition to the interpretation of results. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pilot evaluation of electricity-reliability and power-quality monitoring in California's Silicon Valley with the I-Grid(R) system

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

Eto, Joseph; Divan, Deepak; Brumsickle, William

2004-02-01

Power-quality events are of increasing concern for the economy because today's equipment, particularly computers and automated manufacturing devices, is susceptible to these imperceptible voltage changes. A small variation in voltage can cause this equipment to shut down for long periods, resulting in significant business losses. Tiny variations in power quality are difficult to detect except with expensive monitoring equipment used by trained technicians, so many electricity customers are unaware of the role of power-quality events in equipment malfunctioning. This report describes the findings from a pilot study coordinated through the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group in California to explore the capabilitiesmore » of I-Grid(R), a new power-quality monitoring system. This system is designed to improve the accessibility of power-quality in formation and to increase understanding of the growing importance of electricity reliability and power quality to the economy. The study used data collected by I-Grid sensors at seven Silicon Valley firms to investigate the impacts of power quality on individual study participants as well as to explore the capabilities of the I-Grid system to detect events on the larger electricity grid by means of correlation of data from the sensors at the different sites. In addition, study participants were interviewed about the value they place on power quality, and their efforts to address electricity-reliability and power-quality problems. Issues were identified that should be taken into consideration in developing a larger, potentially nationwide, network of power-quality sensors.« less

Design of Interline Unified Power Quality Conditioner for Power Quality Disturbances using Simulink

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumaraswamy, G.; Reddy, Y. Rajasekhar; Harikrishna, Ch.

2012-10-01

Proliferation of electronic equipment in commercial and industrial processes has resulted in increasingly sensitive electrical loads to be fed from power distribution system which introduce contamination to voltage and current waveforms at the point of common coupling of industrial loads. The unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) is connected between two different feeders (lines), hence this method of connection of the UPQC is called as Interline UPQC (IUPQC).This paper proposes a new connection for a UPQC to improve the power quality of two feeders in a distribution system. Interline Unified Power Quality Conditioner (IUPQC), specifically aims at the integration of series VSC and Shunt VSC to provide high quality power supply by means of voltage sag/swell compensation, harmonic elimination and power factor correction in a power distribution network, so that improved power quality can be made available at the point of common coupling. The structure, control and capability of the IUPQC are discussed in this paper. The efficiency of the proposed configuration has been verified through simulation using MATLAB/ SIMULINK.

Analysis instrument test on mathematical power the material geometry of space flat side for grade 8

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusmaryono, Imam; Suyitno, Hardi; Dwijanto, Karomah, Nur

2017-08-01

The main problem of research to determine the quality of test items on the material side of flat geometry to assess students' mathematical power. The method used is quantitative descriptive. The subjects were students of class 8 as many as 20 students. The object of research is the quality of test items in terms of the power of mathematics: validity, reliability, level of difficulty and power differentiator. Instrument mathematical power ratings are tested include: written tests and questionnaires about the disposition of mathematical power. Data were obtained from the field, in the form of test data on the material geometry of space flat side and questionnaires. The results of the test instrument to the reliability of the test item is influenced by many factors. Factors affecting the reliability of the instrument is the number of items, homogeneity test questions, the time required, the uniformity of conditions of the test taker, the homogeneity of the group, the variability problem, and motivation of the individual (person taking the test). Overall, the evaluation results of this study stated that the test instrument can be used as a tool to measure students' mathematical power.

Estimating and Presenting Power Sector Fuel Use in EIA Publications and Analyses

EIA Publications

2002-01-01

The goal of EIA’s comprehensive review was to improve the quality and consistency of its electric power data throughout all data and analysis products. Because power facilities operate in all sectors of the economy (e.g., in commercial buildings, such as hospitals and college campuses, and industrial facilities, such as paper mills and refineries) and use many fuels, any change to electric power data affects data series in nearly all fuel areas and causes changes in a wide variety of EIA publications. This report was published as Appendix H in the Annual Energy Review 2001.

A Study of Quality of Service Communication for High-Speed Packet-Switching Computer Sub-Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cui, Zhenqian

1999-01-01

In this thesis, we analyze various factors that affect quality of service (QoS) communication in high-speed, packet-switching sub-networks. We hypothesize that sub-network-wide bandwidth reservation and guaranteed CPU processing power at endpoint systems for handling data traffic are indispensable to achieving hard end-to-end quality of service. Different bandwidth reservation strategies, traffic characterization schemes, and scheduling algorithms affect the network resources and CPU usage as well as the extent that QoS can be achieved. In order to analyze those factors, we design and implement a communication layer. Our experimental analysis supports our research hypothesis. The Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) is designed to realize resource reservation. Our analysis of RSVP shows that using RSVP solely is insufficient to provide hard end-to-end quality of service in a high-speed sub-network. Analysis of the IEEE 802.lp protocol also supports the research hypothesis.

Automated recognition system for power quality disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdelgalil, Tarek

The application of deregulation policies in electric power systems has resulted in the necessity to quantify the quality of electric power. This fact highlights the need for a new monitoring strategy which is capable of tracking, detecting, classifying power quality disturbances, and then identifying the source of the disturbance. The objective of this work is to design an efficient and reliable power quality monitoring strategy that uses the advances in signal processing and pattern recognition to overcome the deficiencies that exist in power quality monitoring devices. The purposed monitoring strategy has two stages. The first stage is to detect, track, and classify any power quality violation by the use of on-line measurements. In the second stage, the source of the classified power quality disturbance must be identified. In the first stage, an adaptive linear combiner is used to detect power quality disturbances. Then, the Teager Energy Operator and Hilbert Transform are utilized for power quality event tracking. After the Fourier, Wavelet, and Walsh Transforms are employed for the feature extraction, two approaches are then exploited to classify the different power quality disturbances. The first approach depends on comparing the disturbance to be classified with a stored set of signatures for different power quality disturbances. The comparison is developed by using Hidden Markov Models and Dynamic Time Warping. The second approach depends on employing an inductive inference to generate the classification rules directly from the data. In the second stage of the new monitoring strategy, only the problem of identifying the location of the switched capacitor which initiates the transients is investigated. The Total Least Square-Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique is adopted to estimate the amplitudes and frequencies of the various modes contained in the voltage signal measured at the facility entrance. After extracting the amplitudes and frequencies, an Artificial Neural Network is employed to identify the switched capacitor by using amplitudes and frequencies extracted from the transient signal. The new algorithms for detecting, tracking, and classifying power quality disturbances demonstrate the potential for further development of a fully automated recognition system for the assessment of power quality. This is possible because the implementation of the proposed algorithms for the power quality monitoring device becomes a straight forward process by modifying the device software.

Identifying/Quantifying Environmental Trade-offs Inherent in GHG Reduction Strategies for Coal-Fired Power.

PubMed

Schivley, Greg; Ingwersen, Wesley W; Marriott, Joe; Hawkins, Troy R; Skone, Timothy J

2015-07-07

Improvements to coal power plant technology and the cofired combustion of biomass promise direct greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions for existing coal-fired power plants. Questions remain as to what the reduction potentials are from a life cycle perspective and if it will result in unintended increases in impacts to air and water quality and human health. This study provides a unique analysis of the potential environmental impact reductions from upgrading existing subcritical pulverized coal power plants to increase their efficiency, improving environmental controls, cofiring biomass, and exporting steam for industrial use. The climate impacts are examined in both a traditional-100 year GWP-method and a time series analysis that accounts for emission and uptake timing over the life of the power plant. Compared to fleet average pulverized bed boilers (33% efficiency), we find that circulating fluidized bed boilers (39% efficiency) may provide GHG reductions of about 13% when using 100% coal and reductions of about 20-37% when cofiring with 30% biomass. Additional greenhouse gas reductions from combined heat and power are minimal if the steam coproduct displaces steam from an efficient natural gas boiler. These upgrades and cofiring biomass can also reduce other life cycle impacts, although there may be increased impacts to water quality (eutrophication) when using biomass from an intensely cultivated source. Climate change impacts are sensitive to the timing of emissions and carbon sequestration as well as the time horizon over which impacts are considered, particularly for long growth woody biomass.

Accreditation and Power: A Discourse Analysis of a New Regime of Governance in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engebretsen, Eivind; Heggen, Kristin; Eilertsen, Heidi Annett

2012-01-01

This article studies discourses within the accreditation of Norwegian higher education conducted by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT), using one concrete case (the accreditation of bachelor programs in nursing). Analysis of policy documents and accreditation reports are influenced by two of Foucault's concepts of…

Design and development of high performance solar photovoltaic inverter with advanced modulation techniques to improve power quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander Stonier, Albert

2017-02-01

In addition to the focus towards growing demand on electrical energy due to the increase in population, industries, consumer loads, etc., the need for improving the quality of electrical power also needs to be considered. The design and development of solar photovoltaic (PV) inverter with reduced harmonic distortions is proposed. Unlike the conventional solar PV inverters, the proposed inverter provides the advantages of reduced harmonic distortions thereby intend towards the improvement in power quality. This inverter comprises of multiple stages which provides the required 230VRMS, 50 Hz in spite of variations in solar PV due to temperature and irradiance. The reduction of harmonics is governed by applying proper switching sequences required for the inverter switches. The detailed analysis is carried out by employing different switching techniques and observing its performance. With a separate mathematical model for a solar PV, simulations are performed in MATLAB software. To show the advantage of the system proposed, a 3 kWp photovoltaic plant coupled with multilevel inverter is demonstrated in hardware. The novelty resides in the design of a single chip controller which can provide the switching sequence based on the requirement and application. As per the results obtained, the solar-fed multistage inverter improves the quality of power which makes this inverter suitable for both stand-alone and grid-connected systems.

Discussion on mass concrete construction of wind turbine generator foundation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Liang; Wu, Chaoxiang; Yin, Xiaoyong

2018-04-01

Wind power is one of the main power sources currently. China has rich wind power resources, wind power plants are developed faster and faster. However, China wind power construction started late, which is lack of relevant experience technology. It is easy to produce quality problems. The key to the construction quality of wind power plant is the construction quality of mass concrete construction. Therefore, construction technology and quality control of wind turbine generator foundation mass concrete are discussed and analyzed in the paper.

MEMS tunable grating micro-spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tormen, Maurizio; Lockhart, R.; Niedermann, P.; Overstolz, T.; Hoogerwerf, A.; Mayor, J.-M.; Pierer, J.; Bosshard, C.; Ischer, R.; Voirin, G.; Stanley, R. P.

2017-11-01

The interest in MEMS based Micro-Spectrometers is increasing due to their potential in terms of flexibility as well as cost, low mass, small volume and power savings. This interest, especially in the Near-Infrared and Mid- Infrared, ranges from planetary exploration missions to astronomy, e.g. the search for extra solar planets, as well as to many other terrestrial fields of application such as, industrial quality and surface control, chemical analysis of soil and water, detection of chemical pollutants, exhausted gas analysis, food quality control, process control in pharmaceuticals, to name a few. A compact MEMS-based Spectrometer for Near- Infrared and Mid-InfraRed operation have been conceived, designed and demonstrated. The design based on tunable MEMS blazed grating, developed in the past at CSEM [1], achieves state of the art results in terms of spectral resolution, operational wavelength range, light throughput, overall dimensions, and power consumption.

Analysis of acoustic emission during abrasive waterjet machining of sheet metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokhtar, Nazrin; Gebremariam, MA; Zohari, H.; Azhari, Azmir

2018-04-01

The present paper reports on the analysis of acoustic emission (AE) produced during abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining process. This paper focuses on the relationship of AE and surface quality of sheet metals. The changes in acoustic emission signals recorded by the mean of power spectral density (PSD) via covariance method in relation to the surface quality of the cut are discussed. The test was made using two materials for comparison namely aluminium 6061 and stainless steel 304 with five different feed rates. The acoustic emission data were captured by Labview and later processed using MATLAB software. The results show that the AE spectrums correlated with different feed rates and surface qualities. It can be concluded that the AE is capable of monitoring the changes of feed rate and surface quality.

Identification af explosive power factors as predictors of player quality in young female volleyball players.

PubMed

Grgantov, Zoran; Milić, Mirjana; Katić, Ratko

2013-05-01

With the purpose of determining the factor structure of explosive power, as well as the influence of each factor on situational efficiency, 56 young female volleyball players were tested using 14 tests for assessing nonspecific and specific explosive power. By factor analysis, 4 significant factors were isolated which explained the total of over 80% of the common variability in young female volleyball players. The first factor was defined as volleyball-specific jumping, the second factor as nonspecific jumping and sprinting, the third factor as throwing explosive power, while the fourth factor was interpreted as volleyball-specific throwing and spiking speed from the ground. Results obtained by regression analysis in the latent space of explosive power indicate that the identified factors are good predictors of player quality in young female volleyball players. The fourth factor defined as throwing and spiking speed from the ground had the largest influence on player quality, followed by volleyball-specific jumping and nonspecific jumping and sprinting, and to a much lesser extent, by throwing explosive power The results obtained in this age group bring to the fore the ability of spiking and serving a ball of high speed, which hinders the opponents from playing those balls in serve reception and field defence. This ability, combined with a high standing vertical jump reach and spike approach vertical jump reach (which is the basis of the 1st varimax factor) enables successful performance of all volleyball elements by which points are won in complex 1 (spike) and complex 2 (serve and block). Even though the 2nd factor (nonspecific jumping and sprinting) has a slightly smaller impact on situational efficiency in young players, this ability provides preconditions i.e. preparation for successful realisation of all volleyball elements, so greater attention must be paid to perfecting it in young female volleyball players.

Design and implementation of software for automated quality control and data analysis for a complex LC/MS/MS assay for urine opiates and metabolites.

PubMed

Dickerson, Jane A; Schmeling, Michael; Hoofnagle, Andrew N; Hoffman, Noah G

2013-01-16

Mass spectrometry provides a powerful platform for performing quantitative, multiplexed assays in the clinical laboratory, but at the cost of increased complexity of analysis and quality assurance calculations compared to other methodologies. Here we describe the design and implementation of a software application that performs quality control calculations for a complex, multiplexed, mass spectrometric analysis of opioids and opioid metabolites. The development and implementation of this application improved our data analysis and quality assurance processes in several ways. First, use of the software significantly improved the procedural consistency for performing quality control calculations. Second, it reduced the amount of time technologists spent preparing and reviewing the data, saving on average over four hours per run, and in some cases improving turnaround time by a day. Third, it provides a mechanism for coupling procedural and software changes with the results of each analysis. We describe several key details of the implementation including the use of version control software and automated unit tests. These generally useful software engineering principles should be considered for any software development project in the clinical lab. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wireless Infrastructure M2M Network For Distributed Power Grid Monitoring

PubMed Central

Gharavi, Hamid; Hu, Bin

2018-01-01

With the massive integration of distributed renewable energy sources (RESs) into the power system, the demand for timely and reliable network quality monitoring, control, and fault analysis is rapidly growing. Following the successful deployment of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) in transmission systems for power monitoring, a new opportunity to utilize PMU measurement data for power quality assessment in distribution grid systems is emerging. The main problem however, is that a distribution grid system does not normally have the support of an infrastructure network. Therefore, the main objective in this paper is to develop a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication network that can support wide ranging sensory data, including high rate synchrophasor data for real-time communication. In particular, we evaluate the suitability of the emerging IEEE 802.11ah standard by exploiting its important features, such as classifying the power grid sensory data into different categories according to their traffic characteristics. For performance evaluation we use our hardware in the loop grid communication network testbed to access the performance of the network. PMID:29503505

Wireless Infrastructure M2M Network For Distributed Power Grid Monitoring.

PubMed

Gharavi, Hamid; Hu, Bin

2017-01-01

With the massive integration of distributed renewable energy sources (RESs) into the power system, the demand for timely and reliable network quality monitoring, control, and fault analysis is rapidly growing. Following the successful deployment of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) in transmission systems for power monitoring, a new opportunity to utilize PMU measurement data for power quality assessment in distribution grid systems is emerging. The main problem however, is that a distribution grid system does not normally have the support of an infrastructure network. Therefore, the main objective in this paper is to develop a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication network that can support wide ranging sensory data, including high rate synchrophasor data for real-time communication. In particular, we evaluate the suitability of the emerging IEEE 802.11ah standard by exploiting its important features, such as classifying the power grid sensory data into different categories according to their traffic characteristics. For performance evaluation we use our hardware in the loop grid communication network testbed to access the performance of the network.

Signal acquisition and scale calibration for beam power density distribution of electron beam welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Yong; Li, Hongqiang; Shen, Chunlong; Guo, Shun; Zhou, Qi; Wang, Kehong

2017-06-01

The power density distribution of electron beam welding (EBW) is a key factor to reflect the beam quality. The beam quality test system was designed for the actual beam power density distribution of high-voltage EBW. After the analysis of characteristics and phase relationship between the deflection control signal and the acquisition signal, the Post-Trigger mode was proposed for the signal acquisition meanwhile the same external clock source was shared by the control signal and the sampling clock. The power density distribution of beam cross-section was reconstructed using one-dimensional signal that was processed by median filtering, twice signal segmentation and spatial scale calibration. The diameter of beam cross-section was defined by amplitude method and integral method respectively. The measured diameter of integral definition is bigger than that of amplitude definition, but for the ideal distribution the former is smaller than the latter. The measured distribution without symmetrical shape is not concentrated compared to Gaussian distribution.

XRF inductive bead fusion and PLC based control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jin-hong; Wang, Ying-jie; Shi, Hong-xin; Chen, Qing-ling; Chen, Yu-xi

2009-03-01

In order to ensure high-quality X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) analysis, an inductive bead fusion machine was developed. The prototype consists of super-audio IGBT induction heating power supply, rotation and swing mechanisms, and programmable logic controller (PLC). The system can realize sequence control, mechanical movement control, output current and temperature control. Experimental results show that the power supply can operate at an ideal quasi-resonant state, in which the expected power output and the required temperature can be achieved for rapid heating and the uniform formation of glass beads respectively.

On the analysis of using 3-coil wireless power transfer system in retinal prosthesis.

PubMed

Bai, Shun; Skafidas, Stan

2014-01-01

Designing a wireless power transmission system(WPTS) using inductive coupling has been investigated extensively in the last decade. Depending on the different configurations of the coupling system, there have been various designing methods to optimise the power transmission efficiency based on the tuning circuitry, quality factor optimisation and geometrical configuration. Recently, a 3-coil WPTS was introduced in retinal prosthesis to overcome the low power transferring efficiency due to low coupling coefficient. Here we present a method to analyse this 3-coil WPTS using the S-parameters to directly obtain maximum achievable power transferring efficiency. Through electromagnetic simulation, we brought a question on the condition of improvement using 3-coil WPTS in powering retinal prosthesis.

Application of Autonomous Smart Inverter Volt-VAR Function for Voltage Reduction Energy Savings and Power Quality in Electric Distribution Systems: Preprint

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

Ding, Fei; Nagarajan, Adarsh; Baggu, Murali

This paper evaluated the impact of smart inverter Volt-VAR function on voltage reduction energy saving and power quality in electric power distribution systems. A methodology to implement the voltage reduction optimization was developed by controlling the substation LTC and capacitor banks, and having smart inverters participate through their autonomous Volt-VAR control. In addition, a power quality scoring methodology was proposed and utilized to quantify the effect on power distribution system power quality. All of these methodologies were applied to a utility distribution system model to evaluate the voltage reduction energy saving and power quality under various PV penetrations and smartmore » inverter densities.« less

PQScal (Power Quality Score Calculation for Distribution Systems with DER Integration)

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

Power Quality is of great importance to evaluate the “health” of a distribution system, especially when the distributed energy resource (DER) penetration becomes more significant. The individual components that make up power quality, such as voltage magnitude and unbalance, can be measured in simulations or in the field, however, a comprehensive method to incorporate all of these values into a single score doesn't exist. As a result, we propose a methodology to quantify the power quality health using the single number value, named as Power Quality Score (PQS). The PQS is dependent on six metrics that are developed based onmore » both components that directly impact power quality and those are often reference in the context of power quality. These six metrics are named as System Average Voltage Magnitude Violation Index (SAVMVI), System Average Voltage Fluctuation Index (SAVFI), System Average Voltage Unbalance Index (SAVUI), System Control Device Operation Index (SCDOI), System Reactive Power Demand Index (SRPDI) and System Energy Loss Index (SELI). This software tool, PQScal, is developed based on this novel PQS methodology. Besides of traditional distribution systems, PQScal can also measure the power quality for distribution systems with various DER penetrations. PQScal has been tested on two utility distribution feeders with distinct model characteristics and its effectiveness has been proved. In sum, PQScal can help utilities or other parties to measure the power quality of distribution systems with DER integration easily and effectively.« less

Government, politics and health policy: A quantitative analysis of 30 European countries.

PubMed

Mackenbach, Johan P; McKee, Martin

2015-10-01

Public health policies are often dependent on political decision-making, but little is known of the impact of different forms of government on countries' health policies. In this exploratory study we studied the association between a wide range of process and outcome indicators of health policy and four groups of political factors (levels of democracy, e.g. voice and accountability; political representation, e.g. voter turnout; distribution of power, e.g. constraints on the executive; and quality of government, e.g. absence of corruption) in contemporary Europe. Data on 15 aspects of government and 18 indicators of health policy as well as on potential confounders were extracted from harmonized international data sources, covering 30 European countries and the years 1990-2010. In a first step, multivariate regression analysis was used to relate cumulative measures of government to indicators of health policy, and in a second step panel regression with country fixed effects was used to relate changes in selected measures of government to changes in indicators of health policy. In multivariate regression analyses, measures of quality of democracy and quality of government had many positive associations with process and outcome indicators of health policy, while measures of distribution of power and political representation had few and inconsistent associations. Associations for quality of democracy were robust against more extensive control for confounding variables, including tests in panel regressions with country fixed effects, but associations for quality of government were not. In this period in Europe, the predominant political influence on health policy has been the rise of levels of democracy in countries in the Central & Eastern part of the region. In contrast to other areas of public policy, health policy does not appear to be strongly influenced by institutional features of democracy determining the distribution of power, nor by aspects of political representation. The effect of quality of government on health policy warrants more study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quasi Real Time Data Analysis for Air Quality Monitoring with an Electronic Nose

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhou, Hanying; Shevade, Abhijit V.; Pelletier, Christine C.; Homer, Margie L.; Ryan, M. Amy

2006-01-01

Cabin Air Quality Monitoring: A) Functions; 1) Incident monitor for targeted contaminants exceeding targeted concentrations. Identify and quantify. 2) Monitor for presence of compounds associated with fires or overheating electronics. 3) Monitor clean-up process. B) Characteristics; 1) Low mass, low power device. 2) Requires little crew time for maintenance and calibration. 3) Detects, identifies and quantifies selected chemical species at or below 24 hour SMAC.

Effects of a Meditation Program on Nurses' Power and Quality of Life.

PubMed

Chang, Sun Ju; Kwak, Eun Young; Hahm, Bong-Jin; Seo, Se Hee; Lee, Da Woon; Jang, Sun Joo

2016-07-01

This study evaluated the effects of meditation programs on nurses' power and quality of life. In this study, Barrett's power theory derived from Rogers' unitary human being science was used as a theoretical framework. A randomized controlled design with 50 recruited and randomly allocated participants was used. The results demonstrated that the eight-week meditation program significantly improved nurses' power and quality of life. These results suggest that meditation has positive effects on power and quality of life. © The Author(s) 2016.

The relationship between depressive symptoms among female workers and job stress and sleep quality.

PubMed

Cho, Ho-Sung; Kim, Young-Wook; Park, Hyoung-Wook; Lee, Kang-Ho; Jeong, Baek-Geun; Kang, Yune-Sik; Park, Ki-Soo

2013-07-22

Recently, workers' mental health has become important focus in the field of occupational health management. Depression is a psychiatric illness with a high prevalence. The association between job stress and depressive symptoms has been demonstrated in many studies. Recently, studies about the association between sleep quality and depressive symptoms have been reported, but there has been no large-scaled study in Korean female workers. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between job stress and sleep quality, and depressive symptoms in female workers. From Mar 2011 to Aug 2011, 4,833 female workers in the manufacturing, finance, and service fields at 16 workplaces in Yeungnam province participated in this study, conducted in combination with a worksite-based health checkup initiated by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). In this study, a questionnaire survey was carried out using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form(KOSS-SF), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale(CES-D). The collected data was entered in the system and analyzed using the PASW (version 18.0) program. A correlation analysis, cross analysis, multivariate logistic regression analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted. Among the 4,883 subjects, 978 subjects (20.0%) were in the depression group. Job stress(OR=3.58, 95% CI=3.06-4.21) and sleep quality(OR=3.81, 95% CI=3.18-4.56) were strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that job stress displayed explanatory powers of 15.6% on depression while sleep quality displayed explanatory powers of 16.2%, showing that job stress and sleep quality had a closer relationship with depressive symptoms, compared to the other factors. The multivariate logistic regression analysis yielded odds ratios between the 7 subscales of job stress and depressive symptoms in the range of 1.30-2.72 and the odds ratio for the lack of reward was the highest(OR=2.72, 95% CI=2.32-3.19). In the partial correlation analysis between each of the 7 subscales of sleep quality (PSQI) and depressive symptoms, the correlation coefficient of subjective sleep quality and daytime dysfunction were 0.352 and 0.362, respectively. This study showed that the depressive symptoms of female workers are closely related to their job stress and sleep quality. In particular, the lack of reward and subjective sleep factors are the greatest contributors to depression. In the future, a large-scale study should be performed to augment the current study and to reflect all age groups in a balanced manner. The findings on job stress, sleep, and depression can be utilized as source data to establish standards for mental health management of the ever increasing numbers of female members of the workplace.

Using the HOMER Model in Air Quality Analysis

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

Not Available

2004-08-01

HOMER, the micropower optimization model created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), helps design and analyze off-grid and grid-connected power systems. One of HOMER's newest features is its enhanced ability to estimate air emissions for different micropower systems.

Laser transmission welding of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) using a tailored high power diode-laser optical fiber coupled system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez-Vidal, E.; Quintana, I.; Etxarri, J.; Otaduy, D.; González, F.; Moreno, F.

2012-06-01

Laser transmission welding (LTW) of polymers is a direct bonding technique which is already used in different industrial applications sectors such as automobile, microfluidic, electronic and biomedicine. This technique offers several advantages over conventional methods, especially when a local deposition of energy and minimum thermal distortions are required. In LTW one of the polymeric materials needs to be transparent to the laser wavelength and the second part needs to be designed to be absorbed in IR spectrum. This report presents a study of laser weldability of ABS (acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene) filled with two different concentrations of carbon nanotubes (0.01% and 0.05% CNTs). These additives are used as infrared absorbing components in the laser welding process, affecting the thermal and optical properties of the material and, hence, the final quality of the weld seam. A tailored laser system has been designed to obtain high quality weld seams with widths between 0.4 and 1.0mm. It consists of two diode laser bars (50W per bar) coupled into an optical fiber using a non-imaging solution: equalization of the beam quality factor (M2) in the slow and fast axes by a pair of micro step-mirrors. The beam quality factor has been analyzed at different laser powers with the aim to guarantee a coupling efficiency to the multimode optical fiber. The power scaling is carried out by means of multiplexing polarization technique. The analysis of energy balance and beam quality is performed in two linked steps: first by means ray tracing simulations (ZEMAX®) and second, by validation. Quality of the weld seams is analyzed in terms of the process parameters (welding speed, laser power and clamping pressure) by visual and optical microscope inspections. The optimum laser power range for three different welding speeds is determinate meanwhile the clamping pressure is held constant. Additionally, the corresponding mechanical shear tests were carried out to analyze the mechanical properties of the weld seams. This work provides a detailed study concerning the effect of the material microstructure and laser beam quality on the final weld formation and surface integrity.

Research on Holographic Evaluation of Service Quality in Power Data Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Chen; Jing, Tao; Ji, Yutong

2018-01-01

With the rapid development of power data network, the continuous development of the Power data application service system, more and more service systems are being put into operation. Following this, the higher requirements for network quality and service quality are raised, in the actual process for the network operation and maintenance. This paper describes the electricity network and data network services status. A holographic assessment model was presented to achieve a comprehensive intelligence assessment on the power data network and quality of service in the operation and maintenance on the power data network. This evaluation method avoids the problems caused by traditional means which performs a single assessment of network performance quality. This intelligent Evaluation method can improve the efficiency of network operation and maintenance guarantee the quality of real-time service in the power data network..

Daytime Ayahuasca administration modulates REM and slow-wave sleep in healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Barbanoj, Manel J; Riba, Jordi; Clos, S; Giménez, S; Grasa, E; Romero, S

2008-02-01

Ayahuasca is a traditional South American psychoactive beverage and the central sacrament of Brazilian-based religious groups, with followers in Europe and the United States. The tea contains the psychedelic indole N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and beta-carboline alkaloids with monoamine oxidase-inhibiting properties that render DMT orally active. DMT interacts with serotonergic neurotransmission acting as a partial agonist at 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(2A/2C) receptor sites. Given the role played by serotonin in the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle, we investigated the effects of daytime ayahuasca consumption in sleep parameters. Subjective sleep quality, polysomnography (PSG), and spectral analysis were assessed in a group of 22 healthy male volunteers after the administration of a placebo, an ayahuasca dose equivalent to 1 mg DMT kg(-1) body weight, and 20 mg d-amphetamine, a proaminergic drug, as a positive control. Results show that ayahuasca did not induce any subjectively perceived deterioration of sleep quality or PSG-measured disruptions of sleep initiation or maintenance, in contrast with d-amphetamine, which delayed sleep initiation, disrupted sleep maintenance, induced a predominance of 'light' vs 'deep' sleep and significantly impaired subjective sleep quality. PSG analysis also showed that similarly to d-amphetamine, ayahuasca inhibits rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, decreasing its duration, both in absolute values and as a percentage of total sleep time, and shows a trend increase in its onset latency. Spectral analysis showed that d-amphetamine and ayahuasca increased power in the high frequency range, mainly during stage 2. Remarkably, whereas slow-wave sleep (SWS) power in the first night cycle, an indicator of sleep pressure, was decreased by d-amphetamine, ayahuasca enhanced power in this frequency band. Results show that daytime serotonergic psychedelic drug administration leads to measurable changes in PSG and sleep power spectrum and suggest an interaction between these drugs and brain circuits modulating REM and SWS.

Comprehensive genomic studies: emerging regulatory, strategic, and quality assurance challenges for biorepositories.

PubMed

McDonald, Sandra A; Mardis, Elaine R; Ota, David; Watson, Mark A; Pfeifer, John D; Green, Jonathan M

2012-07-01

As part of the molecular revolution sweeping medicine, comprehensive genomic studies are adding powerful dimensions to medical research. However, their power exposes new regulatory, strategic, and quality assurance challenges for biorepositories. A key issue is that unlike other research techniques commonly applied to banked specimens, nucleic acid sequencing, if sufficiently extensive, yields data that could identify a patient. This evolving paradigm renders the concepts of anonymized and anonymous specimens increasingly outdated. The challenges for biorepositories in this new era include refined consent processes and wording, selection and use of legacy specimens, quality assurance procedures, institutional documentation, data sharing, and interaction with institutional review boards. Given current trends, biorepositories should consider these issues now, even if they are not currently experiencing sample requests for genomic analysis. We summarize our current experiences and best practices at Washington University Medical School, St Louis, MO, our perceptions of emerging trends, and recommendations.

Design, development, and field demonstration of a remotely deployable water quality monitoring system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallace, J. W.; Lovelady, R. W.; Ferguson, R. L.

1981-01-01

A prototype water quality monitoring system is described which offers almost continuous in situ monitoring. The two-man portable system features: (1) a microprocessor controlled central processing unit which allows preprogrammed sampling schedules and reprogramming in situ; (2) a subsurface unit for multiple depth capability and security from vandalism; (3) an acoustic data link for communications between the subsurface unit and the surface control unit; (4) eight water quality parameter sensors; (5) a nonvolatile magnetic bubble memory which prevents data loss in the event of power interruption; (6) a rechargeable power supply sufficient for 2 weeks of unattended operation; (7) a water sampler which can collect samples for laboratory analysis; (8) data output in direct engineering units on printed tape or through a computer compatible link; (9) internal electronic calibration eliminating external sensor adjustment; and (10) acoustic location and recovery systems. Data obtained in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron are tabulated.

Comprehensive Genomic Studies: Emerging Regulatory, Strategic, and Quality Assurance Challenges for Biorepositories

PubMed Central

McDonald, Sandra A.; Mardis, Elaine R.; Ota, David; Watson, Mark A.; Pfeifer, John D.; Green, Jonathan M.

2012-01-01

As part of the molecular revolution sweeping medicine, comprehensive genomic studies are adding powerful dimensions to medical research. However, their power exposes new regulatory, strategic, and quality assurance challenges for biorepositories. A key issue is that unlike other research techniques commonly applied to banked specimens, nucleic acid sequencing, if sufficiently extensive, yields data that could identify a patient. This evolving paradigm renders the concepts of anonymized and anonymous specimens increasingly outdated. The challenges for biorepositories in this new era include refined consent processes and wording, selection and use of legacy specimens, quality assurance procedures, institutional documentation, data sharing, and interaction with institutional review boards. Given current trends, biorepositories should consider these issues now, even if they are not currently experiencing sample requests for genomic analysis. We summarize our current experiences and best practices at Washington University Medical School, St Louis, MO, our perceptions of emerging trends, and recommendations. PMID:22706855

[A study of acupuncture under the perspective of international discourse power: based on metrological analysis of Web of Science core collection in the last 10 years].

PubMed

Wang, Hourong; Sun, Guiping; Zheng, Boyang; Yuan, Kai

2018-05-12

In order to reflect the research achievements of acupuncture on international academic community and study the acupuncture international discourse power from 2007 through 2017, we used text analysis software to analyze 5668 papers that focusing on acupuncture research in the recent 10 years. The results show that international acupuncture research trend has been formed, the research force diverges to the rest of the world with "China-America" as the center, and the study focuses on its sight and the interaction between China and foreign countries is good. Under the perspective of international discourse power, the construction of the national communication platform, the cultivation of academic centers and research fields, and the interaction with international research forces will enhance the quality of Chinese acupuncture research, and these will become an important task in enhancing the international discourse power of Chinese acupuncture.

Living near nuclear power plants and thyroid cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kim, Jaeyoung; Bang, Yejin; Lee, Won Jin

2016-02-01

There has been public concern regarding the safety of residing near nuclear power plants, and the extent of risk for thyroid cancer among adults living near nuclear power plants has not been fully explored. In the present study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies was conducted to investigate the association between living near nuclear power plants and the risk of thyroid cancer. A comprehensive literature search was performed on studies published up to March 2015 on the association between nuclear power plants and thyroid cancer risk. The summary standardized incidence ratio (SIR), standardized mortality ratio (SMR), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effect model of meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses were performed by study quality. Thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis, covering 36 nuclear power stations in 10 countries. Overall, summary estimates showed no significant increased thyroid cancer incidence or mortality among residents living near nuclear power plants (summary SIR=0.98; 95% CI 0.87-1.11, summary SMR=0.80; 95% CI 0.62-1.04). The pooled estimates did not reveal different patterns of risk by gender, exposure definition, or reference population. However, sensitivity analysis by exposure definition showed that living less than 20 km from nuclear power plants was associated with a significant increase in the risk of thyroid cancer in well-designed studies (summary OR=1.75; 95% CI 1.17-2.64). Our study does not support an association between living near nuclear power plants and risk of thyroid cancer but does support a need for well-designed future studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design and analysis of a radio frequency extractor in an S-band relativistic klystron amplifier.

PubMed

Zhang, Zehai; Zhang, Jun; Shu, Ting; Qi, Zumin

2012-09-01

A radio frequency (RF) extractor converts the energy of a strongly modulated intense relativistic electron beam (IREB) into the energy of high power microwave in relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA). In the aim of efficiently extracting the energy of the modulated IREB, a RF extractor with all round coupling structure is proposed. Due to the all round structure, the operating transverse magnetic mode can be established easily and its resonant property can be investigated with an approach of group delay time. Furthermore, the external quality factor can be low enough. The design and analysis of the extractor applied in an S-band RKA are carried out, and the performance of the extractor is validated with three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations. The extraction efficiency reaches 27% in the simulation with a totally 3D model of the whole RKA. The primary experiments are also carried out and the results show that the RF extractor with the external quality factor of 7.9 extracted 22% of the beam power and transformed it into the high power microwave. Better results are expected after the parasitic mode between the input and middle cavities is suppressed.

Design and analysis of a radio frequency extractor in an S-band relativistic klystron amplifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zehai; Zhang, Jun; Shu, Ting; Qi, Zumin

2012-09-01

A radio frequency (RF) extractor converts the energy of a strongly modulated intense relativistic electron beam (IREB) into the energy of high power microwave in relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA). In the aim of efficiently extracting the energy of the modulated IREB, a RF extractor with all round coupling structure is proposed. Due to the all round structure, the operating transverse magnetic mode can be established easily and its resonant property can be investigated with an approach of group delay time. Furthermore, the external quality factor can be low enough. The design and analysis of the extractor applied in an S-band RKA are carried out, and the performance of the extractor is validated with three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations. The extraction efficiency reaches 27% in the simulation with a totally 3D model of the whole RKA. The primary experiments are also carried out and the results show that the RF extractor with the external quality factor of 7.9 extracted 22% of the beam power and transformed it into the high power microwave. Better results are expected after the parasitic mode between the input and middle cavities is suppressed.

The project MOHAVE tracer study: study design, data quality, and overview of results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Mark C.

In the winter and summer of 1992, atmospheric tracer studies were conducted in support of project MOHAVE, a visibility study in the southwestern United States. The primary goal of project MOHAVE is to determine the effects of the Mohave power plant and other sources upon visibility at Grand Canyon National Park. Perfluorocarbon tracers (PFTs) were released from the Mohave power plant and other locations and monitored at about 30 sites. The tracer data are being used for source attribution analysis and for evaluation of transport and dispersion models and receptor models. Collocated measurements showed the tracer data to be of high quality and suitable for source attribution analysis and model evaluation. The results showed strong influences of channeling by the Colorado River canyon during both winter and summer. Flow from the Mohave power plant was usually to the south, away from the Grand Canyon in winter and to the northeast, toward the Grand Canyon in summer. Tracer released at Lake Powell in winter was found to often travel downstream through the entire length of the Grand Canyon. Data from summer tracer releases in southern California demonstrated the existence of a convergence zone in the western Mohave Desert.

Discrimination of radiation quality through second harmonic out-of-phase cw-ESR detection.

PubMed

Marrale, Maurizio; Longo, Anna; Brai, Maria; Barbon, Antonio; Brustolon, Marina

2014-02-01

The ability to discriminate the quality of ionizing radiation is important because the biological effects produced in tissue strongly depends on both absorbed dose and linear energy transfer (LET) of ionizing particles. Here we present an experimental electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis aimed at discriminating the effective LETs of various radiation beams (e.g., 19.3 MeV protons, (60)Co photons and thermal neutrons). The measurement of the intensities of the continuous wave spectrometer signal channel first harmonic in-phase and the second harmonic out-of-phase components are used to distinguish the radiation quality. A computational analysis, was carried out to evaluate the dependence of the first harmonic in-phase and second harmonic out-of-phase components on microwave power, modulation amplitude and relaxation times, and highlights that these components could be used to point out differences in the relaxation times. On the basis of this numerical analysis the experimental results are discussed. The methodology described in this study has the potential to provide information on radiation quality.

Classification of java tea (Orthosiphon aristatus) quality using FTIR spectroscopy and chemometrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heryanto, R.; Pradono, D. I.; Marlina, E.; Darusman, L. K.

2017-05-01

Java tea (Orthosiphon aristatus) is a plant that widely used as a medicinal herb in Indonesia. Its quality is varying depends on various factors, such as cultivating area, climate and harvesting time. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics for discriminating the quality of java tea from different cultivating area. FTIR spectra of ethanolic extracts were collected from five different regions of origin of java tea. Prior to chemometrics evaluation, spectra were pre-processed by using baselining, normalization and derivatization. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the spectra to two PCs, which explained 73% of the total variance. Score plot of two PCs showed groupings of the samples according to their regions of origin. Furthermore, Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLSDA) was applied to the pre-processed data. The approach produced an external validation success rate of 100%. This study shows that FTIR analysis and chemometrics has discriminatory power to classify java tea based on its quality related to the region of origin.

Power transformation for enhancing responsiveness of quality of life questionnaire.

PubMed

Zhou, YanYan Ange

2015-01-01

We investigate the effect of power transformation of raw scores on the responsiveness of quality of life survey. The procedure maximizes the paired t-test value on the power transformed data to obtain an optimal power range. The parallel between the Box-Cox transformation is also investigated for the quality of life data.

Low Power Shoe Integrated Intelligent Wireless Gait Measurement System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahab, Y.; Mazalan, M.; Bakar, N. A.; Anuar, A. F.; Zainol, M. Z.; Hamzah, F.

2014-04-01

Gait analysis measurement is a method to assess and identify gait events and the measurements of dynamic, motion and pressure parameters involving the lowest part of the body. This significant analysis is widely used in sports, rehabilitation as well as other health diagnostic towards improving the quality of life. This paper presents a new system empowered by Inertia Measurement Unit (IMU), ultrasonic sensors, piezoceramic sensors array, XBee wireless modules and Arduino processing unit. This research focuses on the design and development of a low power ultra-portable shoe integrated wireless intelligent gait measurement using MEMS and recent microelectronic devices for foot clearance, orientation, error correction, gait events and pressure measurement system. It is developed to be cheap, low power, wireless, real time and suitable for real life in-door and out-door environment.

Water quality conditions and food web structure in Chequamegon Bay

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract: Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen are powerful tools for tracing human- and watershed-derived nutrients and energy in coastal ecosystems. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to identify externally- and internally-produced nutrients and energy suppor...

Elucidation of Metallic Plume and Spatter Characteristics Based on SVM During High-Power Disk Laser Welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Xiangdong; Liu, Guiqian

2015-01-01

During deep penetration laser welding, there exist plume (weak plasma) and spatters, which are the results of weld material ejection due to strong laser heating. The characteristics of plume and spatters are related to welding stability and quality. Characteristics of metallic plume and spatters were investigated during high-power disk laser bead-on-plate welding of Type 304 austenitic stainless steel plates at a continuous wave laser power of 10 kW. An ultraviolet and visible sensitive high-speed camera was used to capture the metallic plume and spatter images. Plume area, laser beam path through the plume, swing angle, distance between laser beam focus and plume image centroid, abscissa of plume centroid and spatter numbers are defined as eigenvalues, and the weld bead width was used as a characteristic parameter that reflected welding stability. Welding status was distinguished by SVM (support vector machine) after data normalization and characteristic analysis. Also, PCA (principal components analysis) feature extraction was used to reduce the dimensions of feature space, and PSO (particle swarm optimization) was used to optimize the parameters of SVM. Finally a classification model based on SVM was established to estimate the weld bead width and welding stability. Experimental results show that the established algorithm based on SVM could effectively distinguish the variation of weld bead width, thus providing an experimental example of monitoring high-power disk laser welding quality.

Power Profiles and In Vitro Optical Quality of Scleral Contact Lenses: Effect of the Aperture and Power.

PubMed

Domínguez-Vicent, Alberto; Esteve-Taboada, Jose Juan; Recchioni, Alberto; Brautaset, Rune

2018-05-01

To assess the power profile and in vitro optical quality of scleral contact lenses with different powers as a function of the optical aperture. The mini and semiscleral contact lenses (Procornea) were measured for five powers per design. The NIMO TR-1504 (Lambda-X) was used to assess the power profile and Zernike coefficients of each contact lens. Ten measurements per lens were taken at 3- and 6-mm apertures. Furthermore, the optical quality of each lens was described in Zernike coefficients, modulation transfer function, and point spread function (PSF). A convolution of each lens PSF with an eye-chart image was also computed. The optical power fluctuated less than 0.5 diopters (D) along the optical zone of each lens. However, the optical power obtained for some lenses did not match with its corresponding nominal one, the maximum difference being 0.5 D. In optical quality, small differences were obtained among all lenses within the same design. Although significant differences were obtained among lenses (P<0.05), these showed small impact in the image quality of each convolution. Insignificant power fluctuations were obtained along the optical zone measured for each scleral lens. Additionally, the optical quality of both lenses has showed to be independent of the lens power within the same aperture.

Detecting seasonal and cyclical trends in agricultural runoff water quality-hypothesis tests and block bootstrap power analysis.

PubMed

Uddameri, Venkatesh; Singaraju, Sreeram; Hernandez, E Annette

2018-02-21

Seasonal and cyclic trends in nutrient concentrations at four agricultural drainage ditches were assessed using a dataset generated from a multivariate, multiscale, multiyear water quality monitoring effort in the agriculturally dominant Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) River Watershed in South Texas. An innovative bootstrap sampling-based power analysis procedure was developed to evaluate the ability of Mann-Whitney and Noether tests to discern trends and to guide future monitoring efforts. The Mann-Whitney U test was able to detect significant changes between summer and winter nutrient concentrations at sites with lower depths and unimpeded flows. Pollutant dilution, non-agricultural loadings, and in-channel flow structures (weirs) masked the effects of seasonality. The detection of cyclical trends using the Noether test was highest in the presence of vegetation mainly for total phosphorus and oxidized nitrogen (nitrite + nitrate) compared to dissolved phosphorus and reduced nitrogen (total Kjeldahl nitrogen-TKN). Prospective power analysis indicated that while increased monitoring can lead to higher statistical power, the effect size (i.e., the total number of trend sequences within a time-series) had a greater influence on the Noether test. Both Mann-Whitney and Noether tests provide complementary information on seasonal and cyclic behavior of pollutant concentrations and are affected by different processes. The results from these statistical tests when evaluated in the context of flow, vegetation, and in-channel hydraulic alterations can help guide future data collection and monitoring efforts. The study highlights the need for long-term monitoring of agricultural drainage ditches to properly discern seasonal and cyclical trends.

Error analysis for intrinsic quality factor measurement in superconducting radio frequency resonators

DOE PAGES

Melnychuk, O.; Grassellino, A.; Romanenko, A.

2014-12-19

In this paper, we discuss error analysis for intrinsic quality factor (Q₀) and accelerating gradient (E acc ) measurements in superconducting radio frequency (SRF) resonators. The analysis is applicable for cavity performance tests that are routinely performed at SRF facilities worldwide. We review the sources of uncertainties along with the assumptions on their correlations and present uncertainty calculations with a more complete procedure for treatment of correlations than in previous publications [T. Powers, in Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on RF Superconductivity, SuP02 (Elsevier, 2005), pp. 24–27]. Applying this approach to cavity data collected at Vertical Test Stand facility atmore » Fermilab, we estimated total uncertainty for both Q₀ and E acc to be at the level of approximately 4% for input coupler coupling parameter β₁ in the [0.5, 2.5] range. Above 2.5 (below 0.5) Q₀ uncertainty increases (decreases) with β₁ whereas E acc uncertainty, in contrast with results in Powers [in Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on RF Superconductivity, SuP02 (Elsevier, 2005), pp. 24–27], is independent of β₁. Overall, our estimated Q₀ uncertainty is approximately half as large as that in Powers [in Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on RF Superconductivity, SuP02 (Elsevier, 2005), pp. 24–27].« less

Calibrating Parameters of Power System Stability Models using Advanced Ensemble Kalman Filter

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

Huang, Renke; Diao, Ruisheng; Li, Yuanyuan

With the ever increasing penetration of renewable energy, smart loads, energy storage, and new market behavior, today’s power grid becomes more dynamic and stochastic, which may invalidate traditional study assumptions and pose great operational challenges. Thus, it is of critical importance to maintain good-quality models for secure and economic planning and real-time operation. Following the 1996 Western Systems Coordinating Council (WSCC) system blackout, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) in North America enforced a number of policies and standards to guide the power industry to periodically validate power grid models and calibrate poor parametersmore » with the goal of building sufficient confidence in model quality. The PMU-based approach using online measurements without interfering with the operation of generators provides a low-cost alternative to meet NERC standards. This paper presents an innovative procedure and tool suites to validate and calibrate models based on a trajectory sensitivity analysis method and an advanced ensemble Kalman filter algorithm. The developed prototype demonstrates excellent performance in identifying and calibrating bad parameters of a realistic hydro power plant against multiple system events.« less

Economic analysis of municipal wastewater utilization for thermoelectric power production

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

Safari, I.; Walker, M.; Abbasian, J.

2011-01-01

The thermoelectric power industry in the U.S. uses a large amount of freshwater. The large water demand is increasingly a problem, especially for new power plant development, as availability of freshwater for new uses diminishes in the United States. Reusing non-traditional water sources, such as treated municipal wastewater, provides one option to mitigate freshwater usage in the thermoelectric power industry. The amount of freshwater withdrawal that can be displaced with non-traditional water sources at a particular location requires evaluation of the water management and treatment requirements, considering the quality and abundance of the non-traditional water sources. This paper presents themore » development of an integrated costing model to assess the impact of degraded water treatment, as well as the implications of increased tube scaling in the main condenser. The model developed herein is used to perform case studies of various treatment, condenser cleaning and condenser configurations to provide insight into the ramifications of degraded water use in the cooling loops of thermoelectric power plants. Further, this paper lays the groundwork for the integration of relationships between degraded water quality, scaling characteristics and volatile emission within a recirculating cooling loop model.« less

Conjoint Analysis for New Service Development on Electricity Distribution in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widaningrum, D. L.; Chynthia; Astuti, L. D.; Seran, M. A. B.

2017-07-01

Many cases of illegal use of electricity in Indonesia is still rampant, especially for activities where the power source is not available, such as in the location of street vendors. It is not only detrimental to the state, but also harm the perpetrators of theft of electricity and the surrounding communities. The purpose of this study is to create New Service Development (NSD) to provide a new electricity source for street vendors' activity based on their preferences. The methods applied in NSD is Conjoint Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Service Blueprint, Process Flow Diagrams and Quality Control Plan. The results of this study are the attributes and their importance in the new electricity’s service based on street vendors’ preferences as customers, customer segmentation, service design for new service, designing technical response, designing operational procedures, the quality control plan of any existing operational procedures.

An efficient transmission power control scheme for temperature variation in wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Lee, Jungwook; Chung, Kwangsue

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor networks collect data from several nodes dispersed at remote sites. Sensor nodes can be installed in harsh environments such as deserts, cities, and indoors, where the link quality changes considerably over time. Particularly, changes in transmission power may be caused by temperature, humidity, and other factors. In order to compensate for link quality changes, existing schemes detect the link quality changes between nodes and control transmission power through a series of feedback processes, but these approaches can cause heavy overhead with the additional control packets needed. In this paper, the change of the link quality according to temperature is examined through empirical experimentation. A new power control scheme combining both temperature-aware link quality compensation and a closed-loop feedback process to adapt to link quality changes is proposed. We prove that the proposed scheme effectively adapts the transmission power to the changing link quality with less control overhead and energy consumption.

Instructional analysis of lecture video recordings and its application for quality improvement of medical lectures.

PubMed

Baek, Sunyong; Im, Sun Ju; Lee, Sun Hee; Kam, Beesung; Yune, So Joung; Lee, Sang Soo; Lee, Jung A; Lee, Yuna; Lee, Sang Yeoup

2011-12-01

The lecture is a technique for delivering knowledge and information cost-effectively to large medical classes in medical education. The aim of this study was to analyze teaching quality, based on triangle analysis of video recordings of medical lectures, to strengthen teaching competency in medical school. The subjects of this study were 13 medical professors who taught 1st- and 2nd-year medical students and agreed to a triangle analysis of video recordings of their lectures. We first performed triangle analysis, which consisted of a professional analysis of video recordings, self-assessment by teaching professors, and feedback from students, and the data were crosschecked by five school consultants for reliability and consistency. Most of the distress that teachers experienced during the lecture occurred in uniform teaching environments, such as larger lecture classes. Larger lectures that primarily used PowerPoint as a medium to deliver information effected poor interaction with students. Other distressing factors in the lecture were personal characteristics and lack of strategic faculty development. Triangle analysis of video recordings of medical lectures gives teachers an opportunity and motive to improve teaching quality. Faculty development and various improvement strategies, based on this analysis, are expected to help teachers succeed as effective, efficient, and attractive lecturers while improving the quality of larger lecture classes.

Power factor improvement in three-phase networks with unbalanced inductive loads using the Roederstein ESTAmat RPR power factor controller

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diniş, C. M.; Cunţan, C. D.; Rob, R. O. S.; Popa, G. N.

2018-01-01

The paper presents the analysis of a power factor with capacitors banks, without series coils, used for improving power factor for a three-phase and single-phase inductive loads. In the experimental measurements, to improve the power factor, the Roederstein ESTAmat RPR power factor controller can command up to twelve capacitors banks, while experimenting using only six capacitors banks. Six delta capacitors banks with approximately equal reactive powers were used for experimentation. The experimental measurements were carried out with a three-phase power quality analyser which worked in three cases: a case without a controller with all capacitors banks permanently parallel connected with network, and two other cases with power factor controller (one with setting power factor at 0.92 and the other one at 1). When performing experiments with the power factor controller, a current transformer was used to measure the current on one phase (at a more charged or less loaded phase).

Power Extension Package (PEP) system definition extension, orbital service module systems analysis study. Volume 10: PEP project plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Contents: project plan summary; project and mission objectives; related studies and technology support activities; technical summary; management; procurement approach; project definition items and schedule; resources; management review; controlled items; and safety, reliability, and quality assurance.

Gender, marital power, and marital quality in later life.

PubMed

Bulanda, Jennifer Roebuck

2011-01-01

This study uses data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study to examine gender differences in marital power and marital quality among older adults and to assess whether there are gender differences in the correlates of marital quality and marital power in later life. Results show that women report lower marital happiness, marital interaction, and marital power than do men, on average. These differences persist even after controlling for a number of life-course events and transitions. Further, results show that gender differences are also evident in the relationship of employment, childrearing, caregiving, and health factors with marital quality and power.

Aerodynamic Characteristics and Flying Qualities of a Tailless Triangular-wing Airplane Configuration as Obtained from Flights of Rocket-propelled Models at Transonic and Supersonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitcham, Grady L; Stevens, Joseph E; Norris, Harry P

1956-01-01

A flight investigation of rocket-powered models of a tailless triangular-wing airplane configuration was made through the transonic and low supersonic speed range at the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Station at Wallops Island, Va. An analysis of the aerodynamic coefficients, stability derivatives, and flying qualities based on the results obtained from the successful flight tests of three models is presented.

Quantifying Co-benefits of Renewable Energy through Integrated Electricity and Air Quality Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abel, D.

2016-12-01

This work focuses on the coordination of electricity sector changes with air quality and health improvement strategies through the integration of electricity and air quality models. Two energy models are used to calculate emission perturbations associated with changes in generation technology (20% generation from solar photovoltaics) and demand (future electricity use under a warmer climate). Impacts from increased solar PV penetration are simulated with the electricity model GridView, in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Generation results are used to scale power plant emissions from an inventory developed by the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO). Perturbed emissions and are used to calculate secondary particulate matter with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. We find that electricity NOx and SO2 emissions decrease at a rate similar to the total fraction of electricity supplied by solar. Across the Eastern U.S. region, average PM2.5 is reduced 5% over the summer, with highest reduction in regions and on days of greater PM2.5. A similar approach evaluates the air quality impacts of elevated electricity demand under a warmer climate. Meteorology is selected from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) and input to a building energy model, eQUEST, to assess electricity demand as a function of ambient temperature. The associated generation and emissions are calculated on a plant-by-plant basis by the MyPower power sector model. These emissions are referenced to the 2011 National Emissions Inventory to be modeled in CMAQ for the Eastern U.S. and extended to health impact evaluation with the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP). All results focus on the air quality and health consequences of energy system changes, considering grid-level changes to meet climate and air quality goals.

Quality of life and discriminating power of two questionnaires in fibromyalgia patients: Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey.

