Model-based estimation for dynamic cardiac studies using ECT

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

Chiao, P.C.; Rogers, W.L.; Clinthorne, N.H.

1994-06-01

In this paper, the authors develop a strategy for joint estimation of physiological parameters and myocardial boundaries using ECT (Emission Computed Tomography). The authors construct an observation model to relate parameters of interest to the projection data and to account for limited ECT system resolution and measurement noise. The authors then use a maximum likelihood (ML) estimator to jointly estimate all the parameters directly from the projection data without reconstruction of intermediate images. The authors also simulate myocardial perfusion studies based on a simplified heart model to evaluate the performance of the model-based joint ML estimator and compare this performancemore » to the Cramer-Rao lower bound. Finally, model assumptions and potential uses of the joint estimation strategy are discussed.« less

Student-Made Environmental Studies Equipment, Volume II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, James W., Ed.; Hall, James A., Ed.

Twenty-two projects are described in this booklet. Materials necessary for construction can be obtained for little cost or as salvaged parts. Equipment produced by these projects can be used in the collection and study of plants and animals and in the study of environmental quality parameters such as air quality and soil conditions. Construction…

Custom map projections for regional groundwater models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kuniansky, Eve L.

2017-01-01

For regional groundwater flow models (areas greater than 100,000 km2), improper choice of map projection parameters can result in model error for boundary conditions dependent on area (recharge or evapotranspiration simulated by application of a rate using cell area from model discretization) and length (rivers simulated with head-dependent flux boundary). Smaller model areas can use local map coordinates, such as State Plane (United States) or Universal Transverse Mercator (correct zone) without introducing large errors. Map projections vary in order to preserve one or more of the following properties: area, shape, distance (length), or direction. Numerous map projections are developed for different purposes as all four properties cannot be preserved simultaneously. Preservation of area and length are most critical for groundwater models. The Albers equal-area conic projection with custom standard parallels, selected by dividing the length north to south by 6 and selecting standard parallels 1/6th above or below the southern and northern extent, preserves both area and length for continental areas in mid latitudes oriented east-west. Custom map projection parameters can also minimize area and length error in non-ideal projections. Additionally, one must also use consistent vertical and horizontal datums for all geographic data. The generalized polygon for the Floridan aquifer system study area (306,247.59 km2) is used to provide quantitative examples of the effect of map projections on length and area with different projections and parameter choices. Use of improper map projection is one model construction problem easily avoided.

On adaptive modified projective synchronization of a supply chain management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tirandaz, Hamed

2017-12-01

In this paper, the synchronization problem of a chaotic supply chain management system is studied. A novel adaptive modified projective synchronization method is introduced to control the behaviour of the leader supply chain system by a follower chaotic system and to adjust the leader system parameters until the measurable errors of the system parameters converge to zero. The stability evaluation and convergence analysis are carried out by the Lyapanov stability theorem. The proposed synchronization and antisynchronization techniques are studied for identical supply chain chaotic systems. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical discussions.

Inverse determination of the penalty parameter in penalized weighted least-squares algorithm for noise reduction of low-dose CBCT

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

Wang, Jing; Guan, Huaiqun; Solberg, Timothy

2011-07-15

Purpose: A statistical projection restoration algorithm based on the penalized weighted least-squares (PWLS) criterion can substantially improve the image quality of low-dose CBCT images. The performance of PWLS is largely dependent on the choice of the penalty parameter. Previously, the penalty parameter was chosen empirically by trial and error. In this work, the authors developed an inverse technique to calculate the penalty parameter in PWLS for noise suppression of low-dose CBCT in image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Methods: In IGRT, a daily CBCT is acquired for the same patient during a treatment course. In this work, the authors acquired the CBCTmore » with a high-mAs protocol for the first session and then a lower mAs protocol for the subsequent sessions. The high-mAs projections served as the goal (ideal) toward, which the low-mAs projections were to be smoothed by minimizing the PWLS objective function. The penalty parameter was determined through an inverse calculation of the derivative of the objective function incorporating both the high and low-mAs projections. Then the parameter obtained can be used for PWLS to smooth the noise in low-dose projections. CBCT projections for a CatPhan 600 and an anthropomorphic head phantom, as well as for a brain patient, were used to evaluate the performance of the proposed technique. Results: The penalty parameter in PWLS was obtained for each CBCT projection using the proposed strategy. The noise in the low-dose CBCT images reconstructed from the smoothed projections was greatly suppressed. Image quality in PWLS-processed low-dose CBCT was comparable to its corresponding high-dose CBCT. Conclusions: A technique was proposed to estimate the penalty parameter for PWLS algorithm. It provides an objective and efficient way to obtain the penalty parameter for image restoration algorithms that require predefined smoothing parameters.« less

Performance evaluation of algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) for prototype chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Haenghwa; Choi, Sunghoon; Jo, Byungdu; Kim, Hyemi; Lee, Donghoon; Kim, Dohyeon; Choi, Seungyeon; Lee, Youngjin; Kim, Hee-Joung

2017-03-01

Chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) is a new 3D imaging technique that can be expected to improve the detection of subtle lung disease over conventional chest radiography. Algorithm development for CDT system is challenging in that a limited number of low-dose projections are acquired over a limited angular range. To confirm the feasibility of algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) method under variations in key imaging parameters, quality metrics were conducted using LUNGMAN phantom included grand-glass opacity (GGO) tumor. Reconstructed images were acquired from the total 41 projection images over a total angular range of +/-20°. We evaluated contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and artifacts spread function (ASF) to investigate the effect of reconstruction parameters such as number of iterations, relaxation parameter and initial guess on image quality. We found that proper value of ART relaxation parameter could improve image quality from the same projection. In this study, proper value of relaxation parameters for zero-image (ZI) and back-projection (BP) initial guesses were 0.4 and 0.6, respectively. Also, the maximum CNR values and the minimum full width at half maximum (FWHM) of ASF were acquired in the reconstructed images after 20 iterations and 3 iterations, respectively. According to the results, BP initial guess for ART method could provide better image quality than ZI initial guess. In conclusion, ART method with proper reconstruction parameters could improve image quality due to the limited angular range in CDT system.

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart L - Criteria for Evaluating a State's Proposed NEPA-Like Process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A range of feasible... conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including relevant recreation and open-space..., institutional, and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other anticipated public works projects...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart L - Criteria for Evaluating a State's Proposed NEPA-Like Process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A range of feasible... conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including relevant recreation and open-space..., institutional, and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other anticipated public works projects...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart L - Criteria for Evaluating a State's Proposed NEPA-Like Process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A range of feasible... conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including relevant recreation and open-space..., institutional, and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other anticipated public works projects...

Development of laryngeal video stroboscope with laser marking module for dynamic glottis measurement.

PubMed

Kuo, Chung-Feng Jeffrey; Wang, Hsing-Won; Hsiao, Shang-Wun; Peng, Kai-Ching; Chou, Ying-Liang; Lai, Chun-Yu; Hsu, Chien-Tung Max

2014-01-01

Physicians clinically use laryngeal video stroboscope as an auxiliary instrument to test glottal diseases, and read vocal fold images and voice quality for diagnosis. As the position of vocal fold varies in each person, the proportion of the vocal fold size as presented in the vocal fold image is different, making it impossible to directly estimate relevant glottis physiological parameters, such as the length, area, perimeter, and opening angle of the glottis. Hence, this study designs an innovative laser projection marking module for the laryngeal video stroboscope to provide reference parameters for image scaling conversion. This innovative laser projection marking module to be installed on the laryngeal video stroboscope using laser beams to project onto the glottis plane, in order to provide reference parameters for scaling conversion of images of laryngeal video stroboscope. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying Key Climate Parameter Uncertainties Using an Earth System Model with a Dynamic 3D Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, R.; Sriver, R. L.; Goes, M. P.; Urban, N.; Matthews, D.; Haran, M.; Keller, K.

2011-12-01

Climate projections hinge critically on uncertain climate model parameters such as climate sensitivity, vertical ocean diffusivity and anthropogenic sulfate aerosol forcings. Climate sensitivity is defined as the equilibrium global mean temperature response to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Vertical ocean diffusivity parameterizes sub-grid scale ocean vertical mixing processes. These parameters are typically estimated using Intermediate Complexity Earth System Models (EMICs) that lack a full 3D representation of the oceans, thereby neglecting the effects of mixing on ocean dynamics and meridional overturning. We improve on these studies by employing an EMIC with a dynamic 3D ocean model to estimate these parameters. We carry out historical climate simulations with the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM) varying parameters that affect climate sensitivity, vertical ocean mixing, and effects of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols. We use a Bayesian approach whereby the likelihood of each parameter combination depends on how well the model simulates surface air temperature and upper ocean heat content. We use a Gaussian process emulator to interpolate the model output to an arbitrary parameter setting. We use Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to estimate the posterior probability distribution function (pdf) of these parameters. We explore the sensitivity of the results to prior assumptions about the parameters. In addition, we estimate the relative skill of different observations to constrain the parameters. We quantify the uncertainty in parameter estimates stemming from climate variability, model and observational errors. We explore the sensitivity of key decision-relevant climate projections to these parameters. We find that climate sensitivity and vertical ocean diffusivity estimates are consistent with previously published results. The climate sensitivity pdf is strongly affected by the prior assumptions, and by the scaling parameter for the aerosols. The estimation method is computationally fast and can be used with more complex models where climate sensitivity is diagnosed rather than prescribed. The parameter estimates can be used to create probabilistic climate projections using the UVic ESCM model in future studies.

Identifying sensitive ranges in global warming precipitation change dependence on convective parameters

DOE PAGES

Bernstein, Diana N.; Neelin, J. David

2016-04-28

A branch-run perturbed-physics ensemble in the Community Earth System Model estimates impacts of parameters in the deep convection scheme on current hydroclimate and on end-of-century precipitation change projections under global warming. Regional precipitation change patterns prove highly sensitive to these parameters, especially in the tropics with local changes exceeding 3mm/d, comparable to the magnitude of the predicted change and to differences in global warming predictions among the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 models. This sensitivity is distributed nonlinearly across the feasible parameter range, notably in the low-entrainment range of the parameter for turbulent entrainment in the deep convection scheme.more » This suggests that a useful target for parameter sensitivity studies is to identify such disproportionately sensitive dangerous ranges. Here, the low-entrainment range is used to illustrate the reduction in global warming regional precipitation sensitivity that could occur if this dangerous range can be excluded based on evidence from current climate.« less

Identifying sensitive ranges in global warming precipitation change dependence on convective parameters

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

Bernstein, Diana N.; Neelin, J. David

A branch-run perturbed-physics ensemble in the Community Earth System Model estimates impacts of parameters in the deep convection scheme on current hydroclimate and on end-of-century precipitation change projections under global warming. Regional precipitation change patterns prove highly sensitive to these parameters, especially in the tropics with local changes exceeding 3mm/d, comparable to the magnitude of the predicted change and to differences in global warming predictions among the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 models. This sensitivity is distributed nonlinearly across the feasible parameter range, notably in the low-entrainment range of the parameter for turbulent entrainment in the deep convection scheme.more » This suggests that a useful target for parameter sensitivity studies is to identify such disproportionately sensitive dangerous ranges. Here, the low-entrainment range is used to illustrate the reduction in global warming regional precipitation sensitivity that could occur if this dangerous range can be excluded based on evidence from current climate.« less

ESTIMATE OF CP VIOLATION FOR THE LBNE PROJECT AND δCP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kisslinger, Leonard S.

2012-08-01

Measurements of CP violation (CPV) and the basic δCP parameter are the goals of the LBNE Project, which is being planned. Using the expected energy and baseline parameters for the LBNE Project, CPV and the dependence of CPV on δCP are estimated, to help in the planning of this project.

Warpage improvement on wheel caster by optimizing the process parameters using genetic algorithm (GA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safuan, N. S.; Fathullah, M.; Shayfull, Z.; Nasir, S. M.; Hazwan, M. H. M.

2017-09-01

In injection moulding process, the defects will always encountered and affected the final product shape and functionality. This study is concerning on minimizing warpage and optimizing the process parameter of injection moulding part. Apart from eliminating product wastes, this project also giving out best recommended parameters setting. This research studied on five parameters. The optimization showed that warpage have been improved 42.64% from 0.6524 mm to 0.30879 mm in Autodesk Moldflow Insight (AMI) simulation result and Genetic Algorithm (GA) respectively.

Projecting date palm distribution in Iran under climate change using topography, physicochemical soil properties, soil taxonomy, land use, and climate data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shabani, Farzin; Kumar, Lalit; Taylor, Subhashni

2014-11-01

This study set out to model potential date palm distribution under current and future climate scenarios using an emission scenario, in conjunction with two different global climate models (GCMs): CSIRO-Mk3.0 (CS), and MIROC-H (MR), and to refine results based on suitability under four nonclimatic parameters. Areas containing suitable physicochemical soil properties and suitable soil taxonomy, together with land slopes of less than 10° and suitable land uses for date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera) were selected as appropriate refining tools to ensure the CLIMEX results were accurate and robust. Results showed that large regions of Iran are projected as likely to become climatically suitable for date palm cultivation based on the projected scenarios for the years 2030, 2050, 2070, and 2100. The study also showed CLIMEX outputs merit refinement by nonclimatic parameters and that the incremental introduction of each additional parameter decreased the disagreement between GCMs. Furthermore, the study indicated that the least amount of disagreement in terms of areas conducive to date palm cultivation resulted from CS and MR GCMs when the locations of suitable physicochemical soil properties and soil taxonomy were used as refinement tools.

A study on the impact of parameter uncertainty on the emission-based ranking of transportation projects.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

With the growing concern with air quality levels and, hence, the livability of urban regions in the nation, it has become increasingly common to incorporate vehicular emission considerations in the ranking of transportation projects. Network assignme...

Study of anyon condensation and topological phase transitions from a Z4 topological phase using the projected entangled pair states approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iqbal, Mohsin; Duivenvoorden, Kasper; Schuch, Norbert

2018-05-01

We use projected entangled pair states (PEPS) to study topological quantum phase transitions. The local description of topological order in the PEPS formalism allows us to set up order parameters which measure condensation and deconfinement of anyons and serve as substitutes for conventional order parameters. We apply these order parameters, together with anyon-anyon correlation functions and some further probes, to characterize topological phases and phase transitions within a family of models based on a Z4 symmetry, which contains Z4 quantum double, toric code, double semion, and trivial phases. We find a diverse phase diagram which exhibits a variety of different phase transitions of both first and second order which we comprehensively characterize, including direct transitions between the toric code and the double semion phase.

Direct recovery of regional tracer kinetics from temporally inconsistent dynamic ECT projections using dimension-reduced time-activity basis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maltz, Jonathan S.

2000-11-01

We present an algorithm of reduced computational cost which is able to estimate kinetic model parameters directly from dynamic ECT sinograms made up of temporally inconsistent projections. The algorithm exploits the extreme degree of parameter redundancy inherent in linear combinations of the exponential functions which represent the modes of first-order compartmental systems. The singular value decomposition is employed to find a small set of orthogonal functions, the linear combinations of which are able to accurately represent all modes within the physiologically anticipated range in a given study. The reduced-dimension basis is formed as the convolution of this orthogonal set with a measured input function. The Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse is used to find coefficients of this basis. Algorithm performance is evaluated at realistic count rates using MCAT phantom and clinical 99mTc-teboroxime myocardial study data. Phantom data are modelled as originating from a Poisson process. For estimates recovered from a single slice projection set containing 2.5×105 total counts, recovered tissue responses compare favourably with those obtained using more computationally intensive methods. The corresponding kinetic parameter estimates (coefficients of the new basis) exhibit negligible bias, while parameter variances are low, falling within 30% of the Cramér-Rao lower bound.

A Research Study of Tropospheric Ozone and Meteorological Parameters to Introduce High School Students to Scientific Procedures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz-de-Mera, Yolanda; Notario, Alberto; Aranda, Alfonso; Adame, Jose Antonio; Parra, Alfonso; Romero, Eugenio; Parra, Jesus; Munoz, Fernando

2011-01-01

An environmental research project was carried out by a consortium established among scientists and university lecturers in collaboration with two high schools. High school students participated in a long-term study of the local temporal profiles of tropospheric ozone and the relationship to pollution and meteorological parameters. Low-cost…

Partitioning uncertainty in streamflow projections under nonstationary model conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chawla, Ila; Mujumdar, P. P.

2018-02-01

Assessing the impacts of Land Use (LU) and climate change on future streamflow projections is necessary for efficient management of water resources. However, model projections are burdened with significant uncertainty arising from various sources. Most of the previous studies have considered climate models and scenarios as major sources of uncertainty, but uncertainties introduced by land use change and hydrologic model assumptions are rarely investigated. In this paper an attempt is made to segregate the contribution from (i) general circulation models (GCMs), (ii) emission scenarios, (iii) land use scenarios, (iv) stationarity assumption of the hydrologic model, and (v) internal variability of the processes, to overall uncertainty in streamflow projections using analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach. Generally, most of the impact assessment studies are carried out with unchanging hydrologic model parameters in future. It is, however, necessary to address the nonstationarity in model parameters with changing land use and climate. In this paper, a regression based methodology is presented to obtain the hydrologic model parameters with changing land use and climate scenarios in future. The Upper Ganga Basin (UGB) in India is used as a case study to demonstrate the methodology. The semi-distributed Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model is set-up over the basin, under nonstationary conditions. Results indicate that model parameters vary with time, thereby invalidating the often-used assumption of model stationarity. The streamflow in UGB under the nonstationary model condition is found to reduce in future. The flows are also found to be sensitive to changes in land use. Segregation results suggest that model stationarity assumption and GCMs along with their interactions with emission scenarios, act as dominant sources of uncertainty. This paper provides a generalized framework for hydrologists to examine stationarity assumption of models before considering them for future streamflow projections and segregate the contribution of various sources to the uncertainty.

Environmental applications activity at Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paludan, C. T. N.

1972-01-01

MSFC environmental applications demonstration projects have emphasized application of aerospace technology to community needs of southeastern U.S. Some of the typical projects underway are: hydrological parameter determination; land use surveys; agricultural stress detection; new community site surveys; pollution monitoring; urban transportation studies; and urban environmental quality.

A mathematical model approach toward combining information from multiple image projections of the same patient

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chawla, Amarpreet S.; Samei, Ehsan; Abbey, Craig

2007-03-01

In this study, we used a mathematical observer model to combine information obtained from multiple angular projections of the same breast to determine the overall detection performance of a multi-projection breast imaging system in detectability of a simulated mass. 82 subjects participated in the study and 25 angular projections of each breast were acquired. Projections from a simulated 3 mm 3-D lesion were added to the projection images. The lesion was assumed to be embedded in the compressed breast at a distance of 3 cm from the detector. Hotelling observer with Laguerre-Gauss channels (LG CHO) was applied to each image. Detectability was analyzed in terms of ROC curves and the area under ROC curves (AUC). The critical question studied is how to best integrate the individual decision variables across multiple (correlated) views. Towards that end, three different methods were investigated. Specifically, 1) ROCs from different projections were simply averaged; 2) the test statistics from different projections were averaged; and 3) a Bayesian decision fusion rule was used. Finally, AUC of the combined ROC was used as a parameter to optimize the acquisition parameters to maximize the performance of the system. It was found that the Bayesian decision fusion technique performs better than the other two techniques and likely offers the best approximation of the diagnostic process. Furthermore, if the total dose level is held constant at 1/25th of dual-view mammographic screening dose, the highest detectability performance is observed when considering only two projections spread along an angular span of 11.4°.

General Economic and Demographic Background and Projections for Indiana Library Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foust, James D.; Tower, Carl B.

Before future library needs can be estimated, economic and demographic variables that influence the demand for library services must be projected and estimating equations relating library needs to economic and demographic parameters developed. This study considers the size, location and age-sex characteristics of Indiana's current population and…

Optimized image acquisition for breast tomosynthesis in projection and reconstruction space.

PubMed

Chawla, Amarpreet S; Lo, Joseph Y; Baker, Jay A; Samei, Ehsan

2009-11-01

Breast tomosynthesis has been an exciting new development in the field of breast imaging. While the diagnostic improvement via tomosynthesis is notable, the full potential of tomosynthesis has not yet been realized. This may be attributed to the dependency of the diagnostic quality of tomosynthesis on multiple variables, each of which needs to be optimized. Those include dose, number of angular projections, and the total angular span of those projections. In this study, the authors investigated the effects of these acquisition parameters on the overall diagnostic image quality of breast tomosynthesis in both the projection and reconstruction space. Five mastectomy specimens were imaged using a prototype tomosynthesis system. 25 angular projections of each specimen were acquired at 6.2 times typical single-view clinical dose level. Images at lower dose levels were then simulated using a noise modification routine. Each projection image was supplemented with 84 simulated 3 mm 3D lesions embedded at the center of 84 nonoverlapping ROIs. The projection images were then reconstructed using a filtered backprojection algorithm at different combinations of acquisition parameters to investigate which of the many possible combinations maximizes the performance. Performance was evaluated in terms of a Laguerre-Gauss channelized Hotelling observer model-based measure of lesion detectability. The analysis was also performed without reconstruction by combining the model results from projection images using Bayesian decision fusion algorithm. The effect of acquisition parameters on projection images and reconstructed slices were then compared to derive an optimization rule for tomosynthesis. The results indicated that projection images yield comparable but higher performance than reconstructed images. Both modes, however, offered similar trends: Performance improved with an increase in the total acquisition dose level and the angular span. Using a constant dose level and angular span, the performance rolled off beyond a certain number of projections, indicating that simply increasing the number of projections in tomosynthesis may not necessarily improve its performance. The best performance for both projection images and tomosynthesis slices was obtained for 15-17 projections spanning an angular are of approximately 45 degrees--the maximum tested in our study, and for an acquisition dose equal to single-view mammography. The optimization framework developed in this framework is applicable to other reconstruction techniques and other multiprojection systems.

A NEW METHOD TO QUANTIFY AND REDUCE THE NET PROJECTION ERROR IN WHOLE-SOLAR-ACTIVE-REGION PARAMETERS MEASURED FROM VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS

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

Falconer, David A.; Tiwari, Sanjiv K.; Moore, Ronald L.

Projection errors limit the use of vector magnetograms of active regions (ARs) far from the disk center. In this Letter, for ARs observed up to 60° from the disk center, we demonstrate a method for measuring and reducing the projection error in the magnitude of any whole-AR parameter that is derived from a vector magnetogram that has been deprojected to the disk center. The method assumes that the center-to-limb curve of the average of the parameter’s absolute values, measured from the disk passage of a large number of ARs and normalized to each AR’s absolute value of the parameter atmore » central meridian, gives the average fractional projection error at each radial distance from the disk center. To demonstrate the method, we use a large set of large-flux ARs and apply the method to a whole-AR parameter that is among the simplest to measure: whole-AR magnetic flux. We measure 30,845 SDO /Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager vector magnetograms covering the disk passage of 272 large-flux ARs, each having whole-AR flux >10{sup 22} Mx. We obtain the center-to-limb radial-distance run of the average projection error in measured whole-AR flux from a Chebyshev fit to the radial-distance plot of the 30,845 normalized measured values. The average projection error in the measured whole-AR flux of an AR at a given radial distance is removed by multiplying the measured flux by the correction factor given by the fit. The correction is important for both the study of the evolution of ARs and for improving the accuracy of forecasts of an AR’s major flare/coronal mass ejection productivity.« less

The management and design of economic development projects: A case study of World Bank electricity projects in Egypt

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

El Sabaa, S.M.

1992-01-01

This study is concerned with the efficiency of World Bank projects in Egypt. The study seeks improvements in the methods of evaluating public sector projects in Egypt. To approaches are employed: (1) project identification to optimally allocate Egypt's and World Bank's resources; (2) project appraisal to assess the economic viability and efficiency of investments. The electricity sector is compared with the agriculture sector as a means of employing project identification for priority ordering of investment for development in Egypt. The key criteria for evaluation are the impacts of developments of each sector upon Egypt's national objectives and needs. These includemore » employment opportunities, growth, alleviation of poverty, cross comparison of per capita consumption in each sector, economic rate of return, national security, balance of payments and foreign debt. The allocation of scarce investments would have been more efficient in agriculture than in electricity in meeting Egypt's national objectives and needs. World Bank lending programs in Egypt reveal a priority ordering of electricity over agriculture and rural development. World Bank development projects in Egypt have not been optimally identified, and its programs have not followed an efficient allocation of World Bank's and Egypt's resources. The key parameters in evaluating economic viability and efficiency of development projects are: (1) the discount rate (the opportunity cost of public funds); (2) the exchange rate; and (3) the cost of major inputs, as approximated by shadow prices of labor, water, electricity, and transportation for development projects. Alternative approaches to estimating the opportunity cost of public funds are made. The parameters in evaluating the efficiency of projects have not been accurately estimated in the appraisal stage of the World Bank projects in Egypt, resulting in false or misleading information concerning the economic viability and efficiency of the projects.« less

Reaction and Aggregation Dynamics of Cell Surface Receptors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Michelle Dong

This dissertation is composed of both theoretical and experimental studies of cell surface receptor reaction and aggregation. Project I studies the reaction rate enhancement due to surface diffusion of a bulk dissolved ligand with its membrane embedded target, using numerical calculations. The results show that the reaction rate enhancement is determined by ligand surface adsorption and desorption kinetic rates, surface and bulk diffusion coefficients, and geometry. In particular, we demonstrate that the ligand surface adsorption and desorption kinetic rates, rather than their ratio (the equilibrium constant), are important in rate enhancement. The second and third projects are studies of acetylcholine receptor clusters on cultured rat myotubes using fluorescence techniques after labeling the receptors with tetramethylrhodamine -alpha-bungarotoxin. The second project studies when and where the clusters form by making time-lapse movies. The movies are made from overlay of the pseudocolored total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) images of the cluster, and the schlieren images of the cell cultures. These movies are the first movies made using TIRF, and they clearly show the cluster formation from the myoblast fusion, the first appearance of clusters, and the eventual disappearance of clusters. The third project studies the fine structural features of individual clusters observed under TIRF. The features were characterized with six parameters by developing a novel fluorescence technique: spatial fluorescence autocorrelation. These parameters were then used to study the feature variations with age, and with treatments of drugs (oligomycin and carbachol). The results show little variation with age. However, drug treatment induced significant changes in some parameters. These changes were different for oligomycin and carbachol, which indicates that the two drugs may eliminate clusters through different mechanisms.

Preliminary Result of Earthquake Source Parameters the Mw 3.4 at 23:22:47 IWST, August 21, 2004, Centre Java, Indonesia Based on MERAMEX Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laksono, Y. A.; Brotopuspito, K. S.; Suryanto, W.; Widodo; Wardah, R. A.; Rudianto, I.

2018-03-01

In order to study the structure subsurface at Merapi Lawu anomaly (MLA) using forward modelling or full waveform inversion, it needs a good earthquake source parameters. The best result source parameter comes from seismogram with high signal to noise ratio (SNR). Beside that the source must be near the MLA location and the stations that used as parameters must be outside from MLA in order to avoid anomaly. At first the seismograms are processed by software SEISAN v10 using a few stations from MERAMEX project. After we found the hypocentre that match the criterion we fine-tuned the source parameters using more stations. Based on seismogram from 21 stations, it is obtained the source parameters as follows: the event is at August, 21 2004, on 23:22:47 Indonesia western standard time (IWST), epicentre coordinate -7.80°S, 101.34°E, hypocentre 47.3 km, dominant frequency f0 = 3.0 Hz, the earthquake magnitude Mw = 3.4.

When tractography meets tracer injections: a systematic study of trends and variation sources of diffusion-based connectivity.

PubMed

Aydogan, Dogu Baran; Jacobs, Russell; Dulawa, Stephanie; Thompson, Summer L; Francois, Maite Christi; Toga, Arthur W; Dong, Hongwei; Knowles, James A; Shi, Yonggang

2018-04-16

Tractography is a powerful technique capable of non-invasively reconstructing the structural connections in the brain using diffusion MRI images, but the validation of tractograms is challenging due to lack of ground truth. Owing to recent developments in mapping the mouse brain connectome, high-resolution tracer injection-based axonal projection maps have been created and quickly adopted for the validation of tractography. Previous studies using tracer injections mainly focused on investigating the match in projections and optimal tractography protocols. Being a complicated technique, however, tractography relies on multiple stages of operations and parameters. These factors introduce large variabilities in tractograms, hindering the optimization of protocols and making the interpretation of results difficult. Based on this observation, in contrast to previous studies, in this work we focused on quantifying and ranking the amount of performance variation introduced by these factors. For this purpose, we performed over a million tractography experiments and studied the variability across different subjects, injections, anatomical constraints and tractography parameters. By using N-way ANOVA analysis, we show that all tractography parameters are significant and importantly performance variations with respect to the differences in subjects are comparable to the variations due to tractography parameters, which strongly underlines the importance of fully documenting the tractography protocols in scientific experiments. We also quantitatively show that inclusion of anatomical constraints is the most significant factor for improving tractography performance. Although this critical factor helps reduce false positives, our analysis indicates that anatomy-informed tractography still fails to capture a large portion of axonal projections.

Study on creep behavior of Grade 91 heat-resistant steel using theta projection method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Facai; Tang, Xiaoying

2017-10-01

Creep behavior of Grade 91 heat-resistant steel used for steam cooler was characterized using the theta projection method. Creep tests were conducted at the temperature of 923K under the stress ranging from 100-150MPa. Based on the creep curve results, four theta parameters were established using a nonlinear least square fitting method. Four theta parameters showed a good linearity as a function of stress. The predicted curves coincided well with the experimental data and creep curves were also modeled to the low stress level of 60MPa.

Progress in Mirror-Based Fusion Neutron Source Development.

PubMed

Anikeev, A V; Bagryansky, P A; Beklemishev, A D; Ivanov, A A; Kolesnikov, E Yu; Korzhavina, M S; Korobeinikova, O A; Lizunov, A A; Maximov, V V; Murakhtin, S V; Pinzhenin, E I; Prikhodko, V V; Soldatkina, E I; Solomakhin, A L; Tsidulko, Yu A; Yakovlev, D V; Yurov, D V

2015-12-04

The Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in worldwide collaboration has developed a project of a 14 MeV neutron source for fusion material studies and other applications. The projected neutron source of the plasma type is based on the gas dynamic trap (GDT), which is a special magnetic mirror system for plasma confinement. Essential progress in plasma parameters has been achieved in recent experiments at the GDT facility in the Budker Institute, which is a hydrogen (deuterium) prototype of the source. Stable confinement of hot-ion plasmas with the relative pressure exceeding 0.5 was demonstrated. The electron temperature was increased up to 0.9 keV in the regime with additional electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of a moderate power. These parameters are the record for axisymmetric open mirror traps. These achievements elevate the projects of a GDT-based neutron source on a higher level of competitive ability and make it possible to construct a source with parameters suitable for materials testing today. The paper presents the progress in experimental studies and numerical simulations of the mirror-based fusion neutron source and its possible applications including a fusion material test facility and a fusion-fission hybrid system.

Risk-based Prioritization of Facility Decommissioning and Environmental Restoration Projects in the National Nuclear Legacy Liabilities Program at the Chalk River Laboratory - 13564

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

Nelson, Jerel G.; Kruzic, Michael; Castillo, Carlos

2013-07-01

Chalk River Laboratory (CRL), located in Ontario Canada, has a large number of remediation projects currently in the Nuclear Legacy Liabilities Program (NLLP), including hundreds of facility decommissioning projects and over one hundred environmental remediation projects, all to be executed over the next 70 years. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) utilized WorleyParsons to prioritize the NLLP projects at the CRL through a risk-based prioritization and ranking process, using the WorleyParsons Sequencing Unit Prioritization and Estimating Risk Model (SUPERmodel). The prioritization project made use of the SUPERmodel which has been previously used for other large-scale site prioritization and sequencing ofmore » facilities at nuclear laboratories in the United States. The process included development and vetting of risk parameter matrices as well as confirmation/validation of project risks. Detailed sensitivity studies were also conducted to understand the impacts that risk parameter weighting and scoring had on prioritization. The repeatable prioritization process yielded an objective, risk-based and technically defendable process for prioritization that gained concurrence from all stakeholders, including Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) who is responsible for the oversight of the NLLP. (authors)« less

The Alcohol Dehydrogenase Kinetics Laboratory: Enhanced Data Analysis and Student-Designed Mini-Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverstein, Todd P.

2016-01-01

A highly instructive, wide-ranging laboratory project in which students study the effects of various parameters on the enzymatic activity of alcohol dehydrogenase has been adapted for the upper-division biochemistry and physical biochemistry laboratory. Our two main goals were to provide enhanced data analysis, featuring nonlinear regression, and…

SU-E-T-113: Dose Distribution Using Respiratory Signals and Machine Parameters During Treatment

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

Imae, T; Haga, A; Saotome, N

Purpose: Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is a rotational intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) technique capable of acquiring projection images during treatment. Treatment plans for lung tumors using stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) are calculated with planning computed tomography (CT) images only exhale phase. Purpose of this study is to evaluate dose distribution by reconstructing from only the data such as respiratory signals and machine parameters acquired during treatment. Methods: Phantom and three patients with lung tumor underwent CT scans for treatment planning. They were treated by VMAT while acquiring projection images to derive their respiratory signals and machine parameters including positions ofmore » multi leaf collimators, dose rates and integrated monitor units. The respiratory signals were divided into 4 and 10 phases and machine parameters were correlated with the divided respiratory signals based on the gantry angle. Dose distributions of each respiratory phase were calculated from plans which were reconstructed from the respiratory signals and the machine parameters during treatment. The doses at isocenter, maximum point and the centroid of target were evaluated. Results and Discussion: Dose distributions during treatment were calculated using the machine parameters and the respiratory signals detected from projection images. Maximum dose difference between plan and in treatment distribution was −1.8±0.4% at centroid of target and dose differences of evaluated points between 4 and 10 phases were no significant. Conclusion: The present method successfully evaluated dose distribution using respiratory signals and machine parameters during treatment. This method is feasible to verify the actual dose for moving target.« less

The Components of Community Awareness and Preparedness; its Effects on the Reduction of Tsunami Vulnerability and Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tufekci, Duygu; Lutfi Suzen, Mehmet; Cevdet Yalciner, Ahmet

2017-04-01

The resilience of coastal communities against tsunamis are dependent on preparedness of the communities. Preparedness covers social and structural components which increases with the awareness in the community against tsunamis. Therefore, proper evaluation of all components of preparedness will help communities to reduce the adverse effects of tsunamis and increase the overall resilience of communities. On the other hand, the complexity of the metropolitan life with its social and structural components necessitates explicit vulnerability assessments for proper determination of tsunami risk, and development of proper mitigation strategies and recovery plans. Assessing the vulnerability and resilience level of a region against tsunamis and efforts for reducing the tsunami risk are the key components of disaster management. Since increasing the awareness of coastal communities against tsunamis is one of the main objectives of disaster management, then it should be considered as one of the parameter in tsunami risk analysis. In the method named MetHuVA (METU - Metropolitan Human Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment) proposed by Cankaya et al., (2016) and Tufekci et al., (2016), the awareness and preparedness level of the community is revealed to be an indispensable parameter with a great effect on tsunami risk. According to the results obtained from those studies, it becomes important that the awareness and preparedness parameter (n) must be analyzed by considering their interaction and all related components. While increasing awareness can be achieved, vulnerability and risk will be reduced. In this study the components of awareness and preparedness parameter (n) is analyzed in different categories by considering administrative, social, educational, economic and structural preparedness of the coastal communities. Hence the proposed awareness and preparedness parameter can properly be analyzed and further improvements can be achieved in vulnerability and risk analysis. Furthermore, the components of the awareness and preparedness parameter n, is widely investigated in global and local practices by using the method of categorization to determine different levels for different coastal metropolitan areas with different cultures and with different hazard perception. Moreover, consistency between the theoretical maximum and practical applications of parameter n is estimated, discussed and presented. In the applications mainly the Bakirkoy district of Istanbul is analyzed and the results are presented. Acknowledgements: Partial support by 603839 ASTARTE Project of EU, UDAPC-12-14 project of AFAD, Turkey, 213M534 projects of TUBITAK, Japan-Turkey Joint Research Project by JICA on earthquakes and tsunamis in Marmara Region in (JICA SATREPS - MarDiM Project), and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality are acknowledged.

Determining Crack Tip Field Parameters for Elastic-Plastic Materials via an Estimation Scheme

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

of the Materials Laboratory was the Project Monitor for this study of the application of the Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics (NLFM) parameters to the...fracture mechanics (LEFM) is applicable . If the plastic zone size is large, compared to the case of small scale yielding, LEFM is not applicable . The...above HRR field equations are applicable only for the case of stationary cracks. 2.2 PARAMETER DETERMINATION For elastic-plastic materials, the

Assessment of Food Chain Pathway Parameters in Biosphere Models: Annual Progress Report for Fiscal Year 2004

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

Napier, Bruce A.; Krupka, Kenneth M.; Fellows, Robert J.

2004-12-02

This Annual Progress Report describes the work performed and summarizes some of the key observations to date on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s project Assessment of Food Chain Pathway Parameters in Biosphere Models, which was established to assess and evaluate a number of key parameters used in the food-chain models used in performance assessments of radioactive waste disposal facilities. Section 2 of this report describes activities undertaken to collect samples of soils from three regions of the United States, the Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest, and perform analyses to characterize their physical and chemical properties. Section 3 summarizes information gathered regardingmore » agricultural practices and common and unusual crops grown in each of these three areas. Section 4 describes progress in studying radionuclide uptake in several representative crops from the three soil types in controlled laboratory conditions. Section 5 describes a range of international coordination activities undertaken by Project staff in order to support the underlying data needs of the Project. Section 6 provides a very brief summary of the status of the GENII Version 2 computer program, which is a “client” of the types of data being generated by the Project, and for which the Project will be providing training to the US NRC staff in the coming Fiscal Year. Several appendices provide additional supporting information.« less

Effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections: A calibration-constrained analysis

DOE PAGES

Harp, Dylan R.; Atchley, Adam L.; Painter, Scott L.; ...

2016-02-11

Here, the effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections are studied using a three-phase subsurface thermal hydrology model and calibration-constrained uncertainty analysis. The Null-Space Monte Carlo method is used to identify soil hydrothermal parameter combinations that are consistent with borehole temperature measurements at the study site, the Barrow Environmental Observatory. Each parameter combination is then used in a forward projection of permafrost conditions for the 21more » $$^{st}$$ century (from calendar year 2006 to 2100) using atmospheric forcings from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) in the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 greenhouse gas concentration trajectory. A 100-year projection allows for the evaluation of intra-annual uncertainty due to soil properties and the inter-annual variability due to year to year differences in CESM climate forcings. After calibrating to borehole temperature data at this well-characterized site, soil property uncertainties are still significant and result in significant intra-annual uncertainties in projected active layer thickness and annual thaw depth-duration even with a specified future climate. Intra-annual uncertainties in projected soil moisture content and Stefan number are small. A volume and time integrated Stefan number decreases significantly in the future climate, indicating that latent heat of phase change becomes more important than heat conduction in future climates. Out of 10 soil parameters, ALT, annual thaw depth-duration, and Stefan number are highly dependent on mineral soil porosity, while annual mean liquid saturation of the active layer is highly dependent on the mineral soil residual saturation and moderately dependent on peat residual saturation. By comparing the ensemble statistics to the spread of projected permafrost metrics using different climate models, we show that the effect of calibration-constrained uncertainty in soil properties, although significant, is less than that produced by structural climate model uncertainty for this location.« less

Effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections: A calibration-constrained analysis

DOE PAGES

Harp, D. R.; Atchley, A. L.; Painter, S. L.; ...

2015-06-29

The effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections are studied using a three-phase subsurface thermal hydrology model and calibration-constrained uncertainty analysis. The Null-Space Monte Carlo method is used to identify soil hydrothermal parameter combinations that are consistent with borehole temperature measurements at the study site, the Barrow Environmental Observatory. Each parameter combination is then used in a forward projection of permafrost conditions for the 21st century (from calendar year 2006 to 2100) using atmospheric forcings from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) in the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 greenhouse gas concentration trajectory. A 100-year projection allows formore » the evaluation of intra-annual uncertainty due to soil properties and the inter-annual variability due to year to year differences in CESM climate forcings. After calibrating to borehole temperature data at this well-characterized site, soil property uncertainties are still significant and result in significant intra-annual uncertainties in projected active layer thickness and annual thaw depth-duration even with a specified future climate. Intra-annual uncertainties in projected soil moisture content and Stefan number are small. A volume and time integrated Stefan number decreases significantly in the future climate, indicating that latent heat of phase change becomes more important than heat conduction in future climates. Out of 10 soil parameters, ALT, annual thaw depth-duration, and Stefan number are highly dependent on mineral soil porosity, while annual mean liquid saturation of the active layer is highly dependent on the mineral soil residual saturation and moderately dependent on peat residual saturation. As a result, by comparing the ensemble statistics to the spread of projected permafrost metrics using different climate models, we show that the effect of calibration-constrained uncertainty in soil properties, although significant, is less than that produced by structural climate model uncertainty for this location.« less

Effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections: a calibration-constrained analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harp, D. R.; Atchley, A. L.; Painter, S. L.; Coon, E. T.; Wilson, C. J.; Romanovsky, V. E.; Rowland, J. C.

2016-02-01

The effects of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections are studied using a three-phase subsurface thermal hydrology model and calibration-constrained uncertainty analysis. The null-space Monte Carlo method is used to identify soil hydrothermal parameter combinations that are consistent with borehole temperature measurements at the study site, the Barrow Environmental Observatory. Each parameter combination is then used in a forward projection of permafrost conditions for the 21st century (from calendar year 2006 to 2100) using atmospheric forcings from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) in the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 greenhouse gas concentration trajectory. A 100-year projection allows for the evaluation of predictive uncertainty (due to soil property (parametric) uncertainty) and the inter-annual climate variability due to year to year differences in CESM climate forcings. After calibrating to measured borehole temperature data at this well-characterized site, soil property uncertainties are still significant and result in significant predictive uncertainties in projected active layer thickness and annual thaw depth-duration even with a specified future climate. Inter-annual climate variability in projected soil moisture content and Stefan number are small. A volume- and time-integrated Stefan number decreases significantly, indicating a shift in subsurface energy utilization in the future climate (latent heat of phase change becomes more important than heat conduction). Out of 10 soil parameters, ALT, annual thaw depth-duration, and Stefan number are highly dependent on mineral soil porosity, while annual mean liquid saturation of the active layer is highly dependent on the mineral soil residual saturation and moderately dependent on peat residual saturation. By comparing the ensemble statistics to the spread of projected permafrost metrics using different climate models, we quantify the relative magnitude of soil property uncertainty to another source of permafrost uncertainty, structural climate model uncertainty. We show that the effect of calibration-constrained uncertainty in soil properties, although significant, is less than that produced by structural climate model uncertainty for this location.

Effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections: a calibration-constrained analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harp, D. R.; Atchley, A. L.; Painter, S. L.; Coon, E. T.; Wilson, C. J.; Romanovsky, V. E.; Rowland, J. C.

2015-06-01

The effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections are studied using a three-phase subsurface thermal hydrology model and calibration-constrained uncertainty analysis. The Null-Space Monte Carlo method is used to identify soil hydrothermal parameter combinations that are consistent with borehole temperature measurements at the study site, the Barrow Environmental Observatory. Each parameter combination is then used in a forward projection of permafrost conditions for the 21st century (from calendar year 2006 to 2100) using atmospheric forcings from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) in the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 greenhouse gas concentration trajectory. A 100-year projection allows for the evaluation of intra-annual uncertainty due to soil properties and the inter-annual variability due to year to year differences in CESM climate forcings. After calibrating to borehole temperature data at this well-characterized site, soil property uncertainties are still significant and result in significant intra-annual uncertainties in projected active layer thickness and annual thaw depth-duration even with a specified future climate. Intra-annual uncertainties in projected soil moisture content and Stefan number are small. A volume and time integrated Stefan number decreases significantly in the future climate, indicating that latent heat of phase change becomes more important than heat conduction in future climates. Out of 10 soil parameters, ALT, annual thaw depth-duration, and Stefan number are highly dependent on mineral soil porosity, while annual mean liquid saturation of the active layer is highly dependent on the mineral soil residual saturation and moderately dependent on peat residual saturation. By comparing the ensemble statistics to the spread of projected permafrost metrics using different climate models, we show that the effect of calibration-constrained uncertainty in soil properties, although significant, is less than that produced by structural climate model uncertainty for this location.

Probabilistic inversion of expert assessments to inform projections about Antarctic ice sheet responses.

PubMed

Fuller, Robert William; Wong, Tony E; Keller, Klaus

2017-01-01

The response of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) to changing global temperatures is a key component of sea-level projections. Current projections of the AIS contribution to sea-level changes are deeply uncertain. This deep uncertainty stems, in part, from (i) the inability of current models to fully resolve key processes and scales, (ii) the relatively sparse available data, and (iii) divergent expert assessments. One promising approach to characterizing the deep uncertainty stemming from divergent expert assessments is to combine expert assessments, observations, and simple models by coupling probabilistic inversion and Bayesian inversion. Here, we present a proof-of-concept study that uses probabilistic inversion to fuse a simple AIS model and diverse expert assessments. We demonstrate the ability of probabilistic inversion to infer joint prior probability distributions of model parameters that are consistent with expert assessments. We then confront these inferred expert priors with instrumental and paleoclimatic observational data in a Bayesian inversion. These additional constraints yield tighter hindcasts and projections. We use this approach to quantify how the deep uncertainty surrounding expert assessments affects the joint probability distributions of model parameters and future projections.

IVS Pilot Project - Tropospheric Parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boehm, J.; Schuh, H.; Engelhardt, G.; MacMillan, D.; Lanotte, R.; Tomasi, P.; Vereshchagina, I.; Haas, R.; Negusini, M.; Gubanov, V.

2003-04-01

In April 2002 the IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry) set up the IVS Pilot Project - Tropospheric Parameters and the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics (IGG), Vienna, was asked to coordinate the project. After a call for participation six IVS Analysis Centers have joined the project and submitted their estimates of tropospheric parameters (wet and total zenith delays, horizontal gradients) for all IVS-R1 and IVS-R4 sessions since January 1st, 2002, on a regular basis. Using a two-step procedure the individual submissions are combined to stable and robust tropospheric parameters with 1h resolution and high accuracy. The zenith delays derived by VLBI are also compared with those provided by IGS (International GPS Service). At collocated sites (VLBI and GPS antennas at the same station) rather constant biases are found between the GPS and VLBI derived zenith delays, although both techniques are subject to the same tropospheric delays. Possible reasons for these biases are discussed.