PubMed

Assumpção, Ana; Pagano, Tatiana; Matsutani, Luciana A; Ferreira, Elizabeth A G; Pereira, Carlos A B; Marques, Amélia P

2010-01-01

Fibromyalgia is a painful syndrome characterized by widespread chronic pain and associated symptoms with a negative impact on quality of life. Considering the subjectivity of quality of life measurements, the aim of this study was to verify the discriminating power of two quality of life questionnaires in patients with fibromyalgia: the generic Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the specific Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). A cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 participants divided into Fibromyalgia Group (FG) and Control Group (CG) (n=75 in each group). The participants were evaluated using the SF-36 and the FIQ. The data were analyzed by the Student t-test (α=0.05) and inferential analysis using the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curve--sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC). The significance level was 0.05. The sample was similar for age (CG: 47.8 ± 8.1; FG: 47.0 ± 7.7 years). A significant difference was observed in quality of life assessment in all aspects of both questionnaires (p<0.05). Higher sensibility, specificity and AUC were obtained by the FIQ (96%, 96%, 0.985, respectively), followed by the SF-36 (88%, 89% and 0.948 AUC). The FIQ presented the highest sensibility, specificity and AUC showing the most discriminating power. However the SF-36 is also a good instrument to assess quality of life in fibromyalgia patients, and we suggest that both should be used in parallel because they evaluate relevant and complementary aspects of quality of life.

Offset Printing Plate Quality Sensor on a Low-Cost Processor

PubMed Central

Poljak, Jelena; Botella, Guillermo; García, Carlos; Poljaček, Sanja Mahović; Prieto-Matías, Manuel; Tirado, Francisco

2013-01-01

The aim of this work is to develop a microprocessor-based sensor that measures the quality of the offset printing plate through the introduction of different image analysis applications. The main features of the presented system are the low cost, the low amount of power consumption, its modularity and easy integration with other industrial modules for printing plates, and its robustness against noise environments. For the sake of clarity, a viability analysis of previous software is presented through different strategies, based on dynamic histogram and Hough transform. This paper provides performance and scalability data compared with existing costly commercial devices. Furthermore, a general overview of quality control possibilities for printing plates is presented and could be useful to a system where such controls are regularly conducted. PMID:24284766

A design of wireless sensor networks for a power quality monitoring system.

PubMed

Lim, Yujin; Kim, Hak-Man; Kang, Sanggil

2010-01-01

Power grids deal with the business of generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power. Recently, interest in power quality in electrical distribution systems has increased rapidly. In Korea, the communication network to deliver voltage, current, and temperature measurements gathered from pole transformers to remote monitoring centers employs cellular mobile technology. Due to high cost of the cellular mobile technology, power quality monitoring measurements are limited and data gathering intervals are large. This causes difficulties in providing the power quality monitoring service. To alleviate the problems, in this paper we present a communication infrastructure to provide low cost, reliable data delivery. The communication infrastructure consists of wired connections between substations and monitoring centers, and wireless connections between pole transformers and substations. For the wireless connection, we employ a wireless sensor network and design its corresponding data forwarding protocol to improve the quality of data delivery. For the design, we adopt a tree-based data forwarding protocol in order to customize the distribution pattern of the power quality information. We verify the performance of the proposed data forwarding protocol quantitatively using the NS-2 network simulator.

Design of Passive Power Filter for Hybrid Series Active Power Filter using Estimation, Detection and Classification Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swain, Sushree Diptimayee; Ray, Pravat Kumar; Mohanty, K. B.

2016-06-01

This research paper discover the design of a shunt Passive Power Filter (PPF) in Hybrid Series Active Power Filter (HSAPF) that employs a novel analytic methodology which is superior than FFT analysis. This novel approach consists of the estimation, detection and classification of the signals. The proposed method is applied to estimate, detect and classify the power quality (PQ) disturbance such as harmonics. This proposed work deals with three methods: the harmonic detection through wavelet transform method, the harmonic estimation by Kalman Filter algorithm and harmonic classification by decision tree method. From different type of mother wavelets in wavelet transform method, the db8 is selected as suitable mother wavelet because of its potency on transient response and crouched oscillation at frequency domain. In harmonic compensation process, the detected harmonic is compensated through Hybrid Series Active Power Filter (HSAPF) based on Instantaneous Reactive Power Theory (IRPT). The efficacy of the proposed method is verified in MATLAB/SIMULINK domain and as well as with an experimental set up. The obtained results confirm the superiority of the proposed methodology than FFT analysis. This newly proposed PPF is used to make the conventional HSAPF more robust and stable.

Power quality load management for large spacecraft electrical power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lollar, Louis F.

1988-01-01

In December, 1986, a Center Director's Discretionary Fund (CDDF) proposal was granted to study power system control techniques in large space electrical power systems. Presented are the accomplishments in the area of power system control by power quality load management. In addition, information concerning the distortion problems in a 20 kHz ac power system is presented.

Air pollution effects due to deregulation of the electric industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davoodi, Khojasteh Riaz

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 introduced the concept of open-access into the electric utility industry which allows privately-owned utilities to transmit power produced by non-utility generators and independent power producers (IPPs). In April 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) laid down the final rules (Orders No. 888 & No. 889), which required utilities to open their transmission lines to any power producer and charge them no more than what they pay for the use of their own lines. These rules set the stage for the retail sale of electricity to industrial, commercial and residential utility customers; non-utility generators (Nugs); and power marketers. These statutory, regulatory and administrative changes create for the electric utility industry two different forces that contradict each other. The first is the concept of competition among utility companies; this places a greater emphasis on electric power generation cost control and affects generation/fuel mix selection and demand side management (DSM) activities. The second force, which is converse to the first, is that utilities are major contributors to the air pollution burden in the United States and environmental concerns are forcing them to reduce emissions of air pollutants by using more environmentally friendly fuels and implementing energy saving programs. This study evaluates the impact of deregulation within the investor owned electric utilities and how this deregulation effects air quality by investigating the trend in demand side management programs and generation/fuel mix. A survey was conducted of investor owned utilities and independent power producers. The results of the survey were analyzed by analysis of variance and regression analysis to determine the impact to Air Pollution. An air Quality Impact model was also developed in this study. This model consists of six modules: (1) demand side management and (2) consumption of coal, (3) gas, (4) renewable, (5) oil and (6) nuclear sources until the year 2005. Each module was analyzed separately and the result from each module was transferred into the Air Quality Impact model. The model assesses the changes in electricity generation within each module due to deregulation and these changes can then be correlated to the emission of air pollutants in the United States.

Analysis of Power Supply Heating Effect during High Temperature Experiments Based on the Electromagnetic Steel Teeming Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Ming; Wang, Qiang; Liu, Xin'an; Shi, Chunyang; Liu, Tie; He, Jicheng

2017-04-01

For further lowering inclusions and improving the quality of steel, a new electromagnetic steel-teeming technology based on electromagnetic induction heating was proposed. To assess the proposed technology, an experimental platform that imitates the actual production condition of steelmakers was established. High temperature experiments were performed to investigate the melting length of Fe-C alloy under different power and frequency conditions. The heating effect was analyzed, and the method of magnetic shielding to reduce the power loss of power supply was put forward. The results show that when the power is 40 kW and frequency is 25 kHz, the melting length of the Fe-C alloy is 89.2 mm in 120 s, which meets the requirements of steel teeming. In addition, when magnetic shielding material is installed under the induction coil, the power loss is reduced by about 64 %, effectively improving the heating effect of power supply.

Sb2Te3 and Its Superlattices: Optimization by Statistical Design.

PubMed

Behera, Jitendra K; Zhou, Xilin; Ranjan, Alok; Simpson, Robert E

2018-05-02

The objective of this work is to demonstrate the usefulness of fractional factorial design for optimizing the crystal quality of chalcogenide van der Waals (vdW) crystals. We statistically analyze the growth parameters of highly c axis oriented Sb 2 Te 3 crystals and Sb 2 Te 3 -GeTe phase change vdW heterostructured superlattices. The statistical significance of the growth parameters of temperature, pressure, power, buffer materials, and buffer layer thickness was found by fractional factorial design and response surface analysis. Temperature, pressure, power, and their second-order interactions are the major factors that significantly influence the quality of the crystals. Additionally, using tungsten rather than molybdenum as a buffer layer significantly enhances the crystal quality. Fractional factorial design minimizes the number of experiments that are necessary to find the optimal growth conditions, resulting in an order of magnitude improvement in the crystal quality. We highlight that statistical design of experiment methods, which is more commonly used in product design, should be considered more broadly by those designing and optimizing materials.

The relationship between depressive symptoms among female workers and job stress and sleep quality

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Objective Recently, workers' mental health has become important focus in the field of occupational health management. Depression is a psychiatric illness with a high prevalence. The association between job stress and depressive symptoms has been demonstrated in many studies. Recently, studies about the association between sleep quality and depressive symptoms have been reported, but there has been no large-scaled study in Korean female workers. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between job stress and sleep quality, and depressive symptoms in female workers. Methods From Mar 2011 to Aug 2011, 4,833 female workers in the manufacturing, finance, and service fields at 16 workplaces in Yeungnam province participated in this study, conducted in combination with a worksite-based health checkup initiated by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). In this study, a questionnaire survey was carried out using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form(KOSS-SF), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale(CES-D). The collected data was entered in the system and analyzed using the PASW (version 18.0) program. A correlation analysis, cross analysis, multivariate logistic regression analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results Among the 4,883 subjects, 978 subjects (20.0%) were in the depression group. Job stress(OR=3.58, 95% CI=3.06-4.21) and sleep quality(OR=3.81, 95% CI=3.18-4.56) were strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that job stress displayed explanatory powers of 15.6% on depression while sleep quality displayed explanatory powers of 16.2%, showing that job stress and sleep quality had a closer relationship with depressive symptoms, compared to the other factors. The multivariate logistic regression analysis yielded odds ratios between the 7 subscales of job stress and depressive symptoms in the range of 1.30-2.72 and the odds ratio for the lack of reward was the highest(OR=2.72, 95% CI=2.32-3.19). In the partial correlation analysis between each of the 7 subscales of sleep quality (PSQI) and depressive symptoms, the correlation coefficient of subjective sleep quality and daytime dysfunction were 0.352 and 0.362, respectively. Conclusion This study showed that the depressive symptoms of female workers are closely related to their job stress and sleep quality. In particular, the lack of reward and subjective sleep factors are the greatest contributors to depression. In the future, a large-scale study should be performed to augment the current study and to reflect all age groups in a balanced manner. The findings on job stress, sleep, and depression can be utilized as source data to establish standards for mental health management of the ever increasing numbers of female members of the workplace. PMID:24472381

Wave Energy Prize - 1/20th Testing - Oscilla Power

DOE Data Explorer

Scharmen, Wesley

2016-09-16

Data from the 1/20th scale testing data completed on the Wave Energy Prize for the Oscilla Power team, including the 1/20th Test Plan, raw test data, video, photos, and data analysis results. The top level objective of the 1/20th scale device testing is to obtain the necessary measurements required for determining Average Climate Capture Width per Characteristic Capital Expenditure (ACE) and the Hydrodynamic Performance Quality (HPQ), key metrics for determining the WEPrize winners.

Wave Energy Prize - 1/20th Testing - RTI Wave Power

DOE Data Explorer

Scharmen, Wesley

2016-09-30

Data from the 1/20th scale testing data completed on the Wave Energy Prize for the RTI Wave Power team, including the 1/20th Test Plan, raw test data, video, photos, and data analysis results. The top level objective of the 1/20th scale device testing is to obtain the necessary measurements required for determining Average Climate Capture Width per Characteristic Capital Expenditure (ACE) and the Hydrodynamic Performance Quality (HPQ), key metrics for determining the Wave Energy Prize (WEP) winners.

Comparing HE Policies in Europe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bleiklie, Ivar; Michelsen, Svein

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for a comparative analysis of Higher Education policies that enables us to investigate the explanatory power of structural characteristics of politico-administrative systems. The policies that are studied aim at improving the efficiency and quality of institutional performance. The…

Direct energy balance based active disturbance rejection control for coal-fired power plant.

PubMed

Sun, Li; Hua, Qingsong; Li, Donghai; Pan, Lei; Xue, Yali; Lee, Kwang Y

2017-09-01

The conventional direct energy balance (DEB) based PI control can fulfill the fundamental tracking requirements of the coal-fired power plant. However, it is challenging to deal with the cases when the coal quality variation is present. To this end, this paper introduces the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) to the DEB structure, where the coal quality variation is deemed as a kind of unknown disturbance that can be estimated and mitigated promptly. Firstly, the nonlinearity of a recent power plant model is analyzed based on the gap metric, which provides guidance on how to set the pressure set-point in line with the power demand. Secondly, the approximate decoupling effect of the DEB structure is analyzed based on the relative gain analysis in frequency domain. Finally, the synthesis of the DEB based ADRC control system is carried out based on multi-objective optimization. The optimized ADRC results show that the integrated absolute error (IAE) indices of the tracking performances in both loops can be simultaneously improved, in comparison with the DEB based PI control and H ∞ control system. The regulation performance in the presence of the coal quality variation is significantly improved under the ADRC control scheme. Moreover, the robustness of the proposed strategy is shown comparable with the H ∞ control. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Spiking suppression of high power QCW pulse 1319 nm Nd:YAG laser with different intracavity doublers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bian, Qi; Zuo, Jun-Wei; Guo, Chuan; Xu, Chang; Shen, Yu; Zong, Nan; Bo, Yong; Peng, Qin-Jun; Chen, Hong-Bin; Cui, Da-Fu; Xu, Zu-Yan

2016-09-01

We describe the results of our efforts in suppressing spiking of a high power, high beam quality 1319 nm Nd:YAG microsecond-pulse laser with three different intracavity frequency doublers. The 1319 nm laser is generated by a quasi-continuous-wave diode-pumped Nd:YAG ring laser system. One potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP), two KTPs and one lithium triborate (LBO) as frequency doublers are installed in the ring resonator and tested, respectively. At 800 Hz repetition rate, with a pulse width of 100 µs, performances of spiking suppression for each case are observed. The average output power are 23.6 W, 22.7 W and 23.4 W with beam quality factors of M 2  =  2.21, 1.28 and 1.25 for one KTP, two KTPs and one LBO, respectively. The corresponding brightness are 270 MW/(cm2·sr), 780 MW/(cm2·sr) and 860 MW/(cm2·sr). With better beam quality, higher brightness, and easier maintainability, the LBO is the best option of the three. A laser rate equation model including the insertion loss of the doubler is applied for theoretical analysis of the output temporal pulse shape and power, and the simulated results agree well with the experimental data.

Programmable neural processing on a smartdust for brain-computer interfaces.

PubMed

Yuwen Sun; Shimeng Huang; Oresko, Joseph J; Cheng, Allen C

2010-10-01

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) offer tremendous promise for improving the quality of life for disabled individuals. BCIs use spike sorting to identify the source of each neural firing. To date, spike sorting has been performed by either using off-chip analysis, which requires a wired connection penetrating the skull to a bulky external power/processing unit, or via custom application-specific integrated circuits that lack the programmability to perform different algorithms and upgrades. In this research, we propose and test the feasibility of performing on-chip, real-time spike sorting on a programmable smartdust, including feature extraction, classification, compression, and wireless transmission. A detailed power/performance tradeoff analysis using DVFS is presented. Our experimental results show that the execution time and power density meet the requirements to perform real-time spike sorting and wireless transmission on a single neural channel.

Power analysis on the time effect for the longitudinal Rasch model.

PubMed

Feddag, M L; Blanchin, M; Hardouin, J B; Sebille, V

2014-01-01

Statistics literature in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences typically stress the importance of power analysis. Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) such as quality of life and other perceived health measures (pain, fatigue, stress,...) are increasingly used as important health outcomes in clinical trials or in epidemiological studies. They cannot be directly observed nor measured as other clinical or biological data and they are often collected through questionnaires with binary or polytomous items. The Rasch model is the well known model in the item response theory (IRT) for binary data. The article proposes an approach to evaluate the statistical power of the time effect for the longitudinal Rasch model with two time points. The performance of this method is compared to the one obtained by simulation study. Finally, the proposed approach is illustrated on one subscale of the SF-36 questionnaire.

Review of methodological and experimental LIBS techniques for coal analysis and their application in power plants in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yang; Zhang, Lei; Zhao, Shu-Xia; Li, Yu-Fang; Gong, Yao; Dong, Lei; Ma, Wei-Guang; Yin, Wang-Bao; Yao, Shun-Chun; Lu, Ji-Dong; Xiao, Lian-Tuan; Jia, Suo-Tang

2016-12-01

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an emerging analytical spectroscopy technique. This review presents the main recent developments in China regarding the implementation of LIBS for coal analysis. The paper mainly focuses on the progress of the past few years in the fundamentals, data pretreatment, calibration model, and experimental issues of LIBS and its application to coal analysis. Many important domestic studies focusing on coal quality analysis have been conducted. For example, a proposed novel hybrid quantification model can provide more reproducible quantitative analytical results; the model obtained the average absolute errors (AREs) of 0.42%, 0.05%, 0.07%, and 0.17% for carbon, hydrogen, volatiles, and ash, respectively, and a heat value of 0.07 MJ/kg. Atomic/ionic emission lines and molecular bands, such as CN and C2, have been employed to generate more accurate analysis results, achieving an ARE of 0.26% and a 0.16% limit of detection (LOD) for the prediction of unburned carbon in fly ashes. Both laboratory and on-line LIBS apparatuses have been developed for field application in coal-fired power plants. We consider that both the accuracy and the repeatability of the elemental and proximate analysis of coal have increased significantly and further efforts will be devoted to realizing large-scale commercialization of coal quality analyzer in China.

Cultural values and health service quality in China.

PubMed

Polsa, Pia; Fuxiang, Wei; Sääksjärvi, Maria; Shuyuan, Pei

2013-01-01

Several service quality studies show how cultural features may influence the way service quality is perceived. However, few studies specifically describe culture's influence on health service quality. Also, there are few studies that take into account patients' health service quality perceptions. This article seeks to present a first step to fill these gaps by examining patients' cultural values and their health service quality assessments. The study draws on published work and applies its ideas to Chinese healthcare settings. Data consist of hospital service perceptions in the People's Republic of China (PRC), a society that is socially, economically and culturally undergoing major changes. In total, 96 patients were surveyed. Data relationships were tested using partial least square (PLS) analysis. Findings show that Chinese patients' cultural values and their health service assessments are related and that the cultural values themselves seem to be changing. Additionally, further analyses provided interesting results pointing to which cultural values influenced service quality perceptions. The strongest service quality predictor was power distance. The sample is relatively small and collected from only one major hospital in China. Therefore, future research should extend the sample size and scope. Follow-up research could also include cross-cultural investigations of perceived health service quality to substantiate cultural influences on health service quality perceptions. In line with similar research in other contexts, the study confirms that power distance has a significant relationship with service quality perceptions. The study contributes to existing health service literature by offering patients' views on health service quality and by describing relationships between health service perceptions and cultural values--the study's main contribution.

LANDSAT-4 image data quality analysis for energy related applications. [nuclear power plant sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wukelic, G. E. (Principal Investigator)

1983-01-01

No useable LANDSAT 4 TM data were obtained for the Hanford site in the Columbia Plateau region, but TM simulator data for a Virginia Electric Company nuclear power plant was used to test image processing algorithms. Principal component analyses of this data set clearly indicated that thermal plumes in surface waters used for reactor cooling would be discrenible. Image processing and analysis programs were successfully testing using the 7 band Arkansas test scene and preliminary analysis of TM data for the Savanah River Plant shows that current interactive, image enhancement, analysis and integration techniques can be effectively used for LANDSAT 4 data. Thermal band data appear adequate for gross estimates of thermal changes occurring near operating nuclear facilities especially in surface water bodies being used for reactor cooling purposes. Additional image processing software was written and tested which provides for more rapid and effective analysis of the 7 band TM data.

Intrapersonal self-transcendence, meaning-in-life and nurse-patient interaction: powerful assets for quality of life in cognitively intact nursing-home patients.

PubMed

Haugan, Gørill; Moksnes, Unni Karin; Løhre, Audhild

2016-12-01

Spirituality has demonstrated a significant impact on quality of life in nursing-home patients. Likewise, as essential aspects of spirituality, hope, self-transcendence, and meaning are found to be vital resources to nursing-home patients' global well-being. Further, nurse-patient interaction has demonstrated a powerful influence on patient's hope, self-transcendence, and meaning-in-life, as well as on anxiety and depression. The present study investigated the associations of hope, self-transcendence, meaning, and perceived nurse-patient interaction with quality of life. In a cross-sectional design, a sample of 202 cognitively intact nursing-home patients in Mid-Norway responded to the Herth Hope Index, the Self-Transcendence scale, the Purpose-in-Life test, the Nurse-Patient Interaction scale, and a one-item overall measure on quality of life. Using SPSS ordinal regression, bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted with quality of life as dependent variable. Controlling for gender, age, and residential time, all the scales were significantly related to quality of life in the bivariate analyses. Intrapersonal self-transcendence showed an exceptional position presenting a very high odds ratio in the bivariate analysis, and also the strongest association with quality of life in multivariate analyses. Meaning and nurse-patient interaction also showed independent and significant associations with quality of life. The associations found encourage the idea that intrapersonal self-transcendence, meaning-in-life, and nurse-patient interaction are powerful health-promoting factors that significantly influence on nursing-home patients' quality of life. Therefore, pedagogical approaches for advancing caregivers' presence and confidence in health-promoting interaction should be upgraded and matured. Proper educational programs for developing interacting skills including assessing and supporting patients' intrapersonal self-transcendence and meaning-in-life should be utilised and their effectiveness evaluated. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Chemical Fingerprint and Quantitative Analysis for the Quality Evaluation of Docynia dcne Leaves by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Chemometrics Analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaoyu; Mei, Xueran; Wang, Zhanguo; Wu, Jing; Liu, Gang; Hu, Huiling; Li, Qijuan

2018-05-24

Docynia dcne leaf from the genus of Docynia Dcne (including three species of Docynia delavayi, Docynia indica and Docynia longiunguis.) is an important raw material of local ethnic minority tea, ethnomedicines and food supplements in southwestern areas of China. However, D. dcne leaves from these three species are usually used confusingly, which could influence the therapeutic effect of it. A rapid and effective method for the chemical fingerprint and quantitative analysis to evaluate the quality of D. dcne leaves was established. The chemometric methods, including similarity analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and partial least-squares discrimination analysis, were applied to distinguish 30 batches of D. dcne leaf samples from these three species. The above results could validate each other and successfully group these samples into three categories which were closely related to the species of D. dcne leaves. Moreover, isoquercitrin and phlorizin were screened as the chemical markers to evaluate the quality of D. dcne leaves from different species. And the contents of isoquercitrin and phlorizin varied remarkably in these samples, with ranges of 6.41-38.84 and 95.73-217.76 mg/g, respectively. All the results indicated that an integration method of chemical fingerprint couple with chemometrics analysis and quantitative assessment was a powerful and beneficial tool for quality control of D. dcne leaves, and could be applied also for differentiation and quality control of other herbal preparations.

Low Power Consumption Lasers for Next Generation Miniature Optical Spectrometers for Major Constituent and Trace Gas Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forouhar, Siamak; Soibel, Alexander; Frez, Clifford; Qiu, Yueming; Chen, J.; Hosoda, T.; Kipshidze, G.; Shterengas, L.; Tsvid, G.; Belenky, G.;

Modelling results for the thermal management sub-system of a combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cell system (FCS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colella, Whitney G.

Although the fuel cells research and development community has traditionally focused the majority of its efforts on improving the fuel cell stack's voltage (electrical efficiency), combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cell system (FCSs) may achieve a competitive advantage over conventional generators only if the research and development community refocuses its efforts on cultivating other inherent technical qualities of such systems. Based on an analysis of their use within energy markets, these inherent qualities include (1) an ability to vary their electrical load rapidly, (2) an ability to vary their heat to power ratio during operation, and (3) an ability to deliver their waste heat to a useful thermal sink. This article focuses on the last of three design objectives: effectively capturing heat from a CHP FCS. This article (1) delineates the design specifications for a 6 kWe CHP FCS, (2) analyses four possible cooling loop configurations for this system, and (3) concludes which one of these provides the optimal heat recovery performance.

Marine ecological habitat: a case study on projected thermal power plant around Dharamtar Creek, India.

PubMed

Kulkarni, Vikrant A; Naidu, Velamala S; Jagtap, Tanaji G

2011-03-01

Estuaries and tidal creeks, harboring mangroves particularly, face tremendous anthropogenic pressures. Expansion of mega cities and the thermal power plants are generally proposed in the vicinity of estuaries and creek, due to the feasibility of intake and discharge of water for cooling. Discharges from such developments remain constant threat of increasing thermal pollution and affecting the quality of environment. The baseline information on prevailing quality of aquatic environment comes handy for understanding alterations due to such activities. Principle component analysis (PCA) revealed that temperature, pH, salinity, suspended solids, DO, BOD and phaeophytins are major parameters influencing the creek system. Heated effluents may have direct and adverse impacts on these parameters, altering biotic constituents. Hence, periodic and detailed observations are necessary to estimate exact response of biotic communities to changing environment. The present paper is based on case study, projecting a power plant in the vicinity of major mangrove habitats of Dharamtar creek.

Low power consumption lasers for next generation miniature optical spectrometers for trace gas analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forouhar, S.; Frez, C.; Franz, K. J.; Ksendzov, A.; Qiu, Y.; Soibel, K. A.; Chen, J.; Hosoda, T.; Kipshidze, G.; Shterengas, L.; Belenky, G.

2011-01-01

The air quality of any manned spacecraft needs to be continuously monitored in order to safeguard the health of the crew. Air quality monitoring grows in importance as mission duration increases. Due to the small size, low power draw, and performance reliability, semiconductor laser-based instruments are viable candidates for this purpose. Achieving a minimum instrument size requires lasers with emission wavelength coinciding with the absorption of the fundamental absorption lines of the target gases, which are mostly in the 3.0-5.0 μm wavelength range. In this paper we report on our progress developing high wall plug efficiency type-I quantum-well GaSb-based diode lasers operating at room temperatures in the spectral region near 3.0-3.5 μm and quantum cascade (QC) lasers in the 4.0-5.0 μm range. These lasers will enable the development of miniature, low-power laser spectrometers for environmental monitoring of the spacecraft.

The impact of a workplace-based weight loss program on work-related outcomes in overweight male shift workers.

PubMed

Morgan, Philip J; Collins, Clare E; Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Cook, Alyce T; Berthon, Bronwyn; Mitchell, Simon; Callister, Robin

2012-02-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a workplace-based weight loss program (Workplace POWER [Preventing Obesity Without Eating like a Rabbit]) for male shift workers on a number of work-related outcomes. A total of 110 overweight/obese (body mass index = 25-40) (mean [SD] age = 44.3 [8.6] years; body mass index = 30.5 [3.6]) male employees at Tomago Aluminium (New South Wales, Australia) were randomized to either (i) Workplace POWER program (n = 65) or (ii) a 14-week wait-list control group (n = 45). Men were assessed at baseline and 14-week follow-up for weight, quality of life, sleepiness, productivity at work (presenteeism), absenteeism, and workplace injuries. Retention was 81%. Intention-to-treat analysis using linear mixed models revealed a significant intervention effect for weight, quality of life (mental), presenteeism, absenteeism, and injuries. The Workplace POWER weight loss program improved a number of important work-related outcomes in male shift workers.

Quantifying the quality of medical x-ray images: An evaluation based on normal anatomy for lumbar spine and chest radiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tingberg, Anders Martin

Optimisation in diagnostic radiology requires accurate methods for determination of patient absorbed dose and clinical image quality. Simple methods for evaluation of clinical image quality are at present scarce and this project aims at developing such methods. Two methods are used and further developed; fulfillment of image criteria (IC) and visual grading analysis (VGA). Clinical image quality descriptors are defined based on these two methods: image criteria score (ICS) and visual grading analysis score (VGAS), respectively. For both methods the basis is the Image Criteria of the ``European Guidelines on Quality Criteria for Diagnostic Radiographic Images''. Both methods have proved to be useful for evaluation of clinical image quality. The two methods complement each other: IC is an absolute method, which means that the quality of images of different patients and produced with different radiographic techniques can be compared with each other. The separating power of IC is, however, weaker than that of VGA. VGA is the best method for comparing images produced with different radiographic techniques and has strong separating power, but the results are relative, since the quality of an image is compared to the quality of a reference image. The usefulness of the two methods has been verified by comparing the results from both of them with results from a generally accepted method for evaluation of clinical image quality, receiver operating characteristics (ROC). The results of the comparison between the two methods based on visibility of anatomical structures and the method based on detection of pathological structures (free-response forced error) indicate that the former two methods can be used for evaluation of clinical image quality as efficiently as the method based on ROC. More studies are, however, needed for us to be able to draw a general conclusion, including studies of other organs, using other radiographic techniques, etc. The results of the experimental evaluation of clinical image quality are compared with physical quantities calculated with a theoretical model based on a voxel phantom, and correlations are found. The results demonstrate that the computer model can be a useful toot in planning further experimental studies.

Generation of High-Quality SWATH® Acquisition Data for Label-free Quantitative Proteomics Studies Using TripleTOF® Mass Spectrometers

PubMed Central

Schilling, Birgit; Gibson, Bradford W.; Hunter, Christie L.

2017-01-01

Data-independent acquisition is a powerful mass spectrometry technique that enables comprehensive MS and MS/MS analysis of all detectable species, providing an information rich data file that can be mined deeply. Here, we describe how to acquire high-quality SWATH® Acquisition data to be used for large quantitative proteomic studies. We specifically focus on using variable sized Q1 windows for acquisition of MS/MS data for generating higher specificity quantitative data. PMID:28188533

Isolated Power Generation System Using Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator with Improved Power Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arya, Sabha Raj; Patel, Ashish; Giri, Ashutosh

2018-06-01

This paper deals wind energy based power generation system using Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). It is controlled using advanced enhanced phase-lock loop for power quality features using distribution static compensator to eliminate the harmonics and to provide KVAR compensation as well as load balancing. It also manages rated potential at the point of common interface under linear and non-linear loads. In order to have better efficiency and reliable operation of PMSG driven by wind turbine, it is necessary to analyze the governing equation of wind based turbine and PMSG under fixed and variable wind speed. For handling power quality problems, power electronics based shunt connected custom power device is used in three wire system. The simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment have been carried out in order to demonstrate this model and control approach used for the power quality enhancement. The performance results show the adequate performance of PMSG based power generation system and control algorithm.

Isolated Power Generation System Using Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator with Improved Power Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arya, Sabha Raj; Patel, Ashish; Giri, Ashutosh

2018-03-01

This paper deals wind energy based power generation system using Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). It is controlled using advanced enhanced phase-lock loop for power quality features using distribution static compensator to eliminate the harmonics and to provide KVAR compensation as well as load balancing. It also manages rated potential at the point of common interface under linear and non-linear loads. In order to have better efficiency and reliable operation of PMSG driven by wind turbine, it is necessary to analyze the governing equation of wind based turbine and PMSG under fixed and variable wind speed. For handling power quality problems, power electronics based shunt connected custom power device is used in three wire system. The simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment have been carried out in order to demonstrate this model and control approach used for the power quality enhancement. The performance results show the adequate performance of PMSG based power generation system and control algorithm.

An economic analysis of a commercial approach to the design and fabrication of a space power system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Putney, Z.; Been, J. F.

1979-01-01

A commercial approach to the design and fabrication of an economical space power system is presented. Cost reductions are projected through the conceptual design of a 2 kW space power system built with the capability for having serviceability. The approach to system costing that is used takes into account both the constraints of operation in space and commercial production engineering approaches. The cost of this power system reflects a variety of cost/benefit tradeoffs that would reduce system cost as a function of system reliability requirements, complexity, and the impact of rigid specifications. A breakdown of the system design, documentation, fabrication, and reliability and quality assurance cost estimates are detailed.

Opportunities and Benefits for Powerchair Users Through Power Soccer.

PubMed

Jeffress, Michael S; Brown, William J

2017-07-01

Power soccer (or powerchair football), the first competitive team sport for users of motorized wheelchairs, is receiving increased attention among people with disabilities, healthcare professionals, and academics. The present study provides a qualitative analysis of the experiences of 34 American power soccer athletes. Participant observation and in-depth interviews with 11 female and 23 male athletes were conducted between 2007 and 2013. Results indicate that involvement in power soccer provides participants with an increased sense of empowerment, acquisition of social capital, and psychosocial benefits, including a deep satisfaction of the desire to participate in competitive sports and an opportunity to be independent. Implications of these findings for improving the quality of life of people with physical disabilities and for future research are discussed.

The Functions and Dysfunctions of College Rankings: An Analysis of Institutional Expenditure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jeongeun

2018-01-01

College rankings have become a powerful influence in higher education. While the determinants of educational quality are not clearly defined, college rankings designate an institution's standing in a numerical order based on quantifiable measurements that focus primarily on institutional resources. Previous research has identified the…

Quantifying Improbability: An Analysis of the Lloyd’s of London Business Blackout Cyber Attack Scenario

DTIC Science & Technology

Scenarios that describe cyber attacks on the electric grid consistently predict significant disruptions to the economy and citizens quality of life...phenomena that deserve further investigation, such as the importance of some individual power plants in influencing the adversarys probability of

Managing Dialogic Use of Exemplars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carless, David; Chan, Kennedy Kam Ho

2017-01-01

The analysis of exemplars is a potentially powerful way of acquainting students with academic standards and supporting their capacities to make informed academic judgements. This paper investigates the role of dialogue in supporting students to develop their appreciation of the nature of quality work. The research derives from a project involving…

Why do electricity policy and competitive markets fail to use advanced PV systems to improve distribution power quality?

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

McHenry, Mark P.; Johnson, Jay; Hightower, Mike

The increasing pressure for network operators to meet distribution network power quality standards with increasing peak loads, renewable energy targets, and advances in automated distributed power electronics and communications is forcing policy-makers to understand new means to distribute costs and benefits within electricity markets. Discussions surrounding how distributed generation (DG) exhibits active voltage regulation and power factor/reactive power control and other power quality capabilities are complicated by uncertainties of baseline local distribution network power quality and to whom and how costs and benefits of improved electricity infrastructure will be allocated. DG providing ancillary services that dynamically respond to the networkmore » characteristics could lead to major network improvements. With proper market structures renewable energy systems could greatly improve power quality on distribution systems with nearly no additional cost to the grid operators. Renewable DG does have variability challenges, though this issue can be overcome with energy storage, forecasting, and advanced inverter functionality. This paper presents real data from a large-scale grid-connected PV array with large-scale storage and explores effective mitigation measures for PV system variability. As a result, we discuss useful inverter technical knowledge for policy-makers to mitigate ongoing inflation of electricity network tariff components by new DG interconnection requirements or electricity markets which value power quality and control.« less

Why do electricity policy and competitive markets fail to use advanced PV systems to improve distribution power quality?

DOE PAGES

McHenry, Mark P.; Johnson, Jay; Hightower, Mike

2016-01-01

The increasing pressure for network operators to meet distribution network power quality standards with increasing peak loads, renewable energy targets, and advances in automated distributed power electronics and communications is forcing policy-makers to understand new means to distribute costs and benefits within electricity markets. Discussions surrounding how distributed generation (DG) exhibits active voltage regulation and power factor/reactive power control and other power quality capabilities are complicated by uncertainties of baseline local distribution network power quality and to whom and how costs and benefits of improved electricity infrastructure will be allocated. DG providing ancillary services that dynamically respond to the networkmore » characteristics could lead to major network improvements. With proper market structures renewable energy systems could greatly improve power quality on distribution systems with nearly no additional cost to the grid operators. Renewable DG does have variability challenges, though this issue can be overcome with energy storage, forecasting, and advanced inverter functionality. This paper presents real data from a large-scale grid-connected PV array with large-scale storage and explores effective mitigation measures for PV system variability. As a result, we discuss useful inverter technical knowledge for policy-makers to mitigate ongoing inflation of electricity network tariff components by new DG interconnection requirements or electricity markets which value power quality and control.« less

Evaluation of Wind Power Forecasts from the Vermont Weather Analytics Center and Identification of Improvements

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

Optis, Michael; Scott, George N.; Draxl, Caroline

The goal of this analysis was to assess the wind power forecast accuracy of the Vermont Weather Analytics Center (VTWAC) forecast system and to identify potential improvements to the forecasts. Based on the analysis at Georgia Mountain, the following recommendations for improving forecast performance were made: 1. Resolve the significant negative forecast bias in February-March 2017 (50% underprediction on average) 2. Improve the ability of the forecast model to capture the strong diurnal cycle of wind power 3. Add ability for forecast model to assess internal wake loss, particularly at sites where strong diurnal shifts in wind direction are present.more » Data availability and quality limited the robustness of this forecast assessment. A more thorough analysis would be possible given a longer period of record for the data (at least one full year), detailed supervisory control and data acquisition data for each wind plant, and more detailed information on the forecast system input data and methodologies.« less

Study on development system of increasing gearbox for high-performance wind-power generator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Hongbin; Yan, Kejun; Zhao, Junyu

2005-12-01

Based on the analysis of the development potentiality of wind-power generator and domestic manufacture of its key parts in China, an independent development system of the Increasing Gearbox for High-performance Wind-power Generator (IGHPWG) was introduced. The main elements of the system were studied, including the procedure design, design analysis system, manufacturing technology and detecting system, and the relative important technologies were analyzed such as mixed optimal joint transmission structure of the first planetary drive with two grade parallel axle drive based on equal strength, tooth root round cutting technology before milling hard tooth surface, high-precise tooth grinding technology, heat treatment optimal technology and complex surface technique, and rig test and detection technique of IGHPWG. The development conception was advanced the data share and quality assurance system through all the elements of the development system. The increasing Gearboxes for 600KW and 1MW Wind-power Generator have been successfully developed through the application of the development system.

MATLAB Simulation of UPQC for Power Quality Mitigation Using an Ant Colony Based Fuzzy Control Technique

PubMed Central

Kumarasabapathy, N.; Manoharan, P. S.

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a fuzzy logic based new control scheme for the Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) for minimizing the voltage sag and total harmonic distortion in the distribution system consequently to improve the power quality. UPQC is a recent power electronic module which guarantees better power quality mitigation as it has both series-active and shunt-active power filters (APFs). The fuzzy logic controller has recently attracted a great deal of attention and possesses conceptually the quality of the simplicity by tackling complex systems with vagueness and ambiguity. In this research, the fuzzy logic controller is utilized for the generation of reference signal controlling the UPQC. To enable this, a systematic approach for creating the fuzzy membership functions is carried out by using an ant colony optimization technique for optimal fuzzy logic control. An exhaustive simulation study using the MATLAB/Simulink is carried out to investigate and demonstrate the performance of the proposed fuzzy logic controller and the simulation results are compared with the PI controller in terms of its performance in improving the power quality by minimizing the voltage sag and total harmonic distortion. PMID:26504895

Statistical properties of relative weight distributions of four salmonid species and their sampling implications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hyatt, M.W.; Hubert, W.A.

2001-01-01

We assessed relative weight (Wr) distributions among 291 samples of stock-to-quality-length brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, brown trout Salmo trutta, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, and cutthroat trout O. clarki from lentic and lotic habitats. Statistics describing Wr sample distributions varied slightly among species and habitat types. The average sample was leptokurtotic and slightly skewed to the right with a standard deviation of about 10, but the shapes of Wr distributions varied widely among samples. Twenty-two percent of the samples had nonnormal distributions, suggesting the need to evaluate sample distributions before applying statistical tests to determine whether assumptions are met. In general, our findings indicate that samples of about 100 stock-to-quality-length fish are needed to obtain confidence interval widths of four Wr units around the mean. Power analysis revealed that samples of about 50 stock-to-quality-length fish are needed to detect a 2% change in mean Wr at a relatively high level of power (beta = 0.01, alpha = 0.05).

Data-Aware Retrodiction for Asynchronous Harmonic Measurement in a Cyber-Physical Energy System.

PubMed

Liu, Youda; Wang, Xue; Liu, Yanchi; Cui, Sujin

2016-08-18

Cyber-physical energy systems provide a networked solution for safety, reliability and efficiency problems in smart grids. On the demand side, the secure and trustworthy energy supply requires real-time supervising and online power quality assessing. Harmonics measurement is necessary in power quality evaluation. However, under the large-scale distributed metering architecture, harmonic measurement faces the out-of-sequence measurement (OOSM) problem, which is the result of latencies in sensing or the communication process and brings deviations in data fusion. This paper depicts a distributed measurement network for large-scale asynchronous harmonic analysis and exploits a nonlinear autoregressive model with exogenous inputs (NARX) network to reorder the out-of-sequence measuring data. The NARX network gets the characteristics of the electrical harmonics from practical data rather than the kinematic equations. Thus, the data-aware network approximates the behavior of the practical electrical parameter with real-time data and improves the retrodiction accuracy. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the data-aware method maintains a reasonable consumption of computing resources. Experiments on a practical testbed of a cyber-physical system are implemented, and harmonic measurement and analysis accuracy are adopted to evaluate the measuring mechanism under a distributed metering network. Results demonstrate an improvement of the harmonics analysis precision and validate the asynchronous measuring method in cyber-physical energy systems.

Optimal Stabilization of Social Welfare under Small Variation of Operating Condition with Bifurcation Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanda, Sandip; De, Abhinandan

2016-12-01

A social welfare optimization technique has been proposed in this paper with a developed state space based model and bifurcation analysis to offer substantial stability margin even in most inadvertent states of power system networks. The restoration of the power market dynamic price equilibrium has been negotiated in this paper, by forming Jacobian of the sensitivity matrix to regulate the state variables for the standardization of the quality of solution in worst possible contingencies of the network and even with co-option of intermittent renewable energy sources. The model has been tested in IEEE 30 bus system and illustrious particle swarm optimization has assisted the fusion of the proposed model and methodology.

Use of local noise power spectrum and wavelet analysis in quantitative image quality assurance for EPIDs

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

Lee, Soyoung

Purpose: To investigate the use of local noise power spectrum (NPS) to characterize image noise and wavelet analysis to isolate defective pixels and inter-subpanel flat-fielding artifacts for quantitative quality assurance (QA) of electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs). Methods: A total of 93 image sets including custom-made bar-pattern images and open exposure images were collected from four iViewGT a-Si EPID systems over three years. Global quantitative metrics such as modulation transform function (MTF), NPS, and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) were computed for each image set. Local NPS was also calculated for individual subpanels by sampling region of interests within each subpanelmore » of the EPID. The 1D NPS, obtained by radially averaging the 2D NPS, was fitted to a power-law function. The r-square value of the linear regression analysis was used as a singular metric to characterize the noise properties of individual subpanels of the EPID. The sensitivity of the local NPS was first compared with the global quantitative metrics using historical image sets. It was then compared with two commonly used commercial QA systems with images collected after applying two different EPID calibration methods (single-level gain and multilevel gain). To detect isolated defective pixels and inter-subpanel flat-fielding artifacts, Haar wavelet transform was applied on the images. Results: Global quantitative metrics including MTF, NPS, and DQE showed little change over the period of data collection. On the contrary, a strong correlation between the local NPS (r-square values) and the variation of the EPID noise condition was observed. The local NPS analysis indicated image quality improvement with the r-square values increased from 0.80 ± 0.03 (before calibration) to 0.85 ± 0.03 (after single-level gain calibration) and to 0.96 ± 0.03 (after multilevel gain calibration), while the commercial QA systems failed to distinguish the image quality improvement between the two calibration methods. With wavelet analysis, defective pixels and inter-subpanel flat-fielding artifacts were clearly identified as spikes after thresholding the inversely transformed images. Conclusions: The proposed local NPS (r-square values) showed superior sensitivity to the noise level variations of individual subpanels compared with global quantitative metrics such as MTF, NPS, and DQE. Wavelet analysis was effective in detecting isolated defective pixels and inter-subpanel flat-fielding artifacts. The proposed methods are promising for the early detection of imaging artifacts of EPIDs.« less

Integrated thermal disturbance analysis of optical system of astronomical telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Dehua; Jiang, Zibo; Li, Xinnan

2008-07-01

During operation, astronomical telescope will undergo thermal disturbance, especially more serious in solar telescope, which may cause degradation of image quality. As drives careful thermal load investigation and measure applied to assess its effect on final image quality during design phase. Integrated modeling analysis is boosting the process to find comprehensive optimum design scheme by software simulation. In this paper, we focus on the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software-ANSYS-for thermal disturbance analysis and the optical design software-ZEMAX-for optical system design. The integrated model based on ANSYS and ZEMAX is briefed in the first from an overview of point. Afterwards, we discuss the establishment of thermal model. Complete power series polynomial with spatial coordinates is introduced to present temperature field analytically. We also borrow linear interpolation technique derived from shape function in finite element theory to interface the thermal model and structural model and further to apply the temperatures onto structural model nodes. Thereby, the thermal loads are transferred with as high fidelity as possible. Data interface and communication between the two softwares are discussed mainly on mirror surfaces and hence on the optical figure representation and transformation. We compare and comment the two different methods, Zernike polynomials and power series expansion, for representing and transforming deformed optical surface to ZEMAX. Additionally, these methods applied to surface with non-circular aperture are discussed. At the end, an optical telescope with parabolic primary mirror of 900 mm in diameter is analyzed to illustrate the above discussion. Finite Element Model with most interested parts of the telescope is generated in ANSYS with necessary structural simplification and equivalence. Thermal analysis is performed and the resulted positions and figures of the optics are to be retrieved and transferred to ZEMAX, and thus final image quality is evaluated with thermal disturbance.

Incorporating health care quality into health antitrust law

PubMed Central

2008-01-01

Background Antitrust authorities treat price as a proxy for hospital quality since health care quality is difficult to observe. As the ability to measure quality improved, more research became necessary to investigate the relationship between hospital market power and patient outcomes. This paper examines the impact of hospital competition on the quality of care as measured by the risk-adjusted mortality rates with the hospital as the unit of analysis. The study separately examines the effect of competition on non-profit hospitals. Methods We use California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) data from 1997 through 2002. Empirical model is a cross-sectional study of 373 hospitals. Regression analysis is used to estimate the relationship between Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) risk-adjusted mortality rates and hospital competition. Results Regression results show lower risk-adjusted mortality rates in the presence of a more competitive environment. This result holds for all alternative hospital market definitions. Non-profit hospitals do not have better patient outcomes than investor-owned hospitals. However, they tend to provide better quality in less competitive environments. CABG volume did not have a significant effect on patient outcomes. Conclusion Quality should be incorporated into the antitrust analysis. When mergers lead to higher prices and lower quality, thus lower social welfare, the antitrust challenge of hospital mergers is warranted. The impact of lower hospital competition on quality of care delivered by non-profit hospitals is ambiguous. PMID:18430219

Development and case study of a science-based software platform to support policy making on air quality.

PubMed

Zhu, Yun; Lao, Yanwen; Jang, Carey; Lin, Chen-Jen; Xing, Jia; Wang, Shuxiao; Fu, Joshua S; Deng, Shuang; Xie, Junping; Long, Shicheng

2015-01-01

This article describes the development and implementations of a novel software platform that supports real-time, science-based policy making on air quality through a user-friendly interface. The software, RSM-VAT, uses a response surface modeling (RSM) methodology and serves as a visualization and analysis tool (VAT) for three-dimensional air quality data obtained by atmospheric models. The software features a number of powerful and intuitive data visualization functions for illustrating the complex nonlinear relationship between emission reductions and air quality benefits. The case study of contiguous U.S. demonstrates that the enhanced RSM-VAT is capable of reproducing the air quality model results with Normalized Mean Bias <2% and assisting in air quality policy making in near real time. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The particulate-related health benefits of reducing power plant emissions

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

Schneider, C.

The report estimates the adverse human health effects due to exposure to particulate matter from power plants. Power plants are significant emitters of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. In many parts of the U.S., especially the Midwest, power plants are the largest contributors. These gases are harmful themselves, and they contribute to the formation of acid rain and particulate matter. Particulate matter reduces visibility, often producing a milky haze that blankets wide regions, and it is a serious public health problem. Over the past decade and more, numerous studies have linked particulate matter to a wide range of adverse healthmore » effects in people of all ages. Epidemiologists have consistently linked particulate matter with effects ranging from premature death, hospital admissions and asthma attacks to chronic bronchitis. This study documents the health impacts from power plant air pollution emissions. Using the best available emissions and air quality modeling programs, the stud y forecasts ambient air quality for a business-as-usual baseline scenario for 2007, assuming full implementation of the Acid Rain program and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Summer Smog rule (the 1999 NO{sub x} SIP Call). The study then estimates the attributable health impacts from all power plant emissions. Finally, the study estimates air quality for a specific policy alternative: reducing total power plant emissions of SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} 75 percent form the levels emitted in 1997. The difference between this '75 percent reduction scenario' and the baseline provides an estimate of the health effects that would be avoided by this reduction in power plant emissions. In addition to the policy scenario, the work involved performing sensitivity analyses to examine alternative emission reductions and forecast ambient air quality using a second air quality model. EPA uses both air quality models extensively, and both suggest that power plants make a large contribution to ambient particulate matter levels in the Eastern U.S. To put the power plant results in context, air pollution from all on-road and off-road diesel engine emissions was also examined. The results suggest that both power plants and diesel engines make a large contribution to ambient particulate matter levels and the associated health effects. Chapter 2 describes the development of the emissions inventory. Chapter 3 describes the methods used to estimate changes in particulate matter concentrations. Chapter 4 describes general issues arising in estimating and valuing changes in adverse health effects associated with changes in particulate matter. Chapter 5 describes in some detail the methods used for estimating and valuing adverse health effects, and in Chapter 6, the results of the various analyses are presented. The study includes 6 appendices. Appendix A provides results of this analysis for all metropolitan areas in the U.S. and a list of the counties in each metropolitan area. Appendices B, C and D present a detailed examination of how the pollution emission estimates were derived and then translated into forecasts of ambient particulate matter levels.« less

The power of power wheelchairs: Mobility choices of community-dwelling, older adults

PubMed Central

Mortenson, WB; Hammell, KW; Luts, A; Soles, C; Miller, WC

2015-01-01

Background Power wheelchairs are purported to have a positive effect on health, occupation, and quality of life. However, there is limited knowledge about what factors shape power wheelchair use decisions. Aims/Objectives A study was undertaken to understand the mobility choices of community-dwelling, power wheelchair users. Methods A series of semi-structured qualitative interviews was conducted with 13 older adult power wheelchair users. Participants were interviewed at enrollment and four months later. Data analysis was informed by Bourdieu’s theoretical constructs of habitus, capital, and field. Results Three main styles of power wheelchair use were identified: reluctant use, strategic use and essential use, and each type is illustrated using an aggregate case study. Conclusion/Significance These findings highlight the need to alter the power relationship that exists between prescribers and device users and to effect policy changes that enable people with physical impairments to make as wide a range of mobility choices as possible. PMID:26027749

Quality of life in epileptic patients in southern Thailand.

PubMed

Phabphal, Kanitpong; Geater, Alan; Limapichart, Kitti; Satirapunya, Pornchai; Setthawatcharawanich, Suwanna

2009-06-01

To determine the risk factors for a low quality of life in Thai epileptic patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Songklanagarind Hospital, Thailand. Epileptic patients aged 15-50 years old, who had been treated with a stable dose of antiepileptic drug(s) for more than three months, were enrolled Those who had other chronic medical illnesses and pregnant women were excluded. All subjects completed a self-report questionnaire that included questions about the quality of life in epilepsy-31 (QOLIE-31), hospital anxiety, depression score (HADS), age, sex, occupation, marital status, education level, medical insurance, seizure frequency, trauma due to seizure activity, duration of epilepsy, and medication analysis. In the univariate analysis, significant (p < 0.05) factors affecting the quality of life included seizure frequency, history of trauma due to seizures, depression, and anxiety. In the multivariate regression analysis, seizure frequency, anxiety, and depression were significant. Anxiety and depression were significant statistical factors in explaining a lower quality of life. Throughout the results, seizure frequency, depression, and anxiety had an inverse relation to scores. Age, sex, education, medical insurance, occupation, marital status, and medication were not significant for quality of life. In the subscale analysis of quality of life, seizure frequency was associated with seizure worry; occupation with energy/fatigue; anxiety with all subscale QOLIE; depression with emotional well-being, overall, energy/fatigue and cognitive and social functions; marital status with energy/fatigue; and medical insurance with medical effects. These findings indicated that mood disorder and seizure frequency could be a powerful predictor for the quality of life.

[Evaluation of the efficacy of powered and manual toothbrushes in preventing oral diseases (Systematic review with meta-analysis)].

PubMed

Nagy, Pál; Kövér, Krisztián; Gera, István; Horváth, Attila

2016-03-01

The removal of dental plaque plays an essential role in the maintenance of oral health. Numerous powered and manual toothbrushes were manufactured to achieve this goal, but even up to this day different opinions and research results have been revealed to assess the priority of the mentioned devices. Comparison of powered and manual toothbrushes on the basis of periodontal parameters and safety. Electronic search of the databases of MEDLINE and EMBASE (until May 2014) was carried out with the help of keywords in order to find relevant trials. The inclusion criteria were as follows: randomised controlled clinical trials, adult population, the presence of at least 15 permanent teeth. Split-mouth trials and interventions carried out by dental professionals, were excluded. Primary outcomes were the changes of plaque and gingival indices, while secondary outcomes were probing pocket depth (PPD), safety and quality assessment. The effect-size of the interventions was expressed by the standardised mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Random-effects models were performed. Electronic search resulted in 173 hits. 21 trials with the total number of 1500 subjects were then eligible for the meta-analysis. Both toothbrushes were safe, without considerable side effects on soft or hard tissues. Powered toothbrushes seemed to be generally more effective in removing plaque (-9%), reducing gingivitis (-6%) and preventing calculus formation. The SMDs for plaque and gingival indices were -0,40 (95% Cl: -0,95 to -0,16) and -0,29 (95% Cl: -0,56 to -0,03) respectively, in favour of the powered devices. There was no significant difference in changes of PPD. By further dividing the powered toothbrushes according to their mode of action, the plaque removal effect of the rotation oscillation (plus three dimensional), side to side sonic and ultrasonic toothbrushes seemed to be significantly better, than their manual ones, while the counter oscillation and the ionic toothbrushes did not perform better. Quality assessment and sensitivity analysis revealed various types of bias up to a certain extent. Consequently, no trial was found to be eligible for the highest quality criteria. The investigated rotation oscillation and vibrating toothbrushes appeared to be statistically more effective than their manual counterparts, although there is little known about its clinical relevance. The advantage of the electric toothbrushes disappears in case of adequately instructed and motivated patients that highlights the importance of individualised oral hygiene education. The design of the trials shows high heterogeneity, therefore their clinical implications should be handled carefully.

Photovoltaic Impact Assessment of Smart Inverter Volt-VAR Control on Distribution System Conservation Voltage Reduction and Power Quality

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

Ding, Fei; Nagarajan, Adarsh; Chakraborty, Sudipta

This report presents an impact assessment study of distributed photovoltaic (PV) with smart inverter Volt-VAR control on conservation voltage reduction (CVR) energy savings and distribution system power quality. CVR is a methodology of flattening and lowering a distribution system voltage profile in order to conserve energy. Traditional CVR relies on operating utility voltage regulators and switched capacitors. However, with the increased penetration of distributed PV systems, smart inverters provide the new opportunity to control local voltage and power factor by regulating the reactive power output, leading to a potential increase in CVR energy savings. This report proposes a methodology tomore » implement CVR scheme by operating voltage regulators, capacitors, and autonomous smart inverter Volt-VAR control in order to achieve increased CVR benefit. Power quality is an important consideration when operating a distribution system, especially when implementing CVR. It is easy to measure the individual components that make up power quality, but a comprehensive method to incorporate all of these values into a single score has yet to be undertaken. As a result, this report proposes a power quality scoring mechanism to measure the relative power quality of distribution systems using a single number, which is aptly named the 'power quality score' (PQS). Both the CVR and PQS methodologies were applied to two distribution system models, one obtained from the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and another obtained from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). These two models were converted to the OpenDSS platform using previous model conversion tools that were developed by NREL. Multiple scenarios including various PV penetration levels and smart inverter densities were simulated to analyze the impact of smart inverter Volt-VAR support on CVR energy savings and feeder power quality. In order to analyze the CVR benefit and PQS, an annual simulation was conducted for each scenario.« less

Romance, recovery & community re-entry for criminal justice involved women: Conceptualizing and measuring intimate relationship factors and power

PubMed Central

Walt, Lisa C.; Hunter, Bronwyn; Salina, Doreen; Jason, Leonard

2015-01-01

Researchers have suggested that interpersonal relationships, particularly romantic relationships, may influence women’s attempts at substance abuse recovery and community re-entry after criminal justice system involvement. The present paper evaluates relational and power theories to conceptualize the influence of romantic partner and romantic relationship qualities on pathways in and out of substance abuse and crime. The paper then combines these conceptualizations with a complementary empirical analysis to describe an ongoing research project that longitudinally investigates these relational and power driven factors on women’s substance abuse recovery and community re-entry success among former substance abusing, recently criminally involved women. This paper is designed to encourage the integration of theory and empirical analysis by detailing how each of these concepts are operationalized and measured. Future research and clinical implications are also discussed. PMID:25750487

Parametric optimisation and microstructural analysis on high power Yb-fibre laser welding of Ti-6Al-4V

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, J.; Chen, L.; Davies, C. M.; Dear, J. P.

2016-11-01

In this work thin sheets of Ti-6Al-4V were full penetration welded using a 5 kW fibre laser in order to evaluate the effectiveness of high power fibre laser as a welding processing tool for welding Ti-6Al-4V with the requirements of the aircraft industry and to determine the effect of welding parameters including laser power, welding speed and beam focal position on the weld microstructure, bead profile and weld quality. It involved establishing an understanding of the influence of welding parameters on microstructural change, welding defects, and the characteristics of heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld metal (WM) of fibre laser welded joints. The optimum range of welding parameters which produced welds without cracking and porosity were identified. The influence of the welding parameters on the weld joint heterogeneity was characterised by conducting detailed microstructural analysis.

ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL SOURCE-RECEPTOR RELATIONSHIPS: THE ROLE OF COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

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

Allen L. Robinson; Spyros N. Pandis; Cliff I. Davidson

2004-12-01

This report describes the technical progress made on the Pittsburgh Air Quality Study (PAQS) during the period of March 2004 through August 2004. Significant progress was made this project period on the analysis of ambient data, source apportionment, and deterministic modeling activities. Results highlighted in this report include evaluation of the performance of PMCAMx+ for an air pollution episode in the Eastern US, an emission profile for a coke production facility, ultrafine particle composition during a nucleation event, and a new hybrid approach for source apportionment. An agreement was reached with a utility to characterize fine particle and mercury emissionsmore » from a commercial coal fired power. Research in the next project period will include source testing of a coal fired power plant, source apportionment analysis, emission scenario modeling with PMCAMx+, and writing up results for submission as journal articles.« less

Air pollution response to changing weather and power plant emissions in the eastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloomer, Bryan Jaye

Air pollution in the eastern United States causes human sickness and death as well as damage to crops and materials. NOX emission reduction is observed to improve air quality. Effectively reducing pollution in the future requires understanding the connections between smog, precursor emissions, weather, and climate change. Numerical models predict global warming will exacerbate smog over the next 50 years. My analysis of 21 years of CASTNET observations quantifies a climate change penalty. I calculate, for data collected prior to 2002, a climate penalty factor of ˜3.3 ppb O3/°C across the power plant dominated receptor regions in the rural, eastern U.S. Recent reductions in NOX emissions decreased the climate penalty factor to ˜2.2 ppb O3/°C. Prior to 1995, power plant emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOX were estimated with fuel sampling and analysis methods. Currently, emissions are measured with continuous monitoring equipment (CEMS) installed directly in stacks. My comparison of the two methods show CO 2 and SO2 emissions are ˜5% lower when inferred from fuel sampling; greater differences are found for NOX emissions. CEMS are the method of choice for emission inventories and commodity trading and should be the standard against which other methods are evaluated for global greenhouse gas trading policies. I used CEMS data and applied chemistry transport modeling to evaluate improvements in air quality observed by aircraft during the North American electrical blackout of 2003. An air quality model produced substantial reductions in O3, but not as much as observed. The study highlights weaknesses in the model as commonly used for evaluating a single day event and suggests areas for further investigation. A new analysis and visualization method quantifies local-daily to hemispheric-seasonal scale relationships between weather and air pollution, confirming improved air quality despite increasing temperatures across the eastern U.S. Climate penalty factors indicate amplified smog formation in areas of the world with rising temperatures and increasing emissions. Tools developed in this dissertation provide data for model evaluation and methods for establishing air quality standards with an adequate margin of safety for cleaning the air and protecting the public's health in a world with changing climate.

SQC: secure quality control for meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Huang, Zhicong; Lin, Huang; Fellay, Jacques; Kutalik, Zoltán; Hubaux, Jean-Pierre

2017-08-01

Due to the limited power of small-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS), researchers tend to collaborate and establish a larger consortium in order to perform large-scale GWAS. Genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) is a statistical tool that aims to synthesize results from multiple independent studies to increase the statistical power and reduce false-positive findings of GWAS. However, it has been demonstrated that the aggregate data of individual studies are subject to inference attacks, hence privacy concerns arise when researchers share study data in GWAMA. In this article, we propose a secure quality control (SQC) protocol, which enables checking the quality of data in a privacy-preserving way without revealing sensitive information to a potential adversary. SQC employs state-of-the-art cryptographic and statistical techniques for privacy protection. We implement the solution in a meta-analysis pipeline with real data to demonstrate the efficiency and scalability on commodity machines. The distributed execution of SQC on a cluster of 128 cores for one million genetic variants takes less than one hour, which is a modest cost considering the 10-month time span usually observed for the completion of the QC procedure that includes timing of logistics. SQC is implemented in Java and is publicly available at https://github.com/acs6610987/secureqc. jean-pierre.hubaux@epfl.ch. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Opportunities for Wind Power In Low- and Mid-Quality Resource Regions

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

Lantz, Eric; Mai, Trieu; Heimiller, Donna

2016-05-25

In this presentation for American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) WINDPOWER 2016 conference, the authors discuss wind power today in low and mid-quality resource regions, the anticipated role of wind power in the future electric sector, market potential in low and mid-quality resource regions, and anticipated innovations to capture that market potential.

Digital techniques for ULF wave polarization analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arthur, C. W.

1979-01-01

Digital power spectral and wave polarization analysis are powerful techniques for studying ULF waves in the earth's magnetosphere. Four different techniques for using the spectral matrix to perform such an analysis have been presented in the literature. Three of these techniques are similar in that they require transformation of the spectral matrix to the principal axis system prior to performing the polarization analysis. The differences in the three techniques lie in the manner in which determine this transformation. A comparative study of these three techniques using both simulated and real data has shown them to be approximately equal in quality of performance. The fourth technique does not require transformation of the spectral matrix. Rather, it uses the measured spectral matrix and state vectors for a desired wave type to design a polarization detector function in the frequency domain. The design of various detector functions and their application to both simulated and real data will be presented.

Optical design and development of a fiber coupled high-power diode laser system for laser transmission welding of plastics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez-Vidal, Eva; Quintana, Iban; Etxarri, Jon; Azkorbebeitia, Urko; Otaduy, Deitze; González, Francisco; Moreno, Fernando

2012-12-01

Laser transmission welding (LTW) of thermoplastics is a direct bonding technique already used in different industrial applications sectors such as automobiles, microfluidics, electronics, and biomedicine. LTW evolves localized heating at the interface of two pieces of plastic to be joined. One of the plastic pieces needs to be optically transparent to the laser radiation whereas the other part has to be absorbent, being that the radiation produced by high power diode lasers is a good alternative for this process. As consequence, a tailored laser system has been designed and developed to obtain high quality weld seams with weld widths between 0.7 and 1.4 mm. The developed laser system consists of two diode laser bars (50 W per bar) coupled into an optical fiber using a nonimaging solution: equalization of the beam parameter product (BPP) in the slow and fast axes by a pair of step-mirrors. The power scaling was carried out by means of a multiplexing polarization technique. The analysis of energy balance and beam quality was performed considering ray tracing simulation (ZEMAX) and experimental validation. The welding experiments were conducted on acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene (ABS), a thermoplastic frequently used in automotive, electronics and aircraft applications, doped with two different concentrations of carbon nanotubes (0.01% and 0.05% CNTs). Quality of the weld seams on ABS was analyzed in terms of the process parameters (welding speed, laser power and clamping pressure) by visual and optical microscope inspections. Mechanical properties of weld seams were analyzed by mechanical shear tests. High quality weld seams were produced in ABS, revealing the potential of the laser developed in this work for a wide range of plastic welding applications.

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

Kaygusuz, K.

Exergy analysis is a general method for efficiency analysis of systems and processes. The use of the exergy concept and the analysis of ultimate efficiencies of processes is more or less still limited to the academic world. There are several reasons why its industrial use is still limited. To overcome some of the difficulties in industrial applications of energy analysis, it has made use of exergy analysis. The chemical exergy of a substance is the maximum work that can be obtained from it by taking it to chemical equilibrium with the reference environment at a constant temperature and pressure. Themore » first law analysis gives only the quantity of energy, while the second law defines the quality of energy also. The projected increase in coal utilization in power plants makes it desirable to evaluate the energy content of coal both quantitatively and qualitatively. In the present study, the chemical exergies of some coals of good quality in Turkey were calculated with the BASIC program by using second law analysis and the results were given as tabulated.« less

Band-to-Band Tunnel Transistor Design and Modeling for Low Power Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-10

suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services , Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway...Fabrication 4.3 Analysis of the Silicided Source TFET 4.4 Subthreshold Swing Data Quality Analysis 4.5 Selective Silicide Using Germanium 4.6... International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) Short Course, 2007 [1.3] W. Y. Choi, B.-K. Park, J. D. Lee, and T.-J. King Liu, “Tunneling Field-Effect

The shallow water equations as a hybrid flow model for the numerical and experimental analysis of hydro power stations

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

Ostermann, Lars; Seidel, Christian

2015-03-10

The numerical analysis of hydro power stations is an important method of the hydraulic design and is used for the development and optimisation of hydro power stations in addition to the experiments with the physical submodel of a full model in the hydraulic laboratory. For the numerical analysis, 2D and 3D models are appropriate and commonly used.The 2D models refer mainly to the shallow water equations (SWE), since for this flow model a large experience on a wide field of applications for the flow analysis of numerous problems in hydraulic engineering already exists. Often, the flow model is verified bymore » in situ measurements. In order to consider 3D flow phenomena close to singularities like weirs, hydro power stations etc. the development of a hybrid fluid model is advantageous to improve the quality and significance of the global model. Here, an extended hybrid flow model based on the principle of the SWE is presented. The hybrid flow model directly links the numerical model with the experimental data, which may originate from physical full models, physical submodels and in-situ measurements. Hence a wide field of application of the hybrid model emerges including the improvement of numerical models and the strong coupling of numerical and experimental analysis.« less

Wave Energy Prize - 1/20th Testing - CalWave Power Technologies

DOE Data Explorer

Scharmen, Wesley

2016-09-09

Data from the 1/20th scale testing data completed on the Wave Energy Prize for the CalWave Power Technologies team, including the 1/20th scale test plan, raw test data, video, photos, and data analysis results. The top level objective of the 1/20th scale device testing is to obtain the necessary measurements required for determining Average Climate Capture Width per Characteristic Capital Expenditure (ACE) and the Hydrodynamic Performance Quality (HPQ), key metrics for determining the Wave Energy Prize (WEP) winners.

Near-infrared hyperspectral imaging for quality analysis of agricultural and food products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, C. B.; Jayas, D. S.; Paliwal, J.; White, N. D. G.

2010-04-01

Agricultural and food processing industries are always looking to implement real-time quality monitoring techniques as a part of good manufacturing practices (GMPs) to ensure high-quality and safety of their products. Near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging is gaining popularity as a powerful non-destructive tool for quality analysis of several agricultural and food products. This technique has the ability to analyse spectral data in a spatially resolved manner (i.e., each pixel in the image has its own spectrum) by applying both conventional image processing and chemometric tools used in spectral analyses. Hyperspectral imaging technique has demonstrated potential in detecting defects and contaminants in meats, fruits, cereals, and processed food products. This paper discusses the methodology of hyperspectral imaging in terms of hardware, software, calibration, data acquisition and compression, and development of prediction and classification algorithms and it presents a thorough review of the current applications of hyperspectral imaging in the analyses of agricultural and food products.

An analysis of the lumber planning process: Part I

Treesearch

Peter Koch

1955-01-01

Report of study of the peripheral-milling process of planing lumber. Relationships were determined between cutterhead horsepower and various combinations of specimen, cutterhead, and feed factors. Power demand curves are interpreted by comparion with simultaneous one micro-second photos of chips. Secondary consideration is given to quality of surface obtained. The...

C-SWAT: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool with consolidated input files in alleviating computational burden of recursive simulations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The temptation to include model parameters and high resolution input data together with the availability of powerful optimization and uncertainty analysis algorithms has significantly enhanced the complexity of hydrologic and water quality modeling. However, the ability to take advantage of sophist...

Self-transcendence: a concept analysis for nursing praxis.

PubMed

Teixeira, M Elizabeth

2008-01-01

Self-transcendence is a quality inherent in every human being. This process toward personal transformation is instrumental in finding true meaning and purpose in life. When faced with adversity, self-transcendence can be a powerful coping strategy. Clarity of this concept will assist nurses in providing holistic interventions that promote and facilitate self-transcendence.

Turning Data into Information: The Vital Role of Research in Improving Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Data Quality Campaign, 2016

2016-01-01

When students, parents, educators, and partners have the right information to make decisions, students excel. One of the most powerful sources of information for families, educators, and policymakers about education is the high-quality analysis and research conducted by trained and engaged experts across the country. Their work gives us answers…

ChiLin: a comprehensive ChIP-seq and DNase-seq quality control and analysis pipeline.

PubMed

Qin, Qian; Mei, Shenglin; Wu, Qiu; Sun, Hanfei; Li, Lewyn; Taing, Len; Chen, Sujun; Li, Fugen; Liu, Tao; Zang, Chongzhi; Xu, Han; Chen, Yiwen; Meyer, Clifford A; Zhang, Yong; Brown, Myles; Long, Henry W; Liu, X Shirley

2016-10-03

Transcription factor binding, histone modification, and chromatin accessibility studies are important approaches to understanding the biology of gene regulation. ChIP-seq and DNase-seq have become the standard techniques for studying protein-DNA interactions and chromatin accessibility respectively, and comprehensive quality control (QC) and analysis tools are critical to extracting the most value from these assay types. Although many analysis and QC tools have been reported, few combine ChIP-seq and DNase-seq data analysis and quality control in a unified framework with a comprehensive and unbiased reference of data quality metrics. ChiLin is a computational pipeline that automates the quality control and data analyses of ChIP-seq and DNase-seq data. It is developed using a flexible and modular software framework that can be easily extended and modified. ChiLin is ideal for batch processing of many datasets and is well suited for large collaborative projects involving ChIP-seq and DNase-seq from different designs. ChiLin generates comprehensive quality control reports that include comparisons with historical data derived from over 23,677 public ChIP-seq and DNase-seq samples (11,265 datasets) from eight literature-based classified categories. To the best of our knowledge, this atlas represents the most comprehensive ChIP-seq and DNase-seq related quality metric resource currently available. These historical metrics provide useful heuristic quality references for experiment across all commonly used assay types. Using representative datasets, we demonstrate the versatility of the pipeline by applying it to different assay types of ChIP-seq data. The pipeline software is available open source at https://github.com/cfce/chilin . ChiLin is a scalable and powerful tool to process large batches of ChIP-seq and DNase-seq datasets. The analysis output and quality metrics have been structured into user-friendly directories and reports. We have successfully compiled 23,677 profiles into a comprehensive quality atlas with fine classification for users.

The accurate assessment of small-angle X-ray scattering data

DOE PAGES

Grant, Thomas D.; Luft, Joseph R.; Carter, Lester G.; ...

2015-01-23

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) has grown in popularity in recent times with the advent of bright synchrotron X-ray sources, powerful computational resources and algorithms enabling the calculation of increasingly complex models. However, the lack of standardized data-quality metrics presents difficulties for the growing user community in accurately assessing the quality of experimental SAXS data. Here, a series of metrics to quantitatively describe SAXS data in an objective manner using statistical evaluations are defined. These metrics are applied to identify the effects of radiation damage, concentration dependence and interparticle interactions on SAXS data from a set of 27 previously described targetsmore » for which high-resolution structures have been determined via X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Studies show that these metrics are sufficient to characterize SAXS data quality on a small sample set with statistical rigor and sensitivity similar to or better than manual analysis. The development of data-quality analysis strategies such as these initial efforts is needed to enable the accurate and unbiased assessment of SAXS data quality.« less

Nd:YAG laser welding of coated sheet steel

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

Graham, M.P.; Kerr, H.W.; Weckman, D.C.

1994-12-31

Coated sheet steels are used extensively in the automotive industry for the fabrication of automobile body components; however, their reduced weldability by the traditional welding processes has led to numerous studies into the use of alternate process such as laser welding. In this paper, we present a modified joint geometry which allows high quality lap welds of coated sheet steels to be made by laser welding processes. Hot-dipped galvanized sheet (16 gauge), with a 60 g/m zinc coating was used in this study. A groove was created in the top sheet of a specimen pair by pressing piano wires ofmore » various diameters into the sheet. The specimens were clamped together in a lag-joint configuration such that they were in contacted only along the grove projection. A parametric study was conducted using the variables of welding speed, laser mean power (685 W, 1000 W and 1350 W), and grove size. Weld quality and weld pool dimensions were assessed using metallurgical cross-sections and image analysis techniques. Acceptable quality seam welds were produced in the galvanized sheet steel with both grove sizes when using 1000 W and 1350 W laser mean powers and a range of welding speeds. Results of the shear-tensile tests showed that high loads to failure, with failure occurring in the parent material, were predominately found in welds produced at speeds over 1.2 m/min and when using the high mean laser powers: 1000 W and 1350 W. A modified lap joint geometry, in which a groove is pre-placed in the top sheet of the lap-joint configuration, has been developed which permits laser welding of coated sheet steels. Good quality seam welds have been produced in 16 gauge galvanized sheet steels at speeds up to 2.7 m/min using a 2 kW CW Nd:YAG laser operating at 1350 W laser mean power. Weld quality was not affected by changes in groove size.« less

High power broadband all fiber super-fluorescent source with linear polarization and near diffraction-limited beam quality.

PubMed

Ma, Pengfei; Huang, Long; Wang, Xiaolin; Zhou, Pu; Liu, Zejin

2016-01-25

In this manuscript, a high power broadband superfluorescent source (SFS) with linear polarization and near-diffraction-limited beam quality is achieved based on an ytterbium-doped (Yb-doped), all fiberized and polarization-maintained master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration. The MOPA structure generates a linearly polarized output power of 1427 W with a slope efficiency of 80% and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 11 nm, which is power scaled by an order of magnitude compared with the previously reported SFSs with linear polarization. In the experiment, both the polarization extinction ratio (PER) and beam quality (M(2) factor) are degraded little during the power scaling process. At maximal output power, the PER and M(2) factor are measured to be 19.1dB and 1.14, respectively. The root-mean-square (RMS) and peak-vale (PV) values of the power fluctuation at maximal output power are just 0.48% and within 3%, respectively. Further power scaling of the whole system is limited by the available pump sources. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of kilowatt level broadband SFS with linear polarization and near-diffraction-limited beam quality.

Multiphonon Raman scattering and photoluminescence studies of CdS nanocrystals grown by thermal evaporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farid, Sidra; Stroscio, Michael A.; Dutta, Mitra

2018-03-01

Thermal evaporation growth technique is presented as a route to grow cost effective high quality CdS thin films. We have successfully grown high quality CdS thin films on ITO coated glass substrates by thermal evaporation technique and analyzed the effects of annealing and excitation dependent input of CdS thin film using Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. LO phonon modes have been analyzed quantitatively considering the contributions due to anneal induced effects on film quality using phonon spatial correlation model, line shape and defect state analysis. Asymmetry in the Raman line shape towards the low frequency side is related to the phonon confinement effects and is modeled by spatial correlation model. Calculations of width (FWHM), integrated intensity, and line shape for the longitudinal (LO) optical phonon modes indicate improved crystalline quality for the annealed films as compared to the as grown films. With increase in laser power, intensity ratio of 2-LO to 1-LO optical phonon modes is found to increase while multiple overtones upto fourth order are observed. Power dependent photoluminescence data indicates direct band-to-band transition in CdS thin films.

Investigation into the influence of laser energy input on selective laser melted thin-walled parts by response surface method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yang; Zhang, Jian; Pang, Zhicong; Wu, Weihui

2018-04-01

Selective laser melting (SLM) provides a feasible way for manufacturing of complex thin-walled parts directly, however, the energy input during SLM process, namely derived from the laser power, scanning speed, layer thickness and scanning space, etc. has great influence on the thin wall's qualities. The aim of this work is to relate the thin wall's parameters (responses), namely track width, surface roughness and hardness to the process parameters considered in this research (laser power, scanning speed and layer thickness) and to find out the optimal manufacturing conditions. Design of experiment (DoE) was used by implementing composite central design to achieve better manufacturing qualities. Mathematical models derived from the statistical analysis were used to establish the relationships between the process parameters and the responses. Also, the effects of process parameters on each response were determined. Then, a numerical optimization was performed to find out the optimal process set at which the quality features are at their desired values. Based on this study, the relationship between process parameters and SLMed thin-walled structure was revealed and thus, the corresponding optimal process parameters can be used to manufactured thin-walled parts with high quality.

Workflow for Criticality Assessment Applied in Biopharmaceutical Process Validation Stage 1.

PubMed

Zahel, Thomas; Marschall, Lukas; Abad, Sandra; Vasilieva, Elena; Maurer, Daniel; Mueller, Eric M; Murphy, Patrick; Natschläger, Thomas; Brocard, Cécile; Reinisch, Daniela; Sagmeister, Patrick; Herwig, Christoph

2017-10-12

Identification of critical process parameters that impact product quality is a central task during regulatory requested process validation. Commonly, this is done via design of experiments and identification of parameters significantly impacting product quality (rejection of the null hypothesis that the effect equals 0). However, parameters which show a large uncertainty and might result in an undesirable product quality limit critical to the product, may be missed. This might occur during the evaluation of experiments since residual/un-modelled variance in the experiments is larger than expected a priori. Estimation of such a risk is the task of the presented novel retrospective power analysis permutation test. This is evaluated using a data set for two unit operations established during characterization of a biopharmaceutical process in industry. The results show that, for one unit operation, the observed variance in the experiments is much larger than expected a priori, resulting in low power levels for all non-significant parameters. Moreover, we present a workflow of how to mitigate the risk associated with overlooked parameter effects. This enables a statistically sound identification of critical process parameters. The developed workflow will substantially support industry in delivering constant product quality, reduce process variance and increase patient safety.

Dispatchable Renewable Energy Model for Microgrid Power System

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

Chiou, Fred; Gentle, Jake P.; McJunkin, Timothy R.

2017-04-01

Over the years, many research projects have been performed and focused on finding out the effective ways to balance the power demands and supply on the utility grid. The causes of the imbalance could be the increasing demands from the end users, the loss of power generation (generators down), faults on the transmission lines, power tripped due to overload, and weather conditions, etc. An efficient Load Frequency Control (LFC) can assure the desired electricity quality provided to the residential, commercial and industrial end users. A simulation model is built in this project to investigate the contribution of the modeling ofmore » dispatchable energy such as solar energy, wind power, hydro power and energy storage to the balance of the microgrid power system. An analysis of simplified feedback control system with proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller was performed. The purpose of this research is to investigate a simulation model that achieves certain degree of the resilient control for the microgrid.« less

Quantitative analysis of NMR spectra with chemometrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winning, H.; Larsen, F. H.; Bro, R.; Engelsen, S. B.

2008-01-01

The number of applications of chemometrics to series of NMR spectra is rapidly increasing due to an emerging interest for quantitative NMR spectroscopy e.g. in the pharmaceutical and food industries. This paper gives an analysis of advantages and limitations of applying the two most common chemometric procedures, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multivariate Curve Resolution (MCR), to a designed set of 231 simple alcohol mixture (propanol, butanol and pentanol) 1H 400 MHz spectra. The study clearly demonstrates that the major advantage of chemometrics is the visualisation of larger data structures which adds a new exploratory dimension to NMR research. While robustness and powerful data visualisation and exploration are the main qualities of the PCA method, the study demonstrates that the bilinear MCR method is an even more powerful method for resolving pure component NMR spectra from mixtures when certain conditions are met.

Modelling voltage sag mitigation using dynamic voltage restorer and analyzing power quality issue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ismail, Nor Laili; Hidzir, Hizrin Dayana Mohd; Thanakodi, Suresh; Nazar, Nazatul Shiema Moh; Ibrahim, Pungut; Ali, Che Ku Muhammad Sabri Che Ku

2018-02-01

Power quality problem which are arise due to a fault or a pulsed load can have caused an interruption of critical load. The modern power systems are becoming more sensitive to the quality of the power supplied by the utility company. Voltage sags and swells, flicker, interruptions, harmonic distortion and other distortion to the sinusoidal waveform are the examples of the power quality problems. The most affected due to these problems is industrial customers who use a lot of sensitive equipment. There has suffered a huge loss to these problems. Resulting of broken or damage equipment if voltage sag exceeds the sensitive threshold of the equipment. Thus, device such as Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) and Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) has been created to solve this problem among users. DVR is a custom power device that most effective and efficient. This paper intended to report the DVR operations during voltage sag compensation.

Syringeless power injector versus dual-syringe power injector: economic evaluation of user performance, the impact on contrast enhanced computed tomography (CECT) workflow exams, and hospital costs.

PubMed

Colombo, Giorgio L; Andreis, Ivo A Bergamo; Di Matteo, Sergio; Bruno, Giacomo M; Mondellini, Claudio

2013-01-01

The utilization of diagnostic imaging has substantially increased over the past decade in Europe and North America and continues to grow worldwide. The purpose of this study was to develop an economic evaluation of a syringeless power injector (PI) versus a dual-syringe PI for contrast enhanced computed tomography (CECT) in a hospital setting. Patients (n=2379) were enrolled at the Legnano Hospital between November 2012 and January 2013. They had been referred to the hospital for a CECT analysis and were randomized into two groups. The first group was examined with a 256-MDCT (MultiDetector Computed Tomography) scanner using a syringeless power injector, while the other group was examined with a 64-MDCT scanner using a dual-syringe. Data on the operators' time required in the patient analysis steps as well as on the quantity of consumable materials used were collected. The radiologic technologists' satisfaction with the use of the PIs was rated on a 10-point scale. A budget impact analysis and sensitivity analysis were performed under the base-case scenario. A total of 1,040 patients were examined using the syringeless system, and 1,339 with the dual-syringe system; the CECT examination quality was comparable for both PI systems. Equipment preparation time and releasing time per examination for syringeless PIs versus dual-syringe PIs were 100±30 versus 180±30 seconds and 90±30 and 140±20 seconds, respectively. On average, 10±3 mL of contrast media (CM) wastage per examination was observed with the dual-syringe PI and 0±1 mL with the syringeless PI. Technologists had higher satisfaction with the syringeless PI than with the dual-syringe system (8.8 versus 8.0). The syringeless PI allows a saving of about €6.18 per patient, both due to the lower cost of the devices and to the better performance of the syringeless system. The univariate sensitivity analysis carried out on the base-case results within the standard deviation range confirmed the saving generated by using the syringeless device, with saving values between €5.40 and €6.20 per patient. The syringeless PI was found to be more user-friendly and efficient, minimizing contrast wastage and providing similar contrast enhancement quality compared to the dual-syringe injector, with comparable CECT examination quality.

Radiation shielding quality assurance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Um, Dallsun

For the radiation shielding quality assurance, the validity and reliability of the neutron transport code MCNP, which is now one of the most widely used radiation shielding analysis codes, were checked with lot of benchmark experiments. And also as a practical example, follows were performed in this thesis. One integral neutron transport experiment to measure the effect of neutron streaming in iron and void was performed with Dog-Legged Void Assembly in Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in 1991. Neutron flux was measured six different places with the methane detectors and a BF-3 detector. The main purpose of the measurements was to provide benchmark against which various neutron transport calculation tools could be compared. Those data were used in verification of Monte Carlo Neutron & Photon Transport Code, MCNP, with the modeling for that. Experimental results and calculation results were compared in both ways, as the total integrated value of neutron fluxes along neutron energy range from 10 KeV to 2 MeV and as the neutron spectrum along with neutron energy range. Both results are well matched with the statistical error +/-20%. MCNP results were also compared with those of TORT, a three dimensional discrete ordinates code which was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. MCNP results are superior to the TORT results at all detector places except one. This means that MCNP is proved as a very powerful tool for the analysis of neutron transport through iron & air and further it could be used as a powerful tool for the radiation shielding analysis. For one application of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to neutron and gamma transport problems, uncertainties for the calculated values of critical K were evaluated as in the ANOVA on statistical data.

Spatio-temporal water quality mapping from satellite images using geographically and temporally weighted regression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Hone-Jay; Kong, Shish-Jeng; Chang, Chih-Hua

2018-03-01

The turbidity (TB) of a water body varies with time and space. Water quality is traditionally estimated via linear regression based on satellite images. However, estimating and mapping water quality require a spatio-temporal nonstationary model, while TB mapping necessitates the use of geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models, both of which are more precise than linear regression. Given the temporal nonstationary models for mapping water quality, GTWR offers the best option for estimating regional water quality. Compared with GWR, GTWR provides highly reliable information for water quality mapping, boasts a relatively high goodness of fit, improves the explanation of variance from 44% to 87%, and shows a sufficient space-time explanatory power. The seasonal patterns of TB and the main spatial patterns of TB variability can be identified using the estimated TB maps from GTWR and by conducting an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis.

A Microfluidic Immunostaining System Enables Quality Assured and Standardized Immunohistochemical Biomarker Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Seyong; Cho, Chang Hyun; Kwon, Youngmee; Lee, Eun Sook; Park, Je-Kyun

2017-04-01

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) plays an important role in biomarker-driven cancer therapy. Although there has been a high demand for standardized and quality assured IHC, it has rarely been achieved due to the complexity of IHC testing and the subjective validation-based process flow of IHC quality control. We present here a microfluidic immunostaining system for the standardization of IHC by creating a microfluidic linearly graded antibody (Ab)-staining device and a reference cell microarray. Unlike conventional efforts, our system deals primarily with the screening of biomarker staining conditions for quantitative quality assurance testing in IHC. We characterized the microfluidic matching of Ab staining intensity using three HER2 Abs produced by different manufacturers. The quality of HER2 Ab was also validated using tissues of breast cancer patients, demonstrating that our system is an efficient and powerful tool for the standardization and quality assurance of IHC.

Compressed Air Quality, A Case Study In Paiton Coal Fired Power Plant Unit 1 And 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Indah, Nur; Kusuma, Yuriadi; Mardani

2018-03-01

The compressed air system becomes part of a very important utility system in a Plant, including the Steam Power Plant. In PLN’S coal fired power plant, Paiton units 1 and 2, there are four Centrifugal air compressor types, which produce compressed air as much as 5.652 cfm and with electric power capacity of 1200 kW. Electricity consumption to operate centrifugal compressor is 7.104.117 kWh per year. Compressed air generation is not only sufficient in quantity (flow rate) but also meets the required air quality standards. compressed air at Steam Power Plant is used for; service air, Instrument air, and for fly Ash. This study aims to measure some important parameters related to air quality, followed by potential disturbance analysis, equipment breakdown or reduction of energy consumption from existing compressed air conditions. These measurements include counting the number of dust particles, moisture content, relative humidity, and also compressed air pressure. From the measurements, the compressed air pressure generated by the compressor is about 8.4 barg and decreased to 7.7 barg at the furthest point, so the pressure drop is 0.63 barg, this number satisfies the needs in the end user. The measurement of the number of particles contained in compressed air, for particle of 0.3 micron reaches 170,752 particles, while for the particle size 0.5 micron reaches 45,245 particles. Measurements of particles conducted at several points of measurement. For some point measurements the number of dust particle exceeds the standard set by ISO 8573.1-2010 and also NACE Code, so it needs to be improved on the air treatment process. To see the amount of moisture content in compressed air, it is done by measuring pressure dew point temperature (PDP). Measurements were made at several points with results ranging from -28.4 to 30.9 °C. The recommendation of improving compressed air quality in steam power plant, Paiton unit 1 and 2 has the potential to extend the life of instrumentation equipment, improve the reliability of equipment, and reduce the amount of energy consumption up to 502,579 kWh per year.

Lead/acid batteries in systems to improve power quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, P.; Butler, P.; Nerbun, W.

Increasing dependence on computer technology is driving needs for extremely high-quality power to prevent loss of information, material, and workers' time that represent billions of dollars annually. This cost has motivated commercial and Federal research and development of energy storage systems that detect and respond to power-quality failures in milliseconds. Electrochemical batteries are among the storage media under investigation for these systems. Battery energy storage systems that employ either flooded lead/acid or valve-regulated lead/acid battery technologies are becoming commercially available to capture a share of this emerging market. Cooperative research and development between the US Department of Energy and private industry have led to installations of lead/acid-based battery energy storage systems to improve power quality at utility and industrial sites and commercial development of fully integrated, modular battery energy storage system products for power quality. One such system by AC Battery Corporation, called the PQ2000, is installed at a test site at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (San Ramon, CA, USA) and at a customer site at Oglethorpe Power Corporation (Tucker, GA, USA). The PQ2000 employs off-the-shelf power electronics in an integrated methodology to control the factors that affect the performance and service life of production-model, low-maintenance, flooded lead/acid batteries. This system, and other members of this first generation of lead/acid-based energy storage systems, will need to compete vigorously for a share of an expanding, yet very aggressive, power quality market.

Sample Size in Qualitative Interview Studies: Guided by Information Power.

PubMed

Malterud, Kirsti; Siersma, Volkert Dirk; Guassora, Ann Dorrit

2015-11-27

Sample sizes must be ascertained in qualitative studies like in quantitative studies but not by the same means. The prevailing concept for sample size in qualitative studies is "saturation." Saturation is closely tied to a specific methodology, and the term is inconsistently applied. We propose the concept "information power" to guide adequate sample size for qualitative studies. Information power indicates that the more information the sample holds, relevant for the actual study, the lower amount of participants is needed. We suggest that the size of a sample with sufficient information power depends on (a) the aim of the study, (b) sample specificity, (c) use of established theory, (d) quality of dialogue, and (e) analysis strategy. We present a model where these elements of information and their relevant dimensions are related to information power. Application of this model in the planning and during data collection of a qualitative study is discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

Analysis of Station Quality Issues from EarthScope's Transportable Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfeifer, C.; Barstow, N.; Busby, R.; Hafner, K.

2008-12-01

160 of the first 400 Earthscope USARRY transportable array (TA) stations have completed their first two-year deployment and are being moved to their next locations. Over the past 4 years the majority of stations have run with few interruptions in the transfer of real time data to the Array Network Facility (ANF) at the Univ of CA San Diego and near real time data to the IRIS Data Management System (DMS). The combination of telemetered data and dedicated people reviewing the waveforms and state of health data have revealed several conditions that can affect the data quality or cause loss of data. The data problems fall into three broad categories; station power, equipment malfunction, and communication failures. Station power issues have been implicated in several types of noise seen in the seismic data (as well as causing station failures and resultant data gaps). The most common type of equipment problem that has been found to degrade data quality is caused by sensor problems, and has affected all 3 types of sensors used in the TA to varying degrees. While communication problems can cause real time data loss, they do not cause a degradation of the quality of the data, and any gaps in the real time data due solely to communications problems are filled in later with the continuous data recorded to disk at each TA station. Over the past 4 years the TA team has recognized a number of noise sources and have made several design changes to minimize the effects on data quality. Design/procedural changes include: stopping water incursion into the stations, power conditioning, changing mass re-center voltage thresholds. Figures that demonstrate examples are provided. Changes have created better data quality and improved the station performance. Vigilance and deployment of service teams to reestablish communications, replace noisy sensors, and troubleshoot problems is also key to maintaining the high-quality TA network.

Biomass "Green" Power Vs. Coal "Traditional" Power: Who is the Largest Emitter in Humboldt County and How Should Regulations be Addressed?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zurawski, A. M.

2016-12-01

The objective of this research is to study how emissions from a fossil fuel power plant compare to emissions from a biomass power plant, and how these results can be used to improve current air-quality regulations. Outdoor air quality transcends national and political boundaries. Air pollution monitoring is essential to maintaining quality of life for humans and ecosystems. Due to anthropogenic disturbances (primarily related to burning of fossil fuels), air- quality management has become a priority on a long list of environmental issues. Quantifying and monitoring the largest emitters of greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants is crucial to the creation and enforcement of appropriate environmental protection regulations. Emissions data were collected from January 2010 to January 2016 from sensors installed close to a biomass power plant, and sensors installed close to a fossil fuel and natural gas power plant, in Humboldt County, California. In Humboldt County, where air quality serves as a baseline of air pollution in the United States, data showed that the "green" biomass power plant emitted higher levels of particulate matter compared to the fossil fuel power plant. Additionally, the biomass power plant showed levels of CO2, NOx, and SO2 emissions that suggest its place as a "green" power source should be reconsidered. Our research suggests that regulations need to be reconsidered given the potential for high pollutant emissions from biomass plants.

Development of a coal quality analyzer for application to power plants based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lei; Gong, Yao; Li, Yufang; Wang, Xin; Fan, Juanjuan; Dong, Lei; Ma, Weiguang; Yin, Wangbao; Jia, Suotang

2015-11-01

It is vitally important for a power plant to determine the coal property rapidly to optimize the combustion process. In this work, a fully software-controlled laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) based coal quality analyzer comprising a LIBS apparatus, a sampling equipment, and a control module, has been designed for possible application to power plants for offering rapid and precise coal quality analysis results. A closed-loop feedback pulsed laser energy stabilization technology is proposed to stabilize the Nd: YAG laser output energy to a preset interval by using the detected laser energy signal so as to enhance the measurement stability and applied in a month-long monitoring experiment. The results show that the laser energy stability has been greatly reduced from ± 5.2% to ± 1.3%. In order to indicate the complex relationship between the concentrations of the analyte of interest and the corresponding plasma spectra, the support vector regression (SVR) is employed as a non-linear regression method. It is shown that this SVR method combined with principal component analysis (PCA) enables a significant improvement in cross-validation accuracy by using the calibration set of coal samples. The root mean square error for prediction of ash content, volatile matter content, and calorific value decreases from 2.74% to 1.82%, 1.69% to 1.22%, and 1.23 MJ/kg to 0.85 MJ/kg, respectively. Meanwhile, the corresponding average relative error of the predicted samples is reduced from 8.3% to 5.48%, 5.83% to 4.42%, and 5.4% to 3.68%, respectively. The enhanced levels of accuracy obtained with the SVR combined with PCA based calibration models open up avenues for prospective prediction in coal properties.

Analytical chemistry in water quality monitoring during manned space missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artemyeva, Anastasia A.

2016-09-01

Water quality monitoring during human spaceflights is essential. However, most of the traditional methods require sample collection with a subsequent ground analysis because of the limitations in volume, power, safety and gravity. The space missions are becoming longer-lasting; hence methods suitable for in-flight monitoring are demanded. Since 2009, water quality has been monitored in-flight with colorimetric methods allowing for detection of iodine and ionic silver. Organic compounds in water have been monitored with a second generation total organic carbon analyzer, which provides information on the amount of carbon in water at both the U.S. and Russian segments of the International Space Station since 2008. The disadvantage of this approach is the lack of compound-specific information. The recently developed methods and tools may potentially allow one to obtain in-flight a more detailed information on water quality. Namely, the microanalyzers based on potentiometric measurements were designed for online detection of chloride, potassium, nitrate ions and ammonia. The recent application of the current highly developed air quality monitoring system for water analysis was a logical step because most of the target analytes are the same in air and water. An electro-thermal vaporizer was designed, manufactured and coupled with the air quality control system. This development allowed for liberating the analytes from the aqueous matrix and further compound-specific analysis in the gas phase.

Environmental parameters of the Tennessee River in Alabama. 2: Physical, chemical, and biological parameters. [biological and chemical effects of thermal pollution from nuclear power plants on water quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosing, L. M.

1976-01-01

Physical, chemical and biological water quality data from five sites in the Tennessee River, two in Guntersville Reservoir and three in Wheeler Reservoir were correlated with climatological data for three annual cycles. Two of the annual cycles are for the years prior to the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant operations and one is for the first 14 months of Plant operations. A comparison of the results of the annual cycles indicates that two distinct physical conditions in the reservoirs occur, one during the warm months when the reservoirs are at capacity and one during the colder winter months when the reservoirs have been drawn-down for water storage during the rainy months and for weed control. The wide variations of physical and chemical parameters to which the biological organisms are subjected on an annual basis control the biological organisms and their population levels. A comparison of the parameters of the site below the Power plant indicates that the heated effluent from the plant operating with two of the three reactors has not had any effect on the organisms at this site. Recommendations given include the development of prediction mathematical models (statistical analysis) for the physical and chemical parameters under specific climatological conditions which affect biological organisms. Tabulated data of chemical analysis of water and organism populations studied is given.

Water turbidity optical meter using optical fiber array for topographical distribution analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutter, Kussay Nugamesh; Mat Jafri, Mohd Zubir; Yeoh, Stephenie

2017-06-01

This work is presenting an analysis study for using optical fiber array as turbidity meter and topographical distribution. Although many studies have been figure out of utilizing optical fibers as sensors for turbidity measurements, still the topographical map of suspended particles in water as rare as expected among all of works in literatures in this scope. The effect of suspended particles are highly affect the water quality which varies according to the source of these particles. A two dimensional array of optical fibers in a 1 litter rectangular plastic container with 2 cm cladding off sensing portion prepared to point out 632.8 nm laser power at each fiber location at the container center. The overall output map of the optical power were found in an inhomogeneous distribution such that the top to down layers of a present water sample show different magnitudes. Each sample prepared by mixing a distilled water with large grains sand, small grains sand, glucose and salt. All with different amount of concentration which measured by refractometer and turbidity meter. The measurements were done in different times i.e. from 10 min to 60 min. This is to let the heavy particles to move down and accumulate at the bottom of the container. The results were as expected which had a gradually topographical map from low power at top layers into high power at bottom layers. There are many applications can be implemented of this study such as transport vehicles fuel meter, to measure the purity of tanks, and monitoring the fluids quality in pipes.

The effect of thermal de-phasing on the beam quality of a high-power single-pass second harmonic generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadat Hashemi, Somayeh; Ghavami Sabouri, Saeed; Khorsandi, Alireza

2018-04-01

We present a theoretical model in order to study the effect of a thermally loaded crystal on the quality of a second-harmonic (SH) beam generated in a high-power pumping regime. The model is provided based on using a particular structure of oven considered for MgO:PPsLT nonlinear crystal to compensate for the thermal de-phasing effect that as the pumping power reaches up to 50 W degrades the conversion efficiency and beam quality of the interacting beams. Hereupon, the quality of fundamental beam is involved in the modeling to investigate the final effect on the beam quality of generated SH beam. Beam quality evaluation is subsequently simulated using Hermite-Gaussian modal decomposition approach for a range of fundamental beam qualities varied from 1 to 3 and for different levels of input powers. To provide a meaningful comparison numerical simulation is correlated with real data deduced from a high-power SH generation (SHG) experimental device. It is found that when using the open-top oven scheme and fixing the fundamental M 2-factor at nearly 1, for a range of input powers changing from 15 to 30 W, the M 2-factor of SHG beam is degraded from 9% to 24%, respectively, confirming very good consistency with the reported experimental results.

The use of segmented regression in analysing interrupted time series studies: an example in pre-hospital ambulance care.

PubMed

Taljaard, Monica; McKenzie, Joanne E; Ramsay, Craig R; Grimshaw, Jeremy M

2014-06-19

An interrupted time series design is a powerful quasi-experimental approach for evaluating effects of interventions introduced at a specific point in time. To utilize the strength of this design, a modification to standard regression analysis, such as segmented regression, is required. In segmented regression analysis, the change in intercept and/or slope from pre- to post-intervention is estimated and used to test causal hypotheses about the intervention. We illustrate segmented regression using data from a previously published study that evaluated the effectiveness of a collaborative intervention to improve quality in pre-hospital ambulance care for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke. In the original analysis, a standard regression model was used with time as a continuous variable. We contrast the results from this standard regression analysis with those from segmented regression analysis. We discuss the limitations of the former and advantages of the latter, as well as the challenges of using segmented regression in analysing complex quality improvement interventions. Based on the estimated change in intercept and slope from pre- to post-intervention using segmented regression, we found insufficient evidence of a statistically significant effect on quality of care for stroke, although potential clinically important effects for AMI cannot be ruled out. Segmented regression analysis is the recommended approach for analysing data from an interrupted time series study. Several modifications to the basic segmented regression analysis approach are available to deal with challenges arising in the evaluation of complex quality improvement interventions.

An approach for quantitative image quality analysis for CT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahimi, Amir; Cochran, Joe; Mooney, Doug; Regensburger, Joe

2016-03-01

An objective and standardized approach to assess image quality of Compute Tomography (CT) systems is required in a wide variety of imaging processes to identify CT systems appropriate for a given application. We present an overview of the framework we have developed to help standardize and to objectively assess CT image quality for different models of CT scanners used for security applications. Within this framework, we have developed methods to quantitatively measure metrics that should correlate with feature identification, detection accuracy and precision, and image registration capabilities of CT machines and to identify strengths and weaknesses in different CT imaging technologies in transportation security. To that end we have designed, developed and constructed phantoms that allow for systematic and repeatable measurements of roughly 88 image quality metrics, representing modulation transfer function, noise equivalent quanta, noise power spectra, slice sensitivity profiles, streak artifacts, CT number uniformity, CT number consistency, object length accuracy, CT number path length consistency, and object registration. Furthermore, we have developed a sophisticated MATLAB based image analysis tool kit to analyze CT generated images of phantoms and report these metrics in a format that is standardized across the considered models of CT scanners, allowing for comparative image quality analysis within a CT model or between different CT models. In addition, we have developed a modified sparse principal component analysis (SPCA) method to generate a modified set of PCA components as compared to the standard principal component analysis (PCA) with sparse loadings in conjunction with Hotelling T2 statistical analysis method to compare, qualify, and detect faults in the tested systems.

Data-Aware Retrodiction for Asynchronous Harmonic Measurement in a Cyber-Physical Energy System

PubMed Central

Liu, Youda; Wang, Xue; Liu, Yanchi; Cui, Sujin

2016-01-01

Cyber-physical energy systems provide a networked solution for safety, reliability and efficiency problems in smart grids. On the demand side, the secure and trustworthy energy supply requires real-time supervising and online power quality assessing. Harmonics measurement is necessary in power quality evaluation. However, under the large-scale distributed metering architecture, harmonic measurement faces the out-of-sequence measurement (OOSM) problem, which is the result of latencies in sensing or the communication process and brings deviations in data fusion. This paper depicts a distributed measurement network for large-scale asynchronous harmonic analysis and exploits a nonlinear autoregressive model with exogenous inputs (NARX) network to reorder the out-of-sequence measuring data. The NARX network gets the characteristics of the electrical harmonics from practical data rather than the kinematic equations. Thus, the data-aware network approximates the behavior of the practical electrical parameter with real-time data and improves the retrodiction accuracy. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the data-aware method maintains a reasonable consumption of computing resources. Experiments on a practical testbed of a cyber-physical system are implemented, and harmonic measurement and analysis accuracy are adopted to evaluate the measuring mechanism under a distributed metering network. Results demonstrate an improvement of the harmonics analysis precision and validate the asynchronous measuring method in cyber-physical energy systems. PMID:27548171

High power far-infrared optical parametric oscillator with high beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Chuan-Peng; Shen, Ying-Jie; Dai, Tong-Yu; Duan, Xiao-Ming; Yao, Bao-Quan

2016-11-01

A high power ZnGeP2 (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with good beam quality pumped by a Q-switched Ho:YAG laser was demonstrated. The maximum output power of the ZGP OPO with a four-mirror ring cavity was about 5.04 W around 8.1 μm with 83.9 W Ho incident pump power, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 9.2 %. The ZGP OPO produced 36.0 ns far-IR pulse laser in the 8.0-8.3 μm spectral regions. The beam quality was measured to be M2 1.6 at the highest output power.

Comparison of three longitudinal analysis models for the health-related quality of life in oncology: a simulation study.

PubMed

Anota, Amélie; Barbieri, Antoine; Savina, Marion; Pam, Alhousseiny; Gourgou-Bourgade, Sophie; Bonnetain, Franck; Bascoul-Mollevi, Caroline

2014-12-31

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is an important endpoint in oncology clinical trials aiming to investigate the clinical benefit of new therapeutic strategies for the patient. However, the longitudinal analysis of HRQoL remains complex and unstandardized. There is clearly a need to propose accessible statistical methods and meaningful results for clinicians. The objective of this study was to compare three strategies for longitudinal analyses of HRQoL data in oncology clinical trials through a simulation study. The methods proposed were: the score and mixed model (SM); a survival analysis approach based on the time to HRQoL score deterioration (TTD); and the longitudinal partial credit model (LPCM). Simulations compared the methods in terms of type I error and statistical power of the test of an interaction effect between treatment arm and time. Several simulation scenarios were explored based on the EORTC HRQoL questionnaires and varying the number of patients (100, 200 or 300), items (1, 2 or 4) and response categories per item (4 or 7). Five or 10 measurement times were considered, with correlations ranging from low to high between each measure. The impact of informative missing data on these methods was also studied to reflect the reality of most clinical trials. With complete data, the type I error rate was close to the expected value (5%) for all methods, while the SM method was the most powerful method, followed by LPCM. The power of TTD is low for single-item dimensions, because only four possible values exist for the score. When the number of items increases, the power of the SM approach remained stable, those of the TTD method increases while the power of LPCM remained stable. With 10 measurement times, the LPCM was less efficient. With informative missing data, the statistical power of SM and TTD tended to decrease, while that of LPCM tended to increase. To conclude, the SM model was the most powerful model, irrespective of the scenario considered, and the presence or not of missing data. The TTD method should be avoided for single-item dimensions of the EORTC questionnaire. While the LPCM model was more adapted to this kind of data, it was less efficient than the SM model. These results warrant validation through comparisons on real data.

Dual-color Proteomic Profiling of Complex Samples with a Microarray of 810 Cancer-related Antibodies*

PubMed Central

Schröder, Christoph; Jacob, Anette; Tonack, Sarah; Radon, Tomasz P.; Sill, Martin; Zucknick, Manuela; Rüffer, Sven; Costello, Eithne; Neoptolemos, John P.; Crnogorac-Jurcevic, Tatjana; Bauer, Andrea; Fellenberg, Kurt; Hoheisel, Jörg D.

2010-01-01

Antibody microarrays have the potential to enable comprehensive proteomic analysis of small amounts of sample material. Here, protocols are presented for the production, quality assessment, and reproducible application of antibody microarrays in a two-color mode with an array of 1,800 features, representing 810 antibodies that were directed at 741 cancer-related proteins. In addition to measures of array quality, we implemented indicators for the accuracy and significance of dual-color detection. Dual-color measurements outperform a single-color approach concerning assay reproducibility and discriminative power. In the analysis of serum samples, depletion of high-abundance proteins did not improve technical assay quality. On the contrary, depletion introduced a strong bias in protein representation. In an initial study, we demonstrated the applicability of the protocols to proteins derived from urine samples. We identified differences between urine samples from pancreatic cancer patients and healthy subjects and between sexes. This study demonstrates that biomedically relevant data can be produced. As demonstrated by the thorough quality analysis, the dual-color antibody array approach proved to be competitive with other proteomic techniques and comparable in performance to transcriptional microarray analyses. PMID:20164060

Experimental and numerical study of impact of voltage fluctuate, flicker and power factor wave electric generator to local distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadi, Nik Azran Ab; Rashid, Wan Norhisyam Abd; Hashim, Nik Mohd Zarifie; Mohamad, Najmiah Radiah; Kadmin, Ahmad Fauzan

2017-10-01

Electricity is the most powerful energy source in the world. Engineer and technologist combined and cooperated to invent a new low-cost technology and free carbon emission where the carbon emission issue is a major concern now due to global warming. Renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind and wave are becoming widespread to reduce the carbon emissions, on the other hand, this effort needs several novel methods, techniques and technologies compared to coal-based power. Power quality of renewable sources needs in depth research and endless study to improve renewable energy technologies. The aim of this project is to investigate the impact of renewable electric generator on its local distribution system. The power farm was designed to connect to the local distribution system and it will be investigated and analyzed to make sure that energy which is supplied to customer is clean. The MATLAB tools are used to simulate the overall analysis. At the end of the project, a summary of identifying various voltage fluctuates data sources is presented in terms of voltage flicker. A suggestion of the analysis impact of wave power generation on its local distribution is also presented for the development of wave generator farms.

Advantages and limitations of potential methods for the analysis of bacteria in milk: a review.

PubMed

Tabit, Frederick Tawi

2016-01-01

Contamination concerns in the dairy industry are motivated by outbreaks of disease in humans and the inability of thermal processes to eliminate bacteria completely in processed products. HACCP principles are an important tool used in the food industry to identify and control potential food safety hazards in order to meet customer demands and regulatory requirements. Milk testing is of importance to the milk industry regarding quality assurance and monitoring of processed products by researchers, manufacturers and regulatory agencies. Due to the availability of numerous methods used for analysing the microbial quality of milk in literature and differences in priorities of stakeholders, it is sometimes confusing to choose an appropriate method for a particular analysis. The objective of this paper is to review the advantages and disadvantages of selected techniques that can be used in the analysis of bacteria in milk. SSC, HRMA, REP, and RAPD are the top four techniques which are quick and cost-effective and possess adequate discriminatory power for the detection and profiling of bacteria. The following conclusions were arrived at during this review: HRMA, REP and RFLP are the techniques with the most reproducible results, and the techniques with the most discriminatory power are AFLP, PFGE and Raman Spectroscopy.

A Preliminary Analysis of the Flying Qualities of the Consolidated Vultee MX-813 Delta-Wing Airplane Configuration at Transonic and Low Supersonic Speeds as Determined from Flights of Rocket-Powered Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitcham, Grady L.

1949-01-01

A preliminary analysis of the flying qualities of the Consolidated Vultee MX-813 delta-wing airplane configuration has been made based on the results obtained from the first two 1/8 scale models flown at the NACA Pilotless Aircraft Research Station, Wallop's Island, VA. The Mach number range covered in the tests was from 0.9 to 1.2. The analysis indicates adequate elevator control for trim in level flight over the speed range investigated. Through the transonic range there is a mild trim change with a slight tucking-under tendency. The elevator control effectiveness in the supersonic range is reduced to about one-half the subsonic value although sufficient control for maneuvering is available as indicated by the fact that 10 deg elevator deflection produced 5g acceleration at Mach number of 1.2 at 40,000 feet.The elevator control forces are high and indicate the power required of the boost system. The damping. of the short-period oscillation is adequate at sea-level but is reduced at 40,000 feet. The directional stability appears adequate for the speed range and angles of attack covered.