Object-Image Correspondence for Algebraic Curves under Projections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burdis, Joseph M.; Kogan, Irina A.; Hong, Hoon

2013-03-01

We present a novel algorithm for deciding whether a given planar curve is an image of a given spatial curve, obtained by a central or a parallel projection with unknown parameters. The motivation comes from the problem of establishing a correspondence between an object and an image, taken by a camera with unknown position and parameters. A straightforward approach to this problem consists of setting up a system of conditions on the projection parameters and then checking whether or not this system has a solution. The computational advantage of the algorithm presented here, in comparison to algorithms based on the straightforward approach, lies in a significant reduction of a number of real parameters that need to be eliminated in order to establish existence or non-existence of a projection that maps a given spatial curve to a given planar curve. Our algorithm is based on projection criteria that reduce the projection problem to a certain modification of the equivalence p! roblem of planar curves under affine and projective transformations. To solve the latter problem we make an algebraic adaptation of signature construction that has been used to solve the equivalence problems for smooth curves. We introduce a notion of a classifying set of rational differential invariants and produce explicit formulas for such invariants for the actions of the projective and the affine groups on the plane.

Online geometric calibration of cone-beam computed tomography for arbitrary imaging objects.

PubMed

Meng, Yuanzheng; Gong, Hui; Yang, Xiaoquan

2013-02-01

A novel online method based on the symmetry property of the sum of projections (SOP) is proposed to obtain the geometric parameters in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). This method requires no calibration phantom and can be used in circular trajectory CBCT with arbitrary cone angles. An objective function is deduced to illustrate the dependence of the symmetry of SOP on geometric parameters, which will converge to its minimum when the geometric parameters achieve their true values. Thus, by minimizing the objective function, we can obtain the geometric parameters for image reconstruction. To validate this method, numerical phantom studies with different noise levels are simulated. The results show that our method is insensitive to the noise and can determine the skew (in-plane rotation angle of the detector), the roll (rotation angle around the projection of the rotation axis on the detector), and the rotation axis with high accuracy, while the mid-plane and source-to-detector distance will be obtained with slightly lower accuracy. However, our simulation studies validate that the errors of the latter two parameters brought by our method will hardly degrade the quality of reconstructed images. The small animal studies show that our method is able to deal with arbitrary imaging objects. In addition, the results of the reconstructed images in different slices demonstrate that we have achieved comparable image quality in the reconstructions as some offline methods.

Impact of Water Use by Utility-Scale Solar on Groundwater Resources of the Chuckwalla Basin, CA: Final Modeling Report

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

Shen, Chaopeng; Fang, Kuai; Ludwig, Noel

The DOE and BLM identified 285,000 acres of desert land in the Chuckwalla valley in the western U.S., for solar energy development. In addition to several approved solar projects, a pumped storage project was recently proposed to pump nearly 8000 acre-ft-yr of groundwater to store and stabilize solar energy output. This study aims at providing estimates of the amount of naturally-occurring recharge, and to estimate the impact of the pumping on the water table. To better provide the locations and intensity of natural recharge, this study employs an integrated, physically-based hydrologic model, PAWS+CLM, to calculate recharge. Then, the simulated rechargemore » is used in a parameter estimation package to calibrate spatially-distributed K field. This design is to incorporate all available observational data, including soil moisture monitoring stations, groundwater head, and estimates of groundwater conductivity, to constrain the modeling. To address the uncertainty of the soil parameters, an ensemble of simulations are conducted, and the resulting recharges are either rejected or accepted based on calibrated groundwater head and local variation of the K field. The results indicate that the natural total inflow to the study domain is between 7107 and 12,772 afy. During the initial-fill phase of pumped storage project, the total outflow exceeds the upper bound estimate of the inflow. If the initial-fill is annualized to 20 years, the average pumping is more than the lower bound of inflows. The results indicate after adding the pumped storage project, the system will nearing, if not exceeding, its maximum renewable pumping capacity. The accepted recharges lead to a drawdown range of 24 to 45 ft for an assumed specific yield of 0.05. However, the drawdown is sensitive to this parameter, whereas there is insufficient data to adequately constrain this parameter.« less

Via generalized function projective synchronization in nonlinear Schrödinger equation for secure communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, L. W.; Du, J. G.; Yin, J. L.

2018-05-01

This paper proposes a novel secured communication scheme in a chaotic system by applying generalized function projective synchronization of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. This phenomenal approach guarantees a secured and convenient communication. Our study applied the Melnikov theorem with an active control strategy to suppress chaos in the system. The transmitted information signal is modulated into the parameter of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the transmitter and it is assumed that the parameter of the receiver system is unknown. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory and the adaptive control technique, the controllers are designed to make two identical nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the unknown parameter asymptotically synchronized. The numerical simulation results of our study confirmed the validity, effectiveness and the feasibility of the proposed novel synchronization method and error estimate for a secure communication. The Chaos masking signals of the information communication scheme, further guaranteed a safer and secured information communicated via this approach.

Estimating Shape and Micro-Motion Parameter of Rotationally Symmetric Space Objects from the Infrared Signature

PubMed Central

Wu, Yabei; Lu, Huanzhang; Zhao, Fei; Zhang, Zhiyong

2016-01-01

Shape serves as an important additional feature for space target classification, which is complementary to those made available. Since different shapes lead to different projection functions, the projection property can be regarded as one kind of shape feature. In this work, the problem of estimating the projection function from the infrared signature of the object is addressed. We show that the projection function of any rotationally symmetric object can be approximately represented as a linear combination of some base functions. Based on this fact, the signal model of the emissivity-area product sequence is constructed, which is a particular mathematical function of the linear coefficients and micro-motion parameters. Then, the least square estimator is proposed to estimate the projection function and micro-motion parameters jointly. Experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. PMID:27763500

JUPITER PROJECT - JOINT UNIVERSAL PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF RELIABILITY

EPA Science Inventory

The JUPITER (Joint Universal Parameter IdenTification and Evaluation of Reliability) project builds on the technology of two widely used codes for sensitivity analysis, data assessment, calibration, and uncertainty analysis of environmental models: PEST and UCODE.

Runoff projection under climate change over Yarlung Zangbo River, Southwest China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xuan, Weidong; Xu, Yue-Ping

2017-04-01

The Yarlung Zangbo River is located in southwest of China, one of the major source of "Asian water tower". The river has great hydropower potential and provides vital water resource for local and downstream agricultural production and livestock husbandry. Compared to its drainage area, gauge observation is sometimes not enough for good hydrological modeling in order to project future runoff. In this study, we employ a semi-distributed hydrologic model SWAT to simulate hydrological process of the river with rainfall observation and TRMM 3B4V7 respectively and the hydrological model performance is evaluated based on not only total runoff but snowmelt, precipitation and groundwater components. Firstly, calibration and validation of the hydrological model are executed to find behavioral parameter sets for both gauge observation and TRMM data respectively. Then, behavioral parameter sets with diverse efficiency coefficient (NS) values are selected and corresponding runoff components are analyzed. Robust parameter sets are further employed in SWAT coupled with CMIP5 GCMs to project future runoff. The final results show that precipitation is the dominating contributor nearly all year around, while snowmelt and groundwater are important in the summer and winter alternatively. Also sufficient robust parameter sets help reduce uncertainty in hydrological modeling. Finally, future possible runoff changes will have major consequences for water and flood security.

Sensitivity of Rooftop PV Projections in the SunShot Vision Study to Market Assumptions

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

Drury, E.; Denholm, P.; Margolis, R.

2013-01-01

The SunShot Vision Study explored the potential growth of solar markets if solar prices decreased by about 75% from 2010 to 2020. The SolarDS model was used to simulate rooftop PV demand for this study, based on several PV market assumptions--future electricity rates, customer access to financing, and others--in addition to the SunShot PV price projections. This paper finds that modeled PV demand is highly sensitive to several non-price market assumptions, particularly PV financing parameters.

Lesion insertion in the projection domain: Methods and initial results

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

Chen, Baiyu; Leng, Shuai; Yu, Lifeng

2015-12-15

Purpose: To perform task-based image quality assessment in CT, it is desirable to have a large number of realistic patient images with known diagnostic truth. One effective way of achieving this objective is to create hybrid images that combine patient images with inserted lesions. Because conventional hybrid images generated in the image domain fails to reflect the impact of scan and reconstruction parameters on lesion appearance, this study explored a projection-domain approach. Methods: Lesions were segmented from patient images and forward projected to acquire lesion projections. The forward-projection geometry was designed according to a commercial CT scanner and accommodated bothmore » axial and helical modes with various focal spot movement patterns. The energy employed by the commercial CT scanner for beam hardening correction was measured and used for the forward projection. The lesion projections were inserted into patient projections decoded from commercial CT projection data. The combined projections were formatted to match those of commercial CT raw data, loaded onto a commercial CT scanner, and reconstructed to create the hybrid images. Two validations were performed. First, to validate the accuracy of the forward-projection geometry, images were reconstructed from the forward projections of a virtual ACR phantom and compared to physically acquired ACR phantom images in terms of CT number accuracy and high-contrast resolution. Second, to validate the realism of the lesion in hybrid images, liver lesions were segmented from patient images and inserted back into the same patients, each at a new location specified by a radiologist. The inserted lesions were compared to the original lesions and visually assessed for realism by two experienced radiologists in a blinded fashion. Results: For the validation of the forward-projection geometry, the images reconstructed from the forward projections of the virtual ACR phantom were consistent with the images physically acquired for the ACR phantom in terms of Hounsfield unit and high-contrast resolution. For the validation of the lesion realism, lesions of various types were successfully inserted, including well circumscribed and invasive lesions, homogeneous and heterogeneous lesions, high-contrast and low-contrast lesions, isolated and vessel-attached lesions, and small and large lesions. The two experienced radiologists who reviewed the original and inserted lesions could not identify the lesions that were inserted. The same lesion, when inserted into the projection domain and reconstructed with different parameters, demonstrated a parameter-dependent appearance. Conclusions: A framework has been developed for projection-domain insertion of lesions into commercial CT images, which can be potentially expanded to all geometries of CT scanners. Compared to conventional image-domain methods, the authors’ method reflected the impact of scan and reconstruction parameters on lesion appearance. Compared to prior projection-domain methods, the authors’ method has the potential to achieve higher anatomical complexity by employing clinical patient projections and real patient lesions.« less

Lesion insertion in the projection domain: Methods and initial results

PubMed Central

Chen, Baiyu; Leng, Shuai; Yu, Lifeng; Yu, Zhicong; Ma, Chi; McCollough, Cynthia

2015-01-01

Purpose: To perform task-based image quality assessment in CT, it is desirable to have a large number of realistic patient images with known diagnostic truth. One effective way of achieving this objective is to create hybrid images that combine patient images with inserted lesions. Because conventional hybrid images generated in the image domain fails to reflect the impact of scan and reconstruction parameters on lesion appearance, this study explored a projection-domain approach. Methods: Lesions were segmented from patient images and forward projected to acquire lesion projections. The forward-projection geometry was designed according to a commercial CT scanner and accommodated both axial and helical modes with various focal spot movement patterns. The energy employed by the commercial CT scanner for beam hardening correction was measured and used for the forward projection. The lesion projections were inserted into patient projections decoded from commercial CT projection data. The combined projections were formatted to match those of commercial CT raw data, loaded onto a commercial CT scanner, and reconstructed to create the hybrid images. Two validations were performed. First, to validate the accuracy of the forward-projection geometry, images were reconstructed from the forward projections of a virtual ACR phantom and compared to physically acquired ACR phantom images in terms of CT number accuracy and high-contrast resolution. Second, to validate the realism of the lesion in hybrid images, liver lesions were segmented from patient images and inserted back into the same patients, each at a new location specified by a radiologist. The inserted lesions were compared to the original lesions and visually assessed for realism by two experienced radiologists in a blinded fashion. Results: For the validation of the forward-projection geometry, the images reconstructed from the forward projections of the virtual ACR phantom were consistent with the images physically acquired for the ACR phantom in terms of Hounsfield unit and high-contrast resolution. For the validation of the lesion realism, lesions of various types were successfully inserted, including well circumscribed and invasive lesions, homogeneous and heterogeneous lesions, high-contrast and low-contrast lesions, isolated and vessel-attached lesions, and small and large lesions. The two experienced radiologists who reviewed the original and inserted lesions could not identify the lesions that were inserted. The same lesion, when inserted into the projection domain and reconstructed with different parameters, demonstrated a parameter-dependent appearance. Conclusions: A framework has been developed for projection-domain insertion of lesions into commercial CT images, which can be potentially expanded to all geometries of CT scanners. Compared to conventional image-domain methods, the authors’ method reflected the impact of scan and reconstruction parameters on lesion appearance. Compared to prior projection-domain methods, the authors’ method has the potential to achieve higher anatomical complexity by employing clinical patient projections and real patient lesions. PMID:26632058

Projection matrices as a forest management tool: an invasive tree case study

Treesearch

Ian J. Renne; Benjamin F. Tracy; Timothy P. Spira

2003-01-01

Life history parameters of many forest-dwelling species are affected by native and non-native pests. In turn, these pests alter forest processes and cost the United States billions of dollars annually. Population projection matrices can aid ecologists and managers in evaluating the impact of pests on forest species as well as devising effective strategies for pest...

A preliminary study of environmental parameters associated with the feasibility of a polygeneration plant at Kennedy Space Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, G. D.

1982-01-01

The feasibility of a polygeneration plant at Kennedy Space Center was studied. Liquid hydrogen and gaseous nitrogen are the two principal products in consideration. Environmental parameters (air quality, water quality, biological diversity and hazardous waste disposal) necessary for the feasibility study were investigated. A National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) project flow sheet was to be formulated for the environmental impact statement. Water quality criteria for Florida waters were to be established.

Wind speed vector restoration algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranov, Nikolay; Petrov, Gleb; Shiriaev, Ilia

2018-04-01

Impulse wind lidar (IWL) signal processing software developed by JSC «BANS» recovers full wind speed vector by radial projections and provides wind parameters information up to 2 km distance. Increasing accuracy and speed of wind parameters calculation signal processing technics have been studied in this research. Measurements results of IWL and continuous scanning lidar were compared. Also, IWL data processing modeling results have been analyzed.

Camera calibration based on the back projection process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Feifei; Zhao, Hong; Ma, Yueyang; Bu, Penghui

2015-12-01

Camera calibration plays a crucial role in 3D measurement tasks of machine vision. In typical calibration processes, camera parameters are iteratively optimized in the forward imaging process (FIP). However, the results can only guarantee the minimum of 2D projection errors on the image plane, but not the minimum of 3D reconstruction errors. In this paper, we propose a universal method for camera calibration, which uses the back projection process (BPP). In our method, a forward projection model is used to obtain initial intrinsic and extrinsic parameters with a popular planar checkerboard pattern. Then, the extracted image points are projected back into 3D space and compared with the ideal point coordinates. Finally, the estimation of the camera parameters is refined by a non-linear function minimization process. The proposed method can obtain a more accurate calibration result, which is more physically useful. Simulation and practical data are given to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method.

Effects of Different Camera Motions on the Error in Estimates of Epipolar Geometry between Two Dimensional Images in Order to Provide a Framework for Solutions to Vision Based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

the projective camera matrix (P) which is a 3x4 matrix that is represents both the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of a camera. It is used to...K contains the intrinsic parameters of the camera and |R t⎡ ⎤⎣ ⎦ represents the extrinsic parameters of the camera. By definition, the extrinsic ... extrinsic parameters are known then the camera is said to be calibrated. If only the intrinsic parameters are known, then the projective camera can

Doubling the Life of Concrete Structures

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

Pesic, Batric; Raja, Krishnan; Xi, Yumping

Overall objective of the project was to study the fundamental properties of concrete (with and without steel reinforcement) with respect to chemical and physical parameters that can influence its structural integrity.

Direct Retrieval of Exterior Orientation Parameters Using A 2-D Projective Transformation

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

Seedahmed, Gamal H.

2006-09-01

Direct solutions are very attractive because they obviate the need for initial approximations associated with non-linear solutions. The Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) establishes itself as a method of choice for direct solutions in photogrammetry and other fields. The use of the DLT with coplanar object space points leads to a rank deficient model. This rank deficient model leaves the DLT defined up to a 2-D projective transformation, which makes the direct retrieval of the exterior orientation parameters (EOPs) a non-trivial task. This paper presents a novel direct algorithm to retrieve the EOPs from the 2-D projective transformation. It is basedmore » on a direct relationship between the 2-D projective transformation and the collinearity model using homogeneous coordinates representation. This representation offers a direct matrix correspondence between the 2-D projective transformation parameters and the collinearity model parameters. This correspondence lends itself to a direct matrix factorization to retrieve the EOPs. An important step in the proposed algorithm is a normalization process that provides the actual link between the 2-D projective transformation and the collinearity model. This paper explains the theoretical basis of the proposed algorithm as well as the necessary steps for its practical implementation. In addition, numerical examples are provided to demonstrate its validity.« less

Crustal dynamics project data analysis fixed station VLBI geodetic results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryan, J. W.; Ma, C.

1985-01-01

The Goddard VLBI group reports the results of analyzing the fixed observatory VLBI data available to the Crustal Dynamics Project through the end of 1984. All POLARIS/IRIS full-day data are included. The mobile site at Platteville, Colorado is also included since its occupation bears on the study of plate stability. Data from 1980 through 1984 were used to obtain the catalog of site and radio source positions labeled S284C. Using this catalog two types of one-day solutions were made: (1) to estimate site and baseline motions; and (2) to estimate Earth rotation parameters. A priori Earth rotation parameters were interpolated to the epoch of each observation from BIH Circular D.

Performance Evaluation and Parameter Identification on DROID III

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plumb, Julianna J.

2011-01-01

The DROID III project consisted of two main parts. The former, performance evaluation, focused on the performance characteristics of the aircraft such as lift to drag ratio, thrust required for level flight, and rate of climb. The latter, parameter identification, focused on finding the aerodynamic coefficients for the aircraft using a system that creates a mathematical model to match the flight data of doublet maneuvers and the aircraft s response. Both portions of the project called for flight testing and that data is now available on account of this project. The conclusion of the project is that the performance evaluation data is well-within desired standards but could be improved with a thrust model, and that parameter identification is still in need of more data processing but seems to produce reasonable results thus far.

The effects of iterative reconstruction in CT on low-contrast liver lesion volumetry: a phantom study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qin; Berman, Benjamin P.; Schumacher, Justin; Liang, Yongguang; Gavrielides, Marios A.; Yang, Hao; Zhao, Binsheng; Petrick, Nicholas

2017-03-01

Tumor volume measured from computed tomography images is considered a biomarker for disease progression or treatment response. The estimation of the tumor volume depends on the imaging system parameters selected, as well as lesion characteristics. In this study, we examined how different image reconstruction methods affect the measurement of lesions in an anthropomorphic liver phantom with a non-uniform background. Iterative statistics-based and model-based reconstructions, as well as filtered back-projection, were evaluated and compared in this study. Statistics-based and filtered back-projection yielded similar estimation performance, while model-based yielded higher precision but lower accuracy in the case of small lesions. Iterative reconstructions exhibited higher signal-to-noise ratio but slightly lower contrast of the lesion relative to the background. A better understanding of lesion volumetry performance as a function of acquisition parameters and lesion characteristics can lead to its incorporation as a routine sizing tool.

Changes in groundwater recharge under projected climate in the upper Colorado River basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tillman, Fred; Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; Pruitt, Tom

2016-01-01

Understanding groundwater-budget components, particularly groundwater recharge, is important to sustainably manage both groundwater and surface water supplies in the Colorado River basin now and in the future. This study quantifies projected changes in upper Colorado River basin (UCRB) groundwater recharge from recent historical (1950–2015) through future (2016–2099) time periods, using a distributed-parameter groundwater recharge model with downscaled climate data from 97 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 climate projections. Simulated future groundwater recharge in the UCRB is generally expected to be greater than the historical average in most decades. Increases in groundwater recharge in the UCRB are a consequence of projected increases in precipitation, offsetting reductions in recharge that would result from projected increased temperatures.

Choosing the appropriate forecasting model for predictive parameter control.

PubMed

Aleti, Aldeida; Moser, Irene; Meedeniya, Indika; Grunske, Lars

2014-01-01

All commonly used stochastic optimisation algorithms have to be parameterised to perform effectively. Adaptive parameter control (APC) is an effective method used for this purpose. APC repeatedly adjusts parameter values during the optimisation process for optimal algorithm performance. The assignment of parameter values for a given iteration is based on previously measured performance. In recent research, time series prediction has been proposed as a method of projecting the probabilities to use for parameter value selection. In this work, we examine the suitability of a variety of prediction methods for the projection of future parameter performance based on previous data. All considered prediction methods have assumptions the time series data has to conform to for the prediction method to provide accurate projections. Looking specifically at parameters of evolutionary algorithms (EAs), we find that all standard EA parameters with the exception of population size conform largely to the assumptions made by the considered prediction methods. Evaluating the performance of these prediction methods, we find that linear regression provides the best results by a very small and statistically insignificant margin. Regardless of the prediction method, predictive parameter control outperforms state of the art parameter control methods when the performance data adheres to the assumptions made by the prediction method. When a parameter's performance data does not adhere to the assumptions made by the forecasting method, the use of prediction does not have a notable adverse impact on the algorithm's performance.

Sensitivity analysis of the add-on price estimate for the silicon web growth process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mokashi, A. R.

1981-01-01

The web growth process, a silicon-sheet technology option, developed for the flat plate solar array (FSA) project, was examined. Base case data for the technical and cost parameters for the technical and commercial readiness phase of the FSA project are projected. The process add on price, using the base case data for cost parameters such as equipment, space, direct labor, materials and utilities, and the production parameters such as growth rate and run length, using a computer program developed specifically to do the sensitivity analysis with improved price estimation are analyzed. Silicon price, sheet thickness and cell efficiency are also discussed.

Probabilistic inversion of expert assessments to inform projections about Antarctic ice sheet responses

PubMed Central

Wong, Tony E.; Keller, Klaus

2017-01-01

The response of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) to changing global temperatures is a key component of sea-level projections. Current projections of the AIS contribution to sea-level changes are deeply uncertain. This deep uncertainty stems, in part, from (i) the inability of current models to fully resolve key processes and scales, (ii) the relatively sparse available data, and (iii) divergent expert assessments. One promising approach to characterizing the deep uncertainty stemming from divergent expert assessments is to combine expert assessments, observations, and simple models by coupling probabilistic inversion and Bayesian inversion. Here, we present a proof-of-concept study that uses probabilistic inversion to fuse a simple AIS model and diverse expert assessments. We demonstrate the ability of probabilistic inversion to infer joint prior probability distributions of model parameters that are consistent with expert assessments. We then confront these inferred expert priors with instrumental and paleoclimatic observational data in a Bayesian inversion. These additional constraints yield tighter hindcasts and projections. We use this approach to quantify how the deep uncertainty surrounding expert assessments affects the joint probability distributions of model parameters and future projections. PMID:29287095

Evaluating low pass filters on SPECT reconstructed cardiac orientation estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwivedi, Shekhar

2009-02-01

Low pass filters can affect the quality of clinical SPECT images by smoothing. Appropriate filter and parameter selection leads to optimum smoothing that leads to a better quantification followed by correct diagnosis and accurate interpretation by the physician. This study aims at evaluating the low pass filters on SPECT reconstruction algorithms. Criteria for evaluating the filters are estimating the SPECT reconstructed cardiac azimuth and elevation angle. Low pass filters studied are butterworth, gaussian, hamming, hanning and parzen. Experiments are conducted using three reconstruction algorithms, FBP (filtered back projection), MLEM (maximum likelihood expectation maximization) and OSEM (ordered subsets expectation maximization), on four gated cardiac patient projections (two patients with stress and rest projections). Each filter is applied with varying cutoff and order for each reconstruction algorithm (only butterworth used for MLEM and OSEM). The azimuth and elevation angles are calculated from the reconstructed volume and the variation observed in the angles with varying filter parameters is reported. Our results demonstrate that behavior of hamming, hanning and parzen filter (used with FBP) with varying cutoff is similar for all the datasets. Butterworth filter (cutoff > 0.4) behaves in a similar fashion for all the datasets using all the algorithms whereas with OSEM for a cutoff < 0.4, it fails to generate cardiac orientation due to oversmoothing, and gives an unstable response with FBP and MLEM. This study on evaluating effect of low pass filter cutoff and order on cardiac orientation using three different reconstruction algorithms provides an interesting insight into optimal selection of filter parameters.

Reconstruction of sparse-view X-ray computed tomography using adaptive iterative algorithms.

PubMed

Liu, Li; Lin, Weikai; Jin, Mingwu

2015-01-01

In this paper, we propose two reconstruction algorithms for sparse-view X-ray computed tomography (CT). Treating the reconstruction problems as data fidelity constrained total variation (TV) minimization, both algorithms adapt the alternate two-stage strategy: projection onto convex sets (POCS) for data fidelity and non-negativity constraints and steepest descent for TV minimization. The novelty of this work is to determine iterative parameters automatically from data, thus avoiding tedious manual parameter tuning. In TV minimization, the step sizes of steepest descent are adaptively adjusted according to the difference from POCS update in either the projection domain or the image domain, while the step size of algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) in POCS is determined based on the data noise level. In addition, projection errors are used to compare with the error bound to decide whether to perform ART so as to reduce computational costs. The performance of the proposed methods is studied and evaluated using both simulated and physical phantom data. Our methods with automatic parameter tuning achieve similar, if not better, reconstruction performance compared to a representative two-stage algorithm. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Warpage minimization on wheel caster by optimizing process parameters using response surface methodology (RSM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safuan, N. S.; Fathullah, M.; Shayfull, Z.; Nasir, S. M.; Hazwan, M. H. M.

2017-09-01

In injection moulding process, it is important to keep the productivity increase constantly with least of waste produced such as warpage defect. Thus, this study is concerning on minimizing warpage defect on wheel caster part. Apart from eliminating product wastes, this project also giving out best optimization techniques using response surface methodology. This research studied on five parameters A-packing pressure, B-packing time, C-mold temperature, D-melting temperature and E-cooling time. The optimization showed that packing pressure is the most significant parameter. Warpage have been improved 42.64% from 0.6524 mm to 0.3742mm.

The critical role of uncertainty in projections of hydrological extremes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meresa, Hadush K.; Romanowicz, Renata J.

2017-08-01

This paper aims to quantify the uncertainty in projections of future hydrological extremes in the Biala Tarnowska River at Koszyce gauging station, south Poland. The approach followed is based on several climate projections obtained from the EURO-CORDEX initiative, raw and bias-corrected realizations of catchment precipitation, and flow simulations derived using multiple hydrological model parameter sets. The projections cover the 21st century. Three sources of uncertainty are considered: one related to climate projection ensemble spread, the second related to the uncertainty in hydrological model parameters and the third related to the error in fitting theoretical distribution models to annual extreme flow series. The uncertainty of projected extreme indices related to hydrological model parameters was conditioned on flow observations from the reference period using the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) approach, with separate criteria for high- and low-flow extremes. Extreme (low and high) flow quantiles were estimated using the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution at different return periods and were based on two different lengths of the flow time series. A sensitivity analysis based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that the uncertainty introduced by the hydrological model parameters can be larger than the climate model variability and the distribution fit uncertainty for the low-flow extremes whilst for the high-flow extremes higher uncertainty is observed from climate models than from hydrological parameter and distribution fit uncertainties. This implies that ignoring one of the three uncertainty sources may cause great risk to future hydrological extreme adaptations and water resource planning and management.

A new planetary mapping for future space missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karachevtseva, Irina; Kokhanov, Alexander; Rodionova, Janna; Zubarev, Anatoliy; Nadezhdina, Irina; Kreslavsky, Mikhail; Oberst, Jürgen

2015-04-01

The wide studies of Solar system, including different planetary bodies, were announced by new Russian space program. Their geodesy and cartography support provides by MIIGAiK Extraterrestrial Laboratory (http://mexlab.miigaik.ru/eng) in frames of the new project "Studies of Fundamental Geodetic Parameters and Topography of Planets and Satellites". The objects of study are satellites of the outer planets (satellites of Jupiter - Europa, Calisto and Ganymede; Saturnine satellite Enceladus), some planets (Mercury and Mars) and the satellites of the terrestrial planets - Phobos (Mars) and the Moon (Earth). The new research project, which started in 2014, will address the following important scientific and practical tasks: - Creating new three-dimensional geodetic control point networks of satellites of the outer planets using innovative photogrammetry techniques; - Determination of fundamental geodetic parameters and study size, shape, and spin parameters and to create the basic framework for research of their surfaces; - Studies of relief of planetary bodies and comparative analysis of general surface characteristics of the Moon, Mars, and Mercury, as well as studies of morphometric parameters of volcanic formations on the Moon and Mars; - Modeling of meteoritic bombardment of celestial bodies and the study of the dynamics of particle emissions caused by a meteorite impacts; - Development of geodatabase for studies of planetary bodies, including creation of object catalogues, (craters and volcanic forms, etc.), and thematic mapping using GIS technology. The significance of the project is defined both by necessity of obtaining fundamental characteristics of the Solar System bodies, and practical tasks in preparation for future Russian and international space missions to the Jupiter system (Laplace-P and JUICE), the Moon (Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource), Mars (Exo-Mars), Mercury (Bepi-Colombo), and possible mission to Phobos (project Boomerang). For cartographic support of future missions, we have created various maps as results of first year research: new base maps of Ganymede, including a hypsometric map and a global surface map; the base and thematic maps of Phobos which were updated using new image data sets from Mars Express; a newest map of topographic roughness of Mercury (for north polar area) [2] and a map of topographic roughness of the Moon using laser altimeter data processing obtained by MESSENGER (MLA) and LRO (LOLA) for their comparative analyses; a new global hypsometric map of the Moon. Published version of the maps will be presented at the conference, and all data products using for mapping will be available via MExLab Geoportal (http://cartsrv.mexlab.ru/geoportal/#body/). Acknowledgments. This work was carried out in MIIGAiK and supported by Russian Science Foundation, project #14-22-00197. References: [1] http://mexlab.miigaik.ru/eng/ [2] Kreslavsky et al., Geophys. Res.Lett., 41, doi:10.1002/2014GL062162 [3] http://cartsrv.mexlab.ru/geoportal/#body/

Mixtures of beta distributions in models of the duration of a project affected by risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gładysz, Barbara; Kuchta, Dorota

2017-07-01

This article presents a method for timetabling a project affected by risk. The times required to carry out tasks are modelled using mixtures of beta distributions. The parameters of these beta distributions are given by experts: one corresponding to the duration of a task in stable conditions, with no risks materializing, and the other corresponding to the duration of a task in the case when risks do occur. Finally, a case study will be presented and analysed: the project of constructing a shopping mall in Poland.

Effect of the curvature parameter on least-squares prediction within poor data coverage: case study for Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abd-Elmotaal, Hussein; Kühtreiber, Norbert

2016-04-01

In the framework of the IAG African Geoid Project, there are a lot of large data gaps in its gravity database. These gaps are filled initially using unequal weight least-squares prediction technique. This technique uses a generalized Hirvonen covariance function model to replace the empirically determined covariance function. The generalized Hirvonen covariance function model has a sensitive parameter which is related to the curvature parameter of the covariance function at the origin. This paper studies the effect of the curvature parameter on the least-squares prediction results, especially in the large data gaps as appearing in the African gravity database. An optimum estimation of the curvature parameter has also been carried out. A wide comparison among the results obtained in this research along with their obtained accuracy is given and thoroughly discussed.

Final Technical Report - Investigation into the Relationship between Heterogeneity and Heavy-Tailed Solute Transport

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

Weissmann, Gary S

2013-12-06

The objective of this project was to characterize the influence that naturally complex geologic media has on anomalous dispersion and to determine if the nature of dispersion can be estimated from the underlying heterogeneous media. The UNM portion of this project was to provide detailed representations of aquifer heterogeneity through producing highly-resolved models of outcrop analogs to aquifer materials. This project combined outcrop-scale heterogeneity characterization (conducted at the University of New Mexico), laboratory experiments (conducted at Sandia National Laboratory), and numerical simulations (conducted at Sandia National Laboratory and Colorado School of Mines). The study was designed to test whether establishedmore » dispersion theory accurately predicts the behavior of solute transport through heterogeneous media and to investigate the relationship between heterogeneity and the parameters that populate these models. The dispersion theory tested by this work was based upon the fractional advection-dispersion equation (fADE) model. Unlike most dispersion studies that develop a solute transport model by fitting the solute transport breakthrough curve, this project explored the nature of the heterogeneous media to better understand the connection between the model parameters and the aquifer heterogeneity. We also evaluated methods for simulating the heterogeneity to see whether these approaches (e.g., geostatistical) could reasonably replicate realistic heterogeneity. The UNM portion of this study focused on capturing realistic geologic heterogeneity of aquifer analogs using advanced outcrop mapping methods.« less

Multisite EPR oximetry from multiple quadrature harmonics.

PubMed

Ahmad, R; Som, S; Johnson, D H; Zweier, J L; Kuppusamy, P; Potter, L C

2012-01-01

Multisite continuous wave (CW) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry using multiple quadrature field modulation harmonics is presented. First, a recently developed digital receiver is used to extract multiple harmonics of field modulated projection data. Second, a forward model is presented that relates the projection data to unknown parameters, including linewidth at each site. Third, a maximum likelihood estimator of unknown parameters is reported using an iterative algorithm capable of jointly processing multiple quadrature harmonics. The data modeling and processing are applicable for parametric lineshapes under nonsaturating conditions. Joint processing of multiple harmonics leads to 2-3-fold acceleration of EPR data acquisition. For demonstration in two spatial dimensions, both simulations and phantom studies on an L-band system are reported. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Point Cloud Storage and Access on a Global Scale

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

coordinates. These Geodetic values are appended to the list of parameters and are re-projected into WGS84 Geocentric (ECEF X,Y,Z), replacing the original...Append Lon,Lat,Alt to point parameters Re-project point with Proj.4 from Geodetic (Lon,Lat,Alt) -> Geocentric (X,Y,Z) Insert point into

Dual-shaped offset reflector antenna designs from solutions of the geometrical optics first-order partial differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galindo-Israel, V.; Imbriale, W.; Shogen, K.; Mittra, R.

1990-01-01

In obtaining solutions to the first-order nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) for synthesizing offset dual-shaped reflectors, it is found that previously observed computational problems can be avoided if the integration of the PDEs is started from an inner projected perimeter and integrated outward rather than starting from an outer projected perimeter and integrating inward. This procedure, however, introduces a new parameter, the main reflector inner perimeter radius p(o), when given a subreflector inner angle 0(o). Furthermore, a desired outer projected perimeter (e.g., a circle) is no longer guaranteed. Stability of the integration is maintained if some of the initial parameters are determined first from an approximate solution to the PDEs. A one-, two-, or three-parameter optimization algorithm can then be used to obtain a best set of parameters yielding a close fit to the desired projected outer rim. Good low cross-polarization mapping functions are also obtained. These methods are illustrated by synthesis of a high-gain offset-shaped Cassegrainian antenna and a low-noise offset-shaped Gregorian antenna.

Towards Improving our Understanding on the Retrievals of Key Parameters Characterising Land Surface Interactions from Space: Introduction & First Results from the PREMIER-EO Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ireland, Gareth; North, Matthew R.; Petropoulos, George P.; Srivastava, Prashant K.; Hodges, Crona

2015-04-01

Acquiring accurate information on the spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture content (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) is of key importance to extend our understanding of the Earth system's physical processes, and is also required in a wide range of multi-disciplinary research studies and applications. The utility and applicability of Earth Observation (EO) technology provides an economically feasible solution to derive continuous spatio-temporal estimates of key parameters characterising land surface interactions, including ET as well as SM. Such information is of key value to practitioners, decision makers and scientists alike. The PREMIER-EO project recently funded by High Performance Computing Wales (HPCW) is a research initiative directed towards the development of a better understanding of EO technology's present ability to derive operational estimations of surface fluxes and SM. Moreover, the project aims at addressing knowledge gaps related to the operational estimation of such parameters, and thus contribute towards current ongoing global efforts towards enhancing the accuracy of those products. In this presentation we introduce the PREMIER-EO project, providing a detailed overview of the research aims and objectives for the 1 year duration of the project's implementation. Subsequently, we make available the initial results of the work carried out herein, in particular, related to an all-inclusive and robust evaluation of the accuracy of existing operational products of ET and SM from different ecosystems globally. The research outcomes of this project, once completed, will provide an important contribution towards addressing the knowledge gaps related to the operational estimation of ET and SM. This project results will also support efforts ongoing globally towards the operational development of related products using technologically advanced EO instruments which were launched recently or planned be launched in the next 1-2 years. Key Words: PREMIER-EO, HPC Wales, Soil Moisture, Evapotranspiration, , Earth Observation

Teaching Small Group Communication: The Do Good Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minei, Elizabeth M.

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on the parameters of a semester-long project called the "Do Good" project, geared towards developing small group communication skills in undergraduate students. This project highlights participation in a social engagement project that allows students to bridge concepts learned in small group communication lectures…

The Americleft Speech Project: A Training and Reliability Study.

PubMed

Chapman, Kathy L; Baylis, Adriane; Trost-Cardamone, Judith; Cordero, Kelly Nett; Dixon, Angela; Dobbelsteyn, Cindy; Thurmes, Anna; Wilson, Kristina; Harding-Bell, Anne; Sweeney, Triona; Stoddard, Gregory; Sell, Debbie

2016-01-01

To describe the results of two reliability studies and to assess the effect of training on interrater reliability scores. The first study (1) examined interrater and intrarater reliability scores (weighted and unweighted kappas) and (2) compared interrater reliability scores before and after training on the use of the Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech-Augmented (CAPS-A) with British English-speaking children. The second study examined interrater and intrarater reliability on a modified version of the CAPS-A (CAPS-A Americleft Modification) with American and Canadian English-speaking children. Finally, comparisons were made between the interrater and intrarater reliability scores obtained for Study 1 and Study 2. The participants were speech-language pathologists from the Americleft Speech Project. In Study 1, interrater reliability scores improved for 6 of the 13 parameters following training on the CAPS-A protocol. Comparison of the reliability results for the two studies indicated lower scores for Study 2 compared with Study 1. However, this appeared to be an artifact of the kappa statistic that occurred due to insufficient variability in the reliability samples for Study 2. When percent agreement scores were also calculated, the ratings appeared similar across Study 1 and Study 2. The findings of this study suggested that improvements in interrater reliability could be obtained following a program of systematic training. However, improvements were not uniform across all parameters. Acceptable levels of reliability were achieved for those parameters most important for evaluation of velopharyngeal function.

The Americleft Speech Project: A Training and Reliability Study

PubMed Central

Chapman, Kathy L.; Baylis, Adriane; Trost-Cardamone, Judith; Cordero, Kelly Nett; Dixon, Angela; Dobbelsteyn, Cindy; Thurmes, Anna; Wilson, Kristina; Harding-Bell, Anne; Sweeney, Triona; Stoddard, Gregory; Sell, Debbie

2017-01-01

Objective To describe the results of two reliability studies and to assess the effect of training on interrater reliability scores. Design The first study (1) examined interrater and intrarater reliability scores (weighted and unweighted kappas) and (2) compared interrater reliability scores before and after training on the use of the Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech–Augmented (CAPS-A) with British English-speaking children. The second study examined interrater and intrarater reliability on a modified version of the CAPS-A (CAPS-A Americleft Modification) with American and Canadian English-speaking children. Finally, comparisons were made between the interrater and intrarater reliability scores obtained for Study 1 and Study 2. Participants The participants were speech-language pathologists from the Americleft Speech Project. Results In Study 1, interrater reliability scores improved for 6 of the 13 parameters following training on the CAPS-A protocol. Comparison of the reliability results for the two studies indicated lower scores for Study 2 compared with Study 1. However, this appeared to be an artifact of the kappa statistic that occurred due to insufficient variability in the reliability samples for Study 2. When percent agreement scores were also calculated, the ratings appeared similar across Study 1 and Study 2. Conclusion The findings of this study suggested that improvements in interrater reliability could be obtained following a program of systematic training. However, improvements were not uniform across all parameters. Acceptable levels of reliability were achieved for those parameters most important for evaluation of velopharyngeal function. PMID:25531738

Composite multi-parameter ranking of real and virtual compounds for design of MC4R agonists: renaissance of the Free-Wilson methodology.

PubMed

Nilsson, Ingemar; Polla, Magnus O

2012-10-01

Drug design is a multi-parameter task present in the analysis of experimental data for synthesized compounds and in the prediction of new compounds with desired properties. This article describes the implementation of a binned scoring and composite ranking scheme for 11 experimental parameters that were identified as key drivers in the MC4R project. The composite ranking scheme was implemented in an AstraZeneca tool for analysis of project data, thereby providing an immediate re-ranking as new experimental data was added. The automated ranking also highlighted compounds overlooked by the project team. The successful implementation of a composite ranking on experimental data led to the development of an equivalent virtual score, which was based on Free-Wilson models of the parameters from the experimental ranking. The individual Free-Wilson models showed good to high predictive power with a correlation coefficient between 0.45 and 0.97 based on the external test set. The virtual ranking adds value to the selection of compounds for synthesis but error propagation must be controlled. The experimental ranking approach adds significant value, is parameter independent and can be tuned and applied to any drug discovery project.

Results and Lessons Learned from Performance Testing of Humans in Spacesuits in Simulated Reduced Gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chappell, Steven P.; Norcross, Jason R.; Gernhardt, Michael L.

2010-01-01

The Apollo lunar EVA experience revealed challenges with suit stability and control-likely a combination of mass, mobility, and center of gravity (CG) factors. The EVA Physiology, Systems and Performence (EPSP) Project is systematically working with other NASA projects, labs, and facilities to lead a series of studies to understand the role of suit mass, weight, CG, and other parameters on astronaut performance in partial gravity environments.

The Business Case for Systems Engineering Study: Results of the Systems Engineering Effectiveness Survey

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

reflecting the fact that project managers can often optimize the value of one of these parameters, but only at the expense of the other two. For example...which system developers can compare their SE capabilities to manage SE process improvements. As a reward for their participation, the companion...higher requirements development and management capability is strongly associat- ed with better program performance, particularly on challenging projects

An efficient variable projection formulation for separable nonlinear least squares problems.

PubMed

Gan, Min; Li, Han-Xiong

2014-05-01

We consider in this paper a class of nonlinear least squares problems in which the model can be represented as a linear combination of nonlinear functions. The variable projection algorithm projects the linear parameters out of the problem, leaving the nonlinear least squares problems involving only the nonlinear parameters. To implement the variable projection algorithm more efficiently, we propose a new variable projection functional based on matrix decomposition. The advantage of the proposed formulation is that the size of the decomposed matrix may be much smaller than those of previous ones. The Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm using finite difference method is then applied to minimize the new criterion. Numerical results show that the proposed approach achieves significant reduction in computing time.

Water Quality Assessment of Danjiangkou Reservoir and its Tributaries in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Linghua; Peng, Wenqi; Wu, Leixiang; Liu, Laisheng

2018-01-01

Danjiangkou Reservoir is an important water source for the middle route of the South to North Water Diversion Project in China, and water quality of Danjiangkou Reservoir and its tributaries is crucial for the project. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the water quality of Daniiangkou Reservoir and its tributaries based on Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCMEWQI). 22 water quality parameters from 25 sampling sites were analyzed to calculate WQI. The results indicate that water quality in Danjiangkou Reservoir area, Hanjiang River and Danjiang River is excellent. And the seriously polluted tributary rivers were Shending River, Jianghe River, Sihe River, Tianhe River, Jianhe River and Jiangjun River. Water quality parameters that cannot meet the standard limit for drinking water source were fecal coliform bacteria, CODcr, CODMn, BOD5, NH3-N, TP, DO, anionic surfactant and petroleum. Fecal coliform bacteria, TP, ammonia nitrogen, CODMn were the most common parameters to fail.

A life cycle cost economics model for automation projects with uniformly varying operating costs. [applied to Deep Space Network and Air Force Systems Command

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Remer, D. S.

1977-01-01

The described mathematical model calculates life-cycle costs for projects with operating costs increasing or decreasing linearly with time. The cost factors involved in the life-cycle cost are considered, and the errors resulting from the assumption of constant rather than uniformly varying operating costs are examined. Parameters in the study range from 2 to 30 years, for project life; 0 to 15% per year, for interest rate; and 5 to 90% of the initial operating cost, for the operating cost gradient. A numerical example is presented.

Virtual fringe projection system with nonparallel illumination based on iteration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Duo; Wang, Zhangying; Gao, Nan; Zhang, Zonghua; Jiang, Xiangqian

2017-06-01

Fringe projection profilometry has been widely applied in many fields. To set up an ideal measuring system, a virtual fringe projection technique has been studied to assist in the design of hardware configurations. However, existing virtual fringe projection systems use parallel illumination and have a fixed optical framework. This paper presents a virtual fringe projection system with nonparallel illumination. Using an iterative method to calculate intersection points between rays and reference planes or object surfaces, the proposed system can simulate projected fringe patterns and captured images. A new explicit calibration method has been presented to validate the precision of the system. Simulated results indicate that the proposed iterative method outperforms previous systems. Our virtual system can be applied to error analysis, algorithm optimization, and help operators to find ideal system parameter settings for actual measurements.

Determination of Machining Parameters of Corn Byproduct Filled Plastics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In a collaborative project between the USDA and Northern Illinois University, the use of ethanol corn processing by-products as bio-filler materials in the compression molding of phenolic plastics has been studied. This paper reports on the results of a machinability study in the milling of various ...

Determining Machining Parameters of Corn Byproduct Filled Plastics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In a collaborative project between the USDA and Northern Illinois University, the use of corn ethanol processing byproducts (i.e., DDGS) as bio-filler materials in the compression molding of phenolic plastics has been studied. This paper reports on the results of a machinability study in the milling...

Prototype solar house. Study of the scientific evaluation and feasibility of a research and development project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bundschuh, V.; Grueter, J. W.; Kleemann, M.; Melis, M.; Stein, H. J.; Wagner, H. J.; Dittrich, A.; Pohlmann, D.