Efficacy of mindfulness meditation for smoking cessation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Maglione, Margaret A; Maher, Alicia Ruelaz; Ewing, Brett; Colaiaco, Benjamin; Newberry, Sydne; Kandrack, Ryan; Shanman, Roberta M; Sorbero, Melony E; Hempel, Susanne

2017-06-01

Smokers increasingly seek alternative interventions to assist in cessation or reduction efforts. Mindfulness meditation, which facilitates detached observation and paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and acceptance, has recently been studied as a smoking cessation intervention. This review synthesizes randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness meditation (MM) interventions for smoking cessation. Five electronic databases were searched from inception to October 2016 to identify English-language RCTs evaluating the efficacy and safety of MM interventions for smoking cessation, reduction, or a decrease in nicotine cravings. Two independent reviewers screened literature using predetermined eligibility criteria, abstracted study-level information, and assessed the quality of included studies. Meta-analyses used the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method for random-effects models. The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Ten RCTs of MM interventions for tobacco use met inclusion criteria. Intervention duration, intensity, and comparison conditions varied considerably. Studies used diverse comparators such as the American Lung Association's Freedom from Smoking (FFS) program, quitline counseling, interactive learning, or treatment as usual (TAU). Only one RCT was rated as good quality and reported power calculations indicating sufficient statistical power. Publication bias was detected. Overall, mindfulness meditation did not have significant effects on abstinence or cigarettes per day, relative to comparator groups. The small number of studies and heterogeneity in interventions, comparators, and outcomes precluded detecting systematic differences between adjunctive and monotherapy interventions. No serious adverse events were reported. MM did not differ significantly from comparator interventions in their effects on tobacco use. Low-quality evidence, variability in study design among the small number of existing studies, and publication bias suggest that additional, high-quality adequately powered RCTs should be conducted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intraoperative Nerve Blocks Fail to Improve Quality of Recovery after Tissue Expander Breast Reconstruction: A Prospective, Double-Blinded, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Lanier, Steven T; Lewis, Kevin C; Kendall, Mark C; Vieira, Brittany L; De Oliveira, Gildasio; Nader, Anthony; Kim, John Y S; Alghoul, Mohammed

2018-03-01

The authors' study represents the first level I evidence to assess whether intraoperative nerve blocks improve the quality of recovery from immediate tissue expander/implant breast reconstruction. A prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in which patients undergoing immediate tissue expander/implant breast reconstruction were randomized to either (1) intraoperative intercostal and pectoral nerve blocks with 0.25% bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine and 4 mg of dexamethasone or (2) sham nerve blocks with normal saline. The 40-item Quality of Recovery score, pain score, and opioid use in the postoperative period were compared statistically between groups. Power analysis ensured 80 percent power to detect a 10-point (clinically significant) difference in the 40-item Quality of Recovery score. Forty-seven patients were enrolled. Age, body mass index, laterality, mastectomy type, and lymph node dissection were similar between groups. There were no statistical differences in quality of recovery, pain burden as measured by visual analogue scale, opioid consumption, antiemetic use, or length of hospital stay between groups at 24 hours after surgery. Mean global 40-item Quality of Recovery scores were 169 (range, 155 to 182) for the treatment arm and 165 (range, 143 to 179) for the placebo arm (p = 0.36), indicating a high quality of recovery in both groups. Although intraoperative nerve blocks can be a safe adjunct to a comprehensive postsurgical recovery regimen, the authors' results indicate no effect on overall quality of recovery from tissue expander/implant breast reconstruction. Therapeutic, I.

Information fusion based techniques for HEVC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández, D. G.; Del Barrio, A. A.; Botella, Guillermo; Meyer-Baese, Uwe; Meyer-Baese, Anke; Grecos, Christos

2017-05-01

Aiming at the conflict circumstances of multi-parameter H.265/HEVC encoder system, the present paper introduces the analysis of many optimizations' set in order to improve the trade-off between quality, performance and power consumption for different reliable and accurate applications. This method is based on the Pareto optimization and has been tested with different resolutions on real-time encoders.

77 FR 24385 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maine; Regional Haze

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-24

... Maine's low sulfur fuel oil legislation, 38 MRSA Sec. 603-A, sub-Sec. 2(A), and to incorporate this... technology option of new Low NO X Burners with modified over-fire air (NLNB/MOFA) plus selective non... unreasonable. Comment: NPS commented that the analysis of lower sulfur fuel oil for Verso Androscoggin Power...

Framework for an Effective Assessment and Accountability Program: The Philadelphia Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porter, Andrew C.; Chester, Mitchell D.; Schlesinger, Michael D.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this article is to put in the hands of researchers, practitioners, and policy makers a powerful framework for building and studying the effects of high-quality assessment and accountability programs. The framework is illustrated through a description and analysis of the assessment and accountability program in the School District of…

Water Network Tool for Resilience v. 1.0

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

2015-12-09

WNTR is a python package designed to simulate and analyze resilience of water distribution networks. The software includes: - Pressure driven and demand driven hydraulic simulation - Water quality simulation to track concentration, trace, and water age - Conditional controls to simulate power outages - Models to simulate pipe breaks - A wide range of resilience metrics - Analysis and visualization tools

Health and air quality benefits of policies to reduce coal-fired power plant emissions: a case study in North Carolina.

PubMed

Li, Ya-Ru; Gibson, Jacqueline MacDonald

2014-09-02

We analyzed sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and fine particulate sulfate (PM2.5 sulfate) concentrations in the southeastern United States during 2002-2012, in order to evaluate the health impacts in North Carolina (NC) of the NC Clean Smokestacks Act of 2002. This state law required progressive reductions (beyond those mandated by federal rules) in pollutant emissions from NC's coal-fired power plants. Although coal-fired power plants remain NC's leading SO2 source, a trend analysis shows significant declines in SO2 emissions (-20.3%/year) and PM2.5 sulfate concentrations (-8.7%/year) since passage of the act. Emissions reductions were significantly greater in NC than in neighboring states, and emissions and PM2.5 sulfate concentration reductions were highest in NC's piedmont region, where 9 of the state's 14 major coal-fired power plants are located. Our risk model estimates that these air quality improvements decreased the risk of premature death attributable to PM2.5 sulfate in NC by about 63%, resulting in an estimated 1700 (95% CI: 1500, 1800) deaths prevented in 2012. These findings lend support to recent studies predicting that implementing the proposed federal Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court) could substantially decrease U.S. premature deaths attributable to coal-fired power plant emissions.

Power-rate-distortion analysis for wireless video communication under energy constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Zhihai; Liang, Yongfang; Ahmad, Ishfaq

2004-01-01

In video coding and streaming over wireless communication network, the power-demanding video encoding operates on the mobile devices with limited energy supply. To analyze, control, and optimize the rate-distortion (R-D) behavior of the wireless video communication system under the energy constraint, we need to develop a power-rate-distortion (P-R-D) analysis framework, which extends the traditional R-D analysis by including another dimension, the power consumption. Specifically, in this paper, we analyze the encoding mechanism of typical video encoding systems and develop a parametric video encoding architecture which is fully scalable in computational complexity. Using dynamic voltage scaling (DVS), a hardware technology recently developed in CMOS circuits design, the complexity scalability can be translated into the power consumption scalability of the video encoder. We investigate the rate-distortion behaviors of the complexity control parameters and establish an analytic framework to explore the P-R-D behavior of the video encoding system. Both theoretically and experimentally, we show that, using this P-R-D model, the encoding system is able to automatically adjust its complexity control parameters to match the available energy supply of the mobile device while maximizing the picture quality. The P-R-D model provides a theoretical guideline for system design and performance optimization in wireless video communication under energy constraint, especially over the wireless video sensor network.

Delivery of video-on-demand services using local storages within passive optical networks.

PubMed

Abeywickrama, Sandu; Wong, Elaine

2013-01-28

At present, distributed storage systems have been widely studied to alleviate Internet traffic build-up caused by high-bandwidth, on-demand applications. Distributed storage arrays located locally within the passive optical network were previously proposed to deliver Video-on-Demand services. As an added feature, a popularity-aware caching algorithm was also proposed to dynamically maintain the most popular videos in the storage arrays of such local storages. In this paper, we present a new dynamic bandwidth allocation algorithm to improve Video-on-Demand services over passive optical networks using local storages. The algorithm exploits the use of standard control packets to reduce the time taken for the initial request communication between the customer and the central office, and to maintain the set of popular movies in the local storage. We conduct packet level simulations to perform a comparative analysis of the Quality-of-Service attributes between two passive optical networks, namely the conventional passive optical network and one that is equipped with a local storage. Results from our analysis highlight that strategic placement of a local storage inside the network enables the services to be delivered with improved Quality-of-Service to the customer. We further formulate power consumption models of both architectures to examine the trade-off between enhanced Quality-of-Service performance versus the increased power requirement from implementing a local storage within the network.

Effect of Reduced Tube Voltage on Diagnostic Accuracy of CT Colonography.

PubMed

Futamata, Yoshihiro; Koide, Tomoaki; Ihara, Riku

2017-01-01

The normal tube voltage in computed tomography colonography (CTC) is 120 kV. Some reports indicate that the use of a low tube voltage (lower than 120 kV) technique plays a significant role in reduction of radiation dose. However, to determine whether a lower tube voltage can reduce radiation dose without compromising diagnostic accuracy, an evaluation of images that are obtained while maintaining the volume CT dose index (CTDI vol ) is required. This study investigated the effect of reduced tube voltage in CTC, without modifying radiation dose (i.e. constant CTDI vol ), on image quality. Evaluation of image quality involved the shape of the noise power spectrum, surface profiling with volume rendering (VR), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The shape of the noise power spectrum obtained with a tube voltage of 80 kV and 100 kV was not similar to the one produced with a tube voltage of 120 kV. Moreover, a higher standard deviation was observed on volume-rendered images that were generated using the reduced tube voltages. In addition, ROC analysis revealed a statistically significant drop in diagnostic accuracy with reduced tube voltage, revealing that the modification of tube voltage affects volume-rendered images. The results of this study suggest that reduction of tube voltage in CTC, so as to reduce radiation dose, affects image quality and diagnostic accuracy.

Predictive analysis of beer quality by correlating sensory evaluation with higher alcohol and ester production using multivariate statistics methods.

PubMed

Dong, Jian-Jun; Li, Qing-Liang; Yin, Hua; Zhong, Cheng; Hao, Jun-Guang; Yang, Pan-Fei; Tian, Yu-Hong; Jia, Shi-Ru

2014-10-15

Sensory evaluation is regarded as a necessary procedure to ensure a reproducible quality of beer. Meanwhile, high-throughput analytical methods provide a powerful tool to analyse various flavour compounds, such as higher alcohol and ester. In this study, the relationship between flavour compounds and sensory evaluation was established by non-linear models such as partial least squares (PLS), genetic algorithm back-propagation neural network (GA-BP), support vector machine (SVM). It was shown that SVM with a Radial Basis Function (RBF) had a better performance of prediction accuracy for both calibration set (94.3%) and validation set (96.2%) than other models. Relatively lower prediction abilities were observed for GA-BP (52.1%) and PLS (31.7%). In addition, the kernel function of SVM played an essential role of model training when the prediction accuracy of SVM with polynomial kernel function was 32.9%. As a powerful multivariate statistics method, SVM holds great potential to assess beer quality. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Combining microcredit, microinsurance, and the provision of health care can improve access to quality care in urban areas of Africa: Results of an experiment in the Bandalungwa health zone in Kinshasa, the Congo].

PubMed

Manzambi Kuwekita, J; Gosset, C; Guillaume, M; Balula Semutsari, M-P; Tshiama Kabongo, E; Bruyere, O; Reginster, J-Y

2015-01-01

This study, based on a survey conducted in 2008, examines how combining microcredit, microinsurance, and health care provision can improve access to quality care in the health zone of Bandalungwa, in Kinshasa. The bivariate analysis showed a significant association between increased purchasing power and earnings (p = 0.001), between earnings and savings (p = 0.000), and between health insurance and improved access to health care. These results show that 68.8% of borrowers reported an increase in their purchasing power, of whom 82% reported profits. Those with savings were 24.7 times more likely to purchase health insurance than those without; and 72% of those who regularly made health insurance payments improved their access to care. Combining microcredit, health microinsurance, and health care can improve access to quality health care at lower cost. This suggests that health insurance could usefully be integrated into the primary health-care system.

Statistical analysis of porosity of 17-4PH alloy processed by selective laser melting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ponnusamy, P.; Masood, S. H.; Ruan, D.; Palanisamy, S.; Mohamed, O. A.

2017-07-01

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a powder-bed type Additive Manufacturing (AM) process, where parts are built layer-by-layer by laser melting of powder layers of metal. There are several SLM process parameters that affect the accuracy and quality of the metal parts produced by SLM. Therefore, it is essential to understand the effect of these parameters on the quality and properties of the parts built by this process. In this paper, using Taguchi design of experiments, the effect of four SLM process parameters namely laser power, defocus distance, layer thickness and build orientation are considered on the porosity of 17-4PH stainless steel parts built on ProX200 SLM direct metal printer. The porositywas found to be optimum at a defocus distance of -4mm and a laser power of 240 W with a layer thickness of 30 μm and using vertical build orientation.

The Architecture Design of Detection and Calibration System for High-voltage Electrical Equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Y.; Lin, Y.; Yang, Y.; Gu, Ch; Yang, F.; Zou, L. D.

2018-01-01

With the construction of Material Quality Inspection Center of Shandong electric power company, Electric Power Research Institute takes on more jobs on quality analysis and laboratory calibration for high-voltage electrical equipment, and informationization construction becomes urgent. In the paper we design a consolidated system, which implements the electronic management and online automation process for material sampling, test apparatus detection and field test. In the three jobs we use QR code scanning, online Word editing and electronic signature. These techniques simplify the complex process of warehouse management and testing report transferring, and largely reduce the manual procedure. The construction of the standardized detection information platform realizes the integrated management of high-voltage electrical equipment from their networking, running to periodic detection. According to system operation evaluation, the speed of transferring report is doubled, and querying data is also easier and faster.

Moderate quality evidence finds statistical benefit in oral health for powered over manual toothbrushes.

PubMed

Niederman, Richard

2014-09-01

The Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Medline, Embase, CINAHL, National Institutes of Health Trials Register and the WHO Clinical Trials Registry Platform for ongoing trials. Reference lists of identified articles were also scanned for relevant papers. Identified manufacturers were contacted for additional information. Only randomised controlled trials comparing manual and powered toothbrushes were considered. Crossover trials were eligible for inclusion if the wash-out period length was more than two weeks. Study assessment and data extraction were carried out independently by at least two reviewers. The primary outcome measures were quantified levels of plaque or gingivitis. Risk of bias assessment was undertaken. Standard Cochrane methodological approaches were taken. Random-effects models were used provided there were four or more studies included in the meta-analysis, otherwise fixed-effect models were used. Data were classed as short term (one to three months) and long term (greater than three months). Fifty-six trials were included with 51 (4624 patients) providing data for meta-analysis. The majority (46) were at unclear risk of bias, five at high risk of bias and five at low risk. There was moderate quality evidence that powered toothbrushes provide a statistically significant benefit compared with manual toothbrushes with regard to the reduction of plaque in both the short and long-term. This corresponds to an 11% reduction in plaque for the Quigley Hein index (Turesky) in the short term and a 21% reduction in the long term. There was a high degree of heterogeneity that was not explained by the different powered toothbrush type subgroups.There was also moderate quality evidence that powered toothbrushes again provide a statistically significant reduction in gingivitis when compared with manual toothbrushes both in the short and long term. This corresponds to a 6% and 11% reduction in gingivitis for the Löe and Silness indices respectively. Again there was a high degree of heterogeneity that was not explained by the different powered toothbrush type subgroups. The greatest body of evidence was for rotation oscillation brushes which demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in plaque and gingivitis at both time points. Powered toothbrushes reduce plaque and gingivitis more than manual toothbrushing in the short and long term. The clinical importance of these findings remains unclear. Observation of methodological guidelines and greater standardisation of design would benefit both future trials and meta-analyses. Cost, reliability and side effects were inconsistently reported. Any reported side effects were localised and only temporary.

Modified Perfect Harmonics Cancellation Control of a Grid Interfaced SPV Power Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, B.; Shahani, D. T.; Verma, A. K.

2015-03-01

This paper deals with a grid interfaced solar photo voltaic (SPV) power generating system with modified perfect harmonic cancellation (MPHC) control for power quality improvement in terms of mitigation of the current harmonics, power factor correction, control of point of common coupling (PCC) voltage with reactive power compensation and load balancing in a three phase distribution system. The proposed grid interfaced SPV system consists of a SPV array, a dc-dc boost converter and a voltage source converter (VSC) used for the compensation of other connected linear and nonlinear loads at PCC. The reference grid currents are estimated using MPHC method and control signals are derived by using pulse width modulation (PWM) current controller of VSC. The SPV power is fed to the common dc bus of VSC and dc-dc boost converter using maximum power point tracking (MPPT). The dc link voltage of VSC is regulated by using dc voltage proportional integral (PI) controller. The analysis of the proposed SPV power generating system is carried out under dc/ac short circuit and severe SPV-SX and SPV-TX intrusion.

A Review of Distributed Control Techniques for Power Quality Improvement in Micro-grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeeshan, Hafiz Muhammad Ali; Nisar, Fatima; Hassan, Ahmad

2017-05-01

Micro-grid is typically visualized as a small scale local power supply network dependent on distributed energy resources (DERs) that can operate simultaneously with grid as well as in standalone manner. The distributed generator of a micro-grid system is usually a converter-inverter type topology acting as a non-linear load, and injecting harmonics into the distribution feeder. Hence, the negative effects on power quality by the usage of distributed generation sources and components are clearly witnessed. In this paper, a review of distributed control approaches for power quality improvement is presented which encompasses harmonic compensation, loss mitigation and optimum power sharing in multi-source-load distributed power network. The decentralized subsystems for harmonic compensation and active-reactive power sharing accuracy have been analysed in detail. Results have been validated to be consistent with IEEE standards.

Theoretical and experimental investigations on high peak power Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1112 nm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Miao; Yang, Feng; Wang, Zhi-Chao; Gao, Hong-Wei; Yuan, Lei; Li, Chen-Long; Zong, Nan; Shen, Yu; Bo, Yong; Peng, Qin-Jun; Cui, Da-Fu; Xu, Zu-Yan

2018-07-01

We report on the experimental measurement and theoretical analysis on a Q-switched high peak power laser diode (LD) side-pumped 1112 nm Nd:YAG laser by means of special mirrors coating design in cavity. In theory, a numerical model, based on four-wavelength rate equations, is performed to analyze the competition process of different gain lines and the output characteristics of the Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. In the experiment, a maximum output power of 25.2 W with beam quality factor M2 of 1.46 is obtained at the pulse repetition rate of 2 kHz and 210 ns of pulse width, corresponding to a pulse energy and peak power of 12.6 mJ and 60 kW, respectively. The experimental data agree well with the theoretical simulation results.

Power supply improvements for ballasts-low pressure mercury/argon discharge lamp for water purification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bokhtache, A. Aissa; Zegaoui, A.; Djahbar, A.; Allouache, H.; Hemici, K.; Kessaissia, F. Z.; Bouchrit, M. S.; Aillerie, M.

2017-02-01

The low-pressure electrical discharges established in the mercury rare gas mixtures are the basis of many applications both in the field of lighting and for industrial applications. In order to select an efficient high frequency power supply (ECG -based PWM inverter), we present and discuss results obtained in the simulation of three kinds of power supplies delivering a 0.65 A - 50KHz sinusoidal current dedicated to power low pressure UV Mercury - Argon lamp used for effect germicide on water treatment thus allowing maximum UVC radiation at 253.7 nm. Three ballasts half-bridge configurations were compared with criteria based on resulting germicide efficiency, electrical yield and reliability, for example the quality of the sinusoidal current with reduced THD, and finally, we also considered in this analysis the final economic aspect.

Application of near infrared spectroscopy to the analysis and fast quality assessment of traditional Chinese medicinal products

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chao; Su, Jinghua

2014-01-01

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been widely applied in both qualitative and quantitative analysis. There is growing interest in its application to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and a review of recent developments in the field is timely. To present an overview of recent applications of NIRS to the identification, classification and analysis of TCM products, studies describing the application of NIRS to TCM products are classified into those involving qualitative and quantitative analysis. In addition, the application of NIRS to the detection of illegal additives and the rapid assessment of quality of TCMs by fast inspection are also described. This review covers over 100 studies emphasizing the application of NIRS in different fields. Furthermore, basic analytical principles and specific examples are used to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of NIRS in pattern identification. NIRS provides an effective and powerful tool for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of TCM products. PMID:26579382

The impact of turbulent renewable energy production on power grid stability and quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmietendorf, Katrin; Peinke, Joachim; Kamps, Oliver

2017-11-01

Feed-in fluctuations induced by renewables are one of the key challenges to the stability and quality of electrical power grids. In particular short-term fluctuations disturb the system on a time scale, on which load balancing does not operate yet and the system is intrinsically governed by self-organized synchronization. Wind and solar power are known to be strongly non-Gaussian with intermittent increment statistics in these time scales. We investigate the impact of short-term wind fluctuations on the basis of a Kuramoto-like power grid model considering stability in terms of desynchronization and frequency and voltage quality aspects. We present a procedure to generate realistic feed-in fluctuations with temporal correlations, Kolmogorov power spectrum and intermittent increments. By comparison to correlated Gaussian noise of the same spectrum and Gaussian white noise, we found out that while the correlations are essential to capture the likelihood of severe outages, the intermittent nature of wind power has significant consequences on power quality: intermittency is directly transferred into frequency and voltage fluctuations yielding a novel type of fluctuations, which is beyond engineering status of knowledge.

The effects of TGG crystal length on output power and beam quality of a unidirectional ring Nd:YVO4 laser with and without second harmonic generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmadi, A.; Avazpour, A.; Nadgaran, H.; Mousavi, M.

2018-04-01

The effect of terbium gallium garnet (TGG ) crystal length on 1064 and 532 nm output powers and beam quality of a unidirectional ring Nd:YVO4 laser is investigated. In the case of 1064 nm (without nonlinear crystal), the laser output power without considerating the effect of TGG crystal was computed theoretically. Then three TGG crystals with different lengths were placed in the laser setup one by one. A systematic decrease in output power was observed by increasing the TGG crystal length. The experiment was repeated in the case of 532 nm. It was found that in a 532 nm laser, higher laser efficiency and small beam quality degradation can be achieved by increasing the TGG crystal length leading to a 5.7 W green laser with 27 W pump power. The power stability and beam quality were 0.8% for 30 min and less than 1.3, respectively.

Analysis of laser pumping and thermal effects based on element analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Li; Liu, Zhijia; Zhang, Yizhuo; Han, Juan

2018-03-01

Thermal effect is a plateau that limits the output of high-power, high beam quality laser, and thermal effects become worse with the increase of pump power. We can reduce the effects caused by thermal effects from pumping, laser medium shape, cooling method and other aspects. In this article, by using finite element analysis software, the thermal effects between Nd:Glass and Nd:YAG laser crystal was analyzed and compared. The causes of generation for thermal effects, and factors that influence the distribution in laser medium were analyzed, including the light source, the laser medium shape and the working mode. Nd:Glass is more suitable for low repetition frequency, high energy pulsed laser output, due to its large size, line width and so on, and Nd:YAG is more suitable for continue or high repetition rate laser output, due to its higher thermal conductivity.

Multi-Channel, Constant-Current Power Source for Aircraft Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

Special considerations impacting this design were minimizing volume, maintaining system power quality, and providing electrical fault protection...applications. Electrical loads, such as lighting, de-icing heaters, and actuators may be operated from this compact power conversion unit. Because of the...nature of aircraft systems, two of the most important design considerations are the maintenance of electrical power quality and minimization of weight

Performance Evaluation of UPQC under Nonlinear Unbalanced Load Conditions Using Synchronous Reference Frame Based Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kota, Venkata Reddy; Vinnakoti, Sudheer

2017-12-01

Today, maintaining Power Quality (PQ) is very important in the growing competent world. With new equipments and devices, new challenges are also being put before power system operators. Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) is proposed to mitigate many power quality problems and to improve the performance of the power system. In this paper, an UPQC with Fuzzy Logic controller for capacitor voltage balancing is proposed in Synchronous Reference Frame (SRF) based control with Modified Phased Locked Loop (MPLL). The proposed controller with SRF-MPLL based control is tested under non-linear and unbalanced load conditions. The system is developed in Matlab/Simulink and its performance is analyzed under various conditions like non-linear, unbalanced load and polluted supply voltage including voltage sag/swells. Active and reactive power flow in the system, power factor and %THD of voltages and currents before and after compensation are also analyzed in this work. Results prove the applicability of the proposed scheme for power quality improvement. It is observed that the fuzzy controller gives better performance than PI controller with faster capacitor voltage balancing and also improves the dynamic performance of the system.

HOS network-based classification of power quality events via regression algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palomares Salas, José Carlos; González de la Rosa, Juan José; Sierra Fernández, José María; Pérez, Agustín Agüera

2015-12-01

This work compares seven regression algorithms implemented in artificial neural networks (ANNs) supported by 14 power-quality features, which are based in higher-order statistics. Combining time and frequency domain estimators to deal with non-stationary measurement sequences, the final goal of the system is the implementation in the future smart grid to guarantee compatibility between all equipment connected. The principal results are based in spectral kurtosis measurements, which easily adapt to the impulsive nature of the power quality events. These results verify that the proposed technique is capable of offering interesting results for power quality (PQ) disturbance classification. The best results are obtained using radial basis networks, generalized regression, and multilayer perceptron, mainly due to the non-linear nature of data.

Influence of fundamental mode fill factor on disk laser output power and laser beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Zhiyong; Yang, Zhuo; Shao, Xichun; Li, Wei; Zhu, Mengzhen

2017-11-01

An three-dimensional numerical model based on finite element method and Fox-Li method with angular spectrum diffraction theoy is developed to calculate the output power and power density distribution of Yb:YAG disk laser. We invest the influence of fundamental mode fill factor(the ratio of fundamental mode size and pump spot size) on the output power and laser beam quality. Due to aspherical aberration and soft aperture effect in laser disk, high beam quality can be achieve with relative lower efficiency. The highest output power of fundamental laser mode is influenced by the fundamental mode fill factor. Besides we find that optimal mode fill factor increase with pump spot size.

Why weight? Modelling sample and observational level variability improves power in RNA-seq analyses

PubMed Central

Liu, Ruijie; Holik, Aliaksei Z.; Su, Shian; Jansz, Natasha; Chen, Kelan; Leong, Huei San; Blewitt, Marnie E.; Asselin-Labat, Marie-Liesse; Smyth, Gordon K.; Ritchie, Matthew E.

2015-01-01

Variations in sample quality are frequently encountered in small RNA-sequencing experiments, and pose a major challenge in a differential expression analysis. Removal of high variation samples reduces noise, but at a cost of reducing power, thus limiting our ability to detect biologically meaningful changes. Similarly, retaining these samples in the analysis may not reveal any statistically significant changes due to the higher noise level. A compromise is to use all available data, but to down-weight the observations from more variable samples. We describe a statistical approach that facilitates this by modelling heterogeneity at both the sample and observational levels as part of the differential expression analysis. At the sample level this is achieved by fitting a log-linear variance model that includes common sample-specific or group-specific parameters that are shared between genes. The estimated sample variance factors are then converted to weights and combined with observational level weights obtained from the mean–variance relationship of the log-counts-per-million using ‘voom’. A comprehensive analysis involving both simulations and experimental RNA-sequencing data demonstrates that this strategy leads to a universally more powerful analysis and fewer false discoveries when compared to conventional approaches. This methodology has wide application and is implemented in the open-source ‘limma’ package. PMID:25925576

Optimization of light quality from color mixing light-emitting diode systems for general lighting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorseth, Anders

2012-03-01

Given the problem of metamerisms inherent in color mixing in light-emitting diode (LED) systems with more than three distinct colors, a method for optimizing the spectral output of multicolor LED system with regards to standardized light quality parameters has been developed. The composite spectral power distribution from the LEDs are simulated using spectral radiometric measurements of single commercially available LEDs for varying input power, to account for the efficiency droop and other non-linear effects in electrical power vs. light output. The method uses electrical input powers as input parameters in a randomized steepest decent optimization. The resulting spectral power distributions are evaluated with regard to the light quality using the standard characteristics: CIE color rendering index, correlated color temperature and chromaticity distance. The results indicate Pareto optimal boundaries for each system, mapping the capabilities of the simulated lighting systems with regard to the light quality characteristics.

Thermodynamic analysis of performance improvement by reheat on the CO2 transcritical power cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuo, Hanfei

2012-06-01

The CO2 transcritical rankine power cycle has been widely investigated recently, because of its better temperature glide matching between sensible heat source and working fluid in vapor generator, and its desirable qualities, such as moderate critical point, little environment impact and low cost. A reheat CO2 transcritical power cycle with two stage expansion is presented to improve baseline cycle performance in this paper. Energy and exergy analysis are carried out to investigate effects of important parameters on cycle performance. The main results show that reheat cycle performance is sensitive to the variation of medium pressures and the optimum medium pressures exist for maximizing work output and thermal efficiency, respectively. Reheat cycle is compared to baseline cycle under the same conditions. More significant improvements by reheat are obtained at lower turbine inlet temperatures and larger high cycle pressure. Work output improvement is much higher than thermal efficiency improvement, because extra waste heat is required to reheat CO2. Based on second law analysis, exergy efficiency of reheat cycle is also higher than that of baseline cycle, because more useful work is converted from waste heat. Reheat with two stage expansion has great potential to improve thermal efficiency and especially net work output of a CO2 transcritical power cycle using a low-grade heat source.

Polysomnographic and quantitative EEG analysis of subjects with long-term insomnia complaints associated with mild traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Williams, Benjamin R; Lazic, Stanley E; Ogilvie, Robert D

2008-02-01

The aims of this study were (1) to characterise the extent and nature of disrupted sleep in individuals with long-term sleep complaints subsequent to mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), and (2) to determine whether sleep disturbances in MTBI subjects were more characteristic of psychophysiological, psychiatric, or idiopathic insomnia. Nine MTBI patients (27.8 months post-injury; SD=15.5 months) and nine control subjects underwent polysomnographic testing and completed self-report questionnaires on sleep quality. Power spectral (FFT) analysis of the sleep onset period was conducted, with both the power and variability in power being quantified. Individuals with MTBI exhibited long-term sleep difficulties, along with various cognitive and affective abnormalities. The MTBI group had 4% less efficient sleep (p=0.019), shorter REM onset latencies (p=0.011), and longer sleep onset latencies, although the latter were highly variable in the MTBI group (F-test: p=0.012). FFT analysis revealed greater intra-subject variability in the MTBI group in sigma, theta, and delta power during the sleep onset period. MTBI patients with persistent sleep complaints differ significantly from controls on a number of electrophysiological outcomes, but could not be easily classified into existing insomnia subtypes. Sleep disturbances can persist well after the injury in a subset of patients with MTBI.

Study on fibre laser machining quality of plain woven CFRP laminates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Maojun; Li, Shuo; Yang, Xujing; Zhang, Yi; Liang, Zhichao

2018-03-01

Laser cutting is suitable for large-scale and high-efficiency production with relatively high cutting speed, while machining of CFRP composite using lasers is challenging with severe thermal damage due to different material properties and sensitivity to heat. In this paper, surface morphology of cutting plain woven carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) by fibre laser and the influence of cutting parameters on machined quality were investigated. A full factorial experimental design was employed involving three variable factors, which included laser pulse frequency at three levels together with laser power and cutting speed at two levels. Heat-affected zone (HAZ), kerf depth and kerf angle were quantified to understand the interactions with cutting parameters. Observations of machined surface were analysed relating to various damages using optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which included HAZ, matrix recession, fibre protruding, striations, fibre-end swelling, collapses, cavities and delamination. Based on ANOVA analysis, it was found that both cutting speed and laser power were significant factors for HAZ and kerf depth, while laser power was the only significant factor for kerf angle. Besides, HAZ and the kerf depth showed similar sensitivity to the pulse energy and energy per unit length, which was opposite for kerf angle. This paper presented the feasibility and experimental results of cutting CFRP laminates using fibre laser, which is possibly the efficient and high-quality process to promote the development of CFRPs.

Enhancement of water removing and the quality of fried purple-fleshed sweet potato in the vacuum frying by combined power ultrasound and microwave technology.

PubMed

Su, Ya; Zhang, Min; Bhandari, Bhesh; Zhang, Weiming

2018-06-01

The combination of ultrasound and microwave in vacuum frying system was investigated to achieve higher drying efficiency and quality attributes of fried products. Purple-fleshed potato were used as test specimen and different power levels of microwave (0 W, 600 W, 800 W) and ultrasound (0 W, 300 W, 600 W) during vacuum frying. Drying kinetics, dielectric properties, moisture state variation and quality attributes of fried samples were measured in a vacuum frying (VF), and an innovatively designed ultrasound and microwave assisted vacuum frying (USMVF) equipment. The USMVF process markedly increased the moisture evaporation rate and effective moisture diffusivity compared to VF process. The oil uptake was reduced by about 16-34%, the water activity and the shrinkage was lowered, the texture (crispness) and the color of fried samples were greatly improved. The higher ultrasound and microwave power level in USMVF made a greater improvement. The total anthocyanin levels and retention of fried purple-fleshed potato chips was the highest (123.52 mg/100 g solids and 79.51% retention, respectively) among all treatments in US600M800VF process. The SEM analysis revealed a more porous and disruption microstructure in USMVF sample. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Power Spectral Density Error Analysis of Spectral Subtraction Type of Speech Enhancement Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Händel, Peter

2006-12-01

A theoretical framework for analysis of speech enhancement algorithms is introduced for performance assessment of spectral subtraction type of methods. The quality of the enhanced speech is related to physical quantities of the speech and noise (such as stationarity time and spectral flatness), as well as to design variables of the noise suppressor. The derived theoretical results are compared with the outcome of subjective listening tests as well as successful design strategies, performed by independent research groups.

Detection and Characterization of Boundary-Layer Transition in Flight at Supersonic Conditions Using Infrared Thermography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, Daniel W.

2008-01-01

Infrared thermography is a powerful tool for investigating fluid mechanics on flight vehicles. (Can be used to visualize and characterize transition, shock impingement, separation etc.). Updated onboard F-15 based system was used to visualize supersonic boundary layer transition test article. (Tollmien-Schlichting and cross-flow dominant flow fields). Digital Recording improves image quality and analysis capability. (Allows accurate quantitative (temperature) measurements, Greater enhancement through image processing allows analysis of smaller scale phenomena).

Data Visualization and Analysis for Climate Studies using NASA Giovanni Online System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rui, Hualan; Leptoukh, Gregory; Lloyd, Steven

2008-01-01

With many global earth observation systems and missions focused on climate systems and the associated large volumes of observational data available for exploring and explaining how climate is changing and why, there is an urgent need for climate services. Giovanni, the NASA GES DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd ANalysis Infrastructure, is a simple to use yet powerful tool for analysing these data for research on global warming and climate change, as well as for applications to weather. air quality, agriculture, and water resources,

Quality evaluation on an e-learning system in continuing professional education of nurses.

PubMed

Lin, I-Chun; Chien, Yu-Mei; Chang, I-Chiu

2006-01-01

Maintaining high quality in Web-based learning is a powerful means of increasing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of distance learning. Many studies have evaluated Web-based learning but seldom evaluate from the information systems (IS) perspective. This study applied the famous IS Success model in measuring the quality of a Web-based learning system using a Web-based questionnaire for data collection. One hundred and fifty four nurses participated in the survey. Based on confirmatory factor analysis, the variables of the research model fit for measuring the quality of a Web-based learning system. As Web-based education continues to grow worldwide, the results of this study may assist the system adopter (hospital executives), the learner (nurses), and the system designers in making reasonable and informed judgments with regard to the quality of Web-based learning system in continuing professional education.

Getting a Cohesive Answer from a Common Start: Scalable Multidisciplinary Analysis through Transformation of a Systems Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cole, Bjorn; Chung, Seung

2012-01-01

One of the challenges of systems engineering is in working multidisciplinary problems in a cohesive manner. When planning analysis of these problems, system engineers must trade between time and cost for analysis quality and quantity. The quality often correlates with greater run time in multidisciplinary models and the quantity is associated with the number of alternatives that can be analyzed. The trade-off is due to the resource intensive process of creating a cohesive multidisciplinary systems model and analysis. Furthermore, reuse or extension of the models used in one stage of a product life cycle for another is a major challenge. Recent developments have enabled a much less resource-intensive and more rigorous approach than hand-written translation scripts between multi-disciplinary models and their analyses. The key is to work from a core systems model defined in a MOF-based language such as SysML and in leveraging the emerging tool ecosystem, such as Query/View/Transformation (QVT), from the OMG community. SysML was designed to model multidisciplinary systems. The QVT standard was designed to transform SysML models into other models, including those leveraged by engineering analyses. The Europa Habitability Mission (EHM) team has begun to exploit these capabilities. In one case, a Matlab/Simulink model is generated on the fly from a system description for power analysis written in SysML. In a more general case, symbolic analysis (supported by Wolfram Mathematica) is coordinated by data objects transformed from the systems model, enabling extremely flexible and powerful design exploration and analytical investigations of expected system performance.

The use of vision-based image quality metrics to predict low-light performance of camera phones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hultgren, B.; Hertel, D.

2010-01-01

Small digital camera modules such as those in mobile phones have become ubiquitous. Their low-light performance is of utmost importance since a high percentage of images are made under low lighting conditions where image quality failure may occur due to blur, noise, and/or underexposure. These modes of image degradation are not mutually exclusive: they share common roots in the physics of the imager, the constraints of image processing, and the general trade-off situations in camera design. A comprehensive analysis of failure modes is needed in order to understand how their interactions affect overall image quality. Low-light performance is reported for DSLR, point-and-shoot, and mobile phone cameras. The measurements target blur, noise, and exposure error. Image sharpness is evaluated from three different physical measurements: static spatial frequency response, handheld motion blur, and statistical information loss due to image processing. Visual metrics for sharpness, graininess, and brightness are calculated from the physical measurements, and displayed as orthogonal image quality metrics to illustrate the relative magnitude of image quality degradation as a function of subject illumination. The impact of each of the three sharpness measurements on overall sharpness quality is displayed for different light levels. The power spectrum of the statistical information target is a good representation of natural scenes, thus providing a defined input signal for the measurement of power-spectrum based signal-to-noise ratio to characterize overall imaging performance.

OMI air-quality monitoring over the Middle East

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barkley, Michael P.; González Abad, Gonzalo; Kurosu, Thomas P.; Spurr, Robert; Torbatian, Sara; Lerot, Christophe

2017-04-01

Using Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) trace gas vertical column observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and glyoxal (CHOCHO), we have conducted a robust and detailed time series analysis to assess changes in local air quality for over 1000 locations (focussing on urban, oil refinery, oil port, and power plant targets) over the Middle East for 2005-2014. Apart from NO2, which is highest over urban locations, average tropospheric column levels of these trace gases are highest over oil ports and refineries. The highest average pollution levels over urban settlements are typically in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. We detect 278 statistically significant and real linear NO2 trends in total. Over urban areas NO2 increased by up to 12 % yr-1, with only two locations showing a decreasing trend. Over oil refineries, oil ports, and power plants, NO2 increased by about 2-9 % yr-1. For HCHO, 70 significant and real trends were detected, with HCHO increasing by 2-7 % yr-1 over urban settlements and power plants and by about 2-4 % yr-1 over refineries and oil ports. Very few SO2 trends were detected, which varied in direction and magnitude (23 increasing and 9 decreasing). Apart from two locations where CHOCHO is decreasing, we find that glyoxal tropospheric column levels are not changing over the Middle East. Hence, for many locations in the Middle East, OMI observes a degradation in air quality over 2005-2014. This study therefore demonstrates the capability of OMI to generate long-term air-quality monitoring at local scales over this region.

Air quality impacts of distributed power generation in the South Coast Air Basin of California 1: Scenario development and modeling analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, M. A.; Carreras-Sospedra, M.; Medrano, M.; Brouwer, J.; Samuelsen, G. S.; Dabdub, D.

Distributed generation (DG) is generally defined as the operation of many small stationary power generators throughout an urban air basin. Although DG has the potential to supply a significant portion of the increased power demands in California and the rest of the United States, it may lead to increased levels of in-basin pollutants and adversely impact urban air quality. This study focuses on two main objectives: (1) the systematic characterization of DG installation in urban air basins, and (2) the simulation of potential air quality impacts using a state-of-the-art three-dimensional computational model. A general and systematic approach is devised to construct five realistic and 21 spanning scenarios of DG implementation in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) of California. Realistic scenarios reflect an anticipated level of DG deployment in the SoCAB by the year 2010. Spanning scenarios are developed to determine the potential impacts of unexpected outcomes. Realistic implementations of DG in the SoCAB result in small differences in ozone and particulate matter concentrations in the basin compared to the baseline simulations. The baseline accounts for population increase, but does not consider any future emissions control measures. Model results for spanning implementations with extra high DG market penetration show that domain-wide ozone peak concentrations increase significantly. Also, air quality impacts of spanning implementations when DG operate during a 6-h period are larger than when the same amount of emissions are introduced during a 24-h period.

10 CFR Appendix B to Part 50 - Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel Reprocessing Plants

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and... LICENSING OF PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION FACILITIES Pt. 50, App. B Appendix B to Part 50—Quality Assurance... report a description of the quality assurance program to be applied to the design, fabrication...

A Study on Electric Power Smoothing System for Lead-Acid Battery of Stand-Alone Natural Energy Power System Using EDLC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Yan; Shibata, Ryosuke; Yamamura, Naoki; Ishida, Muneaki

To resolve energy shortage and global warming problem, renewable natural resource and its power system has been gradually generalizing. However, the power fluctuation suppressing in short period and the balance control of consumption and supply in long period are two of main problems that need to be resolved urgently in natural energy power system. In Stand-alone Natural Energy Power System (SNEPS) with power energy storage devices, power fluctuation in short period is one of the main reasons that recharge cycle times increase and lead-acid battery early failure. Hence, to prolong the service life of lead-acid battery and improve power quality through suppressing the power fluctuation, we proposed a method of electric power smoothing for lead-acid battery of SNEPS using bi-directional Buck/Boost converter and Electric Double Layer Capacitor (EDLC) in this paper. According to the test data of existing SNEPS, a power fluctuation condition is selected and as an example to analyze the validity of the proposed method. The analysis of frequency characteristics indicates the power fluctuation is suppressed a desired range in the target frequency region. The experimental results of confirmed the feasibility of the proposed system and the results well satisfy the requirement of system design.

Potential collapse due to geological structures influence in Seropan Cave, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nugroho, B.; Pranantya, P. A.; Witjahjati, R.; Rofinus

2018-01-01

This study aims to estimate the potential collapse in the Seropan cave, based on the existing geological structure conditions in the cave. This is very necessary because in the Seropan cave will be built Microhydro installation for power plants. The electricity will be used to raise the underground river water in the cave to a barren soil surface, which can be used for surface irrigation. The method used is analysis the quality of rock mass along the cave. Analysis of rock mass quality using Geomechanical Classification or Rock Mass Rating (RMR), to determine the magnitude of the effect of geological structure on rock mass stability. The research path is divided into several sections and quality analysis is performed on each section. The results show that the influence of geological structure is very large and along the cave where the research there are several places that have the potential to collapse, so need to get serious attention in handling it. Nevertheless, the construction of this Microhydro installation can still be carried out by making a reinforcement on potentially collapsing parts

Benchmarking the performance of fixed-image receptor digital radiographic systems part 1: a novel method for image quality analysis.

PubMed

Lee, Kam L; Ireland, Timothy A; Bernardo, Michael

2016-06-01

This is the first part of a two-part study in benchmarking the performance of fixed digital radiographic general X-ray systems. This paper concentrates on reporting findings related to quantitative analysis techniques used to establish comparative image quality metrics. A systematic technical comparison of the evaluated systems is presented in part two of this study. A novel quantitative image quality analysis method is presented with technical considerations addressed for peer review. The novel method was applied to seven general radiographic systems with four different makes of radiographic image receptor (12 image receptors in total). For the System Modulation Transfer Function (sMTF), the use of grid was found to reduce veiling glare and decrease roll-off. The major contributor in sMTF degradation was found to be focal spot blurring. For the System Normalised Noise Power Spectrum (sNNPS), it was found that all systems examined had similar sNNPS responses. A mathematical model is presented to explain how the use of stationary grid may cause a difference between horizontal and vertical sNNPS responses.

Working Toward Policy-Relevant Air Quality Emissions Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holloway, T.

2010-12-01

Though much work has been done to develop accurate chemical emission inventories, few publicly available inventories are appropriate for realistic policy analysis. Emissions from the electricity and transportation sectors, in particular, respond in complex ways to policy, technology, and energy use change. Many widely used inventories, such as the EPA National Emissions Inventory, are well-suited for modeling current air quality, but do not have the specificity needed to address "what if?" questions. Changes in electricity demand, fuel prices, new power sources, and emission controls all influence the emissions from regional power production, requiring a plant-by-plant assessment to capture the spatially explicit impacts. Similarly, land use, freight distribution, or driving behavior will yield differentiated transportation emissions for urban areas, suburbs, and rural highways. We here present results from three recent research projects at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, where bottom-up emission inventories for electricity, freight transport, and urban vehicle use were constructed to support policy-relevant air quality research. These three studies include: 1) Using the MyPower electricity dispatch model to calculate emissions and air quality impacts of Renewable Portfolio Standards and other carbon-management strategies; 2) Using advanced vehicle and commodity flow data from the Federal Highway Administration to evaluate the potential to shift commodities from truck to rail (assuming expanded infrastructure), and assess a range of alternative fuel suggestions; and 3) Working with urban planners to connect urban density with vehicle use to evaluate the air quality impacts of smart-growth in major Midwest cities. Drawing on the results of these three studies, and on challenges overcome in their execution, we discuss the current state of policy-relevant emission dataset generation, as well as techniques and attributes that need to be further refined in order to meet the increasingly intricate demands of both advanced air quality models and more realistic and relevant policy scenarios.

Integrated application of river water quality modelling and cost-benefit analysis to optimize the environmental economical value based on various aquatic waste load reduction strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chen-Yu; Fan, Chihhao

2017-04-01

To assure the river water quality, the Taiwan government establishes many pollution control strategies and expends huge monetary investment. Despite all these efforts, many rivers still suffer from severe pollution because of massive discharges of domestic and industrial wastewater without proper treatment. A comprehensive evaluation tool seems required to assess the suitability of water pollution control strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to quantify the potential strategic benefits by applying the water quality modelling integrated with cost-benefit analysis to simulating scenarios based on regional development planning. The Erhjen Creek is selected as the study example because it is a major river in southern Taiwan, and its riverine environment impacts a great deal to the neighboring people. For strategy assessment, we established QUAL2k model of Erhjen Creek and conducted the cost-benefit analyses according the proposed strategies. In the water quality simulation, HEC-RAS was employed to calculate the hydraulic parameters and dilution impact of tidal effect in the downstream section. Daily pollution loadings were obtained from the Water Pollution Control Information System maintained by Taiwan EPA, and the wastewater delivery ratios were calculated by comparing the occurrence of pollution loadings with the monitoring data. In the cost-benefit analysis, we adopted the market valuation method, setting a period of 65 years for analysis and discount rate at 2.59%. Capital investments were the costs of design, construction, operation and maintenance for each project in Erhjen Creek catchment. In model calibration and model verification, the mean absolute percentage errors (MAPEs) were calculated to be 21.4% and 25.5%, respectively, which met the prescribed acceptable criteria of 50%. This model was applied to simulating water quality based on implementing various pollution control policies and engineering projects in the Erhjen Creek. The overall improvements in BOD, SS and NH3-N were estimated as 36.2%, 27.7% and 29.2%, respectively. The net present value (i.e., economical-based environmental impact) becomes positive in the sixtieth year following the original government planning. We designed two scenarios for further comparison: (i) treatment efficiency improvement of pollution control facilities, and (ii) biogas-based power generation using livestock manure. If government budget is not a limiting factor, improving the efficiency of sewage treatment plants can make the occurrence of balance between payments and revenues (i.e., net present value in this study) three years earlier. For the biogas-based power generation scenario, if all pig farms with livestock number >2000 install the on-site power generation equipment, BOD will further improve by 9% and the time span of payback period will be shortened by 1 year. If all the manure waste from pig-farms is collected for subsequent electricity generation, the BOD river pollution index is estimated to improve to lightly-polluted category for more than half the length of Erhjen Creek. In short, water quality modelling technique not only can assess the contributions of related projects, but establish a practical pollution reduction strategy using cost-benefit analysis, which allows decision-maker to find a suitable pollution reduction plan to exhibit most benefits in river water quality.

HPTLC Fingerprint Analysis: A Quality Control for Authentication of Herbal Phytochemicals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ram, Mauji; Abdin, M. Z.; Khan, M. A.; Jha, Prabhakar

Authentication and consistent quality are the basic requirement for Indian traditional medicine (TIM), Chinese traditional herbal medicine (TCHM), and their commercial products, regardless of the kind of research conducted to modernize the TIM and TCHM. The complexities of TIM and TCHM challenge the current official quality control mode, for which only a few biochemical markers were selected for identification and quantitative assay. Referring too many unknown factors existed in TIM and TCHM, it is impossible and unnecessary to pinpoint qualitatively and quantitatively every single component contained in the herbal drug. Chromatographic fingerprint is a rational option to meet the need for more effective and powerful quality assessment to TIM and TCHM. The optimized chromatographic fingerprint is not only an alternative analytical tool for authentication, but also an approach to express the various pattern of chemical ingredients distribution in the herbal drugs and preserve such "database" for further multifaced sustainable studies. Analytical separation techniques, for example, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS) were among the most popular methods of choice used for quality control of raw material and finished herbal product. Fingerprint analysis approach using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) has become the most potent tool for quality control of herbal medicines because of its simplicity and reliability. It can serve as a tool for identification, authentication, and quality control of herbal drugs. In this chapter, attempts are being made to expand the use of HPTLC and at the same time create interest among prospective researcher in herbal analysis. The developed method can be used as a quality control tool for rapid authentication from a wide variety of herbal samples. Some examples demonstrated the role of fingerprinting in quality control and assessment.

An Improved Power Quality BIBRED Converter-Based VSI-Fed BLDC Motor Drive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Bhim; Bist, Vashist

2014-01-01

This paper presents an IHQRR (integrated high-quality rectifier regulator) BIBRED (boost integrated buck rectifier energy storage DC-DC) converter-based VSI (voltage source inverter)-fed BLDC (brushless DC) motor drive. The speed control of BLDC motor is achieved by controlling the DC link voltage of the VSI using a single voltage sensor. This allows VSI to operate in fundamental frequency switching mode for electronic commutation of BLDC motor which reduces the switching losses due to high-frequency switching used in conventional approach of PWM (pulse width modulation)-based VSI-fed BLDC motor drive. A BIBRED converter is operated in a dual-DCM (discontinuous conduction mode) thus using a voltage follower approach for PFC (power factor correction) and DC link voltage control. The performance of the proposed drive is evaluated for improved power quality over a wide range of speed control and supply voltage variation for demonstrating the behavior of proposed drive. The power quality indices thus obtained are within the recommended limits by international PQ (power quality) standards such as IEC 61000-3-2.

How can my research paper be useful for future meta-analyses on forest restoration practices?

Treesearch

Enrique Andivia; Pedro Villar‑Salvador; Juan A. Oliet; Jaime Puertolas; R. Kasten Dumroese

2018-01-01

Statistical meta-analysis is a powerful and useful tool to quantitatively synthesize the information conveyed in published studies on a particular topic. It allows identifying and quantifying overall patterns and exploring causes of variation. The inclusion of published works in meta-analyses requires, however, a minimum quality standard of the reported data and...

Fuel cells provide a revenue-generating solution to power quality problems

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

King, J.M. Jr.

Electric power quality and reliability are becoming increasingly important as computers and microprocessors assume a larger role in commercial, health care and industrial buildings and processes. At the same time, constraints on transmission and distribution of power from central stations are making local areas vulnerable to low voltage, load addition limitations, power quality and power reliability problems. Many customers currently utilize some form of premium power in the form of standby generators and/or UPS systems. These include customers where continuous power is required because of health and safety or security reasons (hospitals, nursing homes, places of public assembly, air trafficmore » control, military installations, telecommunications, etc.) These also include customers with industrial or commercial processes which can`t tolerance an interruption of power because of product loss or equipment damage. The paper discusses the use of the PC25 fuel cell power plant for backup and parallel power supplies for critical industrial applications. Several PC25 installations are described: the use of propane in a PC25; the use by rural cooperatives; and a demonstration of PC25 technology using landfill gas.« less

18 CFR 801.7 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Water quality. 801.7 Section 801.7 Conservation of Power and Water Resources SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION GENERAL POLICIES § 801.7 Water quality. (a) The signatory States have the primary responsibility in the basin for...

Knowledge, Power and Meanings Shaping Quality Assurance in Higher Education: A Systemic Critique

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houston, Don; Paewai, Shelley

2013-01-01

Internationally, quality assurance schemes persist despite long-standing dissatisfaction and critique of their impact and outcomes. Adopting a critical systems perspective, the article explores the relationships between the knowledge, power and meanings that stakeholder groups bring to the design and implementation of quality assurance systems.…

18 CFR 801.7 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Water quality. 801.7 Section 801.7 Conservation of Power and Water Resources SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION GENERAL POLICIES § 801.7 Water quality. (a) The signatory States have the primary responsibility in the basin for...

18 CFR 801.7 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Water quality. 801.7 Section 801.7 Conservation of Power and Water Resources SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION GENERAL POLICIES § 801.7 Water quality. (a) The signatory States have the primary responsibility in the basin for...

18 CFR 801.7 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2013-04-01 2012-04-01 true Water quality. 801.7 Section 801.7 Conservation of Power and Water Resources SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION GENERAL POLICIES § 801.7 Water quality. (a) The signatory States have the primary responsibility in the basin for...

Research on improvement of power quality of Micro - grid based on SVG pulse load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, Chuang; Xie, Pu

2017-05-01

Pulse load will make the micro-grid public bus power to produce a high peak pulse due to its cyclical pulsation characteristics,, and make the micro-grid voltage fluctuations, frequency fluctuations, voltage and current distortion, power factor reduction and other adverse effects. In order to suppress the adverse effects of the pulse load on the microgrid and improve the power quality of the microgrid, this paper established the SVG simulation model in Matlab / Simulink environment, the superiority of SVG is verified by comparing the improvement of power quality before and after adding the SVG to microgrid system. The results show that the SVG model can suppress the adverse effects effectively of the pulse load on the microgrid, which is of great value and significance to the reactive power compensation and harmonic suppression of the microgrid.

Development of high-average-power DPSSL with high beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakai, Sadao; Kanabe, Tadashi; Kawashima, Toshiyuki; Yamanaka, Masanobu; Izawa, Yasukazu; Nakatuka, Masahiro; Kandasamy, Ranganathan; Kan, Hirofumi; Hiruma, Teruo; Niino, Masayuki

2000-08-01

The recent progress of high power diode laser is opening new fields of laser and its application. We are developing high average power diode pumped solid state laser DPSSL for laser fusion power plant, for space propulsion and for various applications in industry. The common features or requirements of our High Average-power Laser for Nuclear-fusion Application (HALNA) are large pulse energy with relatively low repetition of few tens Hz, good beam quality of order of diffraction limit and high efficiency more than 10%. We constructed HALNA 10 (10J X 10 Hz) and tested the performance to clarify the scalability to higher power system. We have obtained in a preliminary experiment a 8.5 J output energy at 0.5 Hz with beam quality of 2 times diffraction limited far-field pattern.

Computed lateral rate and acceleration power spectral response of conventional and STOL airplanes to atmospheric turbulence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lichtenstein, J. H.

1975-01-01

Power-spectral-density calculations were made of the lateral responses to atmospheric turbulence for several conventional and short take-off and landing (STOL) airplanes. The turbulence was modeled as three orthogonal velocity components, which were uncorrelated, and each was represented with a one-dimensional power spectrum. Power spectral densities were computed for displacements, rates, and accelerations in roll, yaw, and sideslip. In addition, the power spectral density of the transverse acceleration was computed. Evaluation of ride quality based on a specific ride quality criterion was also made. The results show that the STOL airplanes generally had larger values for the rate and acceleration power spectra (and, consequently, larger corresponding root-mean-square values) than the conventional airplanes. The ride quality criterion gave poorer ratings to the STOL airplanes than to the conventional airplanes.