1982-08-01

A preliminary study was undertaken before a large scale project for construction and survey of about a hundred solar houses was launched. The notion of solar house was defined and the use of solar energy (hot water preparation, heating of rooms, heating of swimming pool, or a combination of these possibilities) were examined. A coherent measuring program was set up. Advantages and inconveniences of the large scale project were reviewed. Production of hot water, evaluation of different concepts and different fabrications of solar systems, coverage of the different systems, conservation of energy, failure frequency and failures statistics, durability of the installation, investment maintenance and energy costs were retained as study parameters. Different solar hot water production systems and the heat counter used for measurements are described.

Real-time augmented reality overlay for an energy-efficient car study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wozniak, Peter; Javahiraly, Nicolas; Curticapean, Dan

2017-06-01

Our university carries out various research projects. Among others, the project Schluckspecht is an interdisciplinary work on different ultra-efficient car concepts for international contests. Besides the engineering work, one part of the project deals with real-time data visualization. In order to increase the efficiency of the vehicle, an online monitoring of the runtime parameters is necessary. The driving parameters of the vehicle are transmitted to a processing station via a wireless network connection. We plan to use an augmented reality (AR) application to visualize different data on top of the view of the real car. By utilizing a mobile Android or iOS device a user can interactively view various real-time and statistical data. The car and its components are meant to be augmented by various additional information, whereby that information should appear at the correct position of the components. An engine e.g. could show the current rpm and consumption values. A battery on the other hand could show the current charge level. The goal of this paper is to evaluate different possible approaches, their suitability and to expand our application to other projects at our university.

Calibration of the Nikon 200 for Close Range Photogrammetry

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

Sheriff, Lassana; /City Coll., N.Y. /SLAC

2010-08-25

The overall objective of this project is to study the stability and reproducibility of the calibration parameters of the Nikon D200 camera with a Nikkor 20 mm lens for close-range photogrammetric surveys. The well known 'central perspective projection' model is used to determine the camera parameters for interior orientation. The Brown model extends it with the introduction of radial distortion and other less critical variables. The calibration process requires a dense network of targets to be photographed at different angles. For faster processing, reflective coded targets are chosen. Two scenarios have been used to check the reproducibility of the parameters.more » The first one is using a flat 2D wall with 141 coded targets and 12 custom targets that were previously measured with a laser tracker. The second one is a 3D Unistrut structure with a combination of coded targets and 3D reflective spheres. The study has shown that this setup is only stable during a short period of time. In conclusion, this camera is acceptable when calibrated before each use. Future work should include actual field tests and possible mechanical improvements, such as securing the lens to the camera body.« less

Determination of rainfall losses in Virginia, phase II : interim report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-01-01

This interim report summarizes results obtained for the project through May 1981. The objective of the study is to develop rainfall loss parameters for localities in Virginia. For this purpose, the state has been divided into eleven hydrologic region...

The AmP project: Comparing species on the basis of dynamic energy budget parameters.

PubMed

Marques, Gonçalo M; Augustine, Starrlight; Lika, Konstadia; Pecquerie, Laure; Domingos, Tiago; Kooijman, Sebastiaan A L M

2018-05-01

We developed new methods for parameter estimation-in-context and, with the help of 125 authors, built the AmP (Add-my-Pet) database of Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models, parameters and referenced underlying data for animals, where each species constitutes one database entry. The combination of DEB parameters covers all aspects of energetics throughout the full organism's life cycle, from the start of embryo development to death by aging. The species-specific parameter values capture biodiversity and can now, for the first time, be compared between animals species. An important insight brought by the AmP project is the classification of animal energetics according to a family of related DEB models that is structured on the basis of the mode of metabolic acceleration, which links up with the development of larval stages. We discuss the evolution of metabolism in this context, among animals in general, and ray-finned fish, mollusks and crustaceans in particular. New DEBtool code for estimating DEB parameters from data has been written. AmPtool code for analyzing patterns in parameter values has also been created. A new web-interface supports multiple ways to visualize data, parameters, and implied properties from the entire collection as well as on an entry by entry basis. The DEB models proved to fit data well, the median relative error is only 0.07, for the 1035 animal species at 2018/03/12, including some extinct ones, from all large phyla and all chordate orders, spanning a range of body masses of 16 orders of magnitude. This study is a first step to include evolutionary aspects into parameter estimation, allowing to infer properties of species for which very little is known.

The AmP project: Comparing species on the basis of dynamic energy budget parameters

PubMed Central

Lika, Konstadia; Pecquerie, Laure; Kooijman, Sebastiaan A. L. M.

2018-01-01

We developed new methods for parameter estimation-in-context and, with the help of 125 authors, built the AmP (Add-my-Pet) database of Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models, parameters and referenced underlying data for animals, where each species constitutes one database entry. The combination of DEB parameters covers all aspects of energetics throughout the full organism’s life cycle, from the start of embryo development to death by aging. The species-specific parameter values capture biodiversity and can now, for the first time, be compared between animals species. An important insight brought by the AmP project is the classification of animal energetics according to a family of related DEB models that is structured on the basis of the mode of metabolic acceleration, which links up with the development of larval stages. We discuss the evolution of metabolism in this context, among animals in general, and ray-finned fish, mollusks and crustaceans in particular. New DEBtool code for estimating DEB parameters from data has been written. AmPtool code for analyzing patterns in parameter values has also been created. A new web-interface supports multiple ways to visualize data, parameters, and implied properties from the entire collection as well as on an entry by entry basis. The DEB models proved to fit data well, the median relative error is only 0.07, for the 1035 animal species at 2018/03/12, including some extinct ones, from all large phyla and all chordate orders, spanning a range of body masses of 16 orders of magnitude. This study is a first step to include evolutionary aspects into parameter estimation, allowing to infer properties of species for which very little is known. PMID:29742099

Projection of wave conditions in response to climate change: A community approach to global and regional wave downscaling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Erikson, Li H.; Hemer, M.; Lionello, Piero; Mendez, Fernando J.; Mori, Nobuhito; Semedo, Alvaro; Wang, Xiaolan; Wolf, Judith

2015-01-01

Future changes in wind-wave climate have broad implications for coastal geomorphology and management. General circulation models (GCM) are now routinely used for assessing climatological parameters, but generally do not provide parameterizations of ocean wind-waves. To fill this information gap, a growing number of studies use GCM outputs to independently downscale wave conditions to global and regional levels. To consolidate these efforts and provide a robust picture of projected changes, we present strategies from the community-derived multi-model ensemble of wave climate projections (COWCLIP) and an overview of regional contributions. Results and strategies from one contributing regional study concerning changes along the eastern North Pacific coast are presented.

Project for Integration of Pupils with Special Needs in Spain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchesi, Alvaro

1986-01-01

This paper analyzes a project approved by the Spanish government in 1985 to integrate special needs children into regular education. Outlined are characteristics of the Spanish educational system, parameters of practice in the integration project, and plans for the systematic evaluation of the integration project. (Author/JDD)

Life Cycle Energy Analysis of Reclaimed Water Reuse Projects in Beijing.

PubMed

Fan, Yupeng; Guo, Erhui; Zhai, Yuanzheng; Chang, Andrew C; Qiao, Qi; Kang, Peng

2018-01-01

  To illustrate the benefits of water reuse project, the process-based life cycle analysis (LCA) could be combined with input-output LCA to evaluate the water reuse project. Energy is the only evaluation parameter used in this study. Life cycle assessment of all energy inputs (LCEA) is completed mainly by the life cycle inventory (LCI), taking into account the full life cycle including the construction, the operation, and the demolition phase of the project. Assessment of benefit from water reuse during the life cycle should focus on wastewater discharge reduction and water-saving benefits. The results of LCEA of Beijing water reuse project built in 2014 in a comprehensive way shows that the benefits obtained from the reclaimed water reuse far exceed the life cycle energy consumption. In this paper, the authors apply the LCEA model to estimate the benefits of reclaimed water reuse projects quantitatively.

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart K of... - Criteria for evaluating a State's proposed NEPA-Like process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A...) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including recreation and open... (residential, commercial, institutional and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart K of... - Criteria for evaluating a State's proposed NEPA-Like process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A...) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including recreation and open... (residential, commercial, institutional and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart L of... - Criteria for Evaluating a State's Proposed NEPA-Like Process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2... impacts; (4) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including relevant... (residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart K of... - Criteria for evaluating a State's proposed NEPA-Like process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A...) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including recreation and open... (residential, commercial, institutional and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart K of... - Criteria for evaluating a State's proposed NEPA-Like process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A...) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including recreation and open... (residential, commercial, institutional and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart K of... - Criteria for evaluating a State's proposed NEPA-Like process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2) A...) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including recreation and open... (residential, commercial, institutional and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

40 CFR Appendix A to Subpart L of... - Criteria for Evaluating a State's Proposed NEPA-Like Process

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the SERP will adequately consider: (1) Designation of a study area comparable to the final system; (2... impacts; (4) Present and future conditions; (5) Land use and other social parameters including relevant... (residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial) within the project study area; and (8) Other...

Transit Project Planning Guidance : Estimation of Transit Supply Parameters

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-04-01

This report discusses techniques applicable to the estimation of transit vehicle fleet requirements, vehicle-hours and vehicle-miles, and other related transit supply parameters. These parameters are used for estimating operating costs and certain ca...

Particle Swarm Learning Algorithm Based on Adjustment of Parameter and its Applications Assessment of Agricultural Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Shanlin; Zhu, Weidong; Chen, Li

The particle swarm, which optimizes neural networks, has overcome its disadvantage of slow convergent speed and shortcoming of local optimum. The parameter that the particle swarm optimization relates to is not much. But it has strongly sensitivity to the parameter. In this paper, we applied PSO-BP to evaluate the environmental effect of an agricultural project, and researched application and Particle Swarm learning algorithm based on adjustment of parameter. This paper, we use MATLAB language .The particle number is 5, 30, 50, 90, and the inertia weight is 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 separately. Calculate 10 times under each same parameter, and analyze the influence under the same parameter. Result is indicated that the number of particles is in 25 ~ 30 and the inertia weight is in 0.6 ~ 0.7, and the result of optimization is satisfied.

Climate Modeling and Causal Identification for Sea Ice Predictability

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

Hunke, Elizabeth Clare; Urrego Blanco, Jorge Rolando; Urban, Nathan Mark

This project aims to better understand causes of ongoing changes in the Arctic climate system, particularly as decreasing sea ice trends have been observed in recent decades and are expected to continue in the future. As part of the Sea Ice Prediction Network, a multi-agency effort to improve sea ice prediction products on seasonal-to-interannual time scales, our team is studying sensitivity of sea ice to a collection of physical process and feedback mechanism in the coupled climate system. During 2017 we completed a set of climate model simulations using the fully coupled ACME-HiLAT model. The simulations consisted of experiments inmore » which cloud, sea ice, and air-ocean turbulent exchange parameters previously identified as important for driving output uncertainty in climate models were perturbed to account for parameter uncertainty in simulated climate variables. We conducted a sensitivity study to these parameters, which built upon a previous study we made for standalone simulations (Urrego-Blanco et al., 2016, 2017). Using the results from the ensemble of coupled simulations, we are examining robust relationships between climate variables that emerge across the experiments. We are also using causal discovery techniques to identify interaction pathways among climate variables which can help identify physical mechanisms and provide guidance in predictability studies. This work further builds on and leverages the large ensemble of standalone sea ice simulations produced in our previous w14_seaice project.« less

A vertical hydroclimatology of the Upper Indus Basin and initial insights to potential hydrological change in the region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forsythe, Nathan; Kilsby, Chris G.; Fowler, Hayley J.; Archer, David R.

2010-05-01

The water resources of the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are of the utmost importance to the economic wellbeing of Pakistan. The irrigated agriculture made possible by Indus river runoff underpins the food security for Pakistan's nearly 200 million people. Contributions from hydropower account for more than one fifth of peak installed electrical generating capacity in a country where widespread, prolonged load-shedding handicaps business activity and industrial development. Pakistan's further socio-economic development thus depends largely on optimisation of its precious water resources. Confident, accurate projections of future water resource availability and variability are urgent insights needed by development planners and infrastructure managers at all levels. Correctly projecting future hydrological conditions depends first and foremost on a thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms and processes of present hydroclimatology. The vertical and horizontal spatial variations in key climate parameters (temperature, precipitation) govern the contributions of the various elevation zones and subcatchments comprising the UIB. Trends in this complex mountainous region are highly varied by season and parameter. Observed changes here often do not match general global trends or even necessarily those found in neighbouring regions. This study considers data from a variety sources in order to compose the most complete picture possible of the vertical hydroclimatology of the UIB. The study presents the observed climatology and trends for precipitation and temperature from local observations at long-record meteorological stations (Pakistan Meteorological Department). These data are compared to characterisations of additional water cycle parameters (humidity, cloud, snow cover and snow-water-equivalent) derived from local short-record automatic weather stations, the ECMWF ‘ERA' reanalysis projects and satellite based observations (AVHRR, MODIS, etc). The potential implications of the vertical (hypsometric) distribution of these parameters are considered. Interlinkages between observed changes in these parameters and the evolution of large-scale circulation indices (ENSO, NAO, local vorticity) are also investigated. In parallel to these climatological considerations, the study presents the typology of the observed UIB hydrological regimes -- glacial, nival and pluvial -- including interannual variability as quantified from the available river gauging record. In order to begin to assess potential implications of future climate change on UIB hydrology, key modes of variability in the climate parameters are identified. The study then analyses in detail the corresponding observed anomalies in UIB discharge for years exemplifying these modes. In conclusion, this work postulates potential impacts of changes in the hydrological variability stemming from continuation of estimated present local climatic trends.

On The Behavior of Subgradient Projections Methods for Convex Feasibility Problems in Euclidean Spaces

PubMed Central

Butnariu, Dan; Censor, Yair; Gurfil, Pini; Hadar, Ethan

2010-01-01

We study some methods of subgradient projections for solving a convex feasibility problem with general (not necessarily hyperplanes or half-spaces) convex sets in the inconsistent case and propose a strategy that controls the relaxation parameters in a specific self-adapting manner. This strategy leaves enough user-flexibility but gives a mathematical guarantee for the algorithm’s behavior in the inconsistent case. We present numerical results of computational experiments that illustrate the computational advantage of the new method. PMID:20182556

Simulation based evaluation of the designs of the Advanced Gamma-ray Imageing System (AGIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bugaev, Slava; Buckley, James; Digel, Seth; Funk, Stephen; Konopelko, Alex; Krawczynski, Henric; Lebohec, Steohan; Maier, Gernot; Vassiliev, Vladimir

2009-05-01

The AGIS project under design study, is a large array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes for gamma-rays astronomy between 40GeV and 100 TeV. In this paper we present the ongoing simulation effort to model the considered design approaches as a function of the main parameters such as array geometry, telescope optics and camera design in such a way the gamma ray observation capabilities can be optimized against the overall project cost.

On The Behavior of Subgradient Projections Methods for Convex Feasibility Problems in Euclidean Spaces.

PubMed

Butnariu, Dan; Censor, Yair; Gurfil, Pini; Hadar, Ethan

2008-07-03

We study some methods of subgradient projections for solving a convex feasibility problem with general (not necessarily hyperplanes or half-spaces) convex sets in the inconsistent case and propose a strategy that controls the relaxation parameters in a specific self-adapting manner. This strategy leaves enough user-flexibility but gives a mathematical guarantee for the algorithm's behavior in the inconsistent case. We present numerical results of computational experiments that illustrate the computational advantage of the new method.

Flow Tube Studies of Gas Phase Chemical Processes of Atmospheric Importance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molina, Mario J.

1998-01-01

The objective of this project is to conduct measurements of elementary reaction rate constants and photochemical parameters for processes of importance in the atmosphere. These measurements are being carried out under temperature and pressure conditions covering those applicable to the stratosphere and upper troposphere, using the chemical ionization mass spectrometry turbulent flow technique developed in our laboratory. The next section summarizes our research activities during the first year of the project, and the section that follows consists of the statement of work for the third year. Additional details concerning the projects listed in the statement of work were described in our original proposal.

Advanced fiber tracking in early acquired brain injury causing cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Lennartsson, F; Holmström, L; Eliasson, A-C; Flodmark, O; Forssberg, H; Tournier, J-D; Vollmer, B

2015-01-01

Diffusion-weighted MR imaging and fiber tractography can be used to investigate alterations in white matter tracts in patients with early acquired brain lesions and cerebral palsy. Most existing studies have used diffusion tensor tractography, which is limited in areas of complex fiber structures or pathologic processes. We explored a combined normalization and probabilistic fiber-tracking method for more realistic fiber tractography in this patient group. This cross-sectional study included 17 children with unilateral cerebral palsy and 24 typically developing controls. DWI data were collected at 1.5T (45 directions, b=1000 s/mm(2)). Regions of interest were defined on a study-specific fractional anisotropy template and mapped onto subjects for fiber tracking. Probabilistic fiber tracking of the corticospinal tract and thalamic projections to the somatosensory cortex was performed by using constrained spherical deconvolution. Tracts were qualitatively assessed, and DTI parameters were extracted close to and distant from lesions and compared between groups. The corticospinal tract and thalamic projections to the somatosensory cortex were realistically reconstructed in both groups. Structural changes to tracts were seen in the cerebral palsy group and included splits, dislocations, compaction of the tracts, or failure to delineate the tract and were associated with underlying pathology seen on conventional MR imaging. Comparisons of DTI parameters indicated primary and secondary neurodegeneration along the corticospinal tract. Corticospinal tract and thalamic projections to the somatosensory cortex showed dissimilarities in both structural changes and DTI parameters. Our proposed method offers a sensitive means to explore alterations in WM tracts to further understand pathophysiologic changes following early acquired brain injury. © 2015 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

eScience for molecular-scale simulations and the eMinerals project.

PubMed

Salje, E K H; Artacho, E; Austen, K F; Bruin, R P; Calleja, M; Chappell, H F; Chiang, G-T; Dove, M T; Frame, I; Goodwin, A L; Kleese van Dam, K; Marmier, A; Parker, S C; Pruneda, J M; Todorov, I T; Trachenko, K; Tyer, R P; Walker, A M; White, T O H

2009-03-13

We review the work carried out within the eMinerals project to develop eScience solutions that facilitate a new generation of molecular-scale simulation work. Technological developments include integration of compute and data systems, developing of collaborative frameworks and new researcher-friendly tools for grid job submission, XML data representation, information delivery, metadata harvesting and metadata management. A number of diverse science applications will illustrate how these tools are being used for large parameter-sweep studies, an emerging type of study for which the integration of computing, data and collaboration is essential.

[Healthcare manager and project management of quality improvement : analysis of managerial action using a professional hands-on training in project management].

PubMed

Dujardin, Pierre-Philippe; Reverdy, Thomas; Valette, Annick; François, Patrice

2016-06-01

Introduction : project management is on the expected proficiencies for head nurses. Context : The work on the organizations’ improvement carried out by head nurses, is rarely covered in the literature. Objectives : to follow the implementation of actions from projects led by head nurses and to analyze the parameters of success. Method : for a year, an intervention study has followed 17 projects initiating improvement measures. Semistructured interviews were conducted with health-care teams and managers. All of them reported the results of the implementation of each measure as an operational improvement. A mixed analysis containing a logistic regression investigated associations between the result of the action and the various contextual characteristics. Results : this study involved 111 actions. 71 % of them concluded an operational improvement. The organizational and supporting actions had a high success rate, which decreased when hazards were not managed by healthcare managers. Discussion : this study highlights the place of strategies through the implementing methods and the chosen actions. Recommendations are made in order to promote a collective assessment. Conclusion : scientific approaches are proposed to discuss the organizational work.

Comparison of three-dimensional parameters of Halo CMEs using three cone models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Na, H.; Moon, Y.; Jang, S.; Lee, K.

2012-12-01

Halo coronal mass ejections (HCMEs) are a major cause of geomagnetic storms and their three dimensional structures are important for space weather. In this study, we compare three cone models: an elliptical cone model, an ice-cream cone model, and an asymmetric cone model. These models allow us to determine the three dimensional parameters of HCMEs such as radial speed, angular width, and the angle (γ) between sky plane and cone axis. We compare these parameters obtained from three models using 62 well-observed HCMEs observed by SOHO/LASCO from 2001 to 2002. Then we obtain the root mean square error (RMS error) between maximum measured projection speeds and their calculated projection speeds from the cone models. As a result, we find that the radial speeds obtained from the models are well correlated with one another (R > 0.84). The correlation coefficients between angular widths are ranges from 0.04 to 0.53 and those between γ values are from -0.15 to 0.47, which are much smaller than expected. The reason may be due to different assumptions and methods. The RMS errors between the maximum measured projection speeds and the maximum estimated projection speeds of the elliptical cone model, the ice-cream cone model, and the asymmetric cone model are 213 km/s, 254 km/s, and 267 km/s, respectively. And we obtain the correlation coefficients between the location from the models and the flare location (R > 0.75). Finally, we discuss strengths and weaknesses of these models in terms of space weather application.

Digital forensic osteology--possibilities in cooperation with the Virtopsy project.

PubMed

Verhoff, Marcel A; Ramsthaler, Frank; Krähahn, Jonathan; Deml, Ulf; Gille, Ralf J; Grabherr, Silke; Thali, Michael J; Kreutz, Kerstin

2008-01-30

The present study was carried out to check whether classic osteometric parameters can be determined from the 3D reconstructions of MSCT (multislice computed tomography) scans acquired in the context of the Virtopsy project. To this end, four isolated and macerated skulls were examined by six examiners. First the skulls were conventionally (manually) measured using 32 internationally accepted linear measurements. Then the skulls were scanned by the use of MSCT with slice thicknesses of 1.25 mm and 0.63 mm, and the 33 measurements were virtually determined on the digital 3D reconstructions of the skulls. The results of the traditional and the digital measurements were compared for each examiner to figure out variations. Furthermore, several parameters were measured on the cranium and postcranium during an autopsy and compared to the values that had been measured on a 3D reconstruction from a previously acquired postmortem MSCT scan. The results indicate that equivalent osteometric values can be obtained from digital 3D reconstructions from MSCT scans using a slice thickness of 1.25 mm, and from conventional manual examinations. The measurements taken from a corpse during an autopsy could also be validated with the methods used for the digital 3D reconstructions in the context of the Virtopsy project. Future aims are the assessment and biostatistical evaluation in respect to sex, age and stature of all data sets stored in the Virtopsy project so far, as well as of future data sets. Furthermore, a definition of new parameters, only measurable with the aid of MSCT data would be conceivable.

Testing the robustness of management decisions to uncertainty: Everglades restoration scenarios.