Quality Matters: Systematic Analysis of Endpoints Related to “Cellular Life” in Vitro Data of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure

PubMed Central

Simkó, Myrtill; Remondini, Daniel; Zeni, Olga; Scarfi, Maria Rosaria

2016-01-01

Possible hazardous effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) at low exposure levels are controversially discussed due to inconsistent study findings. Therefore, the main focus of the present study is to detect if any statistical association exists between RF-EMF and cellular responses, considering cell proliferation and apoptosis endpoints separately and with both combined as a group of “cellular life” to increase the statistical power of the analysis. We searched for publications regarding RF-EMF in vitro studies in the PubMed database for the period 1995–2014 and extracted the data to the relevant parameters, such as cell culture type, frequency, exposure duration, SAR, and five exposure-related quality criteria. These parameters were used for an association study with the experimental outcome in terms of the defined endpoints. We identified 104 published articles, from which 483 different experiments were extracted and analyzed. Cellular responses after exposure to RF-EMF were significantly associated to cell lines rather than to primary cells. No other experimental parameter was significantly associated with cellular responses. A highly significant negative association with exposure condition-quality and cellular responses was detected, showing that the more the quality criteria requirements were satisfied, the smaller the number of detected cellular responses. According to our knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of specific RF-EMF bio-effects in association to exposure quality, highlighting the need for more stringent quality procedures for the exposure conditions. PMID:27420084

Improving high resolution retinal image quality using speckle illumination HiLo imaging

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xiaolin; Bedggood, Phillip; Metha, Andrew

2014-01-01

Retinal image quality from flood illumination adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopes is adversely affected by out-of-focus light scatter due to the lack of confocality. This effect is more pronounced in small eyes, such as that of rodents, because the requisite high optical power confers a large dioptric thickness to the retina. A recently-developed structured illumination microscopy (SIM) technique called HiLo imaging has been shown to reduce the effect of out-of-focus light scatter in flood illumination microscopes and produce pseudo-confocal images with significantly improved image quality. In this work, we adopted the HiLo technique to a flood AO ophthalmoscope and performed AO imaging in both (physical) model and live rat eyes. The improvement in image quality from HiLo imaging is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively by using spatial spectral analysis. PMID:25136486

Improving high resolution retinal image quality using speckle illumination HiLo imaging.

PubMed

Zhou, Xiaolin; Bedggood, Phillip; Metha, Andrew

2014-08-01

Retinal image quality from flood illumination adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopes is adversely affected by out-of-focus light scatter due to the lack of confocality. This effect is more pronounced in small eyes, such as that of rodents, because the requisite high optical power confers a large dioptric thickness to the retina. A recently-developed structured illumination microscopy (SIM) technique called HiLo imaging has been shown to reduce the effect of out-of-focus light scatter in flood illumination microscopes and produce pseudo-confocal images with significantly improved image quality. In this work, we adopted the HiLo technique to a flood AO ophthalmoscope and performed AO imaging in both (physical) model and live rat eyes. The improvement in image quality from HiLo imaging is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively by using spatial spectral analysis.

Single-Phase Single-Stage Grid Tied Solar PV System with Active Power Filtering Using Power Balance Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Yashi; Hussain, Ikhlaq; Singh, Bhim; Mishra, Sukumar

2018-06-01

In this paper, power quality features such as harmonics mitigation, power factor correction with active power filtering are addressed in a single-stage, single-phase solar photovoltaic (PV) grid tied system. The Power Balance Theory (PBT) with perturb and observe based maximum power point tracking algorithm is proposed for the mitigation of power quality problems in a solar PV grid tied system. The solar PV array is interfaced to a single phase AC grid through a Voltage Source Converter (VSC), which provides active power flow from a solar PV array to the grid as well as to the load and it performs harmonics mitigation using PBT based control. The solar PV array power varies with sunlight and due to this, the solar PV grid tied VSC works only 8-10 h per day. At night, when PV power is zero, the VSC works as an active power filter for power quality improvement, and the load active power is delivered by the grid to the load connected at the point of common coupling. This increases the effective utilization of a VSC. The system is modelled and simulated using MATLAB and simulated responses of the system at nonlinear loads and varying environmental conditions are also validated experimentally on a prototype developed in the laboratory.

Single-Phase Single-Stage Grid Tied Solar PV System with Active Power Filtering Using Power Balance Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Yashi; Hussain, Ikhlaq; Singh, Bhim; Mishra, Sukumar

2018-03-01

In this paper, power quality features such as harmonics mitigation, power factor correction with active power filtering are addressed in a single-stage, single-phase solar photovoltaic (PV) grid tied system. The Power Balance Theory (PBT) with perturb and observe based maximum power point tracking algorithm is proposed for the mitigation of power quality problems in a solar PV grid tied system. The solar PV array is interfaced to a single phase AC grid through a Voltage Source Converter (VSC), which provides active power flow from a solar PV array to the grid as well as to the load and it performs harmonics mitigation using PBT based control. The solar PV array power varies with sunlight and due to this, the solar PV grid tied VSC works only 8-10 h per day. At night, when PV power is zero, the VSC works as an active power filter for power quality improvement, and the load active power is delivered by the grid to the load connected at the point of common coupling. This increases the effective utilization of a VSC. The system is modelled and simulated using MATLAB and simulated responses of the system at nonlinear loads and varying environmental conditions are also validated experimentally on a prototype developed in the laboratory.

High power diode pumped solid state (DPSS) laser systems active media robust modeling and analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kashef, Tamer M.; Mokhtar, Ayman M.; Ghoniemy, Samy A.

2018-02-01

Diode side-pumped solid-state lasers have the potential to yield high quality laser beams with high efficiency and reliability. This paper summarizes the results of simulation of the most predominant active media that are used in high power diode pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser systems. Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, and Nd:YLF rods laser systems were simulated using the special finite element analysis software program LASCAD. A performance trade off analysis for Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, and Nd:YLF rods was performed in order to predict the system optimized parameters and to investigate thermally induced thermal fracture that may occur due to heat load and mechanical stress. The simulation results showed that at the optimized values Nd:YAG rod achieved the highest output power of 175W with 43% efficiency and heat load of 1.873W/mm3. A negligible changes in laser output power, heat load, stress, and temperature distributions were observed when the Nd:YAG rod length was increased from 72 to 80mm. Simulation of Nd:glass at different rod diameters at the same pumping conditions showed better results for mechanical stress and thermal load than that of Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF which makes it very suitable for high power laser applications especially for large rod diameters. For large rod diameters Nd:YLF is mechanically weaker and softer crystal compared to Nd:YAG and Nd:glass due to its poor thermomechanical properties which limits its usage to only low to medium power systems.

Power and the Association with Relationship Quality in South African Couples: Implications for HIV/AIDS Interventions

PubMed Central

Conroy, Amy A.; McGrath, Nuala; van Rooyen, Heidi; Hosegood, Victoria; Johnson, Mallory O.; Fritz, Katherine; Marr, Alexander; Ngubane, Thulani; Darbes, Lynae A.

2016-01-01

Introduction Power imbalances within sexual relationships have significant implications for HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Little is known about how power influences the quality of a relationship, which could be an important pathway leading to healthy behavior around HIV/AIDS. Methods This paper uses data from 448 heterosexual couples (896 individuals) in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa who completed baseline surveys from 2012–2014 as part of a couples-based HIV intervention trial. Using an actor-partner interdependence perspective, we assessed: (1) how both partners’ perceptions of power influences their own (i.e., actor effect) and their partner’s reports of relationship quality (i.e., partner effect); and (2) whether these associations differed by gender. We examined three constructs related to power (female power, male equitable gender norms, and shared power) and four domains of relationship quality (intimacy, trust, mutually constructive communication, and conflict). Results For actor effects, shared power was strongly and consistently associated with higher relationship quality across all four domains. The effect of shared power on trust, mutually constructive communication, and conflict were stronger for men than women. The findings for female power and male equitable gender norms were more mixed. Female power was positively associated with women’s reports of trust and mutually constructive communication, but negatively associated with intimacy. Male equitable gender norms were positively associated with men’s reports of mutually constructive communication. For partner effects, male equitable gender norms were positively associated with women’s reports of intimacy and negatively associated with women’s reports of conflict. Conclusions Research and health interventions aiming to improving HIV-related behaviors should consider sources of shared power within couples and potential leverage points for empowerment at the couple level. Efforts solely focused on empowering women should also take the dyadic environment and men’s perspectives into account to ensure positive relationship outcomes. PMID:26859436

Power and the association with relationship quality in South African couples: Implications for HIV/AIDS interventions.

PubMed

Conroy, Amy A; McGrath, Nuala; van Rooyen, Heidi; Hosegood, Victoria; Johnson, Mallory O; Fritz, Katherine; Marr, Alexander; Ngubane, Thulani; Darbes, Lynae A

2016-03-01

Power imbalances within sexual relationships have significant implications for HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Little is known about how power influences the quality of a relationship, which could be an important pathway leading to healthy behavior around HIV/AIDS. This paper uses data from 448 heterosexual couples (896 individuals) in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa who completed baseline surveys from 2012 to 2014 as part of a couples-based HIV intervention trial. Using an actor-partner interdependence perspective, we assessed: (1) how both partners' perceptions of power influences their own (i.e., actor effect) and their partner's reports of relationship quality (i.e., partner effect); and (2) whether these associations differed by gender. We examined three constructs related to power (female power, male equitable gender norms, and shared power) and four domains of relationship quality (intimacy, trust, mutually constructive communication, and conflict). For actor effects, shared power was strongly and consistently associated with higher relationship quality across all four domains. The effect of shared power on trust, mutually constructive communication, and conflict were stronger for men than women. The findings for female power and male equitable gender norms were more mixed. Female power was positively associated with women's reports of trust and mutually constructive communication, but negatively associated with intimacy. Male equitable gender norms were positively associated with men's reports of mutually constructive communication. For partner effects, male equitable gender norms were positively associated with women's reports of intimacy and negatively associated with women's reports of conflict. Research and health interventions aiming to improving HIV-related behaviors should consider sources of shared power within couples and potential leverage points for empowerment at the couple level. Efforts solely focused on empowering women should also take the dyadic environment and men's perspectives into account to ensure positive relationship outcomes. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Assessment of the Eutrophication-Related Environmental Parameters in Two Mediterranean Lakes by Integrating Statistical Techniques and Self-Organizing Maps.

PubMed

Hadjisolomou, Ekaterini; Stefanidis, Konstantinos; Papatheodorou, George; Papastergiadou, Evanthia

2018-03-19

During the last decades, Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems, especially lakes, have been under severe pressure due to increasing eutrophication and water quality deterioration. In this article, we compared the effectiveness of different data analysis methods by assessing the contribution of environmental parameters to eutrophication processes. For this purpose, principal components analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and a self-organizing map (SOM) were applied, using water quality data from two transboundary lakes of North Greece. SOM is considered as an advanced and powerful data analysis tool because of its ability to represent complex and nonlinear relationships among multivariate data sets. The results of PCA and cluster analysis agreed with the SOM results, although the latter provided more information because of the visualization abilities regarding the parameters' relationships. Besides nutrients that were found to be a key factor for controlling chlorophyll-a (Chl - a), water temperature was related positively with algal production, while the Secchi disk depth parameter was found to be highly important and negatively related toeutrophic conditions. In general, the SOM results were more specific and allowed direct associations between the water quality variables. Our work showed that SOMs can be used effectively in limnological studies to produce robust and interpretable results, aiding scientists and managers to cope with environmental problems such as eutrophication.

The N-Pact Factor: Evaluating the Quality of Empirical Journals with Respect to Sample Size and Statistical Power

PubMed Central

Fraley, R. Chris; Vazire, Simine

2014-01-01

The authors evaluate the quality of research reported in major journals in social-personality psychology by ranking those journals with respect to their N-pact Factors (NF)—the statistical power of the empirical studies they publish to detect typical effect sizes. Power is a particularly important attribute for evaluating research quality because, relative to studies that have low power, studies that have high power are more likely to (a) to provide accurate estimates of effects, (b) to produce literatures with low false positive rates, and (c) to lead to replicable findings. The authors show that the average sample size in social-personality research is 104 and that the power to detect the typical effect size in the field is approximately 50%. Moreover, they show that there is considerable variation among journals in sample sizes and power of the studies they publish, with some journals consistently publishing higher power studies than others. The authors hope that these rankings will be of use to authors who are choosing where to submit their best work, provide hiring and promotion committees with a superior way of quantifying journal quality, and encourage competition among journals to improve their NF rankings. PMID:25296159

High power cable with internal water cooling 400 kV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasquin, W.; Harjes, B.

1982-08-01

Due to the concentration of electricity production in large power plants, the need of higher power transmissions, and the protection of environment, developement of a 400 kV water cooled cable in the power range of 1 to 5 GVA was undertaken. The fabrication and testing of equipment, engineering of cable components, fabrication of a test cable, development of cable terminal laboratory, testing of test cable, field testing of test cable, fabrication of industrial cable laboratory, testing of industrial cable, field testing of industrial cable, and system analysis for optimization were prepared. The field testing was impossible to realize. However, it is proved that a cable consisting of an internal stainless steel water cooled tube, covered by stranded copper profiles, insulated with heavy high quality paper, and protected by an aluminum cover can be produced, withstand tests accordingly to IEC/VDE recommendations, and is able to fulfill all exploitation conditions.

Slip-Sliding-Away: A Review of the Literature on the Constraining Qualities of PowerPoint

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kernbach, Sebastian; Bresciani, Sabrina; Eppler, Martin J.

2015-01-01

PowerPoint is a dominant communication tool in business and education. It allows for creating professional-looking presentations easily, but without understanding its constraining qualities it can be used inappropriately. Therefore we conducted a systematic literature review structuring the literature on PowerPoint in three chronological phases…

Muscle power is an independent determinant of pain and quality of life in knee osteoarthritis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationships between leg muscle strength, power, and perceived disease severity in subjects with knee osteoarthritis (OA) in order to determine whether dynamic leg extensor muscle power would be associated with pain and quality of life in knee OA. METHODS: Baseli...

Analysis of landing site attributes for future missions targeting the rim of the lunar South Pole Aitken basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koebel, David; Bonerba, Michele; Behrenwaldt, Daniel; Wieser, Matthias; Borowy, Carsten

2012-11-01

For the South polar lunar region between -85 and -90° Latitude an updated analyses of the solar illumination and ground station visibility conditions has been performed in the frame of a feasibility study for an ESA Lunar Lander mission. The analyses are based on the refined lunar digital elevation model provided by the Japanese Kaguya/Selene mission, originating from its LASER altimeter instrument. For the South polar region maps of integral solar illumination are presented for a mission epoch in 2016. The analysis modelling was validated with the help of a Kaguya High Definition video. The solar illumination is driving for the power subsystems of any robotic lander craft or manned lunar outpost, in case they rely on conventional photovoltaic power generation with battery buffering of shadowed periods. In addition the visibility of the terrain from a terrestrial ESA ground station was analysed. The results are presented as an integral ground contact duration map, being crucial for the operations of any lunar outpost. Considering these two quality criteria, several possible landing sites for a future lunar mission have been pre-selected. For these sites a detailed analysis of quasi-continuous illumination conditions is presented. This includes magnified maps of the pre-selected areas, showing any location's longest illumination intervals that are allowed to be interrupted by shadows with limited duration only. As a final quality criterion, the terrain topology has been analysed for its impact on the landing trajectory. From a trade-off between the three quality criteria the connecting ridge between the Shackleton and the de Gerlache was determined to provide the most favourable landing site quality. This site is located at 89°28' South, 136°40' West, and 1947 m altitude, and features and integral illumination of 85.7%. With battery energy to sustain shadows of 120 h, total mission duration of 9.37 sidereal months can be guaranteed.

Harmonic analysis of electric locomotive and traction power system based on wavelet singular entropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dun, Xiaohong

2018-05-01

With the rapid development of high-speed railway and heavy-haul transport, the locomotive and traction power system has become the main harmonic source of China's power grid. In response to this phenomenon, the system's power quality issues need timely monitoring, assessment and governance. Wavelet singular entropy is an organic combination of wavelet transform, singular value decomposition and information entropy theory, which combines the unique advantages of the three in signal processing: the time-frequency local characteristics of wavelet transform, singular value decomposition explores the basic modal characteristics of data, and information entropy quantifies the feature data. Based on the theory of singular value decomposition, the wavelet coefficient matrix after wavelet transform is decomposed into a series of singular values that can reflect the basic characteristics of the original coefficient matrix. Then the statistical properties of information entropy are used to analyze the uncertainty of the singular value set, so as to give a definite measurement of the complexity of the original signal. It can be said that wavelet entropy has a good application prospect in fault detection, classification and protection. The mat lab simulation shows that the use of wavelet singular entropy on the locomotive and traction power system harmonic analysis is effective.

The effect of foot orthoses and in-shoe wedges during cycling: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The use of foot orthoses and in-shoe wedges in cycling are largely based on theoretical benefits and anecdotal evidence. This review aimed to systematically collect all published research on this topic, critically evaluate the methods and summarise the findings. Methods Study inclusion criteria were: all empirical studies that evaluated the effects of foot orthoses or in-shoe wedges on cycling; outcome measures that investigated physiological parameters, kinematics and kinetics of the lower limb, and power; and, published in English. Studies were located by data-base searching (Medline, CINAHL, Embase and SPORTDiscus) and hand-searching in February 2014. Selected studies were assessed for methodological quality using a modified Quality Index. Data were synthesised descriptively. Meta-analysis was not performed as the included studies were not sufficiently homogeneous to provide a meaningful summary. Results Six studies were identified as meeting the eligibility criteria. All studies were laboratory-based and used a repeated measures design. The quality of the studies varied, with Quality Index scores ranging from 7 to 10 out of 14. Five studies investigated foot orthoses and one studied in-shoe wedges. Foot orthoses were found to increase contact area in the midfoot, peak pressures under the hallux and were perceived to provide better arch support, compared to a control. With respect to physiological parameters, contrasting findings have been reported regarding the effect foot orthoses have on oxygen consumption. Further, foot orthoses have been shown to not provide effects on lower limb kinematics and perceived comfort. Both foot orthoses and in-shoe wedges have been shown to provide no effect on power. Conclusion In general, there is limited high-quality research on the effects foot orthoses and in-shoe wedges provide during cycling. At present, there is some evidence that during cycling foot orthoses: increase contact area under the foot and increase plantar pressures under the hallux, but provide no gains in power. Based on available evidence, no definitive conclusions can be made about the effects foot orthoses have on lower limb kinematics and oxygen consumption, and the effect in-shoe wedges have on power during cycling. Future well-designed studies on this topic are warranted. PMID:24955129

The Quality of Randomized Controlled Trials in Pediatric Orthopaedics: Are We Improving?

PubMed

Dodwell, Emily; Dua, Shiv; Dulai, Sukhdeep K; Astone, Kristina; Mulpuri, Kishore

2015-01-01

The quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in orthopaedics is a topic of considerable importance, as RCTs play a major role in guiding clinical practice. The quality of RCTs published between 1995 and 2005 has previously been documented. The purpose of the current study was to assess and describe the quality of pediatric orthopaedic RCTs published from 2005 to 2012, by identifying study characteristics associated with higher quality and outlining areas for improvement. A standardized literature search was used to identify pediatric orthopaedic RCTs published in 7 well-recognized journals between September 2005 and July 2012 inclusive. The Detsky Quality Assessment Scale and the CONSORT checklist for Non-Pharmacologic Trials were used to assess the quality of the RCTs. Scores for the Detsky and CONSORT were calculated by 2 independent blinded orthopaedic surgeon reviewers with epidemiologic training. Forty RCTs were included in this analysis. The mean percentage score on the Detsky quality scale was 67%. Sixteen (40%) of the articles satisfied the threshold for a satisfactory level of methodological quality (Detsky >75%). Twenty-five (63%) of these studies were negative studies, concluding no difference between treatment arms. In 52% of the negative studies, an a priori sample size analysis was absent, and 28% were self-described as underpowered. In multiple variable regression analysis, only working with a statistician was significantly associated with higher Detsky percentage scores (P=0.01). There is a trend for improving quality in pediatric orthopaedic RCTs. Compared with past reports, the mean Detsky score improved from 53% to 67%, and the proportion meeting an acceptable level of quality improved from 19% to 40%. One of the most concerning findings of this study was the lack of attention to sample size and power analysis, and the potential for underpowered studies. Ongoing efforts are necessary to improve the conduct and reporting of clinical trials in pediatric orthopaedics. Pediatric orthopaedic surgeons, JPO, and POSNA are working toward improving levels of quality in pediatric orthopaedic research. This paper highlights progress that has been made, and addresses some high-yield areas for future improvement.

75 FR 19948 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Missouri River Authorized...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-16

..., recreation, water quality, and water supply. Public scoping for the MRAPS will begin in late May 2010. Future..., irrigation, navigation, power, recreation, water quality, and water supply. Section 108 of the Energy and... and wildlife, irrigation, power, recreation, water supply, and water quality control; defining the...

The Role of Soil Organic Matter, Nutrients, and Microbial Community Structure on the Performance of Microbial Fuel Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rooney-Varga, J. N.; Dunaj, S. J.; Vallino, J. J.; Hines, M. E.; Gay, M.; Kobyljanec, C.

2011-12-01

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer the potential for generating electricity, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and bioremediating pollutants through utilization of a plentiful, natural, and renewable resource: soil organic carbon. In the current study, we analyzed microbial community structure, MFC performance, and soil characteristics in different microhabitats (bulk soil, anode, and cathode) within MFCs constructed from agricultural or forest soils in order to determine how soil type and microbial dynamics influence MFC performance. MFCs were constructed with soils from agricultural and hardwood forest sites at Harvard Forest (Petersham, MA). The bulk soil characteristics were analyzed, including polyphenols, short chain fatty acids, total organic C and N, abiotic macronutrients, N and P mineralization rates, CO2 respiration rates, and MFC power output. Microbial community structure of the anodes, cathodes, and bulk soils was determined with molecular fingerprinting methods, which included terminal restriction length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. Our results indicated that MFCs constructed from agricultural soil had power output about 17 times that of forest soil-based MFCs and respiration rates about 10 times higher than forest soil MFCs. Agricultural soil MFCs had lower C:N ratios, polyphenol content, and acetate concentrations than forest soil MFCs, suggesting that active agricultural MFC microbial communities were supported by higher quality organic carbon. Microbial community profile data indicate that the microbial communities at the anode of the high power MFCs were less diverse than in low power MFCs and were dominated by Deltaproteobacteria, Geobacter, and, to a lesser extent, Clostridia, while low-power MFC anode communities were dominated by Clostridia. These data suggest that the presence of organic carbon substrate (acetate) was not the major limiting factor in selecting for highly electrogenic microbial communities, while the quality of available organic matter may have played a significant role in supporting high performing microbial communities.

Getting a Cohesive Answer from a Common Start: Scalable Multidisciplinary Analysis through Transformation of a System Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cole, Bjorn; Chung, Seung H.

2012-01-01

One of the challenges of systems engineering is in working multidisciplinary problems in a cohesive manner. When planning analysis of these problems, system engineers must tradeoff time and cost for analysis quality and quantity. The quality is associated with the fidelity of the multidisciplinary models and the quantity is associated with the design space that can be analyzed. The tradeoff is due to the resource intensive process of creating a cohesive multidisciplinary system model and analysis. Furthermore, reuse or extension of the models used in one stage of a product life cycle for another is a major challenge. Recent developments have enabled a much less resource-intensive and more rigorous approach than handwritten translation scripts or codes of multidisciplinary models and their analyses. The key is to work from a core system model defined in a MOF-based language such as SysML and in leveraging the emerging tool ecosystem, such as Query-View- Transform (QVT), from the OMG community. SysML was designed to model multidisciplinary systems and analyses. The QVT standard was designed to transform SysML models. The Europa Hability Mission (EHM) team has begun to exploit these capabilities. In one case, a Matlab/Simulink model is generated on the fly from a system description for power analysis written in SysML. In a more general case, a symbolic mathematical framework (supported by Wolfram Mathematica) is coordinated by data objects transformed from the system model, enabling extremely flexible and powerful tradespace exploration and analytical investigations of expected system performance.

Research on Centralized Voltage and Effective Inequality Identification Based on Circuit Analysis Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Yi; Wang, Feifeng; Lu, Yufeng; Huang, Huimin; Xia, Xiaofei

2017-09-01

This paper is based on affine function equation of the grid and OPF problem, discusses the equivalent of some inequality constraints variables optimizing. Further, we propose the model of injection current and set up the constraint sensitivity index of affine characteristics. The index can be used to identify the central point voltage and effective inequality of the system automatically. And then we can know how to compensate reactive power of the corresponding generator node and control the voltage to ensure the quality of the system voltage. When checking the effective inequalities we introduce cross-solving method of power flow. This provide a different idea for solving the power flow. The paper uses the results of the IEEE5 node examples to illustrate the validity and practicality of the proposed method.

T55 power turbine rotor multiplane-multispeed balancing study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, M. R.

1982-01-01

A rotordynamic analysis of the T55-L-11C engine was used to evaluate the balancing needs of the power turbine and to optimize the balancing procedure. As a result, recommendations were made for implementation of a multiplane-multispeed balancing plan. Precision collars for the attachment of trial weights to a slender rotor were designed enabling demonstration balancing on production hardware. The quality of the balance was then evaluated by installing a high speed balanced power turbine in an engine and running in a test cell at the Corpus Christi Army depot. The engine used had been tested prior to the turbine changeout and showed acceptable overall vibration levels for the engine were significantly reduced, demonstrating the ability of multiplane-multispeed balancing to control engine vibration.

Metrics for Evaluating the Accuracy of Solar Power Forecasting: Preprint

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

Zhang, J.; Hodge, B. M.; Florita, A.

2013-10-01

Forecasting solar energy generation is a challenging task due to the variety of solar power systems and weather regimes encountered. Forecast inaccuracies can result in substantial economic losses and power system reliability issues. This paper presents a suite of generally applicable and value-based metrics for solar forecasting for a comprehensive set of scenarios (i.e., different time horizons, geographic locations, applications, etc.). In addition, a comprehensive framework is developed to analyze the sensitivity of the proposed metrics to three types of solar forecasting improvements using a design of experiments methodology, in conjunction with response surface and sensitivity analysis methods. The resultsmore » show that the developed metrics can efficiently evaluate the quality of solar forecasts, and assess the economic and reliability impact of improved solar forecasting.« less

Neural Network based Control of SG based Standalone Generating System with Energy Storage for Power Quality Enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayar, Priya; Singh, Bhim; Mishra, Sukumar

2017-08-01

An artificial intelligence based control algorithm is used in solving power quality problems of a diesel engine driven synchronous generator with automatic voltage regulator and governor based standalone system. A voltage source converter integrated with a battery energy storage system is employed to mitigate the power quality problems. An adaptive neural network based signed regressor control algorithm is used for the estimation of the fundamental component of load currents for control of a standalone system with load leveling as an integral feature. The developed model of the system performs accurately under varying load conditions and provides good dynamic response to the step changes in loads. The real time performance is achieved using MATLAB along with simulink/simpower system toolboxes and results adhere to an IEEE-519 standard for power quality enhancement.

Contamination assessments of surface water in coastal lagoon (Maluan Bay, China) incorporating biomarker responses and bioaccumulation in hepatopancreas of exposed shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)--an integrative approach.

PubMed

Wang, Zaosheng; Dong, Xiaoxia; Zhou, Shilei; Yan, Changzhou; Yan, Yijun; Chi, Qiaoqiao

2014-01-01

Maluan Bay, characterized by various degrees of anthropogenic contamination, is considered as one of the most industrialized and urbanized coastal lagoon in China, where large amounts of metal contaminants in surface water and biota were detected in previous studies. However, no clear discriminating power among sampling sites could be made only through comparisons between contaminant levels and Environmental Quality Standards and especially biological-based monitoring integrating biomarkers and bioaccumulation of exposure are scarce. For this purpose, antioxidants enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) and glutathione-S-transferase were assessed using the hepatopancreas of shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei after 7 days laboratory exposure under controlled conditions to characterize the effects of polluted waters to shrimps. The metal concentrations of sampled water and bioaccumulation in hepatopancreatic tissues were also analyzed, and data were linked to biomarkers' responses by multivariate (principal component analysis-factor) analysis. A representation of estimated factor scores was performed to confirm the factor descriptions classifying the pollution status and characterizing the studied sites, which pointed out the impact of multiple sources of contaminants to the water quality and provided further evidences to the existence of clear pollution and toxicological gradients in critical areas. The results of the present investigation underlined that the integrated approach could be a powerful tool for the identification of causal toxic contaminants in complex mixtures and the assessment of human-induced environmental quality of the system in coastal zones.

Method and algorithm of ranking boiler plants at block electric power stations by the criterion of operation reliability and profitability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farhadzadeh, E. M.; Muradaliyev, A. Z.; Farzaliyev, Y. Z.

2015-10-01

A method and an algorithm of ranking of boiler installations based on their technical and economic indicators are proposed. One of the basic conditions for ranking is the independence of technical and economic indicators. The assessment of their interrelation was carried out with respect to the correlation rate. The analysis of calculation data has shown that the interrelation stability with respect to the value and sign persists only for those indicators that have an evident relationship between each other. One of the calculation steps is the normalization of quantitative estimates of technical and economic indicators, which makes it possible to eliminate differences in dimensions and indicator units. The analysis of the known methods of normalization has allowed one to recommend the relative deviation from the average value as a normalized value and to use the arithmetic mean of the normalized values of independent indicators of each boiler installation as an integrated index of performance reliability and profitability. The fundamental differences from the existing approach to assess the "weak components" of a boiler installation and the quality of monitoring of its operating regimes are that the given approach takes into account the reliability and profitability of the operation of all other analogous boiler installations of an electric power station; it also implements competing elements with respect to the quality of control among the operating personnel of separate boiler installations and is aimed at encouraging an increased quality of maintenance and repairs.

Presenting Your Best Self(ie): The Influence of Gender on Vertical Orientation of Selfies on Tinder.

PubMed

Sedgewick, Jennifer R; Flath, Meghan E; Elias, Lorin J

2017-01-01

When taking a self-portrait or "selfie" to display in an online dating profile, individuals may intuitively manipulate the vertical camera angle to embody how they want to be perceived by the opposite sex. Concepts from evolutionary psychology and grounded cognition suggest that this manipulation can provide cues of physical height and impressions of power to the viewer which are qualities found to influence mate-selection. We predicted that men would orient selfies more often from below to appear taller (i.e., more powerful) than the viewer, and women, from an above perspective to appear shorter (i.e., less powerful). A content analysis was conducted which coded the vertical orientation of 557 selfies from profile pictures on the popular mobile dating application, Tinder. In general, selfies were commonly used by both men (54%) and women (90%). Consistent with our predictions, a gender difference emerged; men's selfies were angled significantly more often from below, whereas women's were angled more often from above. Our findings suggest that selfies presented in a mate-attraction context are intuitively or perhaps consciously selected to adhere to ideal mate qualities. Further discussion proposes that biological or individual differences may also facilitate vertical compositions of selfies.

Reliability of infarct volumetry: Its relevance and the improvement by a software-assisted approach.

PubMed

Friedländer, Felix; Bohmann, Ferdinand; Brunkhorst, Max; Chae, Ju-Hee; Devraj, Kavi; Köhler, Yvette; Kraft, Peter; Kuhn, Hannah; Lucaciu, Alexandra; Luger, Sebastian; Pfeilschifter, Waltraud; Sadler, Rebecca; Liesz, Arthur; Scholtyschik, Karolina; Stolz, Leonie; Vutukuri, Rajkumar; Brunkhorst, Robert

2017-08-01

Despite the efficacy of neuroprotective approaches in animal models of stroke, their translation has so far failed from bench to bedside. One reason is presumed to be a low quality of preclinical study design, leading to bias and a low a priori power. In this study, we propose that the key read-out of experimental stroke studies, the volume of the ischemic damage as commonly measured by free-handed planimetry of TTC-stained brain sections, is subject to an unrecognized low inter-rater and test-retest reliability with strong implications for statistical power and bias. As an alternative approach, we suggest a simple, open-source, software-assisted method, taking advantage of automatic-thresholding techniques. The validity and the improvement of reliability by an automated method to tMCAO infarct volumetry are demonstrated. In addition, we show the probable consequences of increased reliability for precision, p-values, effect inflation, and power calculation, exemplified by a systematic analysis of experimental stroke studies published in the year 2015. Our study reveals an underappreciated quality problem in translational stroke research and suggests that software-assisted infarct volumetry might help to improve reproducibility and therefore the robustness of bench to bedside translation.

Insufficient documentation for clinical efficacy of selenium supplementation in chronic autoimmune thyroiditis, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Winther, Kristian Hillert; Wichman, Johanna Eva Märta; Bonnema, Steen Joop; Hegedüs, Laszlo

2017-02-01

By a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate clinically relevant effects of selenium supplementation in patients with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis. Controlled trials in adults (≥18 years) with autoimmune thyroiditis, comparing selenium with or without levothyroxine substitution, versus placebo and/or levothyroxine substitution, were eligible for inclusion. Identified outcomes were serum thyrotropin (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels in LT4-untreated patients, thyroid ultrasound and health-related quality of life. Eleven publications, covering nine controlled trials, were included in the systematic review. Random effects model meta-analyses were performed in weighted mean difference for thyroid stimulating hormone, ultrasound and health-related quality of life. Quality of evidence was assessed per outcome, using GRADE. Meta-analyses showed no change in thyroid stimulating hormone, or improvements in health-related quality of life or thyroid echogenicity (ultrasound), between levothyroxine substitution-untreated patients assigned to selenium supplementation or placebo. Three trials found some improvement in wellbeing in patients receiving levothyroxine substitution, but could not be synthesized in a meta-analysis. The quality of evidence ranged from very low to low for thyroid stimulating hormone as well as ultrasound outcomes, and low to moderate for health-related quality of life, and was generally downgraded due to small sample sizes. We found no effect of selenium supplementation on thyroid stimulating hormone, health-related quality of life or thyroid ultrasound, in levothyroxine substitution-untreated individuals, and sporadic evaluation of clinically relevant outcomes in levothyroxine substitution-treated patients. Future well-powered RCTs, evaluating e.g. disease progression or health-related quality of life, are warranted before determining the relevance of selenium supplementation in autoimmune thyroiditis.

The Impact of Transformer Winding Connections of A Grid-Connected PV on Voltage Quality Improvement

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

Muljadi, Eduard; Tumbelaka, Hanny H.; Gao, Wenzhong

In this paper, the high-power PV plant is connected to the weak grid by means of a three-phase power transformer. The selection of transformer winding connection is critical especially when the PV inverter has a reactive power controller. In general, transformer winding connection can be arranged in star-star (with neutral earthed) or star-delta. The reactive power controller supports voltage regulation of the power system particularly under transient faults. Its control strategy is based on utilizing the grid currents to make a three-phase reactive unbalanced current with a small gain. The gain is determined by the system impedance. Simulation results exhibitmore » that the control strategy works very well particularly under disturbance conditions when the transformer winding connection is star-star with both neutrals grounded. The power quality in terms of the voltage quality is improved.« less

1030 nm high power polarization maintained fiber laser with narrow linewidth and near-diffraction-limited beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Qiuhui; Zhao, Pengfei; Li, Chengyu; Wang, Bopeng; Lin, Honghuan; Guo, Chao; Liu, Yu; Jing, Feng; Tang, Chuanxiang

2018-03-01

A high power 1030 nm ytterbium-doped polarization maintained fiber laser with optimized parameters is presented in this paper. The master oscillator power amplifier system with counter-pumped amplifier is established. The output power is 900 W, along with a light-to-light efficiency of 64.2%. The amplified spontaneous emission suppression ratio of spectrum reaches to 40 dB with 3 dB linewidth of 0.14 nm. The polarization extinction ratio is 12 dB, and the beam quality factor is M2x=1.07, M2y=1.12. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of 1030 nm high power fiber laser with narrow linewidth, near linear polarization, and neardiffraction-limited beam quality

Life cycle assessment of coal-fired power plants and sensitivity analysis of CO2 emissions from power generation side

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Libao; Liao, Yanfen; Zhou, Lianjie; Wang, Zhao; Ma, Xiaoqian

2017-05-01

The life cycle assessment and environmental impacts of a 1000MW coal-fired power plant were carried out in this paper. The results showed that the operation energy consumption and pollutant emission of the power plant are the highest in all sub-process, which accounts for 93.93% of the total energy consumption and 92.20% of the total emission. Compared to other pollutant emissions from the coal-fired power plant, CO2 reached up to 99.28%. Therefore, the control of CO2 emission from the coal-fired power plants was very important. Based on the BP neural network, the amount of CO2 emission from the generation side of coal-fired power plants was calculated via carbon balance method. The results showed that unit capacity, coal quality and unit operation load had great influence on the CO2 emission from coal-fired power plants in Guangdong Province. The use of high volatile and high heat value of coal also can reduce the CO2 emissions. What’s more, under higher operation load condition, the CO2 emissions of 1 kWh electric energy was less.

SU-C-304-05: Use of Local Noise Power Spectrum and Wavelets in Comprehensive EPID Quality Assurance

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

Lee, S; Gopal, A; Yan, G

2015-06-15

Purpose: As EPIDs are increasingly used for IMRT QA and real-time treatment verification, comprehensive quality assurance (QA) of EPIDs becomes critical. Current QA with phantoms such as the Las Vegas and PIPSpro™ can fail in the early detection of EPID artifacts. Beyond image quality assessment, we propose a quantitative methodology using local noise power spectrum (NPS) to characterize image noise and wavelet transform to identify bad pixels and inter-subpanel flat-fielding artifacts. Methods: A total of 93 image sets including bar-pattern images and open exposure images were collected from four iViewGT a-Si EPID systems over three years. Quantitative metrics such asmore » modulation transform function (MTF), NPS and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) were computed for each image set. Local 2D NPS was calculated for each subpanel. A 1D NPS was obtained by radial averaging the 2D NPS and fitted to a power-law function. R-square and slope of the linear regression analysis were used for panel performance assessment. Haar wavelet transformation was employed to identify pixel defects and non-uniform gain correction across subpanels. Results: Overall image quality was assessed with DQE based on empirically derived area under curve (AUC) thresholds. Using linear regression analysis of 1D NPS, panels with acceptable flat fielding were indicated by r-square between 0.8 and 1, and slopes of −0.4 to −0.7. However, for panels requiring flat fielding recalibration, r-square values less than 0.8 and slopes from +0.2 to −0.4 were observed. The wavelet transform successfully identified pixel defects and inter-subpanel flat fielding artifacts. Standard QA with the Las Vegas and PIPSpro phantoms failed to detect these artifacts. Conclusion: The proposed QA methodology is promising for the early detection of imaging and dosimetric artifacts of EPIDs. Local NPS can accurately characterize the noise level within each subpanel, while the wavelet transforms can detect bad pixels and inter-subpanel flat fielding artifacts.« less

Volt-VAR Optimization on American Electric Power Feeders in Northeast Columbus

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

Schneider, Kevin P.; Weaver, T. F.

2012-05-10

In 2007 American Electric Power launched the gridSMART® initiative with the goals of increasing efficiency of the electricity delivery system and improving service to the end-use customers. As part of the initiative, a coordinated Volt-VAR system was deployed on eleven distribution feeders at five substations in the Northeast Columbus Ohio Area. The goal of the coordinated Volt-VAR system was to decrease the amount of energy necessary to provide end-use customers with the same quality of service. The evaluation of the Volt-VAR system performance was conducted in two stages. The first stage was composed of simulation, analysis, and estimation, while themore » second stage was composed of analyzing collected field data. This panel paper will examine the analysis conducted in both stages and present the estimated improvements in system efficiency.« less

Updated emission inventories of power plants in simulating air quality during haze periods over East China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lei; Zhao, Tianliang; Gong, Sunling; Kong, Shaofei; Tang, Lili; Liu, Duanyang; Wang, Yongwei; Jin, Lianji; Shan, Yunpeng; Tan, Chenghao; Zhang, Yingjie; Guo, Xiaomei

2018-02-01

Air pollutant emissions play a determinant role in deteriorating air quality. However, an uncertainty in emission inventories is still the key problem for modeling air pollution. In this study, an updated emission inventory of coal-fired power plants (UEIPP) based on online monitoring data in Jiangsu Province of East China for the year of 2012 was implemented in the widely used Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC). By employing the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), two simulation experiments were executed to assess the atmospheric environment change by using the original MEIC emission inventory and the MEIC inventory with the UEIPP. A synthetic analysis shows that power plant emissions of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NOx were lower, and CO, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and NMVOCs (non-methane volatile organic compounds) were higher in UEIPP relative to those in MEIC, reflecting a large discrepancy in the power plant emissions over East China. In accordance with the changes in UEIPP, the modeled concentrations were reduced for SO2 and NO2, and increased for most areas of primary OC, BC, and CO. Interestingly, when the UEIPP was used, the atmospheric oxidizing capacity significantly reinforced. This was reflected by increased oxidizing agents, e.g., O3 and OH, thus directly strengthening the chemical production from SO2 and NOx to sulfate and nitrate, respectively, which offset the reduction of primary PM2.5 emissions especially on haze days. This study indicates the importance of updating air pollutant emission inventories in simulating the complex atmospheric environment changes with implications on air quality and environmental changes.

The impact of flying qualities on helicopter operational agility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padfield, Gareth D.; Lappos, Nick; Hodgkinson, John

1993-01-01

Flying qualities standards are formally set to ensure safe flight and therefore reflect minimum, rather than optimum, requirements. Agility is a flying quality but relates to operations at high, if not maximum, performance. While the quality metrics and test procedures for flying, as covered for example in ADS33C, may provide an adequate structure to encompass agility, they do not currently address flight at high performance. This is also true in the fixed-wing world and a current concern in both communities is the absence of substantiated agility criteria and possible conflicts between flying qualities and high performance. AGARD is sponsoring a working group (WG19) title 'Operational Agility' that deals with these and a range of related issues. This paper is condensed from contributions by the three authors to WG19, relating to flying qualities. Novel perspectives on the subject are presented including the agility factor, that quantifies performance margins in flying qualities terms; a new parameter, based on maneuver acceleration is introduced as a potential candidate for defining upper limits to flying qualities. Finally, a probabilistic analysis of pilot handling qualities ratings is presented that suggests a powerful relationship between inherent airframe flying qualities and operational agility.

Quality evaluation of Shenmaidihuang Pills based on the chromatographic fingerprints and simultaneous determination of seven bioactive constituents.

PubMed

Liu, Sifei; Zhang, Guangrui; Qiu, Ying; Wang, Xiaobo; Guo, Lihan; Zhao, Yanxin; Tong, Meng; Wei, Lan; Sun, Lixin

2016-12-01

In this study, we aimed to establish a comprehensive and practical quality evaluation system for Shenmaidihuang pills. A simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection method was developed both for fingerprint analysis and quantitative determination. In fingerprint analysis, relative retention time and relative peak area were used to identify the common peaks in 18 samples for investigation. Twenty one peaks were selected as the common peaks to evaluate the similarities of 18 Shenmaidihuang pills samples with different manufacture dates. Furthermore, similarity analysis was applied to evaluate the similarity of samples. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were also performed to evaluate the variation of Shenmaidihuang pills. In quantitative analysis, linear regressions, injection precisions, recovery, repeatability and sample stability were all tested and good results were obtained to simultaneously determine the seven identified compounds, namely, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, morroniside, loganin, paeonol, paeoniflorin, psoralen, isopsoralen in Shenmaidihuang pills. The contents of some analytes in different batches of samples indicated significant difference, especially for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. So, it was concluded that the chromatographic fingerprint method obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection associated with multiple compounds determination is a powerful and meaningful tool to comprehensively conduct the quality control of Shenmaidihuang pills. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Stakeholder analysis: theAndalusian Agency For Healthcare Quality case.

PubMed

Reyes-Alcázar, Víctor; Casas-Delgado, Marta; Herrera-Usagre, Manuel; Torres-Olivera, Antonio

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to identify the different groups that can affect or be affected by an agency charged with the promoting and guaranteeing of health care quality in Andalusian region (Spain) and to provide a framework with the stakeholders included in different categories. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. A case study with structured interviews among Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality Steering Committee members was carried out in 2010 to define stakeholders' categories and map the interest groups using 5 attributes: influence, importance, legitimacy, power, and urgency. After identification and categorization, stakeholders were weighted qualitatively according to the attributes of importance and influence using 4 possible levels. A matrix was made with the collected data relating both attributes. Furthermore, 8 different types of stakeholders were identified according to attributes power, legitimacy, and urgency. The study concludes that identifying and classifying stakeholders are fundamental to ensuring the success of an organization that must respond to needs and expectations, especially those of its clients. Moreover, knowing stakeholder linkages can contribute to increase organizational worth. This is essential for organizations basically directed to the provision of services in the scope of health care.

Effects of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms on low-resistance training using exercise machines: the 'Power Rehabilitation' program.

PubMed

Murakami, Shin-Ichiro; Otsuki, Takemi; Maeda, Megumi; Miura, Yoshie; Morii, Seiko; Kiyokane, Kenji; Hayakawa, Shin-Ichi; Maeda, Atsushi; Imakawa, Takayo; Harada, Shunpei; Handa, Torataro; Nishimura, Yasumitsu; Murakami, Shuko; Kumagai, Naoko; Hayashi, Hiroaki; Chen, Ying; Suemori, Shin-Ichiro; Fukushima, Yumiko; Nishida, Seikoh; Fukushima, Keisuke

2009-01-01

The enhancement and promotion of health is necessary to maintain the quality of life (QOL) of the aged population in developed nations such as Japan where the number of elderly has been increasing rapidly. For this purpose, low-resistance training using exercise machines ('Power Rehabilitation') has been established as a rehabilitation program. To investigate the individual factors which influence the effects of 'Power Rehabilitation', single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and the ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) gene were analyzed, and the relationship between SNP patterns and the effects of 'Power Rehabilitation' was evaluated. 'Power Rehabilitation' had an effect on the physiological functions involved in the activities of daily life (ADL) rather than muscle strength and size. In addition, certain SNP patterns showed better improvement of parameters associated with the effects of 'Power Rehabilitation' as analyzed by comparison between SNP patterns and factor analysis. Large scale analyses are required to ensure this tendency and to discover individual factors which may help to promote the health and QOL of the aged population.

Anomaly Detection in Power Quality at Data Centers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grichine, Art; Solano, Wanda M.

2015-01-01

The goal during my internship at the National Center for Critical Information Processing and Storage (NCCIPS) is to implement an anomaly detection method through the StruxureWare SCADA Power Monitoring system. The benefit of the anomaly detection mechanism is to provide the capability to detect and anticipate equipment degradation by monitoring power quality prior to equipment failure. First, a study is conducted that examines the existing techniques of power quality management. Based on these findings, and the capabilities of the existing SCADA resources, recommendations are presented for implementing effective anomaly detection. Since voltage, current, and total harmonic distortion demonstrate Gaussian distributions, effective set-points are computed using this model, while maintaining a low false positive count.

Why weight? Modelling sample and observational level variability improves power in RNA-seq analyses.

PubMed

Liu, Ruijie; Holik, Aliaksei Z; Su, Shian; Jansz, Natasha; Chen, Kelan; Leong, Huei San; Blewitt, Marnie E; Asselin-Labat, Marie-Liesse; Smyth, Gordon K; Ritchie, Matthew E

2015-09-03

Variations in sample quality are frequently encountered in small RNA-sequencing experiments, and pose a major challenge in a differential expression analysis. Removal of high variation samples reduces noise, but at a cost of reducing power, thus limiting our ability to detect biologically meaningful changes. Similarly, retaining these samples in the analysis may not reveal any statistically significant changes due to the higher noise level. A compromise is to use all available data, but to down-weight the observations from more variable samples. We describe a statistical approach that facilitates this by modelling heterogeneity at both the sample and observational levels as part of the differential expression analysis. At the sample level this is achieved by fitting a log-linear variance model that includes common sample-specific or group-specific parameters that are shared between genes. The estimated sample variance factors are then converted to weights and combined with observational level weights obtained from the mean-variance relationship of the log-counts-per-million using 'voom'. A comprehensive analysis involving both simulations and experimental RNA-sequencing data demonstrates that this strategy leads to a universally more powerful analysis and fewer false discoveries when compared to conventional approaches. This methodology has wide application and is implemented in the open-source 'limma' package. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

A modeling study of coarse particulate matter pollution in Beijing: regional source contributions and control implications for the 2008 summer Olympics

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

Litao Wang; Jiming Hao; Kebin He

In the last 10 yr, Beijing has made a great effort to improve its air quality. However, it is still suffering from regional coarse particulate matter (PM10) pollution that could be a challenge to the promise of clean air during the 2008 Olympics. To provide scientific guidance on regional air pollution control, the Mesoscale Modeling System Generation 5 (MM5) and the Models-3/Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) air quality modeling system was used to investigate the contributions of emission sources outside the Beijing area to pollution levels in Beijing. The contributions to the PM10 concentrations in Beijing were assessed formore » the following sources: power plants, industry, domestic sources, transportation, agriculture, and biomass open burning. In January, it is estimated that on average 22% of the PM10 concentrations can be attributed to outside sources, of which domestic and industrial sources contributed 37 and 31%, respectively. In August, as much as 40% of the PM10 concentrations came from regional sources, of which approximately 41% came from industry and 31% from power plants. However, the synchronous analysis of the hourly concentrations, regional contributions, and wind vectors indicates that in the heaviest pollution periods the local emission sources play a more important role. The implications are that long-term control strategies should be based on regional-scale collaborations, and that emission abatement of local sources may be more effective in lowering the PM10 concentration levels on the heavy pollution days. Better air quality can be attained during the Olympics by placing effective emission controls on the local sources in Beijing and by controlling emissions from industry and power plants in the surrounding regions. 44 refs., 6 figs., 3 tabs.« less

netCDF Operators for Rapid Analysis of Measured and Modeled Swath-like Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zender, C. S.

2015-12-01

Swath-like data (hereafter SLD) are defined by non-rectangular and/or time-varying spatial grids in which one or more coordinates are multi-dimensional. It is often challenging and time-consuming to work with SLD, including all Level 2 satellite-retrieved data, non-rectangular subsets of Level 3 data, and model data on curvilinear grids. Researchers and data centers want user-friendly, fast, and powerful methods to specify, extract, serve, manipulate, and thus analyze, SLD. To meet these needs, large research-oriented agencies and modeling center such as NASA, DOE, and NOAA increasingly employ the netCDF Operators (NCO), an open-source scientific data analysis software package applicable to netCDF and HDF data. NCO includes extensive, fast, parallelized regridding features to facilitate analysis and intercomparison of SLD and model data. Remote sensing, weather and climate modeling and analysis communities face similar problems in handling SLD including how to easily: 1. Specify and mask irregular regions such as ocean basins and political boundaries in SLD (and rectangular) grids. 2. Bin, interpolate, average, or re-map SLD to regular grids. 3. Derive secondary data from given quality levels of SLD. These common tasks require a data extraction and analysis toolkit that is SLD-friendly and, like NCO, familiar in all these communities. With NCO users can 1. Quickly project SLD onto the most useful regular grids for intercomparison. 2. Access sophisticated statistical and regridding functions that are robust to missing data and allow easy specification of quality control metrics. These capabilities improve interoperability, software-reuse, and, because they apply to SLD, minimize transmission, storage, and handling of unwanted data. While SLD analysis still poses many challenges compared to regularly gridded, rectangular data, the custom analyses scripts SLD once required are now shorter, more powerful, and user-friendly.

Modeling wind energy potential in a data-poor region: A geographic information systems model for Iraq

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khayyat, Abdulkareem Hawta Abdullah Kak Ahmed

Scope and Method of Study: Most developing countries, including Iraq, have very poor wind data. Existing wind speed measurements of poor quality may therefore be a poor guide to where to look for the best wind resources. The main focus of this study is to examine how effectively a GIS spatial model estimates wind power potential in regions where high-quality wind data are very scarce, such as Iraq. The research used a mixture of monthly and hourly wind data from 39 meteorological stations. The study applied spatial analysis statistics and GIS techniques in modeling wind power potential. The model weighted important human, environmental and geographic factors that impact wind turbine siting, such as roughness length, land use⪉nd cover type, airport locations, road access, transmission lines, slope and aspect. Findings and Conclusions: The GIS model provided estimations for wind speed and wind power density and identified suitable areas for wind power projects. Using a high resolution (30*30m) digital elevation model DEM improved the GIS wind suitability model. The model identified areas suitable for wind farm development on different scales. The model showed that there are many locations available for large-scale wind turbines in the southern part of Iraq. Additionally, there are many places in central and northern parts (Kurdistan Region) for smaller scale wind turbine placement.

An in-depth analysis of pharmaceutical regulation in the Republic of Moldova

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Objective Regulation of the pharmaceutical system is a crucial, yet often neglected, component in ensuring access to safe and effective medicines. The aim of this study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the existing pharmaceutical regulation, including recent changes, in the Republic of Moldova. Methods Data from field work conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) together with a review of policy documents and quantitative secondary data analysis was used to achieve this aim. Results This analysis identified several ways in which pharmaceutical regulation affects availability of quality medicines in the Republic of Moldova. These include lack of full implementation bioequivalence requirements for generics registration, incomplete implementation of good manufacturing practices and no implementation of good distribution practices, use of quality control instead of quality assurance as a method to ensure quality of medicines, frequent change of power within the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (MMDA) leading to lack of long-term strategy and plans, conflict of interest between the different functions of the MMDA, the lack of sufficient funding for the MMDA to conduct its activities and to invest in continuous training of its staff (particularly inspectors) and very weak post-marketing control. Notably, several improvements have been recently introduced, including a roadmap for change for the MMDA, the introduction of good manufacturing practices and the drafting of a quality manual for the Agency. Conclusion Based on these findings the authors propose a set of priority actions to address existing gaps and draw lessons learned from other countries. PMID:25848544

System approach to the analysis of an integrated oxy-fuel combustion power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziębik, Andrzej; Gładysz, Paweł

2014-09-01

Oxy-fuel combustion (OFC) belongs to one of the three commonly known clean coal technologies for power generation sector and other industry sectors responsible for CO2 emissions (e.g., steel or cement production). The OFC capture technology is based on using high-purity oxygen in the combustion process instead of atmospheric air. Therefore flue gases have a high concentration of CO2. Due to the limited adiabatic temperature of combustion some part of CO2 must be recycled to the boiler in order to maintain a proper flame temperature. An integrated oxy-fuel combustion power plant constitutes a system consisting of the following technological modules: boiler, steam cycle, air separation unit, cooling water and water treatment system, flue gas quality control system and CO2 processing unit. Due to the interconnections between technological modules, energy, exergy and ecological analyses require a system approach. The paper present the system approach based on the `input-output' method to the analysis of the: direct energy and material consumption, cumulative energy and exergy consumption, system (local and cumulative) exergy losses, and thermoecological cost. Other measures like cumulative degree of perfection or index of sustainable development are also proposed. The paper presents a complex example of the system analysis (from direct energy consumption to thermoecological cost) of an advanced integrated OFC power plant.

Possibilities of using pulsed lasers and copper-vapour laser system (CVL and CVLS) in modern technological equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Labin, N. A.; Bulychev, N. A.; Kazaryan, M. A.; Grigoryants, A. G.; Shiganov, I. N.; Krasovskii, V. I.; Sachkov, V. I.; Plyaka, P. S.; Feofanov, I. N.

2015-12-01

Research on CVL installations with an average power of 20-25 W of cutting and drilling has shown wide range of applications of these lasers for micromachining of metals and a wide range of non-metallic materials up to 1-2 mm. From the analysis indicated that peak power density in the focused light spot of 10-30 μm diameter must be 109 -1012 W/cm2 the productivity and quality micromachining, when the treatment material is preferably in the evaporative mode micro explosions, followed by the expansion of the superheated vapor and the liquid. To achieve such levels of power density, a minimum heat affected zone (5- 10 μm) and a minimum surface roughness of the cut (1-2 μm), the quality of the output beam of radiation should be as high. Ideally, to ensure the quality of the radiation, the structure of CVL output beam must be single-beam, diffraction divergence and have at duration pulses τi = 20-40 ns. The pulse energy should have low values of 0.1-1 mJ at pulse repetition rates of 10-20 kHz. Axis of the radiation beam instability of the pattern to be three orders of magnitude smaller than the diffraction limit of the divergence. The spot of the focused radiation beam must have a circular shape with clear boundary, and a Gaussian intensity distribution.

Heterogeneous Integration of Epitaxial Ge on Si using AlAs/GaAs Buffer Architecture: Suitability for Low-power Fin Field-Effect Transistors

PubMed Central

Hudait, Mantu K.; Clavel, Michael; Goley, Patrick; Jain, Nikhil; Zhu, Yan

2014-01-01

Germanium-based materials and device architectures have recently appeared as exciting material systems for future low-power nanoscale transistors and photonic devices. Heterogeneous integration of germanium (Ge)-based materials on silicon (Si) using large bandgap buffer architectures could enable the monolithic integration of electronics and photonics. In this paper, we report on the heterogeneous integration of device-quality epitaxial Ge on Si using composite AlAs/GaAs large bandgap buffer, grown by molecular beam epitaxy that is suitable for fabricating low-power fin field-effect transistors required for continuing transistor miniaturization. The superior structural quality of the integrated Ge on Si using AlAs/GaAs was demonstrated using high-resolution x-ray diffraction analysis. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy confirmed relaxed Ge with high crystalline quality and a sharp Ge/AlAs heterointerface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated a large valence band offset at the Ge/AlAs interface, as compared to Ge/GaAs heterostructure, which is a prerequisite for superior carrier confinement. The temperature-dependent electrical transport properties of the n-type Ge layer demonstrated a Hall mobility of 370 cm2/Vs at 290 K and 457 cm2/Vs at 90 K, which suggests epitaxial Ge grown on Si using an AlAs/GaAs buffer architecture would be a promising candidate for next-generation high-performance and energy-efficient fin field-effect transistor applications. PMID:25376723

Supercomputer analysis of sedimentary basins.

PubMed

Bethke, C M; Altaner, S P; Harrison, W J; Upson, C

1988-01-15

Geological processes of fluid transport and chemical reaction in sedimentary basins have formed many of the earth's energy and mineral resources. These processes can be analyzed on natural time and distance scales with the use of supercomputers. Numerical experiments are presented that give insights to the factors controlling subsurface pressures, temperatures, and reactions; the origin of ores; and the distribution and quality of hydrocarbon reservoirs. The results show that numerical analysis combined with stratigraphic, sea level, and plate tectonic histories provides a powerful tool for studying the evolution of sedimentary basins over geologic time.

Occidental Geothermal, Inc. , Oxy geothermal power plant No. 1. Final environmental impact report

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

Not Available

1981-12-01

The project-specific environmental analysis covers the following: geology, soils, water resources, biology, air quality, noise, waste management, health, safety, transportation, energy and material resources, cultural resources, socioeconomics, public services, land use, and aesthetics. Other topics covered are: the cumulative envionmental analysis; unavoidable significant adverse environmental effects; irreversible environmental changes and irretrievable commitments of energy and materials; the relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity; growth-inducing impacts; and alternatives to the proposed action. (MHR)

Occupational Electromagnetic Field Exposures Associated with Sleep Quality: A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Liu, Hui; Chen, Guangdi; Pan, Yifeng; Chen, Zexin; Jin, Wen; Sun, Chuan; Chen, Chunjing; Dong, Xuanjun; Chen, Kun; Xu, Zhengping; Zhang, Shanchun; Yu, Yunxian

2014-01-01

Background Exposure to electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phone and other machineries concerns half the world’s population and raises the problem of their impact on human health. The present study aims to explore the effects of electromagnetic field exposures on sleep quality and sleep duration among workers from electric power plant. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in an electric power plant of Zhejiang Province, China. A total of 854 participants were included in the final analysis. The detailed information of participants was obtained by trained investigators using a structured questionnaire, which including socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle variables, sleep variables and electromagnetic exposures. Physical examination and venous blood collection were also carried out for every study subject. Results After grouping daily occupational electromagnetic exposure into three categories, subjects with long daily exposure time had a significantly higher risk of poor sleep quality in comparison to those with short daily exposure time. The adjusted odds ratios were 1.68 (95%CI: 1.18, 2.39) and 1.57 (95%CI: 1.10, 2.24) across tertiles. Additionally, among the subjects with long-term occupational exposure, the longer daily occupational exposure time apparently increased the risk of poor sleep quality (OR (95%CI): 2.12 (1.23∼3.66) in the second tertile; 1.83 (1.07∼3.15) in the third tertile). There was no significant association of long-term occupational exposure duration, monthly electric fee or years of mobile-phone use with sleep quality or sleep duration. Conclusions The findings showed that daily occupational EMF exposure was positively associated with poor sleep quality. It implies EMF exposure may damage human sleep quality rather than sleep duration. PMID:25340654

Analysis of ChIP-seq Data in R/Bioconductor.

PubMed

de Santiago, Ines; Carroll, Thomas

2018-01-01

The development of novel high-throughput sequencing methods for ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation) has provided a very powerful tool to study gene regulation in multiple conditions at unprecedented resolution and scale. Proactive quality-control and appropriate data analysis techniques are of critical importance to extract the most meaningful results from the data. Over the last years, an array of R/Bioconductor tools has been developed allowing researchers to process and analyze ChIP-seq data. This chapter provides an overview of the methods available to analyze ChIP-seq data based primarily on software packages from the open-source Bioconductor project. Protocols described in this chapter cover basic steps including data alignment, peak calling, quality control and data visualization, as well as more complex methods such as the identification of differentially bound regions and functional analyses to annotate regulatory regions. The steps in the data analysis process were demonstrated on publicly available data sets and will serve as a demonstration of the computational procedures routinely used for the analysis of ChIP-seq data in R/Bioconductor, from which readers can construct their own analysis pipelines.

Molecular pedigree reconstruction and estimation of evolutionary parameters in a wild Atlantic salmon river system with incomplete sampling: a power analysis

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Pedigree reconstruction using genetic analysis provides a useful means to estimate fundamental population biology parameters relating to population demography, trait heritability and individual fitness when combined with other sources of data. However, there remain limitations to pedigree reconstruction in wild populations, particularly in systems where parent-offspring relationships cannot be directly observed, there is incomplete sampling of individuals, or molecular parentage inference relies on low quality DNA from archived material. While much can still be inferred from incomplete or sparse pedigrees, it is crucial to evaluate the quality and power of available genetic information a priori to testing specific biological hypotheses. Here, we used microsatellite markers to reconstruct a multi-generation pedigree of wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) using archived scale samples collected with a total trapping system within a river over a 10 year period. Using a simulation-based approach, we determined the optimal microsatellite marker number for accurate parentage assignment, and evaluated the power of the resulting partial pedigree to investigate important evolutionary and quantitative genetic characteristics of salmon in the system. Results We show that at least 20 microsatellites (ave. 12 alleles/locus) are required to maximise parentage assignment and to improve the power to estimate reproductive success and heritability in this study system. We also show that 1.5 fold differences can be detected between groups simulated to have differing reproductive success, and that it is possible to detect moderate heritability values for continuous traits (h2 ~ 0.40) with more than 80% power when using 28 moderately to highly polymorphic markers. Conclusion The methodologies and work flow described provide a robust approach for evaluating archived samples for pedigree-based research, even where only a proportion of the total population is sampled. The results demonstrate the feasibility of pedigree-based studies to address challenging ecological and evolutionary questions in free-living populations, where genealogies can be traced only using molecular tools, and that significant increases in pedigree assignment power can be achieved by using higher numbers of markers. PMID:24684698

International water and steam quality standards on thermal power plants at all-volatile treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrova, T. I.; Orlov, K. A.; Dooley, R. B.

2016-12-01

One of the methods for the improvement of reliability and efficiency of the equipment at heat power plants is the decrease in the rate of corrosion of structural materials and sedimentation in water/steam circuit. These processes can be reduced to minimum by using the water with low impurity content and coolant treatment. For many years, water and steam quality standards were developed in various countries (United States, Germany, Japan, etc.) for specific types of equipment. The International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS), which brings together specialists from 21 countries, developed the water and steam quality standards for various types of power equipment based on theoretical studies and long-term operating experience of power equipment. Recently, various water-chemistry conditions are applied on heatpower equipment including conventional boilers and HRSGs with combined cycle power plants (Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPP)). In paper, the maintenance conditions of water chemistry with ammonia or volatile amine dosing are described: reducing AVT(R), oxidizing AVT(O), and oxygen OT. Each of them is provided by the water and steam quality standards and recommendations are given on their maintenance under various operation conditions. It is noted that the quality control of heat carrier must be carried out with a particular care on the HPPs with combined cycle gas turbine units, where frequent starts and halts are performed.

[Quantitative structure-gas chromatographic retention relationship of polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles using molecular electronegativity-distance vector].

PubMed

Li, Zhenghua; Cheng, Fansheng; Xia, Zhining

2011-01-01

The chemical structures of 114 polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASHs) have been studied by molecular electronegativity-distance vector (MEDV). The linear relationships between gas chromatographic retention index and the MEDV have been established by a multiple linear regression (MLR) model. The results of variable selection by stepwise multiple regression (SMR) and the powerful predictive abilities of the optimization model appraised by leave-one-out cross-validation showed that the optimization model with the correlation coefficient (R) of 0.994 7 and the cross-validated correlation coefficient (Rcv) of 0.994 0 possessed the best statistical quality. Furthermore, when the 114 PASHs compounds were divided into calibration and test sets in the ratio of 2:1, the statistical analysis showed our models possesses almost equal statistical quality, the very similar regression coefficients and the good robustness. The quantitative structure-retention relationship (QSRR) model established may provide a convenient and powerful method for predicting the gas chromatographic retention of PASHs.

Renewable Energy Zones for the Africa Clean Energy Corridor

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

Wu, Grace C.; Deshmukh, Ranjit; Ndhlukula, Kudakwashe

Multi-criteria Analysis for Planning Renewable Energy (MapRE) is a study approach developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with the support of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The approach combines geospatial, statistical, energy engineering, and economic methods to comprehensively identify and value high-quality wind, solar PV, and solar CSP resources for grid integration based on techno-economic criteria, generation profiles (for wind), and socio-environmental impacts. The Renewable Energy Zones for the Africa Clean Energy Corridor study sought to identify and comprehensively value high-quality wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), and concentrating solar power (CSP) resources in 21 countries in the East andmore » Southern Africa Power Pools to support the prioritization of areas for development through a multi-criteria planning process. These countries include Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The study includes the methodology and the key results including renewable energy potential for each region.« less

Ground-based and in-flight simulator studies of low-speed handling characteristics of two supersonic cruise transport concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grantham, W. D.; Nguyen, L. T.; Deal, P. L.; Neubauer, M. J.; Smith, P. M.; Gregory, F. D.

1978-01-01

Conventional and powered lift concepts for supersonic approach and landing tasks are considered. Results indicated that the transport concepts had unacceptable low-speed handling qualities with no augmentation, and that in order to achieve satisfactory handling qualities, considerable augmentation was required. The available roll-control power was acceptable for the powered-lift concept.

TCSC based filtering and improvement of power quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arulvendhan, K.; Dilli srinivasan, J.; Vinil, M.

2018-04-01

Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) as a dynamic system, also its competence in growing power allocation in transmission lines, can be used to improve different power system problems. TCSC’s dissimilar advantages can be categorised as steady-state and transient ones. During a fault, TCSC can increase power quality by reducing the current and benefit to keep the voltage as high as conceivable. In this paper, the application of TCSC to enrich one of the vital power quality issues, i.e., voltage sag is investigated. Different operating modes of TCSC have dissimilar influences on the voltage of the bus that the line armed with TCSC is connected to. Relocating to bypass mode upon manifestation of a fault is a significant feature of TCSC to advance voltage sag. The simulations on a trial network disclose these facts.

The development, retention and decay rates of strength and power in elite rugby union, rugby league and American football: a systematic review.

PubMed

McMaster, Daniel Travis; Gill, Nicholas; Cronin, John; McGuigan, Michael

2013-05-01

Strength and power are crucial components to excelling in all contact sports; and understanding how a player's strength and power levels fluctuate in response to various resistance training loads is of great interest, as it will inevitably dictate the loading parameters throughout a competitive season. This is a systematic review of training, maintenance and detraining studies, focusing on the development, retention and decay rates of strength and power measures in elite rugby union, rugby league and American football players. A literature search using MEDLINE, EBSCO Host, Google Scholar, IngentaConnect, Ovid LWW, ProQuest Central, ScienceDirect Journals, SPORTDiscus and Wiley InterScience was conducted. References were also identified from other review articles and relevant textbooks. From 300 articles, 27 met the inclusion criteria and were retained for further analysis. STUDY QUALITY: Study quality was assessed via a modified 20-point scale created to evaluate research conducted in athletic-based training environments. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) quality rating of the included studies was 16.2 ± 1.9; the rating system revealed that the quality of future studies can be improved by randomly allocating subjects to training groups, providing greater description and detail of the interventions, and including control groups where possible. Percent change, effect size (ES = [Post-Xmean - Pre-Xmean)/Pre-SD) calculations and SDs were used to assess the magnitude and spread of strength and power changes in the included studies. The studies were grouped according to (1) mean intensity relative volume (IRV = sets × repetitions × intensity; (2) weekly training frequency per muscle group; and (3) detraining duration. IRV is the product of the number of sets, repetitions and intensity performed during a training set and session. The effects of weekly training frequencies were assessed by normalizing the percent change values to represent the weekly changes in strength and power. During the IRV analysis, the percent change values were normalized to represent the percent change per training session. The long-term periodized training effects (12, 24 and 48 months) on strength and power were also investigated. Across the 27 studies (n = 1,015), 234 percent change and 230 ES calculations were performed. IRVs of 11-30 (i.e., 3-6 sets of 4-10 repetitions at 74-88% one-repetition maximum [1RM]) elicited strength and power increases of 0.42% and 0.07% per training session, respectively. The following weekly strength changes were observed for two, three and four training sessions per muscle region/week: 0.9%, 1.8 % and 1.3 %, respectively. Similarly, the weekly power changes for two, three and four training sessions per muscle group/week were 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.7 %, respectively. Mean decreases of 14.5% (ES = -0.64) and 0.4 (ES = -0.10) were observed in strength and power across mean detraining periods of 7.2 ± 5.8 and 7.6 ± 5.1 weeks, respectively. The long-term training studies found strength increases of 7.1 ± 1.0% (ES = 0.55), 8.5 ± 3.3% (ES = 0.81) and 12.5 ± 6.8% (ES = 1.39) over 12, 24 and 48 months, respectively; they also found power increases of 14.6% (ES = 1.30) and 12.2% (ES = 1.06) at 24 and 48 months. Based on current findings, training frequencies of two to four resistance training sessions per muscle group/week can be prescribed to develop upper and lower body strength and power. IRVs ranging from 11 to 30 (i.e., 3-6 sets of 4-10 repetitions of 70-88% 1RM) can be prescribed in a periodized manner to retain power and develop strength in the upper and lower body. Strength levels can be maintained for up to 3 weeks of detraining, but decay rates will increase thereafter (i.e. 5-16 weeks). The effect of explosive-ballistic training and detraining on pure power development and decay in elite rugby and American football players remain inconclusive. The long-term effects of periodized resistance training programmes on strength and power seem to follow the law of diminishing returns, as training exposure increases beyond 12-24 months, adaptation rates are reduced.

Evaluation of the influence of acquisition parameters of microtomography in image quality applied by carbonate rocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, T. M. P.; Machado, A. S.; Araújo, O. M. O.; Ferreira, C. G.; Lopes, R. T.

2018-03-01

X-ray computed microtomography is a powerful nondestructive technique for 2D and 3D structure analysis. However, parameters used in acquisition promote directs influence in qualitative and quantitative results in characterization of samples, due image resolution. The aim of this study is value the influence of theses parameters in results through of tests changing these parameters in different situations and system characterization. Results demonstrate those pixel size and detector matrixes are the main parameters that influence in resolution and image quality. Microtomography was considered an excellent technique for characterization using the best image resolution possible.

Effective doctor-patient communication: an updated examination.

PubMed

Matusitz, Jonathan; Spear, Jennifer

2014-01-01

This article examines, in detail, the quality of doctor-patient interaction. Doctor-patient communication is such a powerful indicator of health care quality that it can determine patients' self-management behavior and health outcomes. The medical visit (i.e., the medical encounter) plays a pivotal role in the health care process. In fact, doctor-patient communication is one of the most essential dynamics in health care, affecting the course of patient care and patient compliance with recommendations for care. Unlike many other analyses (that often look at only one or two specific aspects of doctor-patient relationships), this analysis is more encompassing; it looks at doctor-patient communication from multiple perspectives.

Image Quality Analysis and Optical Performance Requirement for Micromirror-Based Lissajous Scanning Displays

PubMed Central

Du, Weiqi; Zhang, Gaofei; Ye, Liangchen

2016-01-01

Micromirror-based scanning displays have been the focus of a variety of applications. Lissajous scanning displays have advantages in terms of power consumption; however, the image quality is not good enough. The main reason for this is the varying size and the contrast ratio of pixels at different positions of the image. In this paper, the Lissajous scanning trajectory is analyzed and a new method based on the diamond pixel is introduced to Lissajous displays. The optical performance of micromirrors is discussed. A display system demonstrator is built, and tests of resolution and contrast ratio are conducted. The test results show that the new Lissajous scanning method can be used in displays by using diamond pixels and image quality remains stable at different positions. PMID:27187390

Image Quality Analysis and Optical Performance Requirement for Micromirror-Based Lissajous Scanning Displays.

PubMed

Du, Weiqi; Zhang, Gaofei; Ye, Liangchen

2016-05-11

Micromirror-based scanning displays have been the focus of a variety of applications. Lissajous scanning displays have advantages in terms of power consumption; however, the image quality is not good enough. The main reason for this is the varying size and the contrast ratio of pixels at different positions of the image. In this paper, the Lissajous scanning trajectory is analyzed and a new method based on the diamond pixel is introduced to Lissajous displays. The optical performance of micromirrors is discussed. A display system demonstrator is built, and tests of resolution and contrast ratio are conducted. The test results show that the new Lissajous scanning method can be used in displays by using diamond pixels and image quality remains stable at different positions.

Power Wheelchair Use in Persons With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Changes Over Time.

PubMed

Ward, Amber Lea; Hammond, Sara; Holsten, Scott; Bravver, Elena; Brooks, Benjamin Rix

2015-01-01

The objectives of this study were to survey persons with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at 1 and 6 months after receiving power wheelchairs to determine long-term use, comfort, and function as well as the power wheelchair's impact on daily tasks and quality of life. A 33-question survey and Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) were sent 1 month after getting a new power wheelchair; a follow-up survey was sent at 6 months. Based on satisfaction and feature use survey results, at 1 month, 81% of users found the power wheelchair overall comfort to be high, 88% found their overall mobility to be improved, and 95% found it easy to use. Their quality of life increased and pain decreased at 1 and 6 months. According to the PIADS, the power wheelchair gave users increased ability to participate and sense of competence. This study has important results for the ALS community, as it is the first to assess power wheelchair users at 1 and 6 months after power wheelchair procurement. The results demonstrate the impact the power wheelchair has on mobility, psychosocial issues, functional abilities, and quality of life for a person with ALS.

The characterization of secondary lithium-ion battery degradation when operating complex, ultra-high power pulsed loads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Derek N.

The US Navy is actively developing all electric fleets, raising serious questions about what is required of onboard power supplies in order to properly power the ship's electrical systems. This is especially relevant when choosing a viable power source to drive high power propulsion and electric weapon systems in addition to the conventional loads deployed aboard these types of vessels. Especially when high pulsed power loads are supplied, the issue of maintaining power quality becomes important and increasingly complex. Conventionally, a vessel's electrical power is generated using gas turbine or diesel driven motor-generator sets that are very inefficient when they are used outside of their most efficient load condition. What this means is that if the generator is not being utilized continuously at its most efficient load capacity, the quality of the output power may also be effected and fall outside of the acceptable power quality limits imposed through military standards. As a solution to this potential problem, the Navy has proposed using electrochemical storage devices since they are able to buffer conventional generators when the load is operating below the generator's most efficient power level or able to efficiently augment a generator when the load is operating in excess of the generator's most efficient power rating. Specifically, the US Navy is interested in using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) lithium-ion batteries within an intelligently controlled energy storage module that could act as either a prime power supply for on-board pulsed power systems or as a backup generator to other shipboard power systems. Due to the unique load profile of high-rate pulsed power systems, the implementation of lithium-ion batteries within these complex systems requires them to be operated at very high rates and the effects these things have on cell degradation has been an area of focus. There is very little published research into the effects that high power transient or pulsed loading has on the degradation mechanisms of secondary lithium-ion cells. Prior to performing this work, it was unclear if the implementation of lithium-ion batteries in highly transient load conditions at high rate would accelerate cell degradation mechanisms that have been previously considered as minor issues. This work has focused on answering these previously unanswered questions. In early experiments performed here, COTS lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells were studied under high-rate, transient load conditions and it was found that their capacity fade deviated from the traditional linear behavior and exponentially declined until no charge could be accepted when recharge was attempted at high rate. These findings indicated that subjecting LFP chemistries to transient, high rate charge/discharge profiles induced rapid changes in the electrode/electrolyte interface that rendered the cells useless when high rate recharge was required. These findings suggested there was more phenomena to learn about how these cells degraded under high rate pulsed conditions before they are fielded in Naval applications. Therefore, the research presented here has been focused on understanding the degradation mechanisms that are unique to LFP cells when they are cycled under pulsed load profiles at high charge and discharge rates. In particular, the work has been focused on identifying major degradation reactions that occur by studying the surface chemistry of cycled electrode materials. Efforts have been performed to map the impedance evolution of both cathode and anode half cells, respectively, using a novel three electrode technique that was developed for this research. Using this technique, the progression of degradation has been mapped using analysis of differential capacitance spectrums. In both the three electrode EIS mapping and differential capacitance analysis that has been performed, electrical component models have been developed. The results presented will show that there are unique degradation mechanisms induced through high rate pulsed loading conditions that are not normally seen in low rate continuous cycling of LFP cells.

Optimization of Selective Laser Melting by Evaluation Method of Multiple Quality Characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaimovich, A. I.; Stepanenko, I. S.; Smelov, V. G.

2018-01-01

Article describes the adoption of the Taguchi method in selective laser melting process of sector of combustion chamber by numerical and natural experiments for achieving minimum temperature deformation. The aim was to produce a quality part with minimum amount of numeric experiments. For the study, the following optimization parameters (independent factors) were chosen: the laser beam power and velocity; two factors for compensating the effect of the residual thermal stresses: the scale factor of the preliminary correction of the part geometry and the number of additional reinforcing elements. We used an orthogonal plan of 9 experiments with a factor variation at three levels (L9). As quality criterias, the values of distortions for 9 zones of the combustion chamber and the maximum strength of the material of the chamber were chosen. Since the quality parameters are multidirectional, a grey relational analysis was used to solve the optimization problem for multiple quality parameters. As a result, according to the parameters obtained, the combustion chamber segments of the gas turbine engine were manufactured.

Joint Solar Power Industry and Department of Energy Solar Resource and Meteorological Assessment Project (SOLRMAP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilcox, Steve; Myers, Daryl

2009-08-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has embarked on a collaborative effort with the solar industry to establish high quality solar and meteorological measurements. This Solar Resource and Meteorological Assessment Project (SOLRMAP) provides high quality measurements to support deployment of concentrating solar thermal power projects in the United States. The no-funds-exchanged collaboration brings NREL solar resource assessment expertise together with industry needs for measurements. The end result will be high quality data sets to support the financing, design, and monitoring of large scale solar power projects for industry in addition to research-quality data for NREL model development. NREL provides consultation for instrumentation and station deployment, along with instrument calibrations, data acquisition, quality assessment, data distribution, and summary reports. Industry participants provide equipment, infrastructure, and station maintenance.

Non-REM sleep EEG power distribution in fatigue and sleepiness.

PubMed

Neu, Daniel; Mairesse, Olivier; Verbanck, Paul; Linkowski, Paul; Le Bon, Olivier

2014-04-01

The aim of this study is to contribute to the sleep-related differentiation between daytime fatigue and sleepiness. 135 subjects presenting with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS, n=58) or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, n=52) with respective sleepiness or fatigue complaints and a control group (n=25) underwent polysomnography and psychometric assessments for fatigue, sleepiness, affective symptoms and perceived sleep quality. Sleep EEG spectral analysis for ultra slow, delta, theta, alpha, sigma and beta power bands was performed on frontal, central and occipital derivations. Patient groups presented with impaired subjective sleep quality and higher affective symptom intensity. CFS patients presented with highest fatigue and SAHS patients with highest sleepiness levels. All groups showed similar total sleep time. Subject groups mainly differed in sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, duration of light sleep (N1, N2) and slow wave sleep, as well as in sleep fragmentation and respiratory disturbance. Relative non-REM sleep power spectra distributions suggest a pattern of power exchange in higher frequency bands at the expense of central ultra slow power in CFS patients during all non-REM stages. In SAHS patients, however, we found an opposite pattern at occipital sites during N1 and N2. Slow wave activity presents as a crossroad of fatigue and sleepiness with, however, different spectral power band distributions during non-REM sleep. The homeostatic function of sleep might be compromised in CFS patients and could explain why, in contrast to sleepiness, fatigue does not resolve with sleep in these patients. The present findings thus contribute to the differentiation of both phenomena. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

International water and steam quality standards for thermal power station drum-type and waste heat recovery boilers with the treatment of boiler water with phosphates and NaOH

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrova, T. I.; Orlov, K. A.; Dooley, R. B.

2017-01-01

One of the ways for improving the operational reliability and economy of thermal power station equipment, including combined-cycle equipment, is to decrease the rates of the corrosion of constructional materials and the formation of scales in the water-steam circuit. These processes can be reduced to a minimum via the use of water with a minimum content of admixtures and the correction treatment of a heat-transfer fluid. The International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS), which unites specialists from every country of the world, has developed water and steam quality standards for power station equipment of different types on the basis of theoretical studies and long-term experience in the operation of power plants in 21 countries. Different water chemistry regimes are currently used at conventional and combined-cycle thermal power stations. This paper describes the conditions for the implementation of water chemistry regimes with the use of sodium salts of phosphoric acid and NaOH for the quality correction of boiler water. Water and steam quality standards and some recommendations for their maintenance under different operational conditions are given for each of the considered water chemistry regimes. The standards are designed for the water-steam circuit of conventional and combined-cycle thermal power stations. It is pointed out that the quality control of a heat-transfer fluid must be especially careful at combined-cycle thermal power stations with frequent startups and shutdowns.

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Data Analysis System (DAS). Environmental Quality Technology Program

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

is comprised of an EMI sensor, cesium (Cs) vapor magnetometer , fluxgate magnetometer , hand-held data acquisition computer, integrated power supply...Geometrics model 823A Cs vapor magnetometer . The fluxgate magnetometer is a Bartington model Mag-3MRN60, three- axis fluxgate magnetometer . The system...9. The ERDC hand-held Dual TFM/EMI with ArcSecond positioning system. During standard usage, the fluxgate magnetometer is used to provide the

Fuels research studies at NASA Lewis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antoine, A. C.

1982-01-01

Fuels research studies carried out in a variety of areas related to aviation propulsion, ground transportation, and stationary power generation systems are discussed. The major efforts are directed to studies on fuels for jet aircraft. These studies involve fuels preparation, fuels analysis, and fuel quality evaluations. The scope and direction of research activities in these areas is discussed, descriptions of Lewis capabilities and facilities given, and results of recent research efforts reported.

Analysis of alternative pathways for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions.

PubMed

Loughlin, Daniel H; Kaufman, Katherine R; Lenox, Carol S; Hubbell, Bryan J

2015-09-01

Strategies for reducing tropospheric ozone (O3) typically include modifying combustion processes to reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and applying control devices that remove NOx from the exhaust gases of power plants, industrial sources and vehicles. For portions of the U.S., these traditional controls may not be sufficient to achieve the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. We apply the MARKet ALlocation (MARKAL) energy system model in a sensitivity analysis to explore whether additional NOx reductions can be achieved through extensive electrification of passenger vehicles, adoption of energy efficiency and conservation measures within buildings, and deployment of wind and solar power in the electric sector. Nationally and for each region of the country, we estimate the NOx implications of these measures. Energy efficiency and renewable electricity are shown to reduce NOx beyond traditional controls. Wide-spread light duty vehicle electrification produces varied results, with NOx increasing in some regions and decreasing in others. However, combining vehicle electrification with renewable electricity reduces NOx in all regions. State governments are charged with developing plans that demonstrate how air quality standards will be met and maintained. The results presented here provide an indication of the national and regional NOx reductions available beyond traditional controls via extensive adoption of energy efficiency, renewable electricity, and vehicle electrification.

Combining the Power of Statistical Analyses and Community Interviews to Identify Adoption Barriers for Stormwater Best-Management Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoover, F. A.; Bowling, L. C.; Prokopy, L. S.

2015-12-01

Urban stormwater is an on-going management concern in municipalities of all sizes. In both combined or separated sewer systems, pollutants from stormwater runoff enter the natural waterway system during heavy rain events. Urban flooding during frequent and more intense storms are also a growing concern. Therefore, stormwater best-management practices (BMPs) are being implemented in efforts to reduce and manage stormwater pollution and overflow. The majority of BMP water quality studies focus on the small-scale, individual effects of the BMP, and the change in water quality directly from the runoff of these infrastructures. At the watershed scale, it is difficult to establish statistically whether or not these BMPs are making a difference in water quality, given that watershed scale monitoring is often costly and time consuming, relying on significant sources of funds, which a city may not have. Hence, there is a need to quantify the level of sampling needed to detect the water quality impact of BMPs at the watershed scale. In this study, a power analysis was performed on data from an urban watershed in Lafayette, Indiana, to determine the frequency of sampling required to detect a significant change in water quality measurements. Using the R platform, results indicate that detecting a significant change in watershed level water quality would require hundreds of weekly measurements, even when improvement is present. The second part of this study investigates whether the difficulty in demonstrating water quality change represents a barrier to adoption of stormwater BMPs. Semi-structured interviews of community residents and organizations in Chicago, IL are being used to investigate residents understanding of water quality and best management practices and identify their attitudes and perceptions towards stormwater BMPs. Second round interviews will examine how information on uncertainty in water quality improvements influences their BMP attitudes and perceptions.

To the theory of high-power gyrotrons with uptapered resonators

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

Dumbrajs, O.; Nusinovich, G. S.

In high-power gyrotrons it is desirable to combine an optimal resonator length with the optimal value of the resonator quality factor. In resonators with the constant radius of the central part, the possibilities of this combination are limited because the quality factor of the resonator sharply increases with its length. Therefore the attempts to increase the length for maximizing the efficiency leads to such increase in the quality factor which makes the optimal current too small. Resonators with slightly uptapered profiles offer more flexibility in this regard. In such resonators, one can separate optimization of the interaction length from optimizationmore » of the quality factor because the quality factor determined by diffractive losses can be reduced by increasing the angle of uptapering. In the present paper, these issues are analyzed by studying as a typical high-power 17 GHz gyrotron which is currently under development in Europe for ITER (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER). The effect of a slight uptapering of the resonator wall on the efficiency enhancement and the purity of the radiation spectrum in the process of the gyrotron start-up and power modulation are studied. Results show that optimal modification of the shape of a slightly uptapered resonator may result in increasing the gyrotron power from 1052 to 1360 kW.« less

Enhanced annotations and features for comparing thousands of Pseudomonas genomes in the Pseudomonas genome database.

PubMed

Winsor, Geoffrey L; Griffiths, Emma J; Lo, Raymond; Dhillon, Bhavjinder K; Shay, Julie A; Brinkman, Fiona S L

2016-01-04

The Pseudomonas Genome Database (http://www.pseudomonas.com) is well known for the application of community-based annotation approaches for producing a high-quality Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 genome annotation, and facilitating whole-genome comparative analyses with other Pseudomonas strains. To aid analysis of potentially thousands of complete and draft genome assemblies, this database and analysis platform was upgraded to integrate curated genome annotations and isolate metadata with enhanced tools for larger scale comparative analysis and visualization. Manually curated gene annotations are supplemented with improved computational analyses that help identify putative drug targets and vaccine candidates or assist with evolutionary studies by identifying orthologs, pathogen-associated genes and genomic islands. The database schema has been updated to integrate isolate metadata that will facilitate more powerful analysis of genomes across datasets in the future. We continue to place an emphasis on providing high-quality updates to gene annotations through regular review of the scientific literature and using community-based approaches including a major new Pseudomonas community initiative for the assignment of high-quality gene ontology terms to genes. As we further expand from thousands of genomes, we plan to provide enhancements that will aid data visualization and analysis arising from whole-genome comparative studies including more pan-genome and population-based approaches. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Assessment of the Eutrophication-Related Environmental Parameters in Two Mediterranean Lakes by Integrating Statistical Techniques and Self-Organizing Maps

PubMed Central

Stefanidis, Konstantinos; Papatheodorou, George

2018-01-01

During the last decades, Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems, especially lakes, have been under severe pressure due to increasing eutrophication and water quality deterioration. In this article, we compared the effectiveness of different data analysis methods by assessing the contribution of environmental parameters to eutrophication processes. For this purpose, principal components analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and a self-organizing map (SOM) were applied, using water quality data from two transboundary lakes of North Greece. SOM is considered as an advanced and powerful data analysis tool because of its ability to represent complex and nonlinear relationships among multivariate data sets. The results of PCA and cluster analysis agreed with the SOM results, although the latter provided more information because of the visualization abilities regarding the parameters’ relationships. Besides nutrients that were found to be a key factor for controlling chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), water temperature was related positively with algal production, while the Secchi disk depth parameter was found to be highly important and negatively related toeutrophic conditions. In general, the SOM results were more specific and allowed direct associations between the water quality variables. Our work showed that SOMs can be used effectively in limnological studies to produce robust and interpretable results, aiding scientists and managers to cope with environmental problems such as eutrophication. PMID:29562675

Comparison between Standing Broad Jump test and Wingate test for assessing lower limb anaerobic power in elite sportsmen.

PubMed

Krishnan, Anup; Sharma, Deep; Bhatt, Madhu; Dixit, Apoorv; Pradeep, P

2017-04-01

Lower limb explosive power is an important motor quality for sporting performance and indicates use of anaerobic energy systems like stored ATP and Creatine phosphate system. Weightlifting, Fencing and Wrestling use it for monitoring and identification of potential sportsmen. The Wingate test and Standing Broad Jump (SBJ) test are reliable and accurate tests for its assessment. This study conducted on elite Indian sportsmen tries to analyse feasibility of use of the SBJ test in sports and military medicine when Wingate test is impractical. 95 elite sportsmen (51 Fencers, 17 Weight lifters and 27 Wrestlers) of a sports institute were administered Wingate cycle ergometer test and SBJ under standardised conditions. The results were analysed for mass and inter-discipline correlation. Analysis using Pearson's correlation showed significant positive correlation between Peak power ( r  = 0.446, p  < 0.0001) and SBJ (distance) in all sportsmen. Inter-sport correlation showed positive correlation between SBJ and peak power ( r  = 0.335, p  < 0.016) in Fencers and between SBJ, peak power ( r  = 0.686, p  < 0.002) in Weightlifters. Bland-Altman plot analysis showed that about 94% pairs of peak power and SBJ were within limits of agreement for each discipline as well as among all sportsmen. The test results show definite correlation and SBJ test can be used as a field test in performance monitoring, talent identification, military recruit screening and injury prevention.

Finite volume analysis of temperature effects induced by active MRI implants with cylindrical symmetry: 1. Properly working devices.

PubMed

Busch, Martin H J; Vollmann, Wolfgang; Schnorr, Jörg; Grönemeyer, Dietrich H W

2005-04-08

Active Magnetic Resonance Imaging implants are constructed as resonators tuned to the Larmor frequency of a magnetic resonance system with a specific field strength. The resonating circuit may be embedded into or added to the normal metallic implant structure. The resonators build inductively coupled wireless transmit and receive coils and can amplify the signal, normally decreased by eddy currents, inside metallic structures without affecting the rest of the spin ensemble. During magnetic resonance imaging the resonators generate heat, which is additional to the usual one described by the specific absorption rate. This induces temperature increases of the tissue around the circuit paths and inside the lumen of an active implant and may negatively influence patient safety. This investigation provides an overview of the supplementary power absorbed by active implants with a cylindrical geometry, corresponding to vessel implants such as stents, stent grafts or vena cava filters. The knowledge of the overall absorbed power is used in a finite volume analysis to estimate temperature maps around different implant structures inside homogeneous tissue under worst-case assumptions. The "worst-case scenario" assumes thermal heat conduction without blood perfusion inside the tissue around the implant and mostly without any cooling due to blood flow inside vessels. The additional power loss of a resonator is proportional to the volume and the quality factor, as well as the field strength of the MRI system and the specific absorption rate of the applied sequence. For properly working devices the finite volume analysis showed only tolerable heating during MRI investigations in most cases. Only resonators transforming a few hundred mW into heat may reach temperature increases over 5 K. This requires resonators with volumes of several ten cubic centimeters, short inductor circuit paths with only a few 10 cm and a quality factor above ten. Using MR sequences, for which the MRI system manufacturer declares the highest specific absorption rate of 4 W/kg, vascular implants with a realistic construction, size and quality factor do not show temperature increases over a critical value of 5 K. The results show dangerous heating for the assumed "worst-case scenario" only for constructions not acceptable for vascular implants. Realistic devices are safe with respect to temperature increases. However, this investigation discusses only properly working devices. Ruptures or partial ruptures of the wires carrying the electric current of the resonance circuits or other defects can set up a power source inside an extremely small volume. The temperature maps around such possible "hot spots" should be analyzed in an additional investigation.

Review of Computational Stirling Analysis Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dyson, Rodger W.; Wilson, Scott D.; Tew, Roy C.

2004-01-01

Nuclear thermal to electric power conversion carries the promise of longer duration missions and higher scientific data transmission rates back to Earth for both Mars rovers and deep space missions. A free-piston Stirling convertor is a candidate technology that is considered an efficient and reliable power conversion device for such purposes. While already very efficient, it is believed that better Stirling engines can be developed if the losses inherent its current designs could be better understood. However, they are difficult to instrument and so efforts are underway to simulate a complete Stirling engine numerically. This has only recently been attempted and a review of the methods leading up to and including such computational analysis is presented. And finally it is proposed that the quality and depth of Stirling loss understanding may be improved by utilizing the higher fidelity and efficiency of recently developed numerical methods. One such method, the Ultra HI-Fl technique is presented in detail.

A Gateway for Phylogenetic Analysis Powered by Grid Computing Featuring GARLI 2.0

PubMed Central

Bazinet, Adam L.; Zwickl, Derrick J.; Cummings, Michael P.

2014-01-01

We introduce molecularevolution.org, a publicly available gateway for high-throughput, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis powered by grid computing. The gateway features a garli 2.0 web service that enables a user to quickly and easily submit thousands of maximum likelihood tree searches or bootstrap searches that are executed in parallel on distributed computing resources. The garli web service allows one to easily specify partitioned substitution models using a graphical interface, and it performs sophisticated post-processing of phylogenetic results. Although the garli web service has been used by the research community for over three years, here we formally announce the availability of the service, describe its capabilities, highlight new features and recent improvements, and provide details about how the grid system efficiently delivers high-quality phylogenetic results. [garli, gateway, grid computing, maximum likelihood, molecular evolution portal, phylogenetics, web service.] PMID:24789072

A gateway for phylogenetic analysis powered by grid computing featuring GARLI 2.0.

PubMed

Bazinet, Adam L; Zwickl, Derrick J; Cummings, Michael P

2014-09-01

We introduce molecularevolution.org, a publicly available gateway for high-throughput, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis powered by grid computing. The gateway features a garli 2.0 web service that enables a user to quickly and easily submit thousands of maximum likelihood tree searches or bootstrap searches that are executed in parallel on distributed computing resources. The garli web service allows one to easily specify partitioned substitution models using a graphical interface, and it performs sophisticated post-processing of phylogenetic results. Although the garli web service has been used by the research community for over three years, here we formally announce the availability of the service, describe its capabilities, highlight new features and recent improvements, and provide details about how the grid system efficiently delivers high-quality phylogenetic results. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Society of Systematic Biologists.

Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program Status Report

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

Kszos, L.A.

2001-02-09

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program (BFDP) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a mission-oriented program of research and analysis whose goal is to develop and demonstrate cropping systems for producing large quantities of low-cost, high-quality biomass feedstocks for use as liquid biofuels, biomass electric power, and/or bioproducts. The program specifically supports the missions and goals of DOE's Office of Fuels Development and DOE's Office of Power Technologies. ORNL has provided technical leadership and field management for the BFDP since DOE began energy crop research in 1978. The major components of the BFDP include energymore » crop selection and breeding; crop management research; environmental assessment and monitoring; crop production and supply logistics operational research; integrated resource analysis and assessment; and communications and outreach. Research into feedstock supply logistics has recently been added and will become an integral component of the program.« less

Ring-Down Spectroscopy for Characterizing a CW Raman Laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matsko, Andrey; Savchenkov, Anatoliy; Maleki, Lute

2007-01-01

.A relatively simple technique for characterizing an all-resonant intracavity continuous-wave (CW) solid-state Raman laser involves the use of ring-down spectroscopy. As used here, characterizing signifies determining such parameters as threshold pump power, Raman gain, conversion efficiency, and quality factors (Q values) of the pump and Stokes cavity modes. Heretofore, in order to characterize resonant-cavity-based Raman lasers, it has usually been necessary to manipulate the frequencies and power levels of pump lasers and, in each case, to take several sets of measurements. In cases involving ultra-high-Q resonators, it also has been desirable to lock pump lasers to resonator modes to ensure the quality of measurement data. Simpler techniques could be useful. In the present ring-down spectroscopic technique, one infers the parameters of interest from the decay of the laser out of its steady state. This technique does not require changing the power or frequency of the pump laser or locking the pump laser to the resonator mode. The technique is based on a theoretical analysis of what happens when the pump laser is abruptly switched off after the Raman generation reaches the steady state. The analysis starts with differential equations for the evolution of the amplitudes of the pump and Stokes electric fields, leading to solutions for the power levels of the pump and Stokes fields as functions of time and of the aforementioned parameters. Among other things, these solutions show how the ring-down time depends, to some extent, on the electromagnetic energy accumulated in the cavity. The solutions are readily converted to relatively simple equations for the parameters as functions of quantities that can be determined from measurements of the time-dependent power levels. For example, the steady-state intracavity conversion efficiency is given by G1/G2 1 and the threshold power is given by Pin(G2/G1)2, where Pin is the steady-state input pump power immediately prior to abrupt switch-off, G1 is the initial rate of decay of the pump field, and G2 is the final rate of decay of the pump field. Hence, it is possible to determine all the parameters from a single ring-down scan, provided that the measurements taken in that scan are sufficiently accurate and complete.

Performance Analysis of Classification Methods for Indoor Localization in Vlc Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-Rodríguez, D.; Alonso-González, I.; Sánchez-Medina, J.; Ley-Bosch, C.; Díaz-Vilariño, L.

2017-09-01

Indoor localization has gained considerable attention over the past decade because of the emergence of numerous location-aware services. Research works have been proposed on solving this problem by using wireless networks. Nevertheless, there is still much room for improvement in the quality of the proposed classification models. In the last years, the emergence of Visible Light Communication (VLC) brings a brand new approach to high quality indoor positioning. Among its advantages, this new technology is immune to electromagnetic interference and has the advantage of having a smaller variance of received signal power compared to RF based technologies. In this paper, a performance analysis of seventeen machine leaning classifiers for indoor localization in VLC networks is carried out. The analysis is accomplished in terms of accuracy, average distance error, computational cost, training size, precision and recall measurements. Results show that most of classifiers harvest an accuracy above 90 %. The best tested classifier yielded a 99.0 % accuracy, with an average error distance of 0.3 centimetres.

Analysis of wireless sensor network topology and estimation of optimal network deployment by deterministic radio channel characterization.

PubMed

Aguirre, Erik; Lopez-Iturri, Peio; Azpilicueta, Leire; Astrain, José Javier; Villadangos, Jesús; Falcone, Francisco

2015-02-05

One of the main challenges in the implementation and design of context-aware scenarios is the adequate deployment strategy for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), mainly due to the strong dependence of the radiofrequency physical layer with the surrounding media, which can lead to non-optimal network designs. In this work, radioplanning analysis for WSN deployment is proposed by employing a deterministic 3D ray launching technique in order to provide insight into complex wireless channel behavior in context-aware indoor scenarios. The proposed radioplanning procedure is validated with a testbed implemented with a Mobile Ad Hoc Network WSN following a chain configuration, enabling the analysis and assessment of a rich variety of parameters, such as received signal level, signal quality and estimation of power consumption. The adoption of deterministic radio channel techniques allows the design and further deployment of WSNs in heterogeneous wireless scenarios with optimized behavior in terms of coverage, capacity, quality of service and energy consumption.

Quantitative Doppler Analysis Using Conventional Color Flow Imaging Acquisitions.

PubMed

Karabiyik, Yucel; Ekroll, Ingvild Kinn; Eik-Nes, Sturla H; Lovstakken, Lasse

2018-05-01

Interleaved acquisitions used in conventional triplex mode result in a tradeoff between the frame rate and the quality of velocity estimates. On the other hand, workflow becomes inefficient when the user has to switch between different modes, and measurement variability is increased. This paper investigates the use of power spectral Capon estimator in quantitative Doppler analysis using data acquired with conventional color flow imaging (CFI) schemes. To preserve the number of samples used for velocity estimation, only spatial averaging was utilized, and clutter rejection was performed after spectral estimation. The resulting velocity spectra were evaluated in terms of spectral width using a recently proposed spectral envelope estimator. The spectral envelopes were also used for Doppler index calculations using in vivo and string phantom acquisitions. In vivo results demonstrated that the Capon estimator can provide spectral estimates with sufficient quality for quantitative analysis using packet-based CFI acquisitions. The calculated Doppler indices were similar to the values calculated using spectrograms estimated on a commercial ultrasound scanner.

Research on the effects of wind power grid to the distribution network of Henan province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yunfeng; Zhang, Jian

2018-04-01

With the draining of traditional energy, all parts of nation implement policies to develop new energy to generate electricity under the favorable national policy. The wind has no pollution, Renewable and other advantages. It has become the most popular energy among the new energy power generation. The development of wind power in Henan province started relatively late, but the speed of the development is fast. The wind power of Henan province has broad development prospects. Wind power has the characteristics of volatility and randomness. The wind power access to power grids will cause much influence on the power stability and the power quality of distribution network, and some areas have appeared abandon the wind phenomenon. So the study of wind power access to power grids and find out improvement measures is very urgent. Energy storage has the properties of the space transfer energy can stabilize the operation of power grid and improve the power quality.

Air quality impact of the coal-fired power plants in the northern passageway of the China West-East Power Transmission Project.

PubMed

Xue, Zhigang; Hao, Jiming; Chai, Fahe; Duan, Ning; Chen, Yizhen; Li, Jindan; Chen, Fu; Liu, Simei; Pu, Wenqing

2005-12-01

This paper analyzes the air quality impacts of coal-fired power plants in the northern passageway of the West-East Power Transmission Project in China. A three-layer Lagrangian model called ATMOS, was used to simulate the spatial distribution of incremental sulfur dioxide (SO2) and coarse particulate matter (PM10) concentrations under different emission control scenarios. In the year 2005, the emissions from planned power plants mainly affected the air quality of Shanxi, Shaanxi, the common boundary of Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, and the area around the boundary between Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. In these areas, the annually averaged incremental SO2 and PM10 concentrations exceed 2 and 2.5 microg/m3, respectively. The maximum increases of the annually averaged SO2 and PM10 concentrations are 8.3 and 7.2 microg/m3, respectively, which occur around Hancheng city, near the boundary of the Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. After integrated control measures are considered, the maximum increases of annually averaged SO2 and PM10 concentrations fall to 4.9 and 4 microg/m3, respectively. In the year 2010, the areas affected by planned power plants are mainly North Shaanxi, North Ningxia, and Northwest Shanxi. The maximum increases of the annually averaged SO2 and PM10, concentrations are, respectively, 6.3 and 5.6 microg/m3, occurring in Northwest Shanxi, which decline to 4.4 and 4.1 microg/m3 after the control measures are implemented. The results showed that the proposed power plants mainly affect the air quality of the region where the power plants are built, with little impact on East China where the electricity will be used. The influences of planned power plants on air quality will be decreased greatly by implementing integrated control measures.

Spatial Data Quality Control Procedure applied to the Okavango Basin Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butchart-Kuhlmann, Daniel

2014-05-01

Spatial data is a powerful form of information, capable of providing information of great interest and tremendous use to a variety of users. However, much like other data representing the 'real world', precision and accuracy must be high for the results of data analysis to be deemed reliable and thus applicable to real world projects and undertakings. The spatial data quality control (QC) procedure presented here was developed as the topic of a Master's thesis, in the sphere of and using data from the Okavango Basin Information System (OBIS), itself a part of The Future Okavango (TFO) project. The aim of the QC procedure was to form the basis of a method through which to determine the quality of spatial data relevant for application to hydrological, solute, and erosion transport modelling using the Jena Adaptable Modelling System (JAMS). As such, the quality of all data present in OBIS classified under the topics of elevation, geoscientific information, or inland waters, was evaluated. Since the initial data quality has been evaluated, efforts are underway to correct the errors found, thus improving the quality of the dataset.

Linking functional and relational service quality to customer satisfaction and loyalty: differences between men and women.

PubMed

Sánchez-Hernández, Rosa M; Martínez-Tur, Vicente; Peiró, José M; Moliner, Carolina

2010-04-01

This study assessed differences between men and women in the association of perceptions of service quality with customer evaluations. Functional (efficiency with which the service is delivered) and relational (customers' emotional benefits, beyond the core performance, related to the social interaction of customers with employees) dimensions of service quality were measured as well as customer satisfaction and loyalty. The sample of 277 customers (191 men, 86 women), surveyed in 29 Mexican hotels, had a mean age of 38.1 yr. (SD=9.7) for men and 34.5 yr. (SD=11.0) for women. To be eligible for survey, customers had to have spent at least one night in the hotel in question. Analysis indicated that the women and men differed in the association of functional and relational dimensions of service quality with their satisfaction and loyalty. Functional service quality was higher for the men than the women, while relational service quality showed greater predictive power for women than for men, although these accounted for only 4% of the customers' satisfaction variance and 6% of the loyalty variance.

Critical analysis of 3-D organoid in vitro cell culture models for high-throughput drug candidate toxicity assessments.

PubMed

Astashkina, Anna; Grainger, David W

2014-04-01

Drug failure due to toxicity indicators remains among the primary reasons for staggering drug attrition rates during clinical studies and post-marketing surveillance. Broader validation and use of next-generation 3-D improved cell culture models are expected to improve predictive power and effectiveness of drug toxicological predictions. However, after decades of promising research significant gaps remain in our collective ability to extract quality human toxicity information from in vitro data using 3-D cell and tissue models. Issues, challenges and future directions for the field to improve drug assay predictive power and reliability of 3-D models are reviewed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Primordial power spectrum: a complete analysis with the WMAP nine-year data

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

Hazra, Dhiraj Kumar; Shafieloo, Arman; Souradeep, Tarun, E-mail: dhiraj@apctp.org, E-mail: arman@apctp.org, E-mail: tarun@iucaa.ernet.in

2013-07-01

We have improved further the error sensitive Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm making it applicable directly on the un-binned measured angular power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background observations to reconstruct the form of the primordial power spectrum. This improvement makes the application of the method significantly more straight forward by removing some intermediate stages of analysis allowing a reconstruction of the primordial spectrum with higher efficiency and precision and with lower computational expenses. Applying the modified algorithm we fit the WMAP 9 year data using the optimized reconstructed form of the primordial spectrum with more than 300 improvement in χ{sup 2}{sub eff}more » with respect to the best fit power-law. This is clearly beyond the reach of other alternative approaches and reflects the efficiency of the proposed method in the reconstruction process and allow us to look for any possible feature in the primordial spectrum projected in the CMB data. Though the proposed method allow us to look at various possibilities for the form of the primordial spectrum, all having good fit to the data, proper error-analysis is needed to test for consistency of theoretical models since, along with possible physical artefacts, most of the features in the reconstructed spectrum might be arising from fitting noises in the CMB data. Reconstructed error-band for the form of the primordial spectrum using many realizations of the data, all bootstrapped and based on WMAP 9 year data, shows proper consistency of power-law form of the primordial spectrum with the WMAP 9 data at all wave numbers. Including WMAP polarization data in to the analysis have not improved much our results due to its low quality but we expect Planck data will allow us to make a full analysis on CMB observations on both temperature and polarization separately and in combination.« less

Rationale for the Assessment of Metoprolol in the Prevention of Vasovagal Syncope in Aging Subjects Trial (POST5).

PubMed

Raj, Satish R; Faris, Peter D; Semeniuk, Lisa; Manns, Braden; Krahn, Andrew D; Morillo, Carlos A; Benditt, David G; Sheldon, Robert S

2016-04-01

Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is a common problem associated with a poor quality of life, which improves when syncope frequency is reduced. Effective pharmacological therapies for VVS are lacking. Metoprolol is a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist that is ineffective in younger patients, but may benefit older (≥40 years) VVS patients. Given the limited therapeutic options, a placebo-controlled clinical trial of metoprolol for the prevention of VVS in older patients is needed. The POST5 is a multicenter, international, randomized, placebo-controlled study of metoprolol in the prevention of VVS in patients ≥40 years old. The primary endpoint is the time to first recurrence of syncope. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to receive metoprolol 25 to 100 mg BID or matching placebo, and followed up for 1 year. Secondary end points include syncope frequency, presyncope, quality of life, and cost analysis. Primary analysis will be intention to treat, with a secondary on-treatment analysis. A sample size of 222, split equally between the groups achieves 85% power to detect a hazard rate of 0.3561 when the event rates are 50% and 30% in the placebo and metoprolol arms. Allowing for 10% dropout, we propose to enroll 248 patients. This study will be the first adequately powered trial to determine whether metoprolol is effective in preventing VVS in patients ≥40 years. If effective, metoprolol may become the first line pharmacological therapy for these patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combining Raman and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy by double pulse lasing.

PubMed

Lednev, Vasily N; Pershin, Sergey M; Sdvizhenskii, Pavel A; Grishin, Mikhail Ya; Fedorov, Alexander N; Bukin, Vladimir V; Oshurko, Vadim B; Shchegolikhin, Alexander N

2018-01-01

A new approach combining Raman spectrometry and laser induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) within a single laser event was suggested. A pulsed solid state Nd:YAG laser running in double pulse mode (two frequency-doubled sequential nanosecond laser pulses with dozens microseconds delay) was used to combine two spectrometry methods within a single instrument (Raman/LIBS spectrometer). First, a low-energy laser pulse (power density far below ablation threshold) was used for Raman measurements while a second powerful laser pulse created the plasma suitable for LIBS analysis. A short time delay between two successive pulses allows measuring LIBS and Raman spectra at different moments but within a single laser flash-lamp pumping. Principal advantages of the developed instrument include high quality Raman/LIBS spectra acquisition (due to optimal gating for Raman/LIBS independently) and absence of target thermal alteration during Raman measurements. A series of high quality Raman and LIBS spectra were acquired for inorganic salts (gypsum, anhydrite) as well as for pharmaceutical samples (acetylsalicylic acid). To the best of our knowledge, the quantitative analysis feasibility by combined Raman/LIBS instrument was demonstrated for the first time by calibration curves construction for acetylsalicylic acid (Raman) and copper (LIBS) in gypsum matrix. Combining ablation pulses and Raman measurements (LIBS/Raman measurements) within a single instrument makes it an efficient tool for identification of samples hidden by non-transparent covering or performing depth profiling analysis including remote sensing. Graphical abstract Combining Raman and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy by double pulse lasing.