PubMed

Fuller, Michael M; Gross, Louis J; Duke-Sylvester, Scott M; Palmer, Mark

2008-04-01

To effectively manage large natural reserves, resource managers must prepare for future contingencies while balancing the often conflicting priorities of different stakeholders. To deal with these issues, managers routinely employ models to project the response of ecosystems to different scenarios that represent alternative management plans or environmental forecasts. Scenario analysis is often used to rank such alternatives to aid the decision making process. However, model projections are subject to uncertainty in assumptions about model structure, parameter values, environmental inputs, and subcomponent interactions. We introduce an approach for testing the robustness of model-based management decisions to the uncertainty inherent in complex ecological models and their inputs. We use relative assessment to quantify the relative impacts of uncertainty on scenario ranking. To illustrate our approach we consider uncertainty in parameter values and uncertainty in input data, with specific examples drawn from the Florida Everglades restoration project. Our examples focus on two alternative 30-year hydrologic management plans that were ranked according to their overall impacts on wildlife habitat potential. We tested the assumption that varying the parameter settings and inputs of habitat index models does not change the rank order of the hydrologic plans. We compared the average projected index of habitat potential for four endemic species and two wading-bird guilds to rank the plans, accounting for variations in parameter settings and water level inputs associated with hypothetical future climates. Indices of habitat potential were based on projections from spatially explicit models that are closely tied to hydrology. For the American alligator, the rank order of the hydrologic plans was unaffected by substantial variation in model parameters. By contrast, simulated major shifts in water levels led to reversals in the ranks of the hydrologic plans in 24.1-30.6% of the projections for the wading bird guilds and several individual species. By exposing the differential effects of uncertainty, relative assessment can help resource managers assess the robustness of scenario choice in model-based policy decisions.

Viability of using seismic data to predict hydrogeological parameters

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

Mela, K.

1997-10-01

Design of modem contaminant mitigation and fluid extraction projects make use of solutions from stochastic hydrogeologic models. These models rely heavily on the hydraulic parameters of hydraulic conductivity and the correlation length of hydraulic conductivity. Reliable values of these parameters must be acquired to successfully predict flow of fluids through the aquifer of interest. An inexpensive method of acquiring these parameters by use of seismic reflection surveying would be beneficial. Relationships between seismic velocity and porosity together with empirical observations relating porosity to permeability may lead to a method of extracting the correlation length of hydraulic conductivity from shallow highmore » resolution seismic data making the use of inexpensive high density data sets commonplace for these studies.« less

Study of abrasive wear rate of silicon using n-alcohols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Danyluk, S.

1982-01-01

The work carried out at the University of Illinois at Chicago for the Flat-Plate Solar Array Project under contract No. 956053 is summarized. The abrasion wear rate of silicon in a number of fluid environments and the parameters that influence the surface mechanical properties of silicon were determined. Three tests were carried out in this study: circular and linear multiple-scratch test, microhardness test and a three-point bend test. The pertinent parameters such as effect of surface orientation, dopant and fluid properties were sorted. A brief review and critique of previous work is presented.

Space flight risk data collection and analysis project: Risk and reliability database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

The focus of the NASA 'Space Flight Risk Data Collection and Analysis' project was to acquire and evaluate space flight data with the express purpose of establishing a database containing measurements of specific risk assessment - reliability - availability - maintainability - supportability (RRAMS) parameters. The developed comprehensive RRAMS database will support the performance of future NASA and aerospace industry risk and reliability studies. One of the primary goals has been to acquire unprocessed information relating to the reliability and availability of launch vehicles and the subsystems and components thereof from the 45th Space Wing (formerly Eastern Space and Missile Command -ESMC) at Patrick Air Force Base. After evaluating and analyzing this information, it was encoded in terms of parameters pertinent to ascertaining reliability and availability statistics, and then assembled into an appropriate database structure.

General hybrid projective complete dislocated synchronization with non-derivative and derivative coupling based on parameter identification in several chaotic and hyperchaotic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Jun-Wei; Shen, Yi; Zhang, Guo-Dong; Wang, Yan-Feng; Cui, Guang-Zhao

2013-04-01

According to the Lyapunov stability theorem, a new general hybrid projective complete dislocated synchronization scheme with non-derivative and derivative coupling based on parameter identification is proposed under the framework of drive-response systems. Every state variable of the response system equals the summation of the hybrid drive systems in the previous hybrid synchronization. However, every state variable of the drive system equals the summation of the hybrid response systems while evolving with time in our method. Complete synchronization, hybrid dislocated synchronization, projective synchronization, non-derivative and derivative coupling, and parameter identification are included as its special item. The Lorenz chaotic system, Rössler chaotic system, memristor chaotic oscillator system, and hyperchaotic Lü system are discussed to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Sensitivity Analysis of Biome-Bgc Model for Dry Tropical Forests of Vindhyan Highlands, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, M.; Raghubanshi, A. S.

2011-08-01

A process-based model BIOME-BGC was run for sensitivity analysis to see the effect of ecophysiological parameters on net primary production (NPP) of dry tropical forest of India. The sensitivity test reveals that the forest NPP was highly sensitive to the following ecophysiological parameters: Canopy light extinction coefficient (k), Canopy average specific leaf area (SLA), New stem C : New leaf C (SC:LC), Maximum stomatal conductance (gs,max), C:N of fine roots (C:Nfr), All-sided to projected leaf area ratio and Canopy water interception coefficient (Wint). Therefore, these parameters need more precision and attention during estimation and observation in the field studies.

The logic of selecting an appropriate map projection in a Decision Support System (DSS)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Finn, Michael P.; Usery, E. Lynn; Woodard, Laura N.; Yamamoto, Kristina H.

2017-01-01

There are undeniable practical consequences to consider when choosing an appropriate map projection for a specific region. The surface of a globe covered by global, continental, and regional maps are so singular that each type distinctively affects the amount of distortion incurred during a projection transformation because of the an assortment of effects caused by distance, direction, scale , and area. A Decision Support System (DSS) for Map Projections of Small Scale Data was previously developed to help select an appropriate projection. This paper reports on a tutorial to accompany that DSS. The DSS poses questions interactively, allowing the user to decide on the parameters, which in turn determines the logic path to a solution. The objective of including a tutorial to accompany the DSS is achieved by visually representing the path of logic that is taken to a recommended map projection derived from the parameters the user selects. The tutorial informs the DSS user about the pedigree of the projection and provides a basic explanation of the specific projection design. This information is provided by informational pop-ups and other aids.

FORCED AIR VENTILATION FOR REMEDIATION OF UNSATURATED SOILS CONTAMINATED BY VOC

EPA Science Inventory

Parameters which were expected to control the removal process of VOCs from contaminated soil during the SVE operation were studied by means of numerical simulations and laboratory experiments in this project. Experimental results of SVE with soil columns in the laboratory indicat...

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.

CENTRAL PLATEAU REMEDIATION OPTIMIZATION STUDY

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

BERGMAN, T. B.; STEFANSKI, L. D.; SEELEY, P. N.

2012-09-19

THE CENTRAL PLATEAU REMEDIATION OPTIMIZATION STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DEVELOP AN OPTIMAL SEQUENCE OF REMEDIATION ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTING THE CERCLA DECISION ON THE CENTRAL PLATEAU. THE STUDY DEFINES A SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES THAT RESULT IN AN EFFECTIVE USE OF RESOURCES FROM A STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE WHEN CONSIDERING EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT AND STAGING, WORKFORCE MOBILIZATION/DEMOBILIZATION, WORKFORCE LEVELING, WORKFORCE SKILL-MIX, AND OTHER REMEDIATION/DISPOSITION PROJECT EXECUTION PARAMETERS.

Maximum Entropy/Optimal Projection (MEOP) control design synthesis: Optimal quantification of the major design tradeoffs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hyland, D. C.; Bernstein, D. S.

1987-01-01

The underlying philosophy and motivation of the optimal projection/maximum entropy (OP/ME) stochastic modeling and reduced control design methodology for high order systems with parameter uncertainties are discussed. The OP/ME design equations for reduced-order dynamic compensation including the effect of parameter uncertainties are reviewed. The application of the methodology to several Large Space Structures (LSS) problems of representative complexity is illustrated.

Integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust motion trajectory tracking control of pneumatic cylinders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Deyuan; Tao, Guoliang; Zhu, Xiaocong

2013-09-01

This paper studies the precision motion trajectory tracking control of a pneumatic cylinder driven by a proportional-directional control valve. An integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust controller is proposed. The controller employs a physical model based indirect-type parameter estimation to obtain reliable estimates of unknown model parameters, and utilises a robust control method with dynamic compensation type fast adaptation to attenuate the effects of parameter estimation errors, unmodelled dynamics and disturbances. Due to the use of projection mapping, the robust control law and the parameter adaption algorithm can be designed separately. Since the system model uncertainties are unmatched, the recursive backstepping technology is adopted to design the robust control law. Extensive comparative experimental results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller and its performance robustness to parameter variations and sudden disturbances.

Model of Numerical Spatial Classification for Sustainable Agriculture in Badung Regency and Denpasar City, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trigunasih, N. M.; Lanya, I.; Subadiyasa, N. N.; Hutauruk, J.

2018-02-01

Increasing number and activity of the population to meet the needs of their lives greatly affect the utilization of land resources. Land needs for activities of the population continue to grow, while the availability of land is limited. Therefore, there will be changes in land use. As a result, the problems faced by land degradation and conversion of agricultural land become non-agricultural. The objectives of this research are: (1) to determine parameter of spatial numerical classification of sustainable food agriculture in Badung Regency and Denpasar City (2) to know the projection of food balance in Badung Regency and Denpasar City in 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050 (3) to specify of function of spatial numerical classification in the making of zonation model of sustainable agricultural land area in Badung regency and Denpasar city (4) to determine the appropriate model of the area to protect sustainable agricultural land in spatial and time scale in Badung and Denpasar regencies. The method used in this research was quantitative method include: survey, soil analysis, spatial data development, geoprocessing analysis (spatial analysis of overlay and proximity analysis), interpolation of raster digital elevation model data, and visualization (cartography). Qualitative methods consisted of literature studies, and interviews. The parameters observed for a total of 11 parameters Badung regency and Denpasar as much as 9 parameters. Numerical classification parameter analysis results used the standard deviation and the mean of the population data and projections relationship rice field in the food balance sheet by modelling. The result of the research showed that, the number of different numerical classification parameters in rural areas (Badung) and urban areas (Denpasar), in urban areas the number of parameters is less than the rural areas. The based on numerical classification weighting and scores generate population distribution parameter analysis results of a standard deviation and average value. Numerical classification produced 5 models, which was divided into three zones are sustainable neighbourhood, buffer and converted in Denpasar and Badung. The results of Population curve parameter analysis in Denpasar showed normal curve, in contrast to the Badung regency showed abnormal curve, therefore Denpasar modeling carried out throughout the region, while in the Badung regency modeling done in each district. Relationship modelling and projections lands role in food balance in Badung views of sustainable land area whereas in Denpasar seen from any connection to the green open spaces in the spatial plan Denpasar 2011-2031. Modelling in Badung (rural) is different in Denpasar (urban), as well as population curve parameter analysis results in Badung showed abnormal curve while in Denpasar showed normal curve. Relationship modelling and projections lands role in food balance in the Badung regency sustainable in terms of land area, while in Denpasar in terms of linkages with urban green space in Denpasar City’s regional landuse plan of 2011-2031.

3D MHD Models of Active Region Loops

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ofman, Leon

2004-01-01

Present imaging and spectroscopic observations of active region loops allow to determine many physical parameters of the coronal loops, such as the density, temperature, velocity of flows in loops, and the magnetic field. However, due to projection effects many of these parameters remain ambiguous. Three dimensional imaging in EUV by the STEREO spacecraft will help to resolve the projection ambiguities, and the observations could be used to setup 3D MHD models of active region loops to study the dynamics and stability of active regions. Here the results of 3D MHD models of active region loops are presented, and the progress towards more realistic 3D MHD models of active regions. In particular the effects of impulsive events on the excitation of active region loop oscillations, and the generation, propagations and reflection of EIT waves are shown. It is shown how 3D MHD models together with 3D EUV observations can be used as a diagnostic tool for active region loop physical parameters, and to advance the science of the sources of solar coronal activity.

WE-AB-207A-02: John’s Equation Based Consistency Condition and Incomplete Projection Restoration Upon Circular Orbit CBCT

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

Ma, J; Qi, H; Wu, S

Purpose: In transmitted X-ray tomography imaging, projections are sometimes incomplete due to a variety of reasons, such as geometry inaccuracy, defective detector cells, etc. To address this issue, we have derived a direct consistency condition based on John’s Equation, and proposed a method to effectively restore incomplete projections based on this consistency condition. Methods: Through parameter substitutions, we have derived a direct consistency condition equation from John’s equation, in which the left side is only projection derivative of view and the right side is projection derivative of other geometrical parameters. Based on this consistency condition, a projection restoration method ismore » proposed, which includes five steps: 1) Forward projecting reconstructed image and using linear interpolation to estimate the incomplete projections as the initial result; 2) Performing Fourier transform on the projections; 3) Restoring the incomplete frequency data using the consistency condition equation; 4) Performing inverse Fourier transform; 5) Repeat step 2)∼4) until our criteria is met to terminate the iteration. Results: A beam-blocking-based scatter correction case and a bad-pixel correction case were used to demonstrate the efficacy and robustness of our restoration method. The mean absolute error (MAE), signal noise ratio (SNR) and mean square error (MSE) were employed as our evaluation metrics of the reconstructed images. For the scatter correction case, the MAE is reduced from 63.3% to 71.7% with 4 iterations. Compared with the existing Patch’s method, the MAE of our method is further reduced by 8.72%. For the bad-pixel case, the SNR of the reconstructed image by our method is increased from 13.49% to 21.48%, with the MSE being decreased by 45.95%, compared with linear interpolation method. Conclusion: Our studies have demonstrated that our restoration method based on the new consistency condition could effectively restore the incomplete projections, especially for their high frequency component.« less

Benefits and challenges in practice-oriented psychotherapy research in Germany: the TK and the QS-PSY-BAY projects of quality assurance in outpatient psychotherapy.

PubMed

Strauss, Bernhard Michael; Lutz, Wolfgang; Steffanowski, Andres; Wittmann, Werner W; Boehnke, Jan R; Rubel, Julian; Scheidt, Carl E; Caspar, Franz; Vogel, Heiner; Altmann, Uwe; Steyer, Rolf; Zimmermann, Anna; Bruckmayer, Ellen; von Heymann, Friedrich; Kramer, Dietmar; Kirchmann, Helmut

2015-01-01

Two patient-focused long-term research projects performed in the German outpatient psychotherapy system are focused on in this article. The TK (Techniker Krankenkasse) project is the first study to evaluate a quality assurance and feedback system with regard to its practical feasibility in German routine care. The other study ("Quality Assurance in Outpatient Psychotherapy in Bavaria"; QS-PSY-BAY) was designed to test a new approach for quality assurance in outpatient psychotherapy using electronic documentation of patient characteristics and outcome parameters. In addition this project provides the opportunity to analyze data on health-related costs for the patients undergoing outpatient psychotherapy. Both projects and their results indicating high effect sizes are briefly described. From the perspectives of the research teams, advisory boards and other stakeholders, the experiences with these projects are discussed focusing on obstacles, challenges, difficulties, and benefits in developing and implementing the studies. The triangle collaboration of therapists, researchers, and health insurance companies/health service institutions turned out to be fruitful in both studies. Despite some controversies between the partners the experiences indicate the importance of practiced-research collaborations to provide relevant information about the delivery of outpatient psychotherapy in the health system.

Flexible Simulation E-Learning Environment for Studying Digital Circuits and Possibilities for It Deployment as Semantic Web Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radoyska, P.; Ivanova, T.; Spasova, N.

2011-01-01

In this article we present a partially realized project for building a distributed learning environment for studying digital circuits Test and Diagnostics at TU-Sofia. We describe the main requirements for this environment, substantiate the developer platform choice, and present our simulation and circuit parameter calculation tools.…

Development of a new family of normalized modulus reduction and material damping curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darendeli, Mehmet Baris

2001-12-01

As part of various research projects [including the SRS (Savannah River Site) Project AA891070, EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) Project 3302, and ROSRINE (Resolution of Site Response Issues from the Northridge Earthquake) Project], numerous geotechnical sites were drilled and sampled. Intact soil samples over a depth range of several hundred meters were recovered from 20 of these sites. These soil samples were tested in the laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (UTA) to characterize the materials dynamically. The presence of a database accumulated from testing these intact specimens motivated a re-evaluation of empirical curves employed in the state of practice. The weaknesses of empirical curves reported in the literature were identified and the necessity of developing an improved set of empirical curves was recognized. This study focused on developing the empirical framework that can be used to generate normalized modulus reduction and material damping curves. This framework is composed of simple equations, which incorporate the key parameters that control nonlinear soil behavior. The data collected over the past decade at The University of Texas at Austin are statistically analyzed using First-order, Second-moment Bayesian Method (FSBM). The effects of various parameters (such as confining pressure and soil plasticity) on dynamic soil properties are evaluated and quantified within this framework. One of the most important aspects of this study is estimating not only the mean values of the empirical curves but also estimating the uncertainty associated with these values. This study provides the opportunity to handle uncertainty in the empirical estimates of dynamic soil properties within the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis framework. A refinement in site-specific probabilistic seismic hazard assessment is expected to materialize in the near future by incorporating the results of this study into state of practice.

Consumer participation and organizational development in health care: a systematic review.

PubMed

Tempfer, Clemens B; Nowak, Peter

2011-07-01

To provide an overview of published data on user participation in Health Care. Active and passive involvement of consumers into agendas associated with Health Care is still an exception. Data on the success of user participation projects in various areas of Health Care are lacking. Systematic literature review using public databases. We identified 467 studies including five systematic reviews describing various participation projects, among them workshops, citizens' panels, focus groups, citizens' juries, and consultation meetings. A general trend favoring a specific method was not observed. The categorization of evaluable studies according to Health Care area (n = 331) yielded the following results: general medicine/preventive medicine (n = 5), internal medicine/oncology (n = 132), obstetrics and gynecology (n = 2), surgery (n = 1), neurology/psychiatry (n = 2), social medicine (n = 16), health worker training (n = 38), and research agenda setting (n = 135). Predefined qualitative parameters were extracted from 69/467 (15%) studies. Sixty one of 69 studies (88%) were retrospective analyses without control groups and without outcome assessment. Six studies had outcome assessment, three judged the outcome as successful, two as negative, and one multi-project study reported 'very successful' project assessments in 24% of the projects. In 18 studies, the level of consumer participation was described as 'informed' in 2/18, 'advisory' in 14/18, and 'decision-making' in 2/18. The following factors associated with project success were identified: adequate financing, partnerships with well institutionalized consumer organizations, advanced project logistics, small-scale projects, and adequate internal and external communication. Most consumer participation projects were performed in research agenda setting, internal medicine/oncology, and health worker training. Various methods have been used in the projects, the level of consumer participation was low, and the success rate of the investigated projects was moderate. Potential factors associated with project success and future areas of research are discussed.

Project Icarus: Analysis of Plasma jet driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion as potential primary propulsion driver for the Icarus probe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanic, M.; Cassibry, J. T.; Adams, R. B.

2013-05-01

Hopes of sending probes to another star other than the Sun are currently limited by the maturity of advanced propulsion technologies. One of the few candidate propulsion systems for providing interstellar flight capabilities is nuclear fusion. In the past many fusion propulsion concepts have been proposed and some of them have even been explored in detail, Project Daedalus for example. However, as scientific progress in this field has advanced, new fusion concepts have emerged that merit evaluation as potential drivers for interstellar missions. Plasma jet driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF) is one of those concepts. PJMIF involves a salvo of converging plasma jets that form a uniform liner, which compresses a magnetized target to fusion conditions. It is an Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF)-Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) hybrid approach that has the potential for a multitude of benefits over both ICF and MCF, such as lower system mass and significantly lower cost. This paper concentrates on a thermodynamic assessment of basic performance parameters necessary for utilization of PJMIF as a candidate propulsion system for the Project Icarus mission. These parameters include: specific impulse, thrust, exhaust velocity, mass of the engine system, mass of the fuel required etc. This is a submission of the Project Icarus Study Group.

Image projection optical system for measuring pattern electroretinograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starkey, Douglas E.; Taboada, John; Peters, Daniel

1994-06-01

The use of the pattern-electroretinogram (PERG) as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for the early detection of glaucoma has been supported by a number of recent studies. We have developed a unique device which uses a laser interferometer to generate a sinusoidal fringe pattern that is presented to the eye in Maxwellian view for the purpose of producing a PERG response. The projection system stimulates a large visual field and is designed to bypass the optics of the eye in order to measure the true retinal response to a temporally alternating fringe pattern. The contrast, spatial frequency, total power output, orientation, alternating temporal frequency, and field location of the fringe pattern presented to the eye can all be varied by the device. It is critical for these parameters to be variable so that optimal settings may be determined for the normal state and any deviation from it, i.e. early or preclinical glaucoma. Several interferometer designs and optical projection systems were studied in order to design a compact system which provided the desired variable pattern stimulus to the eye. This paper will present a description of the clinical research instrument and its performance with the primary emphasis on the optical system design as it relates to the fringe pattern generation and other optical parameters. Examples of its use in the study of glaucoma diagnosis will also be presented.

FATE OF DISINFECTION BY-PRODUCT PRECURSORS DURING RIVERBANK FILTRATION AT THREE MIDWEST UTILITIES

EPA Science Inventory

A 3-year project is underway to evaluate riverbank filtration systems along three major US rivers. A principal aspects of the study involved monitoring a suite or organic, inorganic, and microbiological water quality parameters, with emphasis on disinfection byproduct formation p...

WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS DURING RIVERBANK FILTRATION AT THREE SITES IN THE MIDWESTERN US

EPA Science Inventory

A 3-year project is underway to evaluate riverbank filtration systems along three major US rivers. A principal aspects of the study involved monitoring a suite or organic, inorganic, and microbiological water quality parameters, with emphasis on disinfection byproduct formation p...

Evaluation of the need for longitudinal median joints in bridge decks on dual structures.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-09-01

The primary objective of this project was to determine the effect of bridge width on deck cracking in bridges. Other parameters, : such as bridge skew, girder spacing and type, abutment type, pier type, and number of bridge spans, were also studied. ...

Mathematical modeling of a Ti:sapphire solid-state laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swetits, John J.

1987-01-01

The project initiated a study of a mathematical model of a tunable Ti:sapphire solid-state laser. A general mathematical model was developed for the purpose of identifying design parameters which will optimize the system, and serve as a useful predictor of the system's behavior.

Students as Scientists: A Study of the Effects of Sewage Plant Effluent.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkes, James W.

1983-01-01

Since 1977, six different classes of Ashland High School (Ohio) biology students have been monitoring a local river for the presence of sewage treatment plant effluent. Several project results, physicochemical parameters, and data on biota collected at two stations are presented. (JN)

NARSTO PAC2001 GVRD CAPMON AIR QUAL DATA

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-04-09

NARSTO PAC2001 GVRD CAPMON AIR QUAL DATA Project Title:  NARSTO Discipline:  ... Order:   E arthdata Search Parameters:  Air Temperature Humidity Upper Level Winds Ozone Aerosol Particle ... Data:  Spatial Coverage: Canada Pacific 2001 Air Quality Study SCAR-B Block:  SCAR-B ...

THE EMPACT BEACHES PROJECT - A STUDY OF THE PARAMETERS THAT AFFECT MICROBIOLOGICAL MONITORING

EPA Science Inventory

The current U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water sample collection method for recreational water was suggested by the Federal Water Pollution Control Agency in 1968 as part of the fecal coliform guideline. Although improvements have been made in the indicator bacter...