Power Quality Improvement in Induction Furnace by Harmonic Reduction Using Dynamic Voltage Restorer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saggu, Tejinder Singh; Singh, Lakhwinder

2016-06-01

Induction furnaces are used in wide quantity under different capacities for annual production of around 25 million tons of iron and steel in India. It plays a vital role in various manufacturing processes around the world for melting different types of metal scraps i. e. Copper, Cast Iron, Aluminium, Steel, Brass, Bronze, Silicon, Gold, Silver etc. which are further used in many other industrial applications. The induction furnace causes a huge disturbance to the utility and nearby consumers during its operation due to its non-linear characteristics. This is a serious phenomenon responsible for power quality degradation in the power system. This paper presents methodology to improve the power quality degradation caused by induction furnace using Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) which is a type of custom power device. The real time data has been taken from an industry employing induction furnace for production of ingots from scrap material. The experimental readings are measured using power quality analyser equipment. The simulation of whole plant is done by analysing this same data and the simulation results are compared with actual onsite results. Then, solution methodology using DVR is presented which revealed that the implementation of DVR is an effective solution for voltage sag mitigation and harmonics improvement in induction furnace.

Partial Discharge Monitoring in Power Transformers Using Low-Cost Piezoelectric Sensors

PubMed Central

Castro, Bruno; Clerice, Guilherme; Ramos, Caio; Andreoli, André; Baptista, Fabricio; Campos, Fernando; Ulson, José

2016-01-01

Power transformers are crucial in an electric power system. Failures in transformers can affect the quality and cause interruptions in the power supply. Partial discharges are a phenomenon that can cause failures in the transformers if not properly monitored. Typically, the monitoring requires high-cost corrective maintenance or even interruptions of the power system. Therefore, the development of online non-invasive monitoring systems to detect partial discharges in power transformers has great relevance since it can reduce significant maintenance costs. Although commercial acoustic emission sensors have been used to monitor partial discharges in power transformers, they still represent a significant cost. In order to overcome this drawback, this paper presents a study of the feasibility of low-cost piezoelectric sensors to identify partial discharges in mineral insulating oil of power transformers. The analysis of the feasibility of the proposed low-cost sensor is performed by its comparison with a commercial acoustic emission sensor commonly used to detect partial discharges. The comparison between the responses in the time and frequency domain of both sensors was carried out and the experimental results indicate that the proposed piezoelectric sensors have great potential in the detection of acoustic waves generated by partial discharges in insulation oil, contributing for the popularization of this noninvasive technique. PMID:27517931

Partial Discharge Monitoring in Power Transformers Using Low-Cost Piezoelectric Sensors.

PubMed

Castro, Bruno; Clerice, Guilherme; Ramos, Caio; Andreoli, André; Baptista, Fabricio; Campos, Fernando; Ulson, José

2016-08-10

Power transformers are crucial in an electric power system. Failures in transformers can affect the quality and cause interruptions in the power supply. Partial discharges are a phenomenon that can cause failures in the transformers if not properly monitored. Typically, the monitoring requires high-cost corrective maintenance or even interruptions of the power system. Therefore, the development of online non-invasive monitoring systems to detect partial discharges in power transformers has great relevance since it can reduce significant maintenance costs. Although commercial acoustic emission sensors have been used to monitor partial discharges in power transformers, they still represent a significant cost. In order to overcome this drawback, this paper presents a study of the feasibility of low-cost piezoelectric sensors to identify partial discharges in mineral insulating oil of power transformers. The analysis of the feasibility of the proposed low-cost sensor is performed by its comparison with a commercial acoustic emission sensor commonly used to detect partial discharges. The comparison between the responses in the time and frequency domain of both sensors was carried out and the experimental results indicate that the proposed piezoelectric sensors have great potential in the detection of acoustic waves generated by partial discharges in insulation oil, contributing for the popularization of this noninvasive technique.

Development of fundamental power coupler for C-ADS superconducting elliptical cavities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Kui-Xiang; Bing, Feng; Pan, Wei-Min; Huang, Tong-Ming; Ma, Qiang; Meng, Fan-Bo

2017-06-01

5-cell elliptical cavities have been selected for the main linac of the China Accelerator Driven sub-critical System (C-ADS) in the medium energy section. According to the design, each cavity should be driven with radio frequency (RF) energy up to 150 kW by a fundamental power coupler (FPC). As the cavities work with high quality factor and high accelerating gradient, the coupler should keep the cavity from contamination in the assembly procedure. To fulfil the requirements, a single-window coaxial type coupler was designed with the capabilities of handling high RF power, class 10 clean room assembly, and heat load control. This paper presents the coupler design and gives details of RF design, heat load optimization and thermal analysis as well as multipacting simulations. In addition, a primary high power test has been performed and is described in this paper. Supported by China ADS Project (XDA03020000) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (11475203)

LC-MS based analysis of endogenous steroid hormones in human hair.

PubMed

Gao, Wei; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Grass, Juliane; Stalder, Tobias

2016-09-01

The quantification of endogenous steroid hormone concentrations in hair is increasingly used as a method for obtaining retrospective information on long-term integrated hormone exposure. Several different analytical procedures have been employed for hair steroid analysis, with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) being recognized as a particularly powerful analytical tool. Several methodological aspects affect the performance of LC-MS systems for hair steroid analysis, including sample preparation and pretreatment, steroid extraction, post-incubation purification, LC methodology, ionization techniques and MS specifications. Here, we critically review the differential value of such protocol variants for hair steroid hormones analysis, focusing on both analytical quality and practical feasibility issues. Our results show that, when methodological challenges are adequately addressed, LC-MS protocols can not only yield excellent sensitivity and specificity but are also characterized by relatively simple sample processing and short run times. This makes LC-MS based hair steroid protocols particularly suitable as a high-quality option for routine application in research contexts requiring the processing of larger numbers of samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reliable and energy-efficient communications for wireless biomedical implant systems.

PubMed

Ntouni, Georgia D; Lioumpas, Athanasios S; Nikita, Konstantina S

2014-11-01

Implant devices are used to measure biological parameters and transmit their results to remote off-body devices. As implants are characterized by strict requirements on size, reliability, and power consumption, applying the concept of cooperative communications to wireless body area networks offers several benefits. In this paper, we aim to minimize the power consumption of the implant device by utilizing on-body wearable devices, while providing the necessary reliability in terms of outage probability and bit error rate. Taking into account realistic power considerations and wireless propagation environments based on the IEEE P802.l5 channel model, an exact theoretical analysis is conducted for evaluating several communication scenarios with respect to the position of the wearable device and the motion of the human body. The derived closed-form expressions are employed toward minimizing the required transmission power, subject to a minimum quality-of-service requirement. In this way, the complexity and power consumption are transferred from the implant device to the on-body relay, which is an efficient approach since they can be easily replaced, in contrast to the in-body implants.

Concept Design for a 1-Lead Wearable/Implantable ECG Front-End: Power Management

PubMed Central

George, Libin; Gargiulo, Gaetano Dario; Lehmann, Torsten; Hamilton, Tara Julia

2015-01-01

Power supply quality and stability are critical for wearable and implantable biomedical applications. For this reason we have designed a reconfigurable switched-capacitor DC-DC converter that, aside from having an extremely small footprint (with an active on-chip area of only 0.04 mm2), uses a novel output voltage control method based upon a combination of adaptive gain and discrete frequency scaling control schemes. This novel DC-DC converter achieves a measured output voltage range of 1.0 to 2.2 V with power delivery up to 7.5 mW with 75% efficiency. In this paper, we present the use of this converter as a power supply for a concept design of a wearable (15 mm × 15 mm) 1-lead ECG front-end sensor device that simultaneously harvests power and communicates with external receivers when exposed to a suitable RF field. Due to voltage range limitations of the fabrication process of the current prototype chip, we focus our analysis solely on the power supply of the ECG front-end whose design is also detailed in this paper. Measurement results show not just that the power supplied is regulated, clean and does not infringe upon the ECG bandwidth, but that there is negligible difference between signals acquired using standard linear power-supplies and when the power is regulated by our power management chip. PMID:26610497

Concept Design for a 1-Lead Wearable/Implantable ECG Front-End: Power Management.

PubMed

George, Libin; Gargiulo, Gaetano Dario; Lehmann, Torsten; Hamilton, Tara Julia

2015-11-19

Power supply quality and stability are critical for wearable and implantable biomedical applications. For this reason we have designed a reconfigurable switched-capacitor DC-DC converter that, aside from having an extremely small footprint (with an active on-chip area of only 0.04 mm²), uses a novel output voltage control method based upon a combination of adaptive gain and discrete frequency scaling control schemes. This novel DC-DC converter achieves a measured output voltage range of 1.0 to 2.2 V with power delivery up to 7.5 mW with 75% efficiency. In this paper, we present the use of this converter as a power supply for a concept design of a wearable (15 mm × 15 mm) 1-lead ECG front-end sensor device that simultaneously harvests power and communicates with external receivers when exposed to a suitable RF field. Due to voltage range limitations of the fabrication process of the current prototype chip, we focus our analysis solely on the power supply of the ECG front-end whose design is also detailed in this paper. Measurement results show not just that the power supplied is regulated, clean and does not infringe upon the ECG bandwidth, but that there is negligible difference between signals acquired using standard linear power-supplies and when the power is regulated by our power management chip.

Measuring the quality of life in hypertension according to Item Response Theory

PubMed Central

Borges, José Wicto Pereira; Moreira, Thereza Maria Magalhães; Schmitt, Jeovani; de Andrade, Dalton Francisco; Barbetta, Pedro Alberto; de Souza, Ana Célia Caetano; Lima, Daniele Braz da Silva; Carvalho, Irialda Saboia

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the Miniquestionário de Qualidade de Vida em Hipertensão Arterial (MINICHAL – Mini-questionnaire of Quality of Life in Hypertension) using the Item Response Theory. METHODS This is an analytical study conducted with 712 persons with hypertension treated in thirteen primary health care units of Fortaleza, State of Ceará, Brazil, in 2015. The steps of the analysis by the Item Response Theory were: evaluation of dimensionality, estimation of parameters of items, and construction of scale. The study of dimensionality was carried out on the polychoric correlation matrix and confirmatory factor analysis. To estimate the item parameters, we used the Gradual Response Model of Samejima. The analyses were conducted using the free software R with the aid of psych and mirt. RESULTS The analysis has allowed the visualization of item parameters and their individual contributions in the measurement of the latent trait, generating more information and allowing the construction of a scale with an interpretative model that demonstrates the evolution of the worsening of the quality of life in five levels. Regarding the item parameters, the items related to the somatic state have had a good performance, as they have presented better power to discriminate individuals with worse quality of life. The items related to mental state have been those which contributed with less psychometric data in the MINICHAL. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that the instrument is suitable for the identification of the worsening of the quality of life in hypertension. The analysis of the MINICHAL using the Item Response Theory has allowed us to identify new sides of this instrument that have not yet been addressed in previous studies. PMID:28492764

Radioactivity of coals and ash and slag wastes at coal-fired thermal power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krylov, D. A.; Sidorova, G. P.

2013-04-01

This paper presents an analysis of published data on the content of radioactive nuclides in coals originating from various coal deposits, and in ash and slag wastes produced at coal-fired thermal power plants, as well as in fly ash emitted from thermal power plants into the atmosphere. Problems related to the use of coals with an elevated content of natural radionuclides (NRNs) and methods of their solution implemented at the Urtuyskoe coalfield are dealt with. Data on the analysis of Transbaikal coals for the NRN content, as well as weighted mean content of uranium and thorium in coals from the Siberian Region, are given. In order to reduce irradiation of plant personnel and the population of the areas where coal producers and coal-fired thermal power plants are located, it is necessary to organize very careful control of the NRN content in both coals and products of their combustion that are released into the environment. To solve the problem related to the control of radioactivity, the centralized approach and creation of a proper normative base are needed. Experience gained in developing the Urtuyskoe coalfield shows that it is possible to create an efficient system of coal quality control with respect to the radiation hygiene factor and provide protection of the environment and health of the population.

Assessment of Soil Environmental Quality in Huangguoshu Waterfalls Scenic Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Rongbin; Feng, Kaiyu; Gu, Bo; Xu, Chengcheng

2018-03-01

This paper concentrates on five major heavy metal pollutants as soil environmental quality evaluation factors, respectively Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Chromium (Cr), based on the National Soil Environmental Quality Standards (GB15618 - 1995), we used single factor index evaluation model of soil environmental quality and comprehensive index evaluation model to analyze surface soil environmental quality in the Huangguoshu Waterfalls scenic area. Based on surface soil analysis, our results showed that the individual contamination index, Pb, Hg, As and Cr in the Huangguoshu Waterfalls scenic area met class I according to requirements of National Soil Environmental Quality Standards, which indicated that Pb, Hg, As and Cr were not main heavy metal pollutants in this area, but the individual contamination index of Cd in soil was seriously exceeded National Soil Environmental Quality Standards’ requirement. Soil environmental quality in Shitouzhai, Luoshitan, Langgong Hongyan Power Plant have exceeded the requirement of National Soil Environmental Quality Standards “0.7< Pc≤ 1.0” (Alert Level), these soils had been slightly polluted; the classification of soil environmental quality assessment in Longgong downstream area was above “Alert Level”, it indicated that soil in this area was not polluted. Above all, relevant measures for soil remediation are put forward.

Clustering and estimating fish fingerling abundance in a tidal river in close ploximity to a thermal power plant in Southern Thailand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chesoh, S.; Lim, A.; Luangthuvapranit, C.

2018-04-01

This study aimed to cluster and to quantify the wild-caught fingerlings nearby thermal power plant. Samples were monthly collected by bongo nets from four upstream sites of the Na Thap tidal river in Thailand from 2008 to 2013. Each caught species was identified, counted and calculated density in term of individuals per 1,000 cubic meters. A total of 45 aquatic animal fingerlings was commonly trapped in the average density of 2,652 individuals per 1,000 cubic meters of water volume (1,235–4,570). The results of factor analysis revealed that factor 1 was represented by the largest group of freshwater fish species, factors 2 represented a medium-sized group of mesohaline species, factor 3 represented several brackish species and factor 4 was a few euryhaline species. All four factor reached maximum levels during May to October. Total average numbers of fish fingerling caught at the outflow showed greater than those of other sampling sites. The impact of heated pollution from power plant effluents did not clearly detected. Overall water quality according the Thailand Surface Water Quality Standards Coastal tidal periodic and seasonal runoff phenomena exhibit influentially factors. Continuous ecological monitoring is strongly recommended.

Presenting Your Best Self(ie): The Influence of Gender on Vertical Orientation of Selfies on Tinder

PubMed Central

Sedgewick, Jennifer R.; Flath, Meghan E.; Elias, Lorin J.

2017-01-01

When taking a self-portrait or “selfie” to display in an online dating profile, individuals may intuitively manipulate the vertical camera angle to embody how they want to be perceived by the opposite sex. Concepts from evolutionary psychology and grounded cognition suggest that this manipulation can provide cues of physical height and impressions of power to the viewer which are qualities found to influence mate-selection. We predicted that men would orient selfies more often from below to appear taller (i.e., more powerful) than the viewer, and women, from an above perspective to appear shorter (i.e., less powerful). A content analysis was conducted which coded the vertical orientation of 557 selfies from profile pictures on the popular mobile dating application, Tinder. In general, selfies were commonly used by both men (54%) and women (90%). Consistent with our predictions, a gender difference emerged; men's selfies were angled significantly more often from below, whereas women's were angled more often from above. Our findings suggest that selfies presented in a mate-attraction context are intuitively or perhaps consciously selected to adhere to ideal mate qualities. Further discussion proposes that biological or individual differences may also facilitate vertical compositions of selfies. PMID:28484408

Beam quality improvement by population-dynamic-coupled combined guiding effect in end-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yijie; Gong, Mali; Fu, Xing

2018-05-01

Beam quality improvement with pump power increasing in an end-pumped laser oscillator is experimentally realized for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The phenomenon is caused by the population-dynamic-coupled combined guiding effect, a comprehensive theoretical model of which has been well established, in agreement with the experimental results. Based on an 888 nm in-band dual-end-pumped oscillator using four tandem Nd:YVO4 crystals, the output beam quality of M^2= 1.1/1.1 at the pump power of 25 W is degraded to M^2 = 2.5/1.8 at 75 W pumping and then improved to M^2= 1.8/1.3 at 150 W pumping. The near-TEM_{00} mode is obtained with the highest continuous-wave output power of 72.1 W and the optical-to-optical efficiency of 48.1%. This work demonstrates great potential to further scale the output power of end-pumped laser oscillator while keeping good beam quality.

Quality assurance program for isotopic power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hannigan, R. L.; Harnar, R. R.

1982-12-01

The Sandia National Laboratories Quality Assurance Program that applies to non-weapon (reimbursable) Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generators is summarized. The program was implemented over the past 16 years on power supplies used in various space and terrestrial systems. The quality assurance (QA) activity of the program is in support of the Department of Energy, Office of Space Nuclear Projects. Basic elements of the program are described and examples of program documentation are presented.

Research of the Quality of Quarry Dumpers Engine Crankshafts Sliding Bearings of Various Manufacturers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korotkov, Alexander; Korotkova, Lidiya; Vidin, Denis

2017-11-01

Sliding bearings are an important part of many large and critical components. They are widely used in power equipment, high-capacity pumps, compressors, electric motors and internal combustion engines (ICE). As a rule, sliding bearings include an antifriction bushing, part of the shaft surface (bearing journal), and a layer of oil between them. These are complex and critical parts in which there may occur dangerous defects, and which directly affect the durability, accuracy and reliability of the entire unit. To ensure high reliability of the equipment with sliding bearings applied in complex equipment, it is necessary to provide the quality control and sufficient level of monitoring of the technical condition, as well as diagnosis of emerging defects. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the internal combustion engines sliding bearings quality of various manufacturing companies. It gives operational properties of bearings depending on the compositional composition. The results of chemical analysis of the base, the cover and intermediate layers of the ICE liners are presented here. We have also made recommendations to increase the operational performance of sliding bearings.

An efficient and scalable analysis framework for variant extraction and refinement from population-scale DNA sequence data.

PubMed

Jun, Goo; Wing, Mary Kate; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Kang, Hyun Min

2015-06-01

The analysis of next-generation sequencing data is computationally and statistically challenging because of the massive volume of data and imperfect data quality. We present GotCloud, a pipeline for efficiently detecting and genotyping high-quality variants from large-scale sequencing data. GotCloud automates sequence alignment, sample-level quality control, variant calling, filtering of likely artifacts using machine-learning techniques, and genotype refinement using haplotype information. The pipeline can process thousands of samples in parallel and requires less computational resources than current alternatives. Experiments with whole-genome and exome-targeted sequence data generated by the 1000 Genomes Project show that the pipeline provides effective filtering against false positive variants and high power to detect true variants. Our pipeline has already contributed to variant detection and genotyping in several large-scale sequencing projects, including the 1000 Genomes Project and the NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project. We hope it will now prove useful to many medical sequencing studies. © 2015 Jun et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Design and Application of a Solar Mobile Pond Aquaculture Water Quality-Regulation Machine Based in Bream Pond Aquaculture.

PubMed

Liu, Xingguo; Xu, Hao; Ma, Zhuojun; Zhang, Yongjun; Tian, Changfeng; Cheng, Guofeng; Zou, Haisheng; Lu, Shimin; Liu, Shijing; Tang, Rong

2016-01-01

Bream pond aquaculture plays a very important role in China's aquaculture industry and is the main source of aquatic products. To regulate and control pond water quality and sediment, a movable solar pond aquaculture water quality regulation machine (SMWM) was designed and used. This machine is solar-powered and moves on water, and its primary components are a solar power supply device, a sediment lifting device, a mechanism for walking on the water's surface and a control system. The solar power supply device provides power for the machine, and the water walking mechanism drives the machine's motion on the water. The sediment lifting device orbits the main section of the machine and affects a large area of the pond. Tests of the machine's mechanical properties revealed that the minimum illumination necessary for the SMWM to function is 13,000 Lx and that its stable speed on the water is 0.02-0.03 m/s. For an illumination of 13,000-52,500 Lx, the sediment lifting device runs at 0.13-0.35 m/s, and its water delivery capacity is 110-208 m(3)/h. The sediment lifting device is able to fold away, and the angle of the suction chamber can be adjusted, making the machine work well in ponds at different water depths from 0.5 m to 2 m. The optimal distance from the sediment lifting device to the bottom of the pond is 10-15 cm. In addition, adjusting the length of the connecting rod and the direction of the traction rope allows the SMWM to work in a pond water area greater than 80%. The analysis of water quality in Wuchang bream (Parabramis pekinensis) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) culture ponds using the SMWM resulted in decreased NH3(+)-N and available phosphorus concentrations and increased TP concentrations. The TN content and the amount of available phosphorus in the sediment were reduced. In addition, the fish production showed that the SMWM enhanced the yields of Wuchang bream and silver carp by more than 30% and 24%, respectively. These results indicate that the SMWM may be suitable for Wuchang bream pond aquaculture in China and that it can be used in pond aquaculture for regulating and controlling water quality.

Design and Application of a Solar Mobile Pond Aquaculture Water Quality-Regulation Machine Based in Bream Pond Aquaculture

PubMed Central

Liu, Xingguo; Xu, Hao; Ma, Zhuojun; Zhang, Yongjun; Tian, Changfeng; Cheng, Guofeng; Zou, Haisheng; Lu, Shimin; Liu, Shijing; Tang, Rong

2016-01-01

Bream pond aquaculture plays a very important role in China’s aquaculture industry and is the main source of aquatic products. To regulate and control pond water quality and sediment, a movable solar pond aquaculture water quality regulation machine (SMWM) was designed and used. This machine is solar-powered and moves on water, and its primary components are a solar power supply device, a sediment lifting device, a mechanism for walking on the water’s surface and a control system. The solar power supply device provides power for the machine, and the water walking mechanism drives the machine’s motion on the water. The sediment lifting device orbits the main section of the machine and affects a large area of the pond. Tests of the machine’s mechanical properties revealed that the minimum illumination necessary for the SMWM to function is 13,000 Lx and that its stable speed on the water is 0.02–0.03 m/s. For an illumination of 13,000–52,500 Lx, the sediment lifting device runs at 0.13–0.35 m/s, and its water delivery capacity is 110–208 m3/h. The sediment lifting device is able to fold away, and the angle of the suction chamber can be adjusted, making the machine work well in ponds at different water depths from 0.5 m to 2 m. The optimal distance from the sediment lifting device to the bottom of the pond is 10–15 cm. In addition, adjusting the length of the connecting rod and the direction of the traction rope allows the SMWM to work in a pond water area greater than 80%. The analysis of water quality in Wuchang bream (Parabramis pekinensis) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) culture ponds using the SMWM resulted in decreased NH3+–N and available phosphorus concentrations and increased TP concentrations. The TN content and the amount of available phosphorus in the sediment were reduced. In addition, the fish production showed that the SMWM enhanced the yields of Wuchang bream and silver carp by more than 30% and 24%, respectively. These results indicate that the SMWM may be suitable for Wuchang bream pond aquaculture in China and that it can be used in pond aquaculture for regulating and controlling water quality. PMID:26789004

Statistical issues in quality control of proteomic analyses: good experimental design and planning.

PubMed

Cairns, David A

2011-03-01

Quality control is becoming increasingly important in proteomic investigations as experiments become more multivariate and quantitative. Quality control applies to all stages of an investigation and statistics can play a key role. In this review, the role of statistical ideas in the design and planning of an investigation is described. This involves the design of unbiased experiments using key concepts from statistical experimental design, the understanding of the biological and analytical variation in a system using variance components analysis and the determination of a required sample size to perform a statistically powerful investigation. These concepts are described through simple examples and an example data set from a 2-D DIGE pilot experiment. Each of these concepts can prove useful in producing better and more reproducible data. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

[Quality management in a public health agency].

PubMed

Villalbí, Joan R; Ballestín, Manuela; Casas, Conrad; Subirana, Teresa

2012-01-01

This article describes the introduction of quality improvement actions in a public health organization. After ISO 17025 accreditation, which was legally mandated, was granted to the official control laboratory, the management decided to expand a quality policy in 2003, through a series of actions based on process analysis and proposals for improvement, further definition of standard operating procedures, exploration of users' opinions, the creation of improvement groups, and external audits or certification. The organizational response to these initiatives was diverse. External audit or certification of services seems to be the most powerful tool for change. Costing studies showed that up to 75% of the total expenditure of the agency in 2010 was spent on public health services subject to external audit or certification. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Economical analysis of saturation mutagenesis experiments

PubMed Central

Acevedo-Rocha, Carlos G.; Reetz, Manfred T.; Nov, Yuval

2015-01-01

Saturation mutagenesis is a powerful technique for engineering proteins, metabolic pathways and genomes. In spite of its numerous applications, creating high-quality saturation mutagenesis libraries remains a challenge, as various experimental parameters influence in a complex manner the resulting diversity. We explore from the economical perspective various aspects of saturation mutagenesis library preparation: We introduce a cheaper and faster control for assessing library quality based on liquid media; analyze the role of primer purity and supplier in libraries with and without redundancy; compare library quality, yield, randomization efficiency, and annealing bias using traditional and emergent randomization schemes based on mixtures of mutagenic primers; and establish a methodology for choosing the most cost-effective randomization scheme given the screening costs and other experimental parameters. We show that by carefully considering these parameters, laboratory expenses can be significantly reduced. PMID:26190439

Improved Performance of an Optically Pumped Mid-Infrared Acetylene-Filled Hollow-Core Fiber Laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dadashzadeh, Neda

The focus of this research is improving the pulse output energy of a mid-IR pulsed acetylene-filled Hollow-core Optical Fiber Gas LASer (HOFGLAS) system. Pump pulses and acetylene molecules interact with each other inside hollow-core photonic crystal fiber that effectively confines light and allows for strong gain. This results in lasing at 3.11 mum and 3.17 mum lines based on population inversion of acetylene molecules, which are optically pumped at rotational-vibrational overtones near 1.5 mum using 1 ns pulse duration from an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). This acetylene laser operates with no cavity mirrors because of a high gain in a single pass configuration. There are few laser sources in the mid-IR region while there are many applications for having a laser source in this range such as remote sensing, hazardous chemical detection, and breath analysis. This adds to the importance of the acetylene-filled HOFGLAS system. Some of the applications like remote sensing require high power. So, we moved toward power scaling this laser system by optimizing the laser operation through maximizing the OPA alignment to improve its modal content using longer length of fiber to increase the interaction length and improving the beam quality of the mid-IR emissions. The highest pulse energy ever obtained in the 3 microm mid-IR region from the acetylene-filled HOFGLAS after applying the improvements is reported here (1.4 muJ). Higher mid-IR pulse energies can be achieved by improving the pulse energy achievable from the OPA pump source and working with longer pulse duration to decrease the bandwidth of the OPA. This operation demonstrates many novel properties of acetylene-filled pulsed mid-IR hollow-core fiber lasers. The excellent spatial beam quality at highest power and phenomenological scaling of saturation power and efficiency with pressure that we observe point to the promise of power scaling and motivate further development of numerical models of the laser for deeper insight into these effects. M2 measurement method was used to examine spatial beam quality and it was found to be fiber-dependent. For the improved setup, M2 was investigated at several input pump powers in addition to the reproducibility checks. M 2 of 1.14 at the maximum output power motivates for beam combining to scale to higher power. The independence of efficiency on pressure is an evidence for reaching higher mid-IR power at a pressure where saturation behavior does not exist. achieving the highest mid-IR power to date, 1.4 muJ, encourages for building higher power OPA to produce high power mid-IR emissions. Taken as a whole, this laser exhibits novel behavior that motivates both numerical/theoretical investigation and further efforts to scale to higher powers.

Developmental validation of the PowerPlex(®) Fusion System for analysis of casework and reference samples: A 24-locus multiplex for new database standards.

PubMed

Oostdik, Kathryn; Lenz, Kristy; Nye, Jeffrey; Schelling, Kristin; Yet, Donald; Bruski, Scott; Strong, Joshua; Buchanan, Clint; Sutton, Joel; Linner, Jessica; Frazier, Nicole; Young, Hays; Matthies, Learden; Sage, Amber; Hahn, Jeff; Wells, Regina; Williams, Natasha; Price, Monica; Koehler, Jody; Staples, Melisa; Swango, Katie L; Hill, Carolyn; Oyerly, Karen; Duke, Wendy; Katzilierakis, Lesley; Ensenberger, Martin G; Bourdeau, Jeanne M; Sprecher, Cynthia J; Krenke, Benjamin; Storts, Douglas R

2014-09-01

The original CODIS database based on 13 core STR loci has been overwhelmingly successful for matching suspects with evidence. Yet there remain situations that argue for inclusion of more loci and increased discrimination. The PowerPlex(®) Fusion System allows simultaneous amplification of the following loci: Amelogenin, D3S1358, D1S1656, D2S441, D10S1248, D13S317, Penta E, D16S539, D18S51, D2S1338, CSF1PO, Penta D, TH01, vWA, D21S11, D7S820, D5S818, TPOX, DYS391, D8S1179, D12S391, D19S433, FGA, and D22S1045. The comprehensive list of loci amplified by the system generates a profile compatible with databases based on either the expanded CODIS or European Standard Set (ESS) requirements. Developmental validation testing followed SWGDAM guidelines and demonstrated the quality and robustness of the PowerPlex(®) Fusion System across a number of variables. Consistent and high-quality results were compiled using data from 12 separate forensic and research laboratories. The results verify that the PowerPlex(®) Fusion System is a robust and reliable STR-typing multiplex suitable for human identification. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Application of techniques to identify coal-mine and power-generation effects on surface-water quality, San Juan River basin, New Mexico and Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Goetz, C.L.; Abeyta, Cynthia G.; Thomas, E.V.

1987-01-01

Numerous analytical techniques were applied to determine water quality changes in the San Juan River basin upstream of Shiprock , New Mexico. Eight techniques were used to analyze hydrologic data such as: precipitation, water quality, and streamflow. The eight methods used are: (1) Piper diagram, (2) time-series plot, (3) frequency distribution, (4) box-and-whisker plot, (5) seasonal Kendall test, (6) Wilcoxon rank-sum test, (7) SEASRS procedure, and (8) analysis of flow adjusted, specific conductance data and smoothing. Post-1963 changes in dissolved solids concentration, dissolved potassium concentration, specific conductance, suspended sediment concentration, or suspended sediment load in the San Juan River downstream from the surface coal mines were examined to determine if coal mining was having an effect on the quality of surface water. None of the analytical methods used to analyzed the data showed any increase in dissolved solids concentration, dissolved potassium concentration, or specific conductance in the river downstream from the mines; some of the analytical methods used showed a decrease in dissolved solids concentration and specific conductance. Chaco River, an ephemeral stream tributary to the San Juan River, undergoes changes in water quality due to effluent from a power generation facility. The discharge in the Chaco River contributes about 1.9% of the average annual discharge at the downstream station, San Juan River at Shiprock, NM. The changes in water quality detected at the Chaco River station were not detected at the downstream Shiprock station. It was not possible, with the available data, to identify any effects of the surface coal mines on water quality that were separable from those of urbanization, agriculture, and other cultural and natural changes. In order to determine the specific causes of changes in water quality, it would be necessary to collect additional data at strategically located stations. (Author 's abstract)

Power quality control of an autonomous wind-diesel power system based on hybrid intelligent controller.

PubMed

Ko, Hee-Sang; Lee, Kwang Y; Kang, Min-Jae; Kim, Ho-Chan

2008-12-01

Wind power generation is gaining popularity as the power industry in the world is moving toward more liberalized trade of energy along with public concerns of more environmentally friendly mode of electricity generation. The weakness of wind power generation is its dependence on nature-the power output varies in quite a wide range due to the change of wind speed, which is difficult to model and predict. The excess fluctuation of power output and voltages can influence negatively the quality of electricity in the distribution system connected to the wind power generation plant. In this paper, the authors propose an intelligent adaptive system to control the output of a wind power generation plant to maintain the quality of electricity in the distribution system. The target wind generator is a cost-effective induction generator, while the plant is equipped with a small capacity energy storage based on conventional batteries, heater load for co-generation and braking, and a voltage smoothing device such as a static Var compensator (SVC). Fuzzy logic controller provides a flexible controller covering a wide range of energy/voltage compensation. A neural network inverse model is designed to provide compensating control amount for a system. The system can be optimized to cope with the fluctuating market-based electricity price conditions to lower the cost of electricity consumption or to maximize the power sales opportunities from the wind generation plant.

[Overview of design, implementation and analysis of comparative effectiveness research].

PubMed

Liao, Xing; Xie, Yan-Ming; Tian, Feng; Shen, Hao

2013-03-01

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has been regarded as a hot topic in health care recently. Many medicalresearchers currently deem CER as a potential powerful instrument for improving the quality of healthcare and cut medical cost. However, in the past, classic efficacy studies are always focusing on comparing one new intervention with placebo under complete controlled environment. Now CER turns to comparing different interventions directly in real world of routine practice. This article reviewed a series of literature about the design, implementation and analysis of CER in order to give a clue for Chinese medicine researchers in future.

Analysis of problems with dry fermentation process for biogas production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pilát, Peter; Patsch, Marek; Jandačka, Jozef

2012-04-01

The technology of dry anaerobic fermentation is still meeting with some scepticism, and therefore in most biogas plants are used wet fermentation technology. Fermentation process would be not complete without an optimal controlled condition: dry matter content, density, pH, and in particular the reaction temperature. If is distrust of dry fermentation eligible it was on the workplace of the Department of Power Engineering at University of Zilina built an experimental small-scale biogas station that allows analysis of optimal parameters of the dry anaerobic fermentation, in particular, however, affect the reaction temperature on yield and quality of biogas.

Fuel cells - a new contributor to stationary power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufour, Angelo U.

Stationary power generation historically started as distributed generation near the user, with the configuration of a very open market, where a lot of small competing utilities were offering electricity to the customers. At a second time it became a `monopolistic' business because of technical reasons. Big steam turbines and electric generators, allowing better efficiencies, were more conveniently installed in very large power plants, necessarily located in sites far away from where the power was needed, and the transmission losses were bounded by AC high voltage technology. The Governments were, therefore, trying to balance the power of monopolies, that were limiting the economical development of the countries, by strengthening the concept of electrical energy price public control and, alternatively, by establishing rules to allow a free flow of electricity from one region to the other, or taking direct control through ownership of big and small utilities. The most effective way of making the electric energy system competitive has proved to be the opening of a partial competition in the generation field by forcing the utilities to compare the cost of their energy, produced with new centralised plants, to the price of the available energy, coming from combined heat and power dispersed generators. In fact, with reference to this cost, all the peculiar features of large central stations and dispersed generators were taken into account, like the widespread use of natural gas, the investment risk reduction with single smaller increments of capacity, the transmission and distribution siting difficulties and high costs, the improved system reliability, and, finally, the high quality electric power. Fuel Cells are a recently become available technology for distributed electrical energy production, because they share the main typical aspects, relevant for a distributed power system, like compatibility with other modular subsystem packages, fully automation possibility, very low noise and emissions release, high efficiency both directly as fuel cell (38-55%) and in integrated cycles (50-65% with fossil fuels), delivered `power quality' and reliability. Focus is principally kept on the impact fuel cells could have on electrical grid management and control, for their voltage support and active filtering capabilities, for their response speed and for quick load connection capabilities. The cost for the moment is high, but some technology, like phosphoric acid, is in the market entry phase. Cost analysis for the main subsystems, that is fuel cell stacks, fuel processors, and power electronics and controls, indicates that the prices will be driven down to the required levels both through technology refinements and increase of production volumes. Anyhow, a new phase is beginning, where centralised power plants are facing the competition of distributed generators, like fuel cells, small gas turbines and internal combustion engines, and of other renewable energy generators, like photovoltaics and wind generators. They all are modular, dispersed throughout the utility distribution system to provide power closer to end user, and are not in competition with existing transmission and distribution systems, but they improve the systems' utilisation. The plants will initially be directly owned and operated by gas or energy distributors, and the customers could easily supersede their mistrusts by only paying for the energy they are really utilising, leaving away the worries about the investment costs and the risks of a bad operation. An `intelligent grid', delivering high quality electrical energy to millions of electrical household consumers, which, a second later, become non-polluting energy producers, appears to be giving a very relevant contribution to `the town of the future', envisaged also by the European Commission, where the quality of our lives is mainly depending on the quality of the energy.

Computers in a Learning Society. Testimony given before the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Domestic and International Planning, Analysis, and Cooperation (Washington, D.C., October 13, 1977).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, John Seely; Goldstein, Ira

A revolution that will transform learning in our society, altering both the methods and the content of education, has been made possible by harnessing tomorrow's powerful computer technology to serve as intelligent instructional systems. The unique quality of the computer that makes a revolution possible is that it can serve not only as a…

Power quality analysis of DC arc furnace operation using the Bowman model for electric arc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gherman, P. L.

2018-01-01

This work is about a relatively new domain. The DC electric arc is superior to the AC electric arc and it’s not used in Romania. This is why we analyzed the work functions of these furnaces by simulation and model checking of the simulation results.The conclusions are favorable, to be carried is to develop a real-time control system of steel elaboration process.

Engaged listeners: shared neural processing of powerful political speeches

PubMed Central

Häcker, Frank E. K.; Honey, Christopher J.; Hasson, Uri

2015-01-01

Powerful speeches can captivate audiences, whereas weaker speeches fail to engage their listeners. What is happening in the brains of a captivated audience? Here, we assess audience-wide functional brain dynamics during listening to speeches of varying rhetorical quality. The speeches were given by German politicians and evaluated as rhetorically powerful or weak. Listening to each of the speeches induced similar neural response time courses, as measured by inter-subject correlation analysis, in widespread brain regions involved in spoken language processing. Crucially, alignment of the time course across listeners was stronger for rhetorically powerful speeches, especially for bilateral regions of the superior temporal gyri and medial prefrontal cortex. Thus, during powerful speeches, listeners as a group are more coupled to each other, suggesting that powerful speeches are more potent in taking control of the listeners’ brain responses. Weaker speeches were processed more heterogeneously, although they still prompted substantially correlated responses. These patterns of coupled neural responses bear resemblance to metaphors of resonance, which are often invoked in discussions of speech impact, and contribute to the literature on auditory attention under natural circumstances. Overall, this approach opens up possibilities for research on the neural mechanisms mediating the reception of entertaining or persuasive messages. PMID:25653012

Game-theoretic approach to joint transmitter adaptation and power control in wireless systems.

PubMed

Popescu, Dimitrie C; Rawat, Danda B; Popescu, Otilia; Saquib, Mohamad

2010-06-01

Game theory has emerged as a new mathematical tool in the analysis and design of wireless communication systems, being particularly useful in studying the interactions among adaptive transmitters that attempt to achieve specific objectives without cooperation. In this paper, we present a game-theoretic approach to the problem of joint transmitter adaptation and power control in wireless systems, where users' transmissions are subject to quality-of-service requirements specified in terms of target signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs) and nonideal vector channels between transmitters and receivers are explicitly considered. Our approach is based on application of separable games, which are a specific class of noncooperative games where the players' cost is a separable function of their strategic choices. We formally state a joint codeword and power adaptation game, which is separable, and we study its properties in terms of its subgames, namely, the codeword adaptation subgame and the power adaptation subgame. We investigate the necessary conditions for an optimal Nash equilibrium and show that this corresponds to an ensemble of user codewords and powers, which maximizes the sum capacity of the corresponding multiaccess vector channel model, and for which the specified target SINRs are achieved with minimum transmitted power.

Analysis and Optimization of Four-Coil Planar Magnetically Coupled Printed Spiral Resonators.

PubMed

Khan, Sadeque Reza; Choi, GoangSeog

2016-08-03

High-efficiency power transfer at a long distance can be efficiently established using resonance-based wireless techniques. In contrast to the conventional two-coil-based inductive links, this paper presents a magnetically coupled fully planar four-coil printed spiral resonator-based wireless power-transfer system that compensates the adverse effect of low coupling and improves efficiency by using high quality-factor coils. A conformal architecture is adopted to reduce the transmitter and receiver sizes. Both square architecture and circular architectures are analyzed and optimized to provide maximum efficiency at a certain operating distance. Furthermore, their performance is compared on the basis of the power-transfer efficiency and power delivered to the load. Square resonators can produce higher measured power-transfer efficiency (79.8%) than circular resonators (78.43%) when the distance between the transmitter and receiver coils is 10 mm of air medium at a resonant frequency of 13.56 MHz. On the other hand, circular coils can deliver higher power (443.5 mW) to the load than the square coils (396 mW) under the same medium properties. The performance of the proposed structures is investigated by simulation using a three-layer human-tissue medium and by experimentation.

Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Reflection, Criticism, and Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yingqiang, Zhang; Yongjian, Su

2016-01-01

Quality assurance in modern higher education is both an accountability-oriented ideology and a technological method. It has also evolved into a increasingly rationalist and professionalized power mechanism. Its advocacy of compliance, technological mythology, and imbalance between power and responsibility are inherent disadvantages of higher…

Characteristics of selected elements of the air quality management system in urban areas in Poland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sówka, Izabela; Kobus, Dominik; Chlebowska Styś, Anna; Zathey, Maciej

2017-11-01

Most of Europeans living in cities are exposed to concentrations of air pollutants in excess of the thresholds given in the WHO guidelines and EU legislation. Due to this fact, for the urban air quality systems, the mechanisms of proper information and warning of the inhabitants as well as legal, economic and spatial planning instruments should be improved. The analysis of Polish air quality management system and its' selected components (exemplary measures, information-spreading methods, spatial planning instruments) in four selected Polish cities (Wroclaw, Warsaw, Poznan and Cracow) indicated the need to develop effective solutions, among others, in terms of: emission requirements for combustion of fuels of power of up to 1 MW; admission of high emission fuels on the market; legal and coordination issues at the level of implementation of the area development policy and coordination of activities covering issues within the scope of the structure of planning documents including mainly: ambient air protection programs, spatial developments plans in communes and voivodeships, low emission economy plans, plans of sustainable development of public transport, plans of providing heat, electric power and gas fuels to communes, acts of regional parliaments, introducing limitations based on the Environmental Protection Act and strategies of voivodeship.

Predicted impact of thermal power generation emission control measures in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region on air pollution over Beijing, China.

PubMed

Wang, Liqiang; Li, Pengfei; Yu, Shaocai; Mehmood, Khalid; Li, Zhen; Chang, Shucheng; Liu, Weiping; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Flagan, Richard C; Seinfeld, John H

2018-01-17

Widespread economic growth in China has led to increasing episodes of severe air pollution, especially in major urban areas. Thermal power plants represent a particularly important class of emissions. Here we present an evaluation of the predicted effectiveness of a series of recently proposed thermal power plant emission controls in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region on air quality over Beijing using the Community Multiscale Air Quality(CMAQ) atmospheric chemical transport model to predict CO, SO 2 , NO 2 , PM 2.5 , and PM 10 levels. A baseline simulation of the hypothetical removal of all thermal power plants in the BTH region is predicted to lead to 38%, 23%, 23%, 24%, and 24% reductions in current annual mean levels of CO, SO 2 , NO 2 , PM 2.5 , and PM 10 in Beijing, respectively. Similar percentage reductions are predicted in the major cities in the BTH region. Simulations of the air quality impact of six proposed thermal power plant emission reduction strategies over the BTH region provide an estimate of the potential improvement in air quality in the Beijing metropolitan area, as a function of the time of year.

Operational Results From a High Power Alternator Test Bed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birchenough, Arthur; Hervol, David

2007-01-01

The Alternator Test Unit (ATU) in the Lunar Power System Facility (LPSF) located at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio was used to simulate the operating conditions and evaluate the performance of the ATU and its interaction with various LPSF components in accordance with the current Fission Surface Power System (FSPS) requirements. The testing was carried out at the breadboard development level. These results successfully demonstrated excellent ATU power bus characteristics and rectified user load power quality during steady state and transient conditions. Information gained from this work could be used to assist the design and primary power quality considerations for a possible future FSPS. This paper describes the LPSF components and some preliminary test results.

Velocity structure of the shallow lunar crust

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gangi, A. F.; Yen, T. E.

1979-01-01

Data from the thumper shots of the Apollo 14 and Apollo 16 active seismic experiments, testing whether the velocity variation in the shallow lunar crust (depths less than or equal to 10 m) can be represented by a self-compacting-power-layer or by a constant-velocity-layer model, are analyzed. Although filtering and stacking improved the S/N ratios, it was found that measuring the arrival times or amplitudes of arrivals beyond 32 m was not possible. The data quality precluded a definitive distinction between the power-law velocity variation and the layered-velocity model. Furthermore, it was found that the shallow lunar regolith is made up of fine particles, which supports the idea of a 1/6 power-velocity model. Analysis of the amplitudes of first arrivals revealed large errors in the data due to variations in the geophone sensitivities and shot strengths; a least-squares method, that uses data redundancy was employed to eliminate them.

Fabrication of the polarization independent spectral beam combining grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Quan; Jin, Yunxia; Wu, Jianhong; Guo, Peiliang

2016-03-01

Owing to damage, thermal issues, and nonlinear optical effects, the output power of fiber laser has been proven to be limited. Beam combining techniques are the attractive solutions to achieve high-power high-brightness fiber laser output. The spectral beam combining (SBC) is a promising method to achieve high average power output without influencing the beam quality. A polarization independent spectral beam combining grating is one of the key elements in the SBC. In this paper the diffraction efficiency of the grating is investigated by rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA). The theoretical -1st order diffraction efficiency of the grating is more than 95% from 1010nm to 1080nm for both TE and TM polarizations. The fabrication tolerance is analyzed. The polarization independent spectral beam combining grating with the period of 1.04μm has been fabricated by holographic lithography - ion beam etching, which are within the fabrication tolerance.

Nursing Clinical Instructor Experiences of Empowerment in Rwanda: Applying Kanter's and Spreitzer's Theories.

PubMed

Thuss, Mary; Babenko-Mould, Yolanda; Andrusyszyn, Mary-Anne; Laschinger, Heather K S

2016-10-15

The purpose of this study was to explore Rwandan nursing clinical instructors' (CIs) experiences of structural and psychological empowerment. CIs play a vital role in students' development by facilitating learning in health care practice environments. Quality nursing education hinges on the CI's ability to enact a professional role. A descriptive qualitative method was used to obtain an understanding of CIs empowerment experiences in practice settings. Kanter's Theory of Structural Power in Organizations and Spreitzer's Psychological Empowerment Theory were used as theoretical frameworks to interpret experiences. Interview data from 21 CIs were used to complete a secondary analysis. Most participants perceived the structural components of informal power, resources, and support while formal power and opportunity were limited, diminishing their sense of structural empowerment. Psychological empowerment for CIs stemmed from a sense of competence, meaning, impact and self-determination they had for their teaching roles and responsibilities in the practice setting.

Supercapacitive microbial fuel cell: Characterization and analysis for improved charge storage/delivery performance.

PubMed

Houghton, Jeremiah; Santoro, Carlo; Soavi, Francesca; Serov, Alexey; Ieropoulos, Ioannis; Arbizzani, Catia; Atanassov, Plamen

2016-10-01

Supercapacitive microbial fuel cells with various anode and cathode dimensions were investigated in order to determine the effect on cell capacitance and delivered power quality. The cathode size was shown to be the limiting component of the system in contrast to anode size. By doubling the cathode area, the peak power output was improved by roughly 120% for a 10ms pulse discharge and internal resistance of the cell was decreased by ∼47%. A model was constructed in order to predict the performance of a hypothetical cylindrical MFC design with larger relative cathode size. It was found that a small device based on conventional materials with a volume of approximately 21cm(3) would be capable of delivering a peak power output of approximately 25mW at 70mA, corresponding to ∼1300Wm(-3). Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Nighttime chemical evolution of aerosol and trace gases in a power plant plume: Implications for secondary organic nitrate and organosulfate aerosol formation, NO3 radical chemistry, and N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis

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

Zaveri, R.A.; Kleinman, L.; Berkowitz, C. M.

2010-06-01

Nighttime chemical evolution of aerosol and trace gases in a coal-fired power plant plume was monitored with the Department of Energy Grumman Gulfstream-1 aircraft during the 2002 New England Air Quality Study field campaign. Quasi-Lagrangian sampling in the plume at increasing downwind distances and processing times was guided by a constant-volume balloon that was released near the power plant at sunset. While no evidence of fly ash particles was found, concentrations of particulate organics, sulfate, and nitrate were higher in the plume than in the background air. The enhanced sulfate concentrations were attributed to direct emissions of gaseous H{sub 2}SO{submore » 4}, some of which had formed new particles as evidenced by enhanced concentrations of nucleation-mode particles in the plume. The aerosol species were internally mixed and the particles were acidic, suggesting that particulate nitrate was in the form of organic nitrate. The enhanced particulate organic and nitrate masses in the plume were inferred as secondary organic aerosol, which was possibly formed from NO{sub 3} radical-initiated oxidation of isoprene and other trace organic gases in the presence of acidic sulfate particles. Microspectroscopic analysis of particle samples suggested that some sulfate was in the form of organosulfates. Microspectroscopy also revealed the presence of sp{sup 2} hybridized C = C bonds, which decreased with increasing processing time in the plume, possibly because of heterogeneous chemistry on particulate organics. Constrained plume modeling analysis of the aircraft and tetroon observations showed that heterogeneous hydrolysis of N{sub 2}O{sub 5} was negligibly slow. These results have significant implications for several issues related to the impacts of power plant emissions on air quality and climate.« less

Development of a Multi-Centre Clinical Trial Data Archiving and Analysis Platform for Functional Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Driscoll, Brandon; Jaffray, David; Coolens, Catherine

2014-03-01

Purpose: To provide clinicians & researchers participating in multi-centre clinical trials with a central repository for large volume dynamic imaging data as well as a set of tools for providing end-to-end testing and image analysis standards of practice. Methods: There are three main pieces to the data archiving and analysis system; the PACS server, the data analysis computer(s) and the high-speed networks that connect them. Each clinical trial is anonymized using a customizable anonymizer and is stored on a PACS only accessible by AE title access control. The remote analysis station consists of a single virtual machine per trial running on a powerful PC supporting multiple simultaneous instances. Imaging data management and analysis is performed within ClearCanvas Workstation® using custom designed plug-ins for kinetic modelling (The DCE-Tool®), quality assurance (The DCE-QA Tool) and RECIST. Results: A framework has been set up currently serving seven clinical trials spanning five hospitals with three more trials to be added over the next six months. After initial rapid image transfer (+ 2 MB/s), all data analysis is done server side making it robust and rapid. This has provided the ability to perform computationally expensive operations such as voxel-wise kinetic modelling on very large data archives (+20 GB/50k images/patient) remotely with minimal end-user hardware. Conclusions: This system is currently in its proof of concept stage but has been used successfully to send and analyze data from remote hospitals. Next steps will involve scaling up the system with a more powerful PACS and multiple high powered analysis machines as well as adding real-time review capabilities.

Control of Disturbing Loads in Residential and Commercial Buildings via Geometric Algebra

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Many definitions have been formulated to represent nonactive power for distorted voltages and currents in electronic and electrical systems. Unfortunately, no single universally suitable representation has been accepted as a prototype for this power component. This paper defines a nonactive power multivector from the most advanced multivectorial power theory based on the geometric algebra (GA). The new concept can have more importance on harmonic loads compensation, identification, and metering, between other applications. Likewise, this paper is concerned with a pioneering method for the compensation of disturbing loads. In this way, we propose a multivectorial relative quality index   δ~ associated with the power multivector. It can be assumed as a new index for power quality evaluation, harmonic sources detection, and power factor improvement in residential and commercial buildings. The proposed method consists of a single-point strategy based of a comparison among different relative quality index multivectors, which may be measured at the different loads on the same metering point. The comparison can give pieces of information with magnitude, direction, and sense on the presence of disturbing loads. A numerical example is used to illustrate the clear capabilities of the suggested approach. PMID:24260017

Control of disturbing loads in residential and commercial buildings via geometric algebra.

PubMed

Castilla, Manuel-V

2013-01-01

Many definitions have been formulated to represent nonactive power for distorted voltages and currents in electronic and electrical systems. Unfortunately, no single universally suitable representation has been accepted as a prototype for this power component. This paper defines a nonactive power multivector from the most advanced multivectorial power theory based on the geometric algebra (GA). The new concept can have more importance on harmonic loads compensation, identification, and metering, between other applications. Likewise, this paper is concerned with a pioneering method for the compensation of disturbing loads. In this way, we propose a multivectorial relative quality index δ(~) associated with the power multivector. It can be assumed as a new index for power quality evaluation, harmonic sources detection, and power factor improvement in residential and commercial buildings. The proposed method consists of a single-point strategy based of a comparison among different relative quality index multivectors, which may be measured at the different loads on the same metering point. The comparison can give pieces of information with magnitude, direction, and sense on the presence of disturbing loads. A numerical example is used to illustrate the clear capabilities of the suggested approach.

Multifunctional voltage source inverter for renewable energy integration and power quality conditioning.

PubMed

Dai, NingYi; Lam, Chi-Seng; Zhang, WenChen

2014-01-01

In order to utilize the energy from the renewable energy sources, power conversion system is necessary, in which the voltage source inverter (VSI) is usually the last stage for injecting power to the grid. It is an economical solution to add the function of power quality conditioning to the grid-connected VSI in the low-voltage distribution system. Two multifunctional VSIs are studied in this paper, that is, inductive-coupling VSI and capacitive-coupling VSI, which are named after the fundamental frequency impedance of their coupling branch. The operation voltages of the two VSIs are compared when they are used for renewable energy integration and power quality conditioning simultaneously. The operation voltage of the capacitive-coupling VSI can be set much lower than that of the inductive-coupling VSI when reactive power is for compensating inductive loads. Since a large portion of the loads in the distribution system are inductive, the capacitive-coupling VSI is further studied. The design and control method of the multifunctional capacitive-coupling VSI are proposed in this paper. Simulation and experimental results are provided to show its validity.

Optical remote sensing and correlation of office equipment functional state and stress levels via power quality disturbances inefficiencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sternberg, Oren; Bednarski, Valerie R.; Perez, Israel; Wheeland, Sara; Rockway, John D.

2016-09-01

Non-invasive optical techniques pertaining to the remote sensing of power quality disturbances (PQD) are part of an emerging technology field typically dominated by radio frequency (RF) and invasive-based techniques. Algorithms and methods to analyze and address PQD such as probabilistic neural networks and fully informed particle swarms have been explored in industry and academia. Such methods are tuned to work with RF equipment and electronics in existing power grids. As both commercial and defense assets are heavily power-dependent, understanding electrical transients and failure events using non-invasive detection techniques is crucial. In this paper we correlate power quality empirical models to the observed optical response. We also empirically demonstrate a first-order approach to map household, office and commercial equipment PQD to user functions and stress levels. We employ a physics-based image and signal processing approach, which demonstrates measured non-invasive (remote sensing) techniques to detect and map the base frequency associated with the power source to the various PQD on a calibrated source.

Multifunctional Voltage Source Inverter for Renewable Energy Integration and Power Quality Conditioning

PubMed Central

Dai, NingYi; Lam, Chi-Seng; Zhang, WenChen

2014-01-01

In order to utilize the energy from the renewable energy sources, power conversion system is necessary, in which the voltage source inverter (VSI) is usually the last stage for injecting power to the grid. It is an economical solution to add the function of power quality conditioning to the grid-connected VSI in the low-voltage distribution system. Two multifunctional VSIs are studied in this paper, that is, inductive-coupling VSI and capacitive-coupling VSI, which are named after the fundamental frequency impedance of their coupling branch. The operation voltages of the two VSIs are compared when they are used for renewable energy integration and power quality conditioning simultaneously. The operation voltage of the capacitive-coupling VSI can be set much lower than that of the inductive-coupling VSI when reactive power is for compensating inductive loads. Since a large portion of the loads in the distribution system are inductive, the capacitive-coupling VSI is further studied. The design and control method of the multifunctional capacitive-coupling VSI are proposed in this paper. Simulation and experimental results are provided to show its validity. PMID:25177725

Comparison between family power structure and the quality of parent-child interaction among the delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents.