TRACKING FRESHWATER DIVERSIONS AND ALGAL BLOOMS THAT IMPACT THE NEW ORLEANS STANDARD METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA -

EPA Science Inventory

This project will monitor selected water quality parameters, including water temperature, turbidity, salinity, and algal blooms to assess the impacts of freshwater diversions for several selected areas within the New Orleans metropolitan area. The specific areas of study include ...

Study on evaluation of construction reliability for engineering project based on fuzzy language operator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Yu-Fang; Ma, Yi-Yi; Song, Ping-Ping

2018-03-01

System Reliability Theory is a research hotspot of management science and system engineering in recent years, and construction reliability is useful for quantitative evaluation of project management level. According to reliability theory and target system of engineering project management, the defination of construction reliability appears. Based on fuzzy mathematics theory and language operator, value space of construction reliability is divided into seven fuzzy subsets and correspondingly, seven membership function and fuzzy evaluation intervals are got with the operation of language operator, which provides the basis of corresponding method and parameter for the evaluation of construction reliability. This method is proved to be scientific and reasonable for construction condition and an useful attempt for theory and method research of engineering project system reliability.

Improved InGaN LED System Efficacy and Cost via Droop Reduction

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

Wildeson, Isaac

Efficiency droop is a non-thermal process intrinsic to indium gallium nitride light emitting diodes (LEDs) in which the external quantum efficiency (EQE) decreases with increasing drive current density. Mitigating droop would allow one to reduce the size of LEDs driven at a given current or to drive LEDs of given size at higher current while maintaining high efficiencies. In other words, droop mitigation can lead to significant gains in light output per dollar and/or light output per watt of input power. This project set an EQE improvement goal at high drive current density which was to be attained by improvingmore » the LED active region design and growth process following a droop mitigation strategy. The interactions between LED active region design parameters and efficiency droop were studied by modeling and experiments. The crystal defects that tend to form in more complex LED designs intended to mitigate droop were studied with advanced characterization methods that provided insight into the structural and electronic properties of the material. This insight was applied to improve the epitaxy process both in terms of active region design and optimization of growth parameters. The final project goals were achieved on schedule and an epitaxy process leading to LEDs with EQE exceeding the project target was demonstrated.« less

Implementation and application of the actuator line model by OpenFOAM for a vertical axis wind turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riva, L.; Giljarhus, K.-E.; Hjertager, B.; Kalvig, S. M.

2017-12-01

University of Stavanger has started The Smart Sustainable Campus & Energy Lab project, to gain knowledge and facilitate project based education in the field of renewable and sustainable energy and increase the research effort in the same area. This project includes the future installation of a vertical axis wind turbine on the campus roof. A newly developed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model by OpenFOAM have been implemented to study the wind behavior over the building and the turbine performance. The online available wind turbine model case from Bachant, Goude and Wosnik from 2016 is used as the starting point. This is a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) case set up that uses the Actuator Line Model. The available test case considers a water tank with controlled external parameters. Bachant et al.’s model has been modified to study a VAWT in the atmospheric boundary layer. Various simulations have been performed trying to verify the models use and suitability. Simulation outcomes help to understand the impact of the surroundings on the turbine as well as its reaction to parameters changes. The developed model can be used for wind energy and flow simulations for both onshore and offshore applications.

Improving alignment in Tract-based spatial statistics: evaluation and optimization of image registration.

PubMed

de Groot, Marius; Vernooij, Meike W; Klein, Stefan; Ikram, M Arfan; Vos, Frans M; Smith, Stephen M; Niessen, Wiro J; Andersson, Jesper L R

2013-08-01

Anatomical alignment in neuroimaging studies is of such importance that considerable effort is put into improving the registration used to establish spatial correspondence. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) is a popular method for comparing diffusion characteristics across subjects. TBSS establishes spatial correspondence using a combination of nonlinear registration and a "skeleton projection" that may break topological consistency of the transformed brain images. We therefore investigated feasibility of replacing the two-stage registration-projection procedure in TBSS with a single, regularized, high-dimensional registration. To optimize registration parameters and to evaluate registration performance in diffusion MRI, we designed an evaluation framework that uses native space probabilistic tractography for 23 white matter tracts, and quantifies tract similarity across subjects in standard space. We optimized parameters for two registration algorithms on two diffusion datasets of different quality. We investigated reproducibility of the evaluation framework, and of the optimized registration algorithms. Next, we compared registration performance of the regularized registration methods and TBSS. Finally, feasibility and effect of incorporating the improved registration in TBSS were evaluated in an example study. The evaluation framework was highly reproducible for both algorithms (R(2) 0.993; 0.931). The optimal registration parameters depended on the quality of the dataset in a graded and predictable manner. At optimal parameters, both algorithms outperformed the registration of TBSS, showing feasibility of adopting such approaches in TBSS. This was further confirmed in the example experiment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Meeting the challenges of developing LED-based projection displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geißler, Enrico

2006-04-01

The main challenge in developing a LED-based projection system is to meet the brightness requirements of the market. Therefore a balanced combination of optical, electrical and thermal parameters must be reached to achieve these performance and cost targets. This paper describes the system design methodology for a digital micromirror display (DMD) based optical engine using LEDs as the light source, starting at the basic physical and geometrical parameters of the DMD and other optical elements through characterization of the LEDs to optimizing the system performance by determining optimal driving conditions. LEDs have a luminous flux density which is just at the threshold of acceptance in projection systems and thus only a fully optimized optical system with a matched set of LEDs can be used. This work resulted in two projection engines, one for a compact pocket projector and the other for a rear projection television, both of which are currently in commercialization.

Federal Aviation Administration Small Business Innovation Research 5- Year Project Summaries

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-01

Completed Project: The project’s two primary objectives were to further develop the technology base for the Slaved Tandem Freewing (STF) Airplance and...margins than conventional airplances , and can meet all applicable airworthiness requirements. Adaitionally, basic design parameters were developed

Cost and schedule estimation study report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Condon, Steve; Regardie, Myrna; Stark, Mike; Waligora, Sharon

1993-01-01

This report describes the analysis performed and the findings of a study of the software development cost and schedule estimation models used by the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD), Goddard Space Flight Center. The study analyzes typical FDD projects, focusing primarily on those developed since 1982. The study reconfirms the standard SEL effort estimation model that is based on size adjusted for reuse; however, guidelines for the productivity and growth parameters in the baseline effort model have been updated. The study also produced a schedule prediction model based on empirical data that varies depending on application type. Models for the distribution of effort and schedule by life-cycle phase are also presented. Finally, this report explains how to use these models to plan SEL projects.

Projection correlation between two random vectors.

PubMed

Zhu, Liping; Xu, Kai; Li, Runze; Zhong, Wei

2017-12-01

We propose the use of projection correlation to characterize dependence between two random vectors. Projection correlation has several appealing properties. It equals zero if and only if the two random vectors are independent, it is not sensitive to the dimensions of the two random vectors, it is invariant with respect to the group of orthogonal transformations, and its estimation is free of tuning parameters and does not require moment conditions on the random vectors. We show that the sample estimate of the projection correction is [Formula: see text]-consistent if the two random vectors are independent and root-[Formula: see text]-consistent otherwise. Monte Carlo simulation studies indicate that the projection correlation has higher power than the distance correlation and the ranks of distances in tests of independence, especially when the dimensions are relatively large or the moment conditions required by the distance correlation are violated.

The Columbia River Protection Supplemental Technologies Quality Assurance Project Plan

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

Fix, N. J.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has conducted interim groundwater remedial activities on the Hanford Site since the mid-1990s for several groundwater contamination plumes. DOE established the Columbia River Protection Supplemental Technologies Project (Technologies Project) in 2006 to evaluate alternative treatment technologies. The objectives for the technology project are as follows: develop a 300 Area polyphosphate treatability test to immobilize uranium, design and test infiltration of a phosphate/apatite technology for Sr-90 at 100-N, perform carbon tetrachloride and chloroform attenuation parameter studies, perform vadose zone chromium characterization and geochemistry studies, perform in situ biostimulation of chromium studies for a reducing barriermore » at 100-D, and perform a treatability test for phytoremediation for Sr-90 at 100-N. This document provides the quality assurance guidelines that will be followed by the Technologies Project. This Quality Assurance Project Plan is based on the quality assurance requirements of DOE Order 414.1C, Quality Assurance, and 10 CFR 830, Subpart A--Quality Assurance Requirements as delineated in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Standards-Based Management System. In addition, the technology project is subject to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans (EPA/240/B-01/003, QA/R-5). The Hanford Analytical Services Quality Assurance Requirements Documents (HASQARD, DOE/RL-96-68) apply to portions of this project and to the subcontractors. HASQARD requirements are discussed within applicable sections of this plan.« less

Thermal Performance Analysis of Solar Collectors Installed for Combisystem in the Apartment Building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Žandeckis, A.; Timma, L.; Blumberga, D.; Rochas, C.; Rošā, M.

2012-01-01

The paper focuses on the application of wood pellet and solar combisystem for space heating and hot water preparation at apartment buildings under the climate of Northern Europe. A pilot project has been implemented in the city of Sigulda (N 57° 09.410 E 024° 52.194), Latvia. The system was designed and optimised using TRNSYS - a dynamic simulation tool. The pilot project was continuously monitored. To the analysis the heat transfer fluid flow rate and the influence of the inlet temperature on the performance of solar collectors were subjected. The thermal performance of a solar collector loop was studied using a direct method. A multiple regression analysis was carried out using STATGRAPHICS Centurion 16.1.15 with the aim to identify the operational and weather parameters of the system which cause the strongest influence on the collector's performance. The parameters to be used for the system's optimisation have been evaluated.

BSM (+BMM) Data Emulator Dynamic Interrogative Data Capture (DIDC) Assessment Report: Proof of Concept

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-01

The report documents the study conducted as part of the BSM+BMM Data Emulator project, to examine the DIDC concept and determine the best set of DIDC parameters that provide the most support to the performance measure estimation process with the leas...

Expanding the Parameters of Academia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitchurch, Celia

2012-01-01

This paper draws on qualitative data gathered from two studies funded by the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education to examine the expansion of academic identities in higher education. It builds on Whitchurch's earlier work, which focused primarily on professional staff, to suggest that the emergence of broadly based projects such as…

Environmental Mitigation in Transportation Planning : Case Studies in Meeting SAFETEA-LU Section 6001 Requirements for the FHWA, Office of Planning Environment and Realty

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-12-01

THIS PROJECT IDENTIFIED TRAFFIC PARAMETERS AND THEIR REQUIRED ACCURACIES FOR CHARACTERIZING TRAFFIC FLOW IN CONVENTIONAL AND NEWER INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (ITS), OBTAINED STATE-OF-THE-ART DETECTORS AND INSTALLED AND EVALUATED THEM IN THREE...

Manned Orbital Transfer Vehicle (MOTV). Volume 4: Supporting analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyland, R. E.; Sherman, S. W.; Morfin, H. W.

1979-01-01

Generic missions were defined to enable potential users to determine the parameters for suggested user projects. Mission modes were identified for providing operation, interfaces, performance, and cost data for studying payloads. Safety requirements for emergencies during various phases of the mission are considered with emphasis on radiation hazards.

Efficient computational methods to study new and innovative signal detection techniques in SETI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deans, Stanley R.

1991-01-01

The purpose of the research reported here is to provide a rapid computational method for computing various statistical parameters associated with overlapped Hann spectra. These results are important for the Targeted Search part of the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Microwave Observing Project.

Report of the Horizontal Launch Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilhite, Alan W.; Bartolotta, Paul A.

2011-01-01

A study of horizontal launch concepts has been conducted. This study, jointly sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was tasked to estimate the economic and technical viability of horizontal launch approaches. The study team identified the key parameters and critical technologies which determine mission viability and reported on the state of the art of critical technologies, along with objectives for technology development.

Biotic responses buffer warming-induced soil organic carbon loss in Arctic tundra.

PubMed

Liang, Junyi; Xia, Jiangyang; Shi, Zheng; Jiang, Lifen; Ma, Shuang; Lu, Xingjie; Mauritz, Marguerite; Natali, Susan M; Pegoraro, Elaine; Penton, C Ryan; Plaza, César; Salmon, Verity G; Celis, Gerardo; Cole, James R; Konstantinidis, Konstantinos T; Tiedje, James M; Zhou, Jizhong; Schuur, Edward A G; Luo, Yiqi

2018-05-26

Climate warming can result in both abiotic (e.g., permafrost thaw) and biotic (e.g., microbial functional genes) changes in Arctic tundra. Recent research has incorporated dynamic permafrost thaw in Earth system models (ESMs) and indicates that Arctic tundra could be a significant future carbon (C) source due to the enhanced decomposition of thawed deep soil C. However, warming-induced biotic changes may influence biologically related parameters and the consequent projections in ESMs. How model parameters associated with biotic responses will change under warming and to what extent these changes affect projected C budgets have not been carefully examined. In this study, we synthesized six data sets over five years from a soil warming experiment at the Eight Mile Lake, Alaska, into the Terrestrial ECOsystem (TECO) model with a probabilistic inversion approach. The TECO model used multiple soil layers to track dynamics of thawed soil under different treatments. Our results show that warming increased light use efficiency of vegetation photosynthesis but decreased baseline (i.e., environment-corrected) turnover rates of SOC in both the fast and slow pools in comparison with those under control. Moreover, the parameter changes generally amplified over time, suggesting processes of gradual physiological acclimation and functional gene shifts of both plants and microbes. The TECO model predicted that field warming from 2009 to 2013 resulted in cumulative C losses of 224 or 87 g m -2 , respectively, without or with changes in those parameters. Thus, warming-induced parameter changes reduced predicted soil C loss by 61%. Our study suggests that it is critical to incorporate biotic changes in ESMs to improve the model performance in predicting C dynamics in permafrost regions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Project 5322 Mid-Term Report: Key Eco-Hydrological Parameters Retrieval And Land Data Assimilation System Development In A Typical Inland River Basin Of Chinas Arid Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faivre, R.; Colin, J.; Menenti, M.; Lindenbergh, R.; Van Den Bergh, L.; Yu, H.; Jia, L.; Xin, L.

2010-10-01

Improving the understanding and the monitoring of high elevation regions hydrology is of major relevance from both societal and environmental points of view for many Asian countries, in particular in terms of flood and drought, but also in terms of food security in a chang- ing environment. Satellite and airborne remote sensing technologies are of utmost for such a challenge. Exist- ing imaging spectro-radiometers, radars, microwave ra- diometers and backscatter LIDAR provide a very com- prehensive suite of measurements over a wide rage of wavelengths, time frequencies and spatial resolu- tions. It is however needed to devise new algorithms to convert these radiometric measurements into useful eco-hydrological quantitative parameters for hydrologi- cal modeling and water management. The DRAGON II project entitled Key Eco-Hydrological Parameters Re- trieval and Land Data Assimilation System Development in a Typical Inland River Basin of Chinas Arid Region (ID 5322) aims at improving the monitoring, understand- ing, and predictability of hydrological and ecological pro- cesses at catchment scale, and promote the applicability of quantitative remote sensing in watershed science. Ex- isting Earth Observation platforms provided by the Euro- pean Space Agency as well as prototype airborne systems developed in China - ENVISAT/AATSR, ALOS/PRISM and PALSAR, Airborne LIDAR - are used and combined to retrieve advanced land surface physical properties over high elevation arid regions of China. The existing syn- ergies between this project, the CEOP-AEGIS project (FP7) and the WATER project (CAS) provide incentives for innovative studies. The investigations presented in the following report focus on the development of advanced and innovative methodologies and algorithms to monitor both the state and the trend of key eco-hydrological vari- ables: 3D vegetation properties, land surface evaporation, glacier mass balance and drought indicators.

Forecasting of Radiation Belts: Results From the PROGRESS Project.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balikhin, M. A.; Arber, T. D.; Ganushkina, N. Y.; Walker, S. N.

2017-12-01

Forecasting of Radiation Belts: Results from the PROGRESS Project. The overall goal of the PROGRESS project, funded in frame of EU Horizon2020 programme, is to combine first principles based models with the systems science methodologies to achieve reliable forecasts of the geo-space particle radiation environment.The PROGRESS incorporates three themes : The propagation of the solar wind to L1, Forecast of geomagnetic indices, and forecast of fluxes of energetic electrons within the magnetosphere. One of the important aspects of the PROGRESS project is the development of statistical wave models for magnetospheric waves that affect the dynamics of energetic electrons such as lower band chorus, hiss and equatorial noise. The error reduction ratio (ERR) concept has been used to optimise the set of solar wind and geomagnetic parameters for organisation of statistical wave models for these emissions. The resulting sets of parameters and statistical wave models will be presented and discussed. However the ERR analysis also indicates that the combination of solar wind and geomagnetic parameters accounts for only part of the variance of the emissions under investigation (lower band chorus, hiss and equatorial noise). In addition, advances in the forecast of fluxes of energetic electrons, exploiting empirical models and the first principles IMPTAM model achieved by the PROGRESS project is presented.

Determination of HCME 3-D parameters using a full ice-cream cone model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Na, Hyeonock; Moon, Yong-Jae; Lee, Harim

2016-05-01

It is very essential to determine three dimensional parameters (e.g., radial speed, angular width, source location) of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) for space weather forecast. Several cone models (e.g., an elliptical cone model, an ice-cream cone model, an asymmetric cone model) have been examined to estimate these parameters. In this study, we investigate which cone type is close to a halo CME morphology using 26 CMEs: halo CMEs by one spacecraft (SOHO or STEREO-A or B) and as limb CMEs by the other ones. From cone shape parameters of these CMEs such as their front curvature, we find that near full ice-cream cone type CMEs are much closer to observations than shallow ice-cream cone type CMEs. Thus we develop a new cone model in which a full ice-cream cone consists of many flat cones with different heights and angular widths. This model is carried out by the following steps: (1) construct a cone for given height and angular width, (2) project the cone onto the sky plane, (3) select points comprising the outer boundary, and (4) minimize the difference between the estimated projection speeds with the observed ones. By applying this model to 12 SOHO/LASCO halo CMEs, we find that 3-D parameters from our method are similar to those from other stereoscopic methods (a geometrical triangulation method and a Graduated Cylindrical Shell model) based on multi-spacecraft data. We are developing a general ice-cream cone model whose front shape is a free parameter determined by observations.

Nemo:. a Project for a KM3 Underwater Detector for Astrophysical Neutrinos in the Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amore, I.; Aiello, S.; Ambriola, M.; Ameli, F.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anzalone, A.; Barbarino, G.; Barbarito, E.; Battaglieri, M.; Bellotti, R.; Beverini, N.; Bonori, M.; Bouhadef, B.; Brescia, M.; Cacopardo, G.; Cafagna, F.; Capone, A.; Caponetto, L.; Castorina, E.; Ceres, A.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Cocimano, R.; Coniglione, R.; Cordelli, M.; Costa, M.; Cuneo, S.; D'Amico, A.; de Bonis, G.; de Marzo, C.; de Rosa, G.; de Vita, R.; Distefano, C.; Falchini, E.; Fiorello, C.; Flaminio, V.; Fratini, K.; Gabrielli, A.; Galeotti, S.; Gandolfi, E.; Giacomelli, G.; Giorgi, F.; Grimaldi, A.; Habel, R.; Leonora, E.; Lonardo, A.; Longo, G.; Lo Presti, D.; Lucarelli, F.; Maccioni, E.; Margiotta, A.; Martini, A.; Masullo, R.; Megna, R.; Migneco, E.; Mongelli, M.; Montaruli, T.; Morganti, M.; Musumeci, M. S.; Nicolau, C. A.; Orlando, A.; Osipenko, M.; Osteria, G.; Papaleo, R.; Pappalardo, V.; Petta, C.; Piattelli, P.; Raia, G.; Randazzo, N.; Reito, S.; Ricco, G.; Riccobene, G.; Ripani, M.; Rovelli, A.; Ruppi, M.; Russo, G. V.; Russo, S.; Sapienza, P.; Sedita, M.; Shirokov, E.; Simeone, F.; Sipala, V.; Spurio, M.; Taiuti, M.; Terreni, G.; Trasatti, L.; Urso, S.; Valente, V.; Vicini, P.

The status of the project is described: the activity on long term characterization of water optical and oceanographic parameters at the Capo Passero site candidate for the Mediterranean km3 neutrino telescope; the feasibility study; the physics performances and underwater technology for the km3; the activity on NEMO Phase 1, a technological demonstrator that has been deployed at 2000 m depth 25 km offshore Catania; the realization of an underwater infrastructure at 3500 m depth at the candidate site (NEMO Phase 2).

Solar heating and cooling technical data and systems analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, D. L.

1976-01-01

The accomplishments of a project to study solar heating and air conditioning are outlined. Presentation materials (data packages, slides, charts, and visual aids) were developed. Bibliographies and source materials on materials and coatings, solar water heaters, systems analysis computer models, solar collectors and solar projects were developed. Detailed MIRADS computer formats for primary data parameters were developed and updated. The following data were included: climatic, architectural, topography, heating and cooling equipment, thermal loads, and economics. Data sources in each of these areas were identified as well as solar radiation data stations and instruments.

The ExoMol pressure broadening diet: H2 and He line-broadening parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barton, Emma J.; Hill, C.; Czurylo, M.; Li, H. Y.; Hyslop, A.; Yurchenko, Sergei N.; Tennyson, Jonathan

2017-12-01

In a variety of astronomical objects including gas giant (exo-)planets, brown dwarfs and cool stars, molecular hydrogen and helium are the major line broadeners. However, there is currently no systematic source for these parameters, particularly at the elevated temperatures encountered in many of these objects. The ExoMol project provides comprehensive molecular line lists for exoplanet and other hot atmospheres. The ExoMol database has recently been extended to provide additional data including temperature-dependent, pressure-broadening parameters. Here we assemble H2 and He pressure-broadening datasets for the molecules H2O, NH3, SO2, CH4, PH3, HCN and H2CO using available experimental and theoretical studies.

Tropospheric Parameters Determined by VLBI Within the IVS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuh, H.; Boehm, J.

2003-12-01

In April 2002 the IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry) set up the Pilot Project - Tropospheric Parameters, and the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics (IGG), Vienna, was put in charge of coordinating the project. Seven IVS Analysis Centers have joined the project and regularly submitted their estimates of tropospheric parameters (wet and total zenith delays, horizontal gradients) for all IVS-R1 and IVS-R4 sessions since January 1st, 2002. The individual submissions are combined by a two-step procedure to obtain stable, robust and highly accurate tropospheric parameter time series with one hour resolution. The internal accuracy of the combined wet zenith delays is between 2 and 4 mm. The zenith delays derived by VLBI are compared with those provided by the International GPS Service (IGS). At sites with co-located VLBI and GPS antennas the short-term variabilities of the GPS and VLBI derived zenith delays generally show a good agreement but biases are found between the results of the two techniques. Possible reasons for these biases are discussed. Since July 1st, 2003, within the IVS the tropospheric parameters are determined as operational products. The presentation also includes the VLBI CONT02 campaign of 15 days of continuous observing in the second half of October 2002.

The International VEGA "Venus-Halley" (1984-1986) Experiment: Description and Scientific Objectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The Venus-Halley (Vega) project will provide a unique opportunity to combine a mission over Venus with a transfer flight to Halley's comet. This project is based on three research goals: (1) to study the surface of Venus; (2) to study the air circulation on Venus and its meteorological parameters; and (3) to study Halley's comet. The objective of the study of Halley's comet is to: determine the physical characteristics of its nucleus; define the structure and dynamics of the coma around the nucleus; define the gas composition near the nucleus; investigate the dust particle distribution as a function of mass at various distances from the nucleus; and investigate the solar wind interaction with the atmosphere and ionosphere of the comet.