PubMed

Khodabakhshi Koolaee, Anahita; Shaghelani Lor, Hossein; Soleimani, Ali Akbar; Rahmatizadeh, Masoumeh

2014-06-01

Few studies indicate that most behavioral problems are due to family dysfunction and inappropriate family environment. It seems that the family of the delinquent adolescent is unbalanced in the power structure and parenting style. The present study compares the family power structure and parent-child relationship quality in delinquent and non-delinquent young subjects in Tehran. Eighty students of secondary schools aged between 15 and 18 in Tehran were enrolled with cluster sampling method and 80 delinquent adolescents of the Correction and Rehabilitation Centers aged between 15 and 18 were chosen with a convenience sampling method. They responded to an instrument of family power structure (Child-parents relationship inventory). Data was compared between these two groups by utilizing the independent and dependent t-test and Levene's test. The findings indicated there is a significant difference between delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents in family power structure and its subscales (P < 0.001) and father-child relationship quality (P < 0.005). Also, there is no statistically significant difference between these two groups in mother-child relationship quality (P < 0.005). Besides, the results revealed that delinquent adolescents were significantly different regarding the quality of parent-child relationship (P < 0.001). These results emphasize that an inappropriate decision making process pattern in a family has a significant effect on deviant behavior in adolescents. The fathers' parenting is more strongly linked to their sons' delinquency. So, family power structure and parent-child relationship can be considered in therapeutic interventions (prevention and treatment) for adolescents' delinquency.

Simulations of far-field optical beam quality influenced by the thermal distortion of the secondary mirror for high-power laser system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Ruhai; Chen, Ning; Zhuang, Xinyu; Wang, Bing

2015-02-01

In order to research the influence on the beam quality due to thermal deformation of the secondary mirror in the high power laser system, the theoretical simulation study is performed. Firstly, three typical laser power 10kW, 50kW and 100kW with the wavelength 1.064μm are selected to analyze thermal deformation of mirror through the finite element analyze of thermodynamics instantaneous method. Then the wavefront aberration can be calculated by ray-tracing theory. Finally, focus spot radius，beam quality (BQ) of far-filed beam can be calculated and comparably analyzed by Fresnel diffraction integration. The simulation results show that with the increasing laser power, the optical aberration of beam director gets worse, the far-field optical beam quality decrease, which makes the laser focus spot broadening and the peak optical intensity of center decreasing dramatically. Comparing the clamping ring and the three-point clamping, the former is better than the latter because the former only induces the rotation symmetric deformation and the latter introduces additional astigmatism. The far-field optical beam quality can be improved partly by simply adjusting the distance between the main mirror and the secondary mirror. But the far-field power density is still the one tenth as that without the heat distortion of secondary mirror. These results can also provide the reference to the thermal aberration analyze for high power laser system and can be applied to the field of laser communication system and laser weapon etc.

Spatial Distribution and Trend of CH4, NO2, CO and Ozone during 2003-2015 over Coal Fired Power Plants in US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Azevedo, S. C.; Reyes, C.; Singh, R. P.

2016-12-01

Coal fired power plants are the sources of atmospheric pollution and poor air quality in many parts of the world especially in India and China. The greenhouse emissions from the coal fired power plants are considered as threat to the climate and human health. About 572 coal fired power plants (up to 2012) are operational, especially in the mid and eastern parts of US. We have analyzed satellite measured carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and meteorological parameters for the period 2003-2015. In this study, we have considered 30 power plants, covering 10 x10surrounding area and over 11 regions of US in a grid of about 50 x50 to 60 x60. In general, most of the coal fired power plants show a decreasing trend of CO, whereas NO2 follow a similar trend over the power plants located in the eastern parts. Our analysis shows that the clean air act is strictly followed by the coal fired power plants in the eastern US compared to power plants located in the mid and western parts. The CH4 concentrations over the eastern parts show higher concentrations compared to mid and western regions in the period 2003-2015. Higher concentrations and seasonal variability of greenhouse gases is dependent on the prevailing meteorological conditions.

Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA): a study protocol for a nationwide, multilevel analysis of relationships between hospital quality management systems and patient factors

PubMed Central

Taylor, Natalie; Clay-Williams, Robyn; Hogden, Emily; Pye, Victoria; Li, Zhicheng; Groene, Oliver; Suñol, Rosa; Braithwaite, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

Introduction Despite the growing body of research on quality and safety in healthcare, there is little evidence of the association between the way hospitals are organised for quality and patient factors, limiting our understanding of how to effect large-scale change. The ‘Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia’ (DUQuA) study aims to measure and examine relationships between (1) organisation and department-level quality management systems (QMS), clinician leadership and culture, and (2) clinical treatment processes, clinical outcomes and patient-reported perceptions of care within Australian hospitals. Methods and analysis The DUQuA project is a national, multilevel, cross-sectional study with data collection at organisation (hospital), department, professional and patient levels. Sample size calculations indicate a minimum of 43 hospitals are required to adequately power the study. To allow for rejection and attrition, 70 hospitals across all Australian jurisdictions that meet the inclusion criteria will be invited to participate. Participants will consist of hospital quality management professionals; clinicians; and patients with stroke, acute myocardial infarction and hip fracture. Organisation and department-level QMS, clinician leadership and culture, patient perceptions of safety, clinical treatment processes, and patient outcomes will be assessed using validated, evidence-based or consensus-based measurement tools. Data analysis will consist of simple correlations, linear and logistic regression and multilevel modelling. Multilevel modelling methods will enable identification of the amount of variation in outcomes attributed to the hospital and department levels, and the factors contributing to this variation. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained. Results will be disseminated to individual hospitals in de-identified national and international benchmarking reports with data-driven recommendations. This ground-breaking national study has the potential to influence decision-making on the implementation of quality and safety systems and processes in Australian and international hospitals. PMID:26644128

75 FR 28592 - Notice of Public Scoping Meetings for the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study, Missouri...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-21

..., navigation, irrigation, power, water supply, water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife. ADDRESSES..., navigation, irrigation, power, water supply, water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife. Section 108 of... judicial rulings to determine if changes to the authorized project purposes and existing federal water...

Best Practices: Power Quality and Integrated Testing at JSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Lydia

2018-01-01

This presentation discusses Best Practices for Power Quality and Integrated Testing at JSC in regards to electrical systems. These high-level charts include mostly generic information; however, a specific issue is discussed involving flight hardware that could have been discovered prior to flight with an integrated test.

Power and Resistance: Leading Change in Medical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sundberg, Kristina; Josephson, Anna; Reeves, Scott; Nordquist, Jonas

2017-01-01

A key role for educational leaders within undergraduate medical education is to continually improve the quality of education; global quality health care is the goal. This paper reports the findings from a study employing a power model to highlight how educational leaders influence the development of undergraduate medical curricula and the…

Portable Electronic Tongue Based on Microsensors for the Analysis of Cava Wines.

PubMed

Giménez-Gómez, Pablo; Escudé-Pujol, Roger; Capdevila, Fina; Puig-Pujol, Anna; Jiménez-Jorquera, Cecilia; Gutiérrez-Capitán, Manuel

2016-10-27

Cava is a quality sparkling wine produced in Spain. As a product with a designation of origin, Cava wine has to meet certain quality requirements throughout its production process; therefore, the analysis of several parameters is of great interest. In this work, a portable electronic tongue for the analysis of Cava wine is described. The system is comprised of compact and low-power-consumption electronic equipment and an array of microsensors formed by six ion-selective field effect transistors sensitive to pH, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca 2+ , Cl - , and CO₃ 2- , one conductivity sensor, one redox potential sensor, and two amperometric gold microelectrodes. This system, combined with chemometric tools, has been applied to the analysis of 78 Cava wine samples. Results demonstrate that the electronic tongue is able to classify the samples according to the aging time, with a percentage of correct prediction between 80% and 96%, by using linear discriminant analysis, as well as to quantify the total acidity, pH, volumetric alcoholic degree, potassium, conductivity, glycerol, and methanol parameters, with mean relative errors between 2.3% and 6.0%, by using partial least squares regressions.

Portable Electronic Tongue Based on Microsensors for the Analysis of Cava Wines

PubMed Central

Giménez-Gómez, Pablo; Escudé-Pujol, Roger; Capdevila, Fina; Puig-Pujol, Anna; Jiménez-Jorquera, Cecilia; Gutiérrez-Capitán, Manuel

2016-01-01

Cava is a quality sparkling wine produced in Spain. As a product with a designation of origin, Cava wine has to meet certain quality requirements throughout its production process; therefore, the analysis of several parameters is of great interest. In this work, a portable electronic tongue for the analysis of Cava wine is described. The system is comprised of compact and low-power-consumption electronic equipment and an array of microsensors formed by six ion-selective field effect transistors sensitive to pH, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl−, and CO32−, one conductivity sensor, one redox potential sensor, and two amperometric gold microelectrodes. This system, combined with chemometric tools, has been applied to the analysis of 78 Cava wine samples. Results demonstrate that the electronic tongue is able to classify the samples according to the aging time, with a percentage of correct prediction between 80% and 96%, by using linear discriminant analysis, as well as to quantify the total acidity, pH, volumetric alcoholic degree, potassium, conductivity, glycerol, and methanol parameters, with mean relative errors between 2.3% and 6.0%, by using partial least squares regressions. PMID:27801796

Far field and wavefront characterization of a high-power semiconductor laser for free space optical communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cornwell, Donald M., Jr.; Saif, Babak N.

1991-01-01

The spatial pointing angle and far field beamwidth of a high-power semiconductor laser are characterized as a function of CW power and also as a function of temperature. The time-averaged spatial pointing angle and spatial lobe width were measured under intensity-modulated conditions. The measured pointing deviations are determined to be well within the pointing requirements of the NASA Laser Communications Transceiver (LCT) program. A computer-controlled Mach-Zehnder phase-shifter interferometer is used to characterize the wavefront quality of the laser. The rms phase error over the entire pupil was measured as a function of CW output power. Time-averaged measurements of the wavefront quality are also made under intensity-modulated conditions. The measured rms phase errors are determined to be well within the wavefront quality requirements of the LCT program.

Effect of postharvest ultraviolet-C treatment on the proteome changes in fresh cut mango (Mangifera indica L. cv. Chokanan).

PubMed

George, Dominic Soloman; Razali, Zuliana; Santhirasegaram, Vicknesha; Somasundram, Chandran

2016-06-01

Postharvest treatments of fruits using techniques such as ultraviolet-C have been linked with maintenance of the fruit quality as well as shelf-life extension. However, the effects of this treatment on the quality of fruits on a proteomic level remain unclear. This study was conducted in order to understand the response of mango fruit to postharvest UV-C irradiation. Approximately 380 reproducible spots were detected following two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Through gel analysis, 24 spots were observed to be differentially expressed in UV-C treated fruits and 20 were successfully identified via LCMS/MS. Postharvest UV-C treatment resulted in degradative effects on these identified proteins of which 40% were related to stress response, 45% to energy and metabolism and 15% to ripening and senescence. In addition, quality and shelf-life analysis of control and irradiated mangoes was evaluated. UV-C was found to be successful in retention of quality and extension of shelf-life up to 15 days. Furthermore, UV-C was also successful in increasing antioxidants (total flavonoid, reducing power and ABTS scavenging activity) in mangoes. This study provides an overview of the effects of UV-C treatment on the quality of mango on a proteomic level as well as the potential of this treatment in shelf-life extension of fresh-cut fruits. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Proteomics Quality Control: Quality Control Software for MaxQuant Results.

PubMed

Bielow, Chris; Mastrobuoni, Guido; Kempa, Stefan

2016-03-04

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics coupled to liquid chromatography has matured into an automatized, high-throughput technology, producing data on the scale of multiple gigabytes per instrument per day. Consequently, an automated quality control (QC) and quality analysis (QA) capable of detecting measurement bias, verifying consistency, and avoiding propagation of error is paramount for instrument operators and scientists in charge of downstream analysis. We have developed an R-based QC pipeline called Proteomics Quality Control (PTXQC) for bottom-up LC-MS data generated by the MaxQuant software pipeline. PTXQC creates a QC report containing a comprehensive and powerful set of QC metrics, augmented with automated scoring functions. The automated scores are collated to create an overview heatmap at the beginning of the report, giving valuable guidance also to nonspecialists. Our software supports a wide range of experimental designs, including stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC), tandem mass tags (TMT), and label-free data. Furthermore, we introduce new metrics to score MaxQuant's Match-between-runs (MBR) functionality by which peptide identifications can be transferred across Raw files based on accurate retention time and m/z. Last but not least, PTXQC is easy to install and use and represents the first QC software capable of processing MaxQuant result tables. PTXQC is freely available at https://github.com/cbielow/PTXQC .

Method applied to the background analysis of energy data to be considered for the European Reference Life Cycle Database (ELCD).

PubMed

Fazio, Simone; Garraín, Daniel; Mathieux, Fabrice; De la Rúa, Cristina; Recchioni, Marco; Lechón, Yolanda

2015-01-01

Under the framework of the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment, the European Reference Life-Cycle Database (ELCD - developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission), provides core Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data from front-running EU-level business associations and other sources. The ELCD contains energy-related data on power and fuels. This study describes the methods to be used for the quality analysis of energy data for European markets (available in third-party LC databases and from authoritative sources) that are, or could be, used in the context of the ELCD. The methodology was developed and tested on the energy datasets most relevant for the EU context, derived from GaBi (the reference database used to derive datasets for the ELCD), Ecoinvent, E3 and Gemis. The criteria for the database selection were based on the availability of EU-related data, the inclusion of comprehensive datasets on energy products and services, and the general approval of the LCA community. The proposed approach was based on the quality indicators developed within the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, further refined to facilitate their use in the analysis of energy systems. The overall Data Quality Rating (DQR) of the energy datasets can be calculated by summing up the quality rating (ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 represents very good, and 5 very poor quality) of each of the quality criteria indicators, divided by the total number of indicators considered. The quality of each dataset can be estimated for each indicator, and then compared with the different databases/sources. The results can be used to highlight the weaknesses of each dataset and can be used to guide further improvements to enhance the data quality with regard to the established criteria. This paper describes the application of the methodology to two exemplary datasets, in order to show the potential of the methodological approach. The analysis helps LCA practitioners to evaluate the usefulness of the ELCD datasets for their purposes, and dataset developers and reviewers to derive information that will help improve the overall DQR of databases.

Evaluating an integrated approach to clinical quality improvement: clinical guidelines, quality measurement, and supportive system design.

PubMed

Cretin, S; Farley, D O; Dolter, K J; Nicholas, W

2001-08-01

Implementing clinical practice guidelines to change patient outcomes presents a challenge. Studies of single interventions focused on changing provider behavior demonstrate modest effects, suggesting that effective guideline implementation requires a multifaceted approach. Traditional biomedical research designs are not well suited to evaluating systems interventions. RAND and the Army Medical Department collaborated to develop and evaluate a system for implementing guidelines and documenting their effects on patient care. The evaluation design blended quality improvement, case study, and epidemiologic methods. A formative evaluation of implementation process and an outcome evaluation of patient impact were combined. Guidelines were implemented in 3 successive demonstrations targeting low back pain, asthma, and diabetes. This paper reports on the first wave of 4 facilities implementing a low back pain guideline. Organizational climate and culture, motivation, leadership commitment, and resources were assessed. Selected indicators of processes and outcomes of care were compared before, during, and after guideline implementation at the demonstration facilities and at comparison facilities. Logistic regression analysis was used to test for guideline effects on patient care. Process evaluation documented varied approaches to quality improvement across sites. Outcome evaluation revealed a significant downward trend in the percentage of acute low back pain patients referred to physical therapy or chiropractic care (10.7% to 7.2%) at demonstration sites and no such trend at control sites. Preliminary results suggest the power of this design to stimulate improvements in guideline implementation while retaining the power to evaluate rigorously effects on patient care.

Clinical benefit using sperm hyaluronic acid binding technique in ICSI cycles: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Beck-Fruchter, Ronit; Shalev, Eliezer; Weiss, Amir

2016-03-01

The human oocyte is surrounded by hyaluronic acid, which acts as a natural selector of spermatozoa. Human sperm that express hyaluronic acid receptors and bind to hyaluronic acid have normal shape, minimal DNA fragmentation and low frequency of chromosomal aneuploidies. Use of hyaluronic acid binding assays in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles to improve clinical outcomes has been studied, although none of these studies had sufficient statistical power. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, electronic databases were searched up to June 2015 to identify studies of ICSI cycles in which spermatozoa able to bind hyaluronic acid was selected. The main outcomes were fertilization rate and clinical pregnancy rate. Secondary outcomes included cleavage rate, embryo quality, implantation rate, spontaneous abortion and live birth rate. Seven studies and 1437 cycles were included. Use of hyaluronic acid binding sperm selection technique yielded no improvement in fertilization and pregnancy rates. A meta-analysis of all available studies showed an improvement in embryo quality and implantation rate; an analysis of prospective studies only showed an improvement in embryo quality. Evidence does not support routine use of hyaluronic acid binding assays in all ICSI cycles. Identification of patients that might benefit from this technique needs further study. Copyright © 2015 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in chemical composition of bone matrix in ovariectomized (OVX) rats detected by Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oshima, Yusuke; Iimura, Tadahiro; Saitou, Takashi; Imamura, Takeshi

2015-02-01

Osteoporosis is a major bone disease that connotes the risk of fragility fractures resulting from alterations to bone quantity and/or quality to mechanical competence. Bone strength arises from both bone quantity and quality. Assessment of bone quality and bone quantity is important for prediction of fracture risk. In spite of the two factors contribute to maintain the bone strength, only one factor, bone mineral density is used to determine the bone strength in the current diagnosis of osteoporosis. On the other hand, there is no practical method to measure chemical composition of bone tissue including hydroxyapatite and collagen non-invasively. Raman spectroscopy is a powerful technique to analyze chemical composition and material properties of bone matrix non-invasively. Here we demonstrated Raman spectroscopic analysis of the bone matrix in osteoporosis model rat. Ovariectomized (OVX) rat was made and the decalcified sections of tibias were analyzed by a Raman microscope. In the results, Raman bands of typical collagen appeared in the obtained spectra. Although the typical mineral bands at 960 cm-1 (Phosphate) was absent due to decalcified processing, we found that Raman peak intensities of amide I and C-C stretching bands were significantly different between OVX and sham-operated specimens. These differences on the Raman spectra were statistically compared by multivariate analyses, principal component analysis (PCA) and liner discrimination analysis (LDA). Our analyses suggest that amide I and C-C stretching bands can be related to stability of bone matrix which reflects bone quality.

Automated DNA extraction platforms offer solutions to challenges of assessing microbial biofouling in oil production facilities.

PubMed

Oldham, Athenia L; Drilling, Heather S; Stamps, Blake W; Stevenson, Bradley S; Duncan, Kathleen E

2012-11-20

The analysis of microbial assemblages in industrial, marine, and medical systems can inform decisions regarding quality control or mitigation. Modern molecular approaches to detect, characterize, and quantify microorganisms provide rapid and thorough measures unbiased by the need for cultivation. The requirement of timely extraction of high quality nucleic acids for molecular analysis is faced with specific challenges when used to study the influence of microorganisms on oil production. Production facilities are often ill equipped for nucleic acid extraction techniques, making the preservation and transportation of samples off-site a priority. As a potential solution, the possibility of extracting nucleic acids on-site using automated platforms was tested. The performance of two such platforms, the Fujifilm QuickGene-Mini80™ and Promega Maxwell®16 was compared to a widely used manual extraction kit, MOBIO PowerBiofilm™ DNA Isolation Kit, in terms of ease of operation, DNA quality, and microbial community composition. Three pipeline biofilm samples were chosen for these comparisons; two contained crude oil and corrosion products and the third transported seawater. Overall, the two more automated extraction platforms produced higher DNA yields than the manual approach. DNA quality was evaluated for amplification by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and end-point PCR to generate 454 pyrosequencing libraries for 16S rRNA microbial community analysis. Microbial community structure, as assessed by DGGE analysis and pyrosequencing, was comparable among the three extraction methods. Therefore, the use of automated extraction platforms should enhance the feasibility of rapidly evaluating microbial biofouling at remote locations or those with limited resources.

Automated DNA extraction platforms offer solutions to challenges of assessing microbial biofouling in oil production facilities

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The analysis of microbial assemblages in industrial, marine, and medical systems can inform decisions regarding quality control or mitigation. Modern molecular approaches to detect, characterize, and quantify microorganisms provide rapid and thorough measures unbiased by the need for cultivation. The requirement of timely extraction of high quality nucleic acids for molecular analysis is faced with specific challenges when used to study the influence of microorganisms on oil production. Production facilities are often ill equipped for nucleic acid extraction techniques, making the preservation and transportation of samples off-site a priority. As a potential solution, the possibility of extracting nucleic acids on-site using automated platforms was tested. The performance of two such platforms, the Fujifilm QuickGene-Mini80™ and Promega Maxwell®16 was compared to a widely used manual extraction kit, MOBIO PowerBiofilm™ DNA Isolation Kit, in terms of ease of operation, DNA quality, and microbial community composition. Three pipeline biofilm samples were chosen for these comparisons; two contained crude oil and corrosion products and the third transported seawater. Overall, the two more automated extraction platforms produced higher DNA yields than the manual approach. DNA quality was evaluated for amplification by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and end-point PCR to generate 454 pyrosequencing libraries for 16S rRNA microbial community analysis. Microbial community structure, as assessed by DGGE analysis and pyrosequencing, was comparable among the three extraction methods. Therefore, the use of automated extraction platforms should enhance the feasibility of rapidly evaluating microbial biofouling at remote locations or those with limited resources. PMID:23168231

Power profiles and short-term visual performance of soft contact lenses.

PubMed

Papas, Eric; Dahms, Anne; Carnt, Nicole; Tahhan, Nina; Ehrmann, Klaus

2009-04-01

To investigate the manner in which contemporary soft contact lenses differ in the distribution of optical power within their optic zones and establish if these variations affect the vision of wearers or the prescribing procedure for back vertex power (BVP). By using a Visionix VC 2001 contact lens power analyzer, power profiles were measured across the optic zones of the following contemporary contact lenses ACUVUE 2, ACUVUE ADVANCE, O2OPTIX, NIGHT & DAY and PureVision. Single BVP measures were obtained using a Nikon projection lensometer. Visual performance was assessed in 28 masked subjects who wore each lens type in random order. Measurements taken were high and low contrast visual acuity in normal illumination (250 Cd/m), high contrast acuity in reduced illumination (5 Cd/m), subjective visual quality using a numerical rating scale, and visual satisfaction rating using a Likert scale. Marked differences in the distribution of optical power across the optic zone were evident among the lens types. No significant differences were found for any of the visual performance variables (p > 0.05, analysis of variance with repeated measures and Friedman test). Variations in power profile between contemporary soft lens types exist but do not, in general, result in measurable visual performance differences in the short term, nor do they substantially influence the BVP required for optimal correction.

Physical quality characteristics of the microwave-dried breadfruit powders due to different processing conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taruna, I.; Hakim, A. L.; Sutarsi

2018-03-01

Production of breadfruit powder has been an option to make easy its uses in various food processing. Accordingly, there is a need recently to apply advanced drying method, i.e. microwave drying, for improving quality since conventional methods produced highly variable product quality and required longer process. The present work was aimed to study the effect of microwave power and grinding time on physical quality of breadfruit powders. The experiment was done initially by drying breadfruit slices in a microwave dryer at power level of 420, 540, and 720 W and then grinding for 3, 5, and 7 min to get powdery product of less than 80 mesh. The physical quality of breadfruit powders were measured in terms of fineness modulus (FM), average particle size (D), whiteness (WI), total color difference (ΔE), water absorption (Wa), oil absorption (La), bulk density (ρb) and consistency gel (Gc). The results showed that physical quality of powders and its ranged-values included the FM (2.08-2.62), D (0.44-0.68 mm), WI (75.2-77.9), ΔE (7.4-10.5), Wa (5.5-6.2 ml/g), La (0.7-0.9 ml/g), ρb (0.62-0.70 g/cm3) and Gc (41.3-46.8 mm). The experiment revealed that variation of microwave power and grinding time affected significantly the quality of the breadfruit powders. However, microwave power was more dominant factor to affect quality of breadfruit powder in comparison to the grinding time.

Service user involvement enhanced the research quality in a study using interpretative phenomenological analysis - the power of multiple perspectives.

PubMed

Mjøsund, Nina Helen; Eriksson, Monica; Espnes, Geir Arild; Haaland-Øverby, Mette; Jensen, Sven Liang; Norheim, Irene; Kjus, Solveig Helene Høymork; Portaasen, Inger-Lill; Vinje, Hege Forbech

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine how service user involvement can contribute to the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology and enhance research quality. Interpretative phenomenological analysis is a qualitative methodology used in nursing research internationally to understand human experiences that are essential to the participants. Service user involvement is requested in nursing research. We share experiences from 4 years of collaboration (2012-2015) on a mental health promotion project, which involved an advisory team. Five research advisors either with a diagnosis or related to a person with severe mental illness constituted the team. They collaborated with the research fellow throughout the entire research process and have co-authored this article. We examined the joint process of analysing the empirical data from interviews. Our analytical discussions were audiotaped, transcribed and subsequently interpreted following the guidelines for good qualitative analysis in interpretative phenomenological analysis studies. The advisory team became 'the researcher's helping hand'. Multiple perspectives influenced the qualitative analysis, which gave more insightful interpretations of nuances, complexity, richness or ambiguity in the interviewed participants' accounts. The outcome of the service user involvement was increased breadth and depth in findings. Service user involvement improved the research quality in a nursing research project on mental health promotion. The interpretative element of interpretative phenomenological analysis was enhanced by the emergence of multiple perspectives in the qualitative analysis of the empirical data. We argue that service user involvement and interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology can mutually reinforce each other and strengthen qualitative methodology. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Estimated Flying Qualities of the Martin Model 202 Airplane

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weil, Joseph; Spear, Margaret

1947-01-01

The flying qualities of the Martin model 202 airplane have been estimated chiefly from the results of tests of an 0.0875-scale complete model with power made in the Wright Brothers tunnel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and from partial span wing and isolated vertical tail tests made in the Georgia Tech Nine-Foot Tunnel. These estimated handling qualities have been compared with existing Army-Navy and CAA requirements for stability and control. The results of the analysis indicate that the Martin model 202 airplane will possess satisfactory handling qualities in all respects except possibly in the following: The amount of elevator control available for landing or maneuvering in the landing condition is either marginal or insufficient when using the adjustable stabilizer linked to the flaps . Moreover, indications are that the longitudinal trim changes will be neither large nor appreciably worse with a fixed stabilizer than with the contemplated arrangement utilizing the adjustable stabilizer in an attempt to reduce the magnitude of the trim changes caused by flap deflection.

Optimization and Characterization of the Friction Stir Welded Sheets of AA 5754-H111: Monitoring of the Quality of Joints with Thermographic Techniques.

PubMed

De Filippis, Luigi Alberto Ciro; Serio, Livia Maria; Palumbo, Davide; De Finis, Rosa; Galietti, Umberto

2017-10-11

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding process, based on frictional and stirring phenomena, that offers many advantages with respect to the traditional welding methods. However, several parameters can affect the quality of the produced joints. In this work, an experimental approach has been used for studying and optimizing the FSW process, applied on 5754-H111 aluminum plates. In particular, the thermal behavior of the material during the process has been investigated and two thermal indexes, the maximum temperature and the heating rate of the material, correlated to the frictional power input, were investigated for different process parameters (the travel and rotation tool speeds) configurations. Moreover, other techniques (micrographs, macrographs and destructive tensile tests) were carried out for supporting in a quantitative way the analysis of the quality of welded joints. The potential of thermographic technique has been demonstrated both for monitoring the FSW process and for predicting the quality of joints in terms of tensile strength.

DICON: interactive visual analysis of multidimensional clusters.

PubMed

Cao, Nan; Gotz, David; Sun, Jimeng; Qu, Huamin

2011-12-01

Clustering as a fundamental data analysis technique has been widely used in many analytic applications. However, it is often difficult for users to understand and evaluate multidimensional clustering results, especially the quality of clusters and their semantics. For large and complex data, high-level statistical information about the clusters is often needed for users to evaluate cluster quality while a detailed display of multidimensional attributes of the data is necessary to understand the meaning of clusters. In this paper, we introduce DICON, an icon-based cluster visualization that embeds statistical information into a multi-attribute display to facilitate cluster interpretation, evaluation, and comparison. We design a treemap-like icon to represent a multidimensional cluster, and the quality of the cluster can be conveniently evaluated with the embedded statistical information. We further develop a novel layout algorithm which can generate similar icons for similar clusters, making comparisons of clusters easier. User interaction and clutter reduction are integrated into the system to help users more effectively analyze and refine clustering results for large datasets. We demonstrate the power of DICON through a user study and a case study in the healthcare domain. Our evaluation shows the benefits of the technique, especially in support of complex multidimensional cluster analysis. © 2011 IEEE

Diagnosis and Prognostic of Wastewater Treatment System Based on Bayesian Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dan; Yang, Haizhen; Liang, XiaoFeng

2010-11-01

Wastewater treatment is a complicated and dynamic process. The treatment effect can be influenced by many variables in microbial, chemical and physical aspects. These variables are always uncertain. Due to the complex biological reaction mechanisms, the highly time-varying and multivariable aspects, the diagnosis and prognostic of wastewater treatment system are still difficult in practice. Bayesian network (BN) is one of the best methods for dealing with uncertainty in the artificial intelligence field. Because of the powerful inference ability and convenient decision mechanism, BN can be employed into the model description and influencing factor analysis of wastewater treatment system with great flexibility and applicability.In this paper, taking modified sequencing batch reactor (MSBR) as an analysis object, BN model was constructed according to the influent water quality, operational condition and effluent effect data of MSBR, and then a novel approach based on BN is proposed to analyze the influencing factors of the wastewater treatment system. The approach presented gives an effective tool for diagnosing and predicting analysis of the wastewater treatment system. On the basis of the influent water quality and operational condition, effluent effect can be predicted. Moreover, according to the effluent effect, the influent water quality and operational condition also can be deduced.

Diversity combining in laser Doppler vibrometry for improved signal reliability

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

Dräbenstedt, Alexander

2014-05-27

Because of the speckle nature of the light reflected from rough surfaces the signal quality of a vibrometer suffers from varying signal power. Deep signal outages manifest themselves as noise bursts and spikes in the demodulated velocity signal. Here we show that the signal quality of a single point vibrometer can be substantially improved by diversity reception. This concept is widely used in RF communication and can be transferred into optical interferometry. When two statistically independent measurement channels are available which measure the same motion on the same spot, the probability for both channels to see a signal drop-out atmore » the same time is very low. We built a prototype instrument that uses polarization diversity to constitute two independent reception channels that are separately demodulated into velocity signals. Send and receive beams go through different parts of the aperture so that the beams can be spatially separated. The two velocity channels are mixed into one more reliable signal by a PC program in real time with the help of the signal power information. An algorithm has been developed that ensures a mixing of two or more channels with minimum resulting variance. The combination algorithm delivers also an equivalent signal power for the combined signal. The combined signal lacks the vast majority of spikes that are present in the raw signals and it extracts the true vibration information present in both channels. A statistical analysis shows that the probability for deep signal outages is largely decreased. A 60 fold improvement can be shown. The reduction of spikes and noise bursts reduces the noise in the spectral analysis of vibrations too. Over certain frequency bands a reduction of the noise density by a factor above 10 can be shown.« less

Sensory and Quality Evaluation of Traditional Compared with Power Ultrasound Processed Corn (Zea Mays) Tortilla Chips.

PubMed

Janve, Bhaskar; Yang, Wade; Sims, Charles

2015-06-01

Power ultrasound reduces the traditional corn steeping time from 18 to 1.5 h during tortilla chips dough (masa) processing. This study sought to examine consumer (n = 99) acceptability and quality of tortilla chips made from the masa by traditional compared with ultrasonic methods. Overall appearance, flavor, and texture acceptability scores were evaluated using a 9-point hedonic scale. The baked chips (process intermediate) before and after frying (finished product) were analyzed using a texture analyzer and machine vision. The texture values were determined using the 3-point bend test using breaking force gradient (BFG), peak breaking force (PBF), and breaking distance (BD). The fracturing properties determined by the crisp fracture support rig using fracture force gradient (FFG), peak fracture force (PFF), and fracture distance (FD). The machine vision evaluated the total surface area, lightness (L), color difference (ΔE), Hue (°h), and Chroma (C*). The results were evaluated by analysis of variance and means were separated using Tukey's test. Machine vision values of L, °h, were higher (P < 0.05) and ΔE was lower (P < 0.05) for fried and L, °h were significantly (P < 0.05) higher for baked chips produced from ultra-sonication as compare to traditional. Baked chips texture for ultra-sonication was significantly higher (P < 0.05) on BFG, BPD, PFF, and FD. Fried tortilla chips texture were higher significantly (P < 0.05) in BFG and PFF for ultra-sonication than traditional processing. However, the instrumental differences were not detected in sensory analysis, concluding possibility of power ultrasound as potential tortilla chips processing aid. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

Quality factor concept in piezoceramic transformer performance description.

PubMed

Mezheritsky, Alex V

2006-02-01

A new general approach based on the quality factor concept to piezoceramic transformer (PT) performance description is proposed. The system's quality factor, material elastic anisotropy, and coupling factors of the input and output sections of an electrically excited and electrically loaded PT fully characterize its resonance and near-resonance behavior. The PT efficiency, transformation ratio, and input and output power were analytically analyzed and simulated as functions of the load and frequency for the simplest classical Langevin-type and Rosen-type PT designs. A new formulation of the electrical input impedance allows one to separate the power consumed by PT from the power transferred into the load. The system's PT quality factor takes into account losses in each PT "input-output-load" functional components. The loading process is changing PT input electrical impedance on the way that under loading the minimum series impedance is increasing and the maximum parallel impedance is decreasing coincidentally. The quality-factors ratio, between the states of fully loaded and nonloaded PT, is one of the best measures of PTs dynamic performance--practically, the lower the ratio is, the better PT efficiency. A simple and effective method for the loaded PT quality factor determination is proposed. As was found, a piezoceramic with low piezoelectric anisotropy is required to provide maximum PT efficiency and higher corresponding voltage gain. Limitations on the PT output voltage and power, caused by nonlinear effects in piezoceramics, were established.

Developing a comprehensive training curriculum for integrated predictive maintenance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wurzbach, Richard N.

2002-03-01

On-line equipment condition monitoring is a critical component of the world-class production and safety histories of many successful nuclear plant operators. From addressing availability and operability concerns of nuclear safety-related equipment to increasing profitability through support system reliability and reduced maintenance costs, Predictive Maintenance programs have increasingly become a vital contribution to the maintenance and operation decisions of nuclear facilities. In recent years, significant advancements have been made in the quality and portability of many of the instruments being used, and software improvements have been made as well. However, the single most influential component of the success of these programs is the impact of a trained and experienced team of personnel putting this technology to work. Changes in the nature of the power generation industry brought on by competition, mergers, and acquisitions, has taken the historically stable personnel environment of power generation and created a very dynamic situation. As a result, many facilities have seen a significant turnover in personnel in key positions, including predictive maintenance personnel. It has become the challenge for many nuclear operators to maintain the consistent contribution of quality data and information from predictive maintenance that has become important in the overall equipment decision process. These challenges can be met through the implementation of quality training to predictive maintenance personnel and regular updating and re-certification of key technology holders. The use of data management tools and services aid in the sharing of information across sites within an operating company, and with experts who can contribute value-added data management and analysis. The overall effectiveness of predictive maintenance programs can be improved through the incorporation of newly developed comprehensive technology training courses. These courses address the use of key technologies such as vibration analysis, infrared thermography, and oil analysis not as singular entities, but as a toolbox resource from which to address overall equipment and plant reliability in a structured program and decision environment.

Helicopter roll control effectiveness criteria program summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heffley, Robert K.; Bourne, Simon M.; Mnich, Marc A.

1988-01-01

A study of helicopter roll control effectiveness is summarized for the purpose of defining military helicopter handling qualities requirements. The study is based on an analysis of pilot-in-the-loop task performance of several basic maneuvers. This is extended by a series of piloted simulations using the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator and selected flight data. The main results cover roll control power and short-term response characteristics. In general the handling qualities requirements recommended are set in conjunction with desired levels of flight task and maneuver response which can be directly observed in actual flight. An important aspect of this, however, is that vehicle handling qualities need to be set with regard to some quantitative aspect of mission performance. Specific examples of how this can be accomplished include a lateral unmask/remask maneuver in the presence of a threat and an air tracking maneuver which recognizes the kill probability enhancement connected with decreasing the range to the target. Conclusions and recommendations address not only the handling qualities recommendations, but also the general use of flight simulators and the dependence of mission performance on handling qualities.

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.

Development of a standardized control module for dc-to-dc converters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, Y.; Iwens, R. I.; Lee, F. C.; Inouye, L. Y.

1977-01-01

The electrical performance of a power processor depends on the quality of its control system. Most of the existing control circuits suffer one or more of the following imperfections that tend to restrict their respective utility: (1) inability to perform different modes of duty cycle control; (2) lack of immunity to output filter parameter changes, and (3) lack of capability to provide power component stress limiting on an instantaneous basis. The three lagging aspects of existing control circuits have been used to define the major objectives of the current Standardized Control Module (SCM) Program. Detailed information on the SCM functional block diagram, its universality, and performance features, circuit description, test results, and modeling and analysis efforts are presented.

Optimized Enhanced Bioremediation Through 4D Geophysical Monitoring and Autonomous Data Collection, Processing and Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

High Fructose Corn Syrup Diluted 1 to 10 percent by weight 50 to 500 mg/l Slow Release Whey (fresh/powered) Dissolved (powdered form) or injected...the assessment of remedial progress and functioning. This project also addressed several high priority needs from the Navy Environmental Quality...memory high -performance computing systems. For instance, as of March 2012 the code has been successfully executed on 2 cpu’s for an inversion problem

Battalion Command in Combat. Forward Edge of Combat Power: A Leadership Analysis of Selected Battalion Commanders in Combat in World War II, Korea and Vietnam with Implications for Future Combat Leaders

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-06-01

MAK:NG Decision making reers to skills you need to maKoe .-•l:es anc so..I*e problems. Your goal is to make high-quality decisions your soldiers accae ...II. "Auftragstaktik: Tn Its Proper Perspective." Military Review, Vol. LXVI, No. 10, October 1986. Koontz, LTC Ronald D. and Kaplan , Ira T

Manipulation-free cultures of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes offer a novel screening method for cardiotoxicity.

PubMed

Rajasingh, Sheeja; Isai, Dona Greta; Samanta, Saheli; Zhou, Zhi-Gang; Dawn, Buddhadeb; Kinsey, William H; Czirok, Andras; Rajasingh, Johnson

2018-04-05

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based cardiac regenerative medicine requires the efficient generation, structural soundness and proper functioning of mature cardiomyocytes, derived from the patient's somatic cells. The most important functional property of cardiomyocytes is the ability to contract. Currently available methods routinely used to test and quantify cardiomyocyte function involve techniques that are labor-intensive, invasive, require sophisticated instruments or can adversely affect cell vitality. We recently developed optical flow imaging method analyses and quantified cardiomyocyte contractile kinetics from video microscopic recordings without compromising cell quality. Specifically, our automated particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis of phase-contrast video images captured at a high frame rate yields statistical measures characterizing the beating frequency, amplitude, average waveform and beat-to-beat variations. Thus, it can be a powerful assessment tool to monitor cardiomyocyte quality and maturity. Here we demonstrate the ability of our analysis to characterize the chronotropic responses of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to a panel of ion channel modulators and also to doxorubicin, a chemotherapy agent with known cardiotoxic side effects. We conclude that the PIV-derived beat patterns can identify the elongation or shortening of specific phases in the contractility cycle, and the obtained chronotropic responses are in accord with known clinical outcomes. Hence, this system can serve as a powerful tool to screen the new and currently available pharmacological compounds for cardiotoxic effects.

Quality Certification, Regulation and Power in Fair Trade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renard, Marie-Christine

2005-01-01

This article examines governance changes and shifting power relations within the fair-labelling network. These shifts are framed analytically by reference to broader changes in the agrofoods sector tied to the increasingly key role played by quality relations and standards in the production and marketing of food. The author argues that evident…

Age associated declines in muscle mass, strength, power, and physical performance: impact on fear of falling and quality of life

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

SUMMARY: This 3 year longitudinal study among older adults showed that declining muscle mass, strength, power, and physical performance are independent contributing factors to increased fear of falling, while declines of muscle mass and physical performance contribute to deterioration of quality of ...

75 FR 34670 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Revision to Emission...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-18

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Revision to Emission Limitations for R. Paul Smith... revision pertains to revised emission limitations for the R. Paul Smith Power Station located in Washington... R. Paul Smith Power Station in Washington County. This facility had annual nitrogen oxides (NOx...

CALiPER Retail Lamps Study 3.1: Dimming, Flicker, and Power Quality Characteristics of LED A Lamps

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

none,

2014-12-31

This CALiPER report examines the characteristics of a subset of lamps from CALiPER Retail Lamps Study 3 in more detail. Specifically, it focuses on the dimming, power quality, and flicker characteristics of 14 LED A lamps, as controlled by four different retail-available dimmers.

18 CFR 410.1 - Basin regulations-Water Code and Administrative Manual-Part III Water Quality Regulations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Basin regulations-Water Code and Administrative Manual-Part III Water Quality Regulations. 410.1 Section 410.1 Conservation of Power and Water Resources DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION ADMINISTRATIVE MANUAL BASIN REGULATIONS; WATER...

Water-Chemistry and Its Utility Systems in CCP Power Units (Review)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larin, B. M.

2018-01-01

Damageability of heat transfer surfaces of waste heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) of combined- cycle plants (CCP) can be reduced due to an increase in the quality of make-up and feed water, the use of phosphate-alkaline or amino compound water chemistry (WC), and improved chemical quality control of the heat carrier and make-up water preparation techniques. Temporary quality standards for the heat medium developed by the All-Russia Thermal Engineering institute (VTI) for CCP power units are presented in comparison with the IAPWS standards; preferences for the choice of a WC type for some power units commissioned in Russia in the first decade of this century are shown; and operational data on the quality of feed, boiler water, and steam for two large CCP-450 and CCP-425 power units are given. The state and prospects for the development of chemical-technological monitoring systems and CCP water treatment plants are noted. Estimability of some CCP diagnostic parameters by measuring specific electric conductivity and pH is shown. An extensive bibliography on this topic is given.

The impact of specialized palliative care on cancer patients' health-related quality of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kassianos, Angelos P; Ioannou, Myria; Koutsantoni, Marianna; Charalambous, Haris

2018-01-01

Specialized palliative care (SPC) is currently underutilized or provided late in cancer care. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to critically evaluate the impact of SPC on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Five databases were searched through June 2016. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective studies using a pre- and post- assessment of HRQoL were included. The PRISMA reporting statement was followed. Criteria from available checklists were used to evaluate the studies' quality. A meta-analysis followed using random-effect models separately for RCTs and non-RCTs. Eleven studies including five RCTs and 2939 cancer patients published between 2001 and 2014 were identified. There was improved HRQoL in patients with cancer following SPC especially in symptoms like pain, nausea, and fatigue as well as improvement of physical and psychological functioning. Less or no improvements were observed in social and spiritual domains. In general, studies of inpatients showed a larger benefit from SPC than studies of outpatients whereas patients' age and treatment duration did not moderate the impact of SPC. Methodological shortcomings of included studies include high attrition rates, low precision, and power and poor reporting of control procedures. The methodological problems and publication bias call for higher-quality studies to be designed, funded, and published. However, there is a clear message that SPC is multi-disciplinary and aims at palliation of symptoms and burden in line with current recommendations.

What do Canadian seniors say supports their quality of life? Findings from a national participatory research study.

PubMed

Bryant, Toba; Brown, Ivan; Cogan, Tara; Dallaire, Clemence; Laforest, Sophie; McGowan, Patrick; Raphael, Dennis; Richard, Lucie; Thompson, Loraine; Young, Joyce

2004-01-01

A national project investigated seniors' perceptions of the influences upon their quality of life. The seven participating cities were Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Regina, Vancouver and Whitehorse. The project focussed on policy decisions affecting the quality of life of seniors. It was a participatory study in which seniors controlled the direction and shape of the project in each city. Focus groups and individual interviews with seniors and stakeholders. Data analysis used qualitative methods to see the world through the eyes of participants. Each project was committed to hearing the voices of seniors and their views on which issues were affecting the quality of their lives. Across the seven cities, seniors highlighted access to information, health care, housing, income security, safety and security, social contacts and networks, and transportation as key issues that affect the quality of life of seniors in Canada. The findings affirm the value of participatory activities that involve seniors working with other sectors as a productive policy-informing approach. The Seniors' Quality of Life projects demonstrate the conceptual power of the determinants of health perspective to understand seniors' quality of life issues. While seniors considered health care to be a continuing concern, they also recognized socio-economic issues as significantly affecting the quality of their lives.

A Piloted Simulator Evaluation of Transport Aircraft Rudder Pedal Force/Feel Characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Eric C.

2008-01-01

A piloted simulation study has been conducted in a fixed-base research simulator to assess the directional handling qualities for various rudder pedal feel characteristics for commercial transport airplanes. That is, the effects of static pedal force at maximum pedal travel, breakout force, and maximum pedal travel on handling qualities were studied. An artificial maneuver with a severe lateral wind shear and requiring runway tracking at an altitude of 50 feet in a crosswind was used to fully exercise the rudder pedals. Twelve active airline pilots voluntarily participated in the study and flew approximately 500 maneuvers. The pilots rated the maneuver performance with various rudder pedal feel characteristics using the Cooper- Harper rating scale. The test matrix had 15 unique combinations of the 3 static pedal feel characteristics. A 10-term, second-order equation for the Cooper-Harper pilot rating as a function of the 3 independent pedal feel parameters was fit to the data. The test matrix utilized a Central Composite Design that is very efficient for fitting an equation of this form. The equation was used to produce contour plots of constant pilot ratings as a function of two of the parameters with the third parameter held constant. These contour plots showed regions of good handling qualities as well as regions of degraded handling qualities. In addition, a numerical equation solver was used to predict the optimum parameter values (those with the lowest pilot rating). Quantitative pilot performance data were also analyzed. This analysis found that the peak values of the cross power spectra of the pedal force and heading angle could be used to quantify the tendency toward directional pilot induced oscillations (PIO). Larger peak values of the cross power spectra were correlated with larger (degraded) Cooper-Harper pilot ratings. Thus, the subjective data (Cooper-Harper pilot ratings) were consistent with the objective data (peak values of the cross power spectra).

Automatic vision-based grain optimization and analysis of multi-crystalline solar wafers using hierarchical region growing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Shu-Kai S.; Tsai, Du-Ming; Chuang, Wei-Che

2017-04-01

Solar power has become an attractive alternative source of energy. The multi-crystalline solar cell has been widely accepted in the market because it has a relatively low manufacturing cost. Multi-crystalline solar wafers with larger grain sizes and fewer grain boundaries are higher quality and convert energy more efficiently than mono-crystalline solar cells. In this article, a new image processing method is proposed for assessing the wafer quality. An adaptive segmentation algorithm based on region growing is developed to separate the closed regions of individual grains. Using the proposed method, the shape and size of each grain in the wafer image can be precisely evaluated. Two measures of average grain size are taken from the literature and modified to estimate the average grain size. The resulting average grain size estimate dictates the quality of the crystalline solar wafers and can be considered a viable quantitative indicator of conversion efficiency.

Modeling and optimization of joint quality for laser transmission joint of thermoplastic using an artificial neural network and a genetic algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiao; Zhang, Cheng; Li, Pin; Wang, Kai; Hu, Yang; Zhang, Peng; Liu, Huixia

2012-11-01

A central composite rotatable experimental design(CCRD) is conducted to design experiments for laser transmission joining of thermoplastic-Polycarbonate (PC). The artificial neural network was used to establish the relationships between laser transmission joining process parameters (the laser power, velocity, clamp pressure, scanning number) and joint strength and joint seam width. The developed mathematical models are tested by analysis of variance (ANOVA) method to check their adequacy and the effects of process parameters on the responses and the interaction effects of key process parameters on the quality are analyzed and discussed. Finally, the desirability function coupled with genetic algorithm is used to carry out the optimization of the joint strength and joint width. The results show that the predicted results of the optimization are in good agreement with the experimental results, so this study provides an effective method to enhance the joint quality.

Monte Carlo simulation of PET/MR scanner and assessment of motion correction strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Işın, A.; Uzun Ozsahin, D.; Dutta, J.; Haddani, S.; El-Fakhri, G.

2017-03-01

Positron Emission Tomography is widely used in three dimensional imaging of metabolic body function and in tumor detection. Important research efforts are made to improve this imaging modality and powerful simulators such as GATE are used to test and develop methods for this purpose. PET requires acquisition time in the order of few minutes. Therefore, because of the natural patient movements such as respiration, the image quality can be adversely affected which drives scientists to develop motion compensation methods to improve the image quality. The goal of this study is to evaluate various image reconstructions methods with GATE simulation of a PET acquisition of the torso area. Obtained results show the need to compensate natural respiratory movements in order to obtain an image with similar quality as the reference image. Improvements are still possible in the applied motion field's extraction algorithms. Finally a statistical analysis should confirm the obtained results.

Power Spectrum of a Noisy System Close to a Heteroclinic Orbit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giner-Baldó, Jordi; Thomas, Peter J.; Lindner, Benjamin

2017-07-01

We consider a two-dimensional dynamical system that possesses a heteroclinic orbit connecting four saddle points. This system is not able to show self-sustained oscillations on its own. If endowed with white Gaussian noise it displays stochastic oscillations, the frequency and quality factor of which are controlled by the noise intensity. This stochastic oscillation of a nonlinear system with noise is conveniently characterized by the power spectrum of suitable observables. In this paper we explore different analytical and semianalytical ways to compute such power spectra. Besides a number of explicit expressions for the power spectrum, we find scaling relations for the frequency, spectral width, and quality factor of the stochastic heteroclinic oscillator in the limit of weak noise. In particular, the quality factor shows a slow logarithmic increase with decreasing noise of the form Q˜ [ln (1/D)]^2. Our results are compared to numerical simulations of the respective Langevin equations.

Investigations of the quality of hospital electric power supply and the tolerance of medical electric devices to voltage dips.

PubMed

Hanada, Eisuke; Itoga, Shuuya; Takano, Kyoko; Kudou, Takato

2007-06-01

Medical devices driven by electric power have come to be commonly used in hospitals, and rapid changes of voltage or current can easily cause them to fail. A stable and high quality power supply is indispensable in order to maintain safety in the modern clinical setting. Therefore, we investigated the quality of the power supply in a hospital and determined the tolerance of 13 pieces of medical equipment to voltage dips. The results showed little distortion of the voltage wave. However, we found an approximately 7% momentary voltage dip caused by lightening and other problems, such as 2 to 5% periodic drops in voltage and voltage wave distortions caused by incorrect grounding. In a tolerance test, the settings of some medical devices were changed at the time of automatic reboot after a disturbance. For another device, trend information was initialized.

Quality assurance of medicines supplied to low-income and middle-income countries: poor products in shiny boxes?

PubMed Central

Schiavetti, B; Meessen, B; Pouget, C; Caudron, J M; Marchal, B; Massat, P; Thys, S; Ravinetto, R

2017-01-01

Objective In today's context of globalisation of pharmaceutical production and distribution, international and national procurement agencies play a de facto key role in defining the quality of medicines available in sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated the compliance of a sample of pharmaceutical distributors active in sub-Saharan Africa with the standards of the WHO guideline ‘Model Quality Assurance System (WHO MQAS) for procurement agencies’, and we investigated factors favouring or hindering the adequate implementation of the guideline. Methods We used mixed-methods methodology to analyse quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative study consisted of a retrospective secondary analysis of data collected by QUAMED (Quality Medicines for all), a partnership that pleads for universal access to quality-assured medicines. The qualitative survey consisted of formal and informal interviews with key informants. We adopted an embedded multiple-case study design. Findings Our analysis suggests that international distributors based in Europe perform, on average, better than sub-Saharan African distributors. However, some weaknesses are ubiquitous and concern critical processes, such as the initial selection of the products and the ongoing reassessment of their quality. This is due to several different factors: weak regulatory oversight, insufficient human/financial resources, weak negotiating power, limited judicial autonomy and/or lack of institutional commitment to quality. Conclusions Our findings suggest that pharmaceutical distributors active in sub-Saharan Africa generally do not apply stringent criteria for selecting products and suppliers. Therefore, product quality is not consistently assured but depends on the requirements of purchasers. While long-term solutions are awaited, the WHO MQAS guideline should be used as an evaluation and training tool to upgrade current standards. PMID:28589013

Tube focal spot size and power capability impact image quality in the evaluation of intracoronary stents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cesmeli, Erdogan; Berry, Joel L.; Carr, J. J.

2005-04-01

Proliferation of coronary stent deployment for treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) creates a need for imaging-based follow-up examinations to assess patency. Technological improvements in multi-detector computer tomography (MDCT) make it a potential non-invasive alternative to coronary catheterization for evaluation of stent patency; however, image quality with MDCT varies based on the size and composition of the stent. We studied the role of tube focal spot size and power in the optimization of image quality in a stationary phantom. A standard uniform physical phantom with a tubular insert was used where coronary stents (4 mm in diameter) were deployed in a tube filled with contrast to simulate a typical imaging condition observed in clinical practice. We utilized different commercially available stents and scanned them with different tube voltage and current settings (LightSpeed Pro16, GE Healthcare Technologies, Waukesha, WI, USA). The scanner used different focal spot size depending on the power load and thus allowed us to assess the combined effect of the focal spot size and the power. A radiologist evaluated the resulting images in terms of image quality and artifacts. For all stents, we found that the small focal spot size yielded better image quality and reduced artifacts. In general, higher power capability for the given focal spot size improved the signal-to-noise ratio in the images allowing improved assessment. Our preliminary study in a non-moving phantom suggests that a CT scanner that can deliver the same power on a small focal spot size is better suited to have an optimized scan protocol for reliable stent assessment.

Improved power and efficiency for tapered lasers with optimized photonic crystal structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Xiaolong; Qu, Hongwei; Zhao, Shaoyu; Zhou, Xuyan; Lin, Yuzhe; Zheng, Wanhua

2017-10-01

High power and high beam quality laser sources are required in numerous applications such as nonlinear frequency conversion, optical pumping of solid-state and fiber lasers, material processing and others. Tapered lasers can provide a high output power while keeping a high beam quality. However, the conventional tapered lasers suffer from a large vertical beam divergence. We have demonstrated 2-mm long tapered lasers with photonic crystal structures. A high beam quality and a narrow vertical divergence are achieved. In this paper, we optimized the photonic crystal structure and fabricated a 4-mm long tapered laser to further increase the output power and the wall-plug efficiency. Compared with our precious wafer, the optimized structure has a lower doping level to reduce the internal loss. The period of the photonic crystal structure and the thickness of the upper cladding are also reduced. The device has a 1-mm long ridge-waveguide section and a 3-mm long tapered section. The taper angle is 4°. An output power of 7.3 W is achieved with a peak wall-plug efficiency of 46% in continuous-wave mode. The threshold current is around 500 mA and the slope efficiency is 0.93 W/A. In pulsed mode, the output power is 15.6 W and the maximum wall-plug efficiency is 48.1%. The far-field divergence with full width at half maximum is 6.3° for the lateral direction at 3 A. The vertical far-field beam divergence is around 11° at different injection levels. High beam qualities are demonstrated by beam quality factor M2 of 1.52 for the lateral direction and 1.54 for the vertical direction.