Constructing optimal ensemble projections for predictive environmental modelling in Northern Eurasia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anisimov, Oleg; Kokorev, Vasily

2013-04-01

Large uncertainties in climate impact modelling are associated with the forcing climate data. This study is targeted at the evaluation of the quality of GCM-based climatic projections in the specific context of predictive environmental modelling in Northern Eurasia. To accomplish this task, we used the output from 36 CMIP5 GCMs from the IPCC AR-5 data base for the control period 1975-2005 and calculated several climatic characteristics and indexes that are most often used in the impact models, i.e. the summer warmth index, duration of the vegetation growth period, precipitation sums, dryness index, thawing degree-day sums, and the annual temperature amplitude. We used data from 744 weather stations in Russia and neighbouring countries to analyze the spatial patterns of modern climatic change and to delineate 17 large regions with coherent temperature changes in the past few decades. GSM results and observational data were averaged over the coherent regions and compared with each other. Ultimately, we evaluated the skills of individual models, ranked them in the context of regional impact modelling and identified top-end GCMs that "better than average" reproduce modern regional changes of the selected meteorological parameters and climatic indexes. Selected top-end GCMs were used to compose several ensembles, each combining results from the different number of models. Ensembles were ranked using the same algorithm and outliers eliminated. We then used data from top-end ensembles for the 2000-2100 period to construct the climatic projections that are likely to be "better than average" in predicting climatic parameters that govern the state of environment in Northern Eurasia. The ultimate conclusions of our study are the following. • High-end GCMs that demonstrate excellent skills in conventional atmospheric model intercomparison experiments are not necessarily the best in replicating climatic characteristics that govern the state of environment in Northern Eurasia, and independent model evaluation on regional level is necessary to identify "better than average" GCMs. • Each of the ensembles combining results from several "better than average" models replicate selected meteorological parameters and climatic indexes better than any single GCM. The ensemble skills are parameter-specific and depend on models it consists of. The best results are not necessarily those based on the ensemble comprised by all "better than average" models. • Comprehensive evaluation of climatic scenarios using specific criteria narrows the range of uncertainties in environmental projections.

Development of Processing Parameters for Organic Binders Using Selective Laser Sintering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mobasher, Amir A.

2003-01-01

This document describes rapid prototyping, its relation to Computer Aided Design (CAD), and the application of these techniques to choosing parameters for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). The document reviews the parameters selected by its author for his project, the SLS machine used, and its software.

A stochastic storm surge generator for the German North Sea and the multivariate statistical assessment of the simulation results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahl, Thomas; Jensen, Jürgen; Mudersbach, Christoph

2010-05-01

Storm surges along the German North Sea coastline led to major damages in the past and the risk of inundation is expected to increase in the course of an ongoing climate change. The knowledge of the characteristics of possible storm surges is essential for the performance of integrated risk analyses, e.g. based on the source-pathway-receptor concept. The latter includes the storm surge simulation/analyses (source), modelling of dike/dune breach scenarios (pathway) and the quantification of potential losses (receptor). In subproject 1b of the German joint research project XtremRisK (www.xtremrisk.de), a stochastic storm surge generator for the south-eastern North Sea area is developed. The input data for the multivariate model are high resolution sea level observations from tide gauges during extreme events. Based on 25 parameters (19 sea level parameters and 6 time parameters) observed storm surge hydrographs consisting of three tides are parameterised. Followed by the adaption of common parametric probability distributions and a large number of Monte-Carlo-Simulations, the final reconstruction leads to a set of 100.000 (default) synthetic storm surge events with a one-minute resolution. Such a data set can potentially serve as the basis for a large number of applications. For risk analyses, storm surges with peak water levels exceeding the design water levels are of special interest. The occurrence probabilities of the simulated extreme events are estimated based on multivariate statistics, considering the parameters "peak water level" and "fullness/intensity". In the past, most studies considered only the peak water levels during extreme events, which might not be the most important parameter in any cases. Here, a 2D-Archimedian copula model is used for the estimation of the joint probabilities of the selected parameters, accounting for the structures of dependence overlooking the margins. In coordination with subproject 1a, the results will be used as the input for the XtremRisK subprojects 2 to 4. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Project No. 03 F 0483 B).

Refraction law and Fermat principle: a project using the ant colony optimization algorithm for undergraduate students in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vuong, Q. L.; Rigaut, C.; Gossuin, Y.

2018-07-01

A programming project for undergraduate students in physics is proposed in this work. Its goal is to check the Snell–Descartes law of refraction using the Fermat principle and the ant colony optimization algorithm. The project involves basic mathematics and physics and is adapted to students with basic programming skills. More advanced tools can be used (but are not mandatory) as parallelization or object-oriented programming, which makes the project also suitable for more experienced students. We propose two tests to validate the program. Our algorithm is able to find solutions which are close to the theoretical predictions. Two quantities are defined to study its convergence and the quality of the solutions. It is also shown that the choice of the values of the simulation parameters is important to efficiently obtain precise results.

Automated parameter tuning applied to sea ice in a global climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roach, Lettie A.; Tett, Simon F. B.; Mineter, Michael J.; Yamazaki, Kuniko; Rae, Cameron D.

2018-01-01

This study investigates the hypothesis that a significant portion of spread in climate model projections of sea ice is due to poorly-constrained model parameters. New automated methods for optimization are applied to historical sea ice in a global coupled climate model (HadCM3) in order to calculate the combination of parameters required to reduce the difference between simulation and observations to within the range of model noise. The optimized parameters result in a simulated sea-ice time series which is more consistent with Arctic observations throughout the satellite record (1980-present), particularly in the September minimum, than the standard configuration of HadCM3. Divergence from observed Antarctic trends and mean regional sea ice distribution reflects broader structural uncertainty in the climate model. We also find that the optimized parameters do not cause adverse effects on the model climatology. This simple approach provides evidence for the contribution of parameter uncertainty to spread in sea ice extent trends and could be customized to investigate uncertainties in other climate variables.

75 FR 75662 - Gallatin County Resource Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-06

... is to determine parameters and timeframes for the first round of projects and Public Comments. DATES... meeting is open to the public. The following business will be conducted: Review first round of project...

Comfort parameters - Ventilation of a subway wagon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petr, Pavlíček; Ladislav, Tříska

2017-09-01

Research and development of a ventilation system is being carried out as a part of project TA04030774 of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. Name of the project is "Research and Development of Mass-optimized Components for Rail Vehicles". Problems being solved are development and testing of a new concept for ventilation systems for public transport vehicles. The main improvements should be a reduction of the mass of the whole system, easy installation and reduction of the noise of the ventilation system. This article is focused on the comfort parameters in a subway wagon (measurement and evaluation carried out on a function sample in accordance with the regulations). The input to the project is a ventilator hybrid casing for a subway wagon, which was manufactured and tested during the Ministry of Industry and Trade project TIP FR-TI3/449.

Head mounted DMD based projection system for natural and prosthetic visual stimulation in freely moving rats.

PubMed

Arens-Arad, Tamar; Farah, Nairouz; Ben-Yaish, Shai; Zlotnik, Alex; Zalevsky, Zeev; Mandel, Yossi

2016-10-12

Novel technologies are constantly under development for vision restoration in blind patients. Many of these emerging technologies are based on the projection of high intensity light patterns at specific wavelengths, raising the need for the development of specialized projection systems. Here we present and characterize a novel projection system that meets the requirements for artificial retinal stimulation in rats and enables the recording of cortical responses. The system is based on a customized miniature Digital Mirror Device (DMD) for pattern projection, in both visible (525 nm) and NIR (915 nm) wavelengths, and a lens periscope for relaying the pattern directly onto the animal's retina. Thorough system characterization and the investigation of the effect of various parameters on obtained image quality were performed using ZEMAX. Simulation results revealed that images with an MTF higher than 0.8 were obtained with little effect of the vertex distance. Increased image quality was obtained at an optimal pupil diameter and smaller field of view. Visual cortex activity data was recorded simultaneously with pattern projection, further highlighting the importance of the system for prosthetic vision studies. This novel head mounted projection system may prove to be a vital tool in studying natural and artificial vision in behaving animals.

Head mounted DMD based projection system for natural and prosthetic visual stimulation in freely moving rats

PubMed Central

Arens-Arad, Tamar; Farah, Nairouz; Ben-Yaish, Shai; Zlotnik, Alex; Zalevsky, Zeev; Mandel, Yossi

2016-01-01

Novel technologies are constantly under development for vision restoration in blind patients. Many of these emerging technologies are based on the projection of high intensity light patterns at specific wavelengths, raising the need for the development of specialized projection systems. Here we present and characterize a novel projection system that meets the requirements for artificial retinal stimulation in rats and enables the recording of cortical responses. The system is based on a customized miniature Digital Mirror Device (DMD) for pattern projection, in both visible (525 nm) and NIR (915 nm) wavelengths, and a lens periscope for relaying the pattern directly onto the animal’s retina. Thorough system characterization and the investigation of the effect of various parameters on obtained image quality were performed using ZEMAX. Simulation results revealed that images with an MTF higher than 0.8 were obtained with little effect of the vertex distance. Increased image quality was obtained at an optimal pupil diameter and smaller field of view. Visual cortex activity data was recorded simultaneously with pattern projection, further highlighting the importance of the system for prosthetic vision studies. This novel head mounted projection system may prove to be a vital tool in studying natural and artificial vision in behaving animals. PMID:27731346

Head mounted DMD based projection system for natural and prosthetic visual stimulation in freely moving rats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arens-Arad, Tamar; Farah, Nairouz; Ben-Yaish, Shai; Zlotnik, Alex; Zalevsky, Zeev; Mandel, Yossi

2016-10-01

Novel technologies are constantly under development for vision restoration in blind patients. Many of these emerging technologies are based on the projection of high intensity light patterns at specific wavelengths, raising the need for the development of specialized projection systems. Here we present and characterize a novel projection system that meets the requirements for artificial retinal stimulation in rats and enables the recording of cortical responses. The system is based on a customized miniature Digital Mirror Device (DMD) for pattern projection, in both visible (525 nm) and NIR (915 nm) wavelengths, and a lens periscope for relaying the pattern directly onto the animal’s retina. Thorough system characterization and the investigation of the effect of various parameters on obtained image quality were performed using ZEMAX. Simulation results revealed that images with an MTF higher than 0.8 were obtained with little effect of the vertex distance. Increased image quality was obtained at an optimal pupil diameter and smaller field of view. Visual cortex activity data was recorded simultaneously with pattern projection, further highlighting the importance of the system for prosthetic vision studies. This novel head mounted projection system may prove to be a vital tool in studying natural and artificial vision in behaving animals.

The Coordinated Ocean Wave Climate Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hemer, Mark; Dobrynin, Mikhail; Erikson, Li; Lionello, Piero; Mori, Nobuhito; Semedo, Alvaro; Wang, Xiaolan

2016-04-01

Future 21st Century changes in wind-wave climate have broad implications for marine and coastal infrastructure and ecosystems. Atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (GCM) are now routinely used for assessing and providing future projections of climatological parameters such as temperature and precipitation, but generally these provide no information on ocean wind-waves. To fill this information gap a growing number of studies are using GCM outputs and independently producing global and regional scale wind-wave climate projections. Furthermore, additional studies are actively coupling wind-wave dependent atmosphere-ocean exchanges into GCMs, to improve physical representation and quantify the impact of waves in the coupled climate system, and can also deliver wave characteristics as another variable in the climate system. To consolidate these efforts, understand the sources of variance between projections generated by different methodologies and International groups, and ultimately provide a robust picture of the role of wind-waves in the climate system and their projected changes, we present outcomes of the JCOMM supported Coordinated Ocean Wave Climate Project (COWCLIP). The objective of COWCLIP is twofold: to make community based ensembles of wave climate projections openly accessible, to provide the necessary information to support diligent marine and coastal impacts of climate change studies; and to understand the effects and feedback influences of wind-waves in the coupled ocean-atmosphere climate system. We will present the current status of COWCLIP, providing an overview of the objectives, analysis and results of the initial phase - now complete - and the progress of ongoing phases of the project.

Suitable Site Selection of Small Dams Using Geo-Spatial Technique: a Case Study of Dadu Tehsil, Sindh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khalil, Zahid

2016-07-01

Decision making about identifying suitable sites for any project by considering different parameters, is difficult. Using GIS and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) can make it easy for those projects. This technology has proved to be an efficient and adequate in acquiring the desired information. In this study, GIS and MCA were employed to identify the suitable sites for small dams in Dadu Tehsil, Sindh. The GIS software is used to create all the spatial parameters for the analysis. The parameters that derived are slope, drainage density, rainfall, land use / land cover, soil groups, Curve Number (CN) and runoff index with a spatial resolution of 30m. The data used for deriving above layers include 30 meter resolution SRTM DEM, Landsat 8 imagery, and rainfall from National Centre of Environment Prediction (NCEP) and soil data from World Harmonized Soil Data (WHSD). Land use/Land cover map is derived from Landsat 8 using supervised classification. Slope, drainage network and watershed are delineated by terrain processing of DEM. The Soil Conservation Services (SCS) method is implemented to estimate the surface runoff from the rainfall. Prior to this, SCS-CN grid is developed by integrating the soil and land use/land cover raster. These layers with some technical and ecological constraints are assigned weights on the basis of suitability criteria. The pair wise comparison method, also known as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is took into account as MCA for assigning weights on each decision element. All the parameters and group of parameters are integrated using weighted overlay in GIS environment to produce suitable sites for the Dams. The resultant layer is then classified into four classes namely, best suitable, suitable, moderate and less suitable. This study reveals a contribution to decision making about suitable sites analysis for small dams using geo-spatial data with minimal amount of ground data. This suitability maps can be helpful for water resource management organizations in determination of feasible rainwater harvesting structures (RWH).

MOCCA code for star cluster simulation: comparison with optical observations using COCOA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Askar, Abbas; Giersz, Mirek; Pych, Wojciech; Olech, Arkadiusz; Hypki, Arkadiusz

2016-02-01

We introduce and present preliminary results from COCOA (Cluster simulatiOn Comparison with ObservAtions) code for a star cluster after 12 Gyr of evolution simulated using the MOCCA code. The COCOA code is being developed to quickly compare results of numerical simulations of star clusters with observational data. We use COCOA to obtain parameters of the projected cluster model. For comparison, a FITS file of the projected cluster was provided to observers so that they could use their observational methods and techniques to obtain cluster parameters. The results show that the similarity of cluster parameters obtained through numerical simulations and observations depends significantly on the quality of observational data and photometric accuracy.

Columbia River : Select Area Fishery Evaluation project : 1995-96 Annual Reports.

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

Hirose, Paul; Miller, Marc; Hill, Jim

1998-06-01

Water quality monitoring was conducted from November 1994 through October 1996 at five Oregon and three Washington select area study sites in the lower Columbia River. Physicochemical monitoring and aquatic biomonitoring programs were established to profile baseline parameters at each study site and document differences between study sites. Data collected at study sites where fish rearing operations were initiated indicate a potential negative impact on the surrounding benthic invertebrate communities.

Current and efficiency of Brownian particles under oscillating forces in entropic barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nutku, Ferhat; Aydιner, Ekrem

2015-04-01

In this study, considering the temporarily unbiased force and different forms of oscillating forces, we investigate the current and efficiency of Brownian particles in an entropic tube structure and present the numerically obtained results. We show that different force forms give rise to different current and efficiency profiles in different optimized parameter intervals. We find that an unbiased oscillating force and an unbiased temporal force lead to the current and efficiency, which are dependent on these parameters. We also observe that the current and efficiency caused by temporal and different oscillating forces have maximum and minimum values in different parameter intervals. We conclude that the current or efficiency can be controlled dynamically by adjusting the parameters of entropic barriers and applied force. Project supported by the Funds from Istanbul University (Grant No. 45662).

AOF LTAO mode: reconstruction strategy and first test results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oberti, Sylvain; Kolb, Johann; Le Louarn, Miska; La Penna, Paolo; Madec, Pierre-Yves; Neichel, Benoit; Sauvage, Jean-François; Fusco, Thierry; Donaldson, Robert; Soenke, Christian; Suárez Valles, Marcos; Arsenault, Robin

2016-07-01

GALACSI is the Adaptive Optics (AO) system serving the instrument MUSE in the framework of the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) project. Its Narrow Field Mode (NFM) is a Laser Tomography AO (LTAO) mode delivering high resolution in the visible across a small Field of View (FoV) of 7.5" diameter around the optical axis. From a reconstruction standpoint, GALACSI NFM intends to optimize the correction on axis by estimating the turbulence in volume via a tomographic process, then projecting the turbulence profile onto one single Deformable Mirror (DM) located in the pupil, close to the ground. In this paper, the laser tomographic reconstruction process is described. Several methods (virtual DM, virtual layer projection) are studied, under the constraint of a single matrix vector multiplication. The pseudo-synthetic interaction matrix model and the LTAO reconstructor design are analysed. Moreover, the reconstruction parameter space is explored, in particular the regularization terms. Furthermore, we present here the strategy to define the modal control basis and split the reconstruction between the Low Order (LO) loop and the High Order (HO) loop. Finally, closed loop performance obtained with a 3D turbulence generator will be analysed with respect to the most relevant system parameters to be tuned.

Predicting the response of seven Asian glaciers to future climate scenarios using a simple linear glacier model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Diandong; Karoly, David J.

2008-03-01

Observations from seven Central Asian glaciers (35-55°N; 70-95°E) are used, together with regional temperature data, to infer uncertain parameters for a simple linear model of the glacier length variations. The glacier model is based on first order glacier dynamics and requires the knowledge of reference states of forcing and glacier perturbation magnitude. An adjoint-based variational method is used to optimally determine the glacier reference states in 1900 and the uncertain glacier model parameters. The simple glacier model is then used to estimate the glacier length variations until 2060 using regional temperature projections from an ensemble of climate model simulations for a future climate change scenario (SRES A2). For the period 2000-2060, all glaciers are projected to experience substantial further shrinkage, especially those with gentle slopes (e.g., Glacier Chogo Lungma retreats ˜4 km). Although nearly one-third of the year 2000 length will be reduced for some small glaciers, the existence of the glaciers studied here is not threatened by year 2060. The differences between the individual glacier responses are large. No straightforward relationship is found between glacier size and the projected fractional change of its length.

Cellular immune response experiment MA-031

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Criswell, B. S.

1976-01-01

Significant changes in phytohemagglutinin (PHA) lymphocytic responsiveness occurred in the cellular immune response of three astronauts during the 9 day flight of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. Parameters studied were white blood cell concentrations, lymphocyte numbers, B- and T-lymphocyte distributions in peripheral blood, and lymphocyte responsiveness to PHA, pokeweed mitogen, Concanavalin A, and influenza virus antigen.

Contextual Shaping of Student Design Practices: The Role of Constraint in First-Year Engineering Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goncher, Andrea M.

thResearch on engineering design is a core area of concern within engineering education, and a fundamental understanding of how engineering students approach and undertake design is necessary in order to develop effective design models and pedagogies. This dissertation contributes to scholarship on engineering design by addressing a critical, but as yet underexplored, problem: how does the context in which students design shape their design practices? Using a qualitative study comprising of video data of design sessions, focus group interviews with students, and archives of their design work, this research explored how design decisions and actions are shaped by context, specifically the context of higher education. To develop a theoretical explanation for observed behavior, this study used the nested structuration. framework proposed by Perlow, Gittell, & Katz (2004). This framework explicated how teamwork is shaped by mutually reinforcing relationships at the individual, organizational, and institutional levels. I appropriated this framework to look specifically at how engineering students working on a course-related design project identify constraints that guide their design and how these constraints emerge as students interact while working on the project. I first identified and characterized the parameters associated with the design project from the student perspective and then, through multi-case studies of four design teams, I looked at the role these parameters play in student design practices. This qualitative investigation of first-year engineering student design teams revealed mutual and interconnected relationships between students and the organizations and institutions that they are a part of. In addition to contributing to research on engineering design, this work provides guidelines and practices to help design educators develop more effective design projects by incorporating constraints that enable effective design and learning. Moreover, I found that when appropriated in the context of higher education, multiple sublevels existed within nested structuration's organizational context and included course-level and project-level factors. The implications of this research can be used to improve the design of engineering course projects as well as the design of research efforts related to design in engineering education.

Impacts of Projected Climate Warming and Wetting on Soil Microbial Communities in Alpine Grassland Ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau.

PubMed

Zeng, Jun; Shen, Ju-Pei; Wang, Jun-Tao; Hu, Hang-Wei; Zhang, Cui-Jing; Bai, Ren; Zhang, Li-Mei; He, Ji-Zheng

2018-05-01

Climate change is projected to have impacts on precipitation and temperature regimes in drylands of high elevation regions, with especially large effects in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. However, there was limited information about how the projected climate change will impact on the soil microbial community and their activity in the region. Here, we present results from a study conducted across 72 soil samples from 24 different sites along a temperature and precipitation gradient (substituted by aridity index ranging from 0.079 to 0.89) of the Plateau, to assess how changes in aridity affect the abundance, community composition, and diversity of bacteria, ammonia-oxidizers, and denitrifers (nirK/S and nosZ genes-containing communities) as well as nitrogen (N) turnover enzyme activities. We found V-shaped or inverted V-shaped relationships between the aridity index (AI) and soil microbial parameters (gene abundance, community structures, microbial diversity, and N turnover enzyme activities) with a threshold at AI = 0.27. The increasing or decreasing rates of the microbial parameters were higher in areas with AI < 0.27 (alpine steppes) than in mesic areas with 0.27 < AI < 0.89 (alpine meadow and swamp meadow). The results indicated that the projected warming and wetting have a strong impact on soil microbial communities in the alpine steppes.

Probabilistic hindcasts and projections of the coupled climate, carbon cycle and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation system: a Bayesian fusion of century-scale observations with a simple model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urban, Nathan M.; Keller, Klaus

2010-10-01

How has the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) varied over the past centuries and what is the risk of an anthropogenic AMOC collapse? We report probabilistic projections of the future climate which improve on previous AMOC projection studies by (i) greatly expanding the considered observational constraints and (ii) carefully sampling the tail areas of the parameter probability distribution function (pdf). We use a Bayesian inversion to constrain a simple model of the coupled climate, carbon cycle and AMOC systems using observations to derive multicentury hindcasts and projections. Our hindcasts show considerable skill in representing the observational constraints. We show that robust AMOC risk estimates can require carefully sampling the parameter pdfs. We find a low probability of experiencing an AMOC collapse within the 21st century for a business-as-usual emissions scenario. The probability of experiencing an AMOC collapse within two centuries is 1/10. The probability of crossing a forcing threshold and triggering a future AMOC collapse (by 2300) is approximately 1/30 in the 21st century and over 1/3 in the 22nd. Given the simplicity of the model structure and uncertainty in the forcing assumptions, our analysis should be considered a proof of concept and the quantitative conclusions subject to severe caveats.

Flexible engineering designs for urban water management in Lusaka, Zambia.

PubMed

Tembo, Lucy; Pathirana, Assela; van der Steen, Peter; Zevenbergen, Chris

2015-01-01

Urban water systems are often designed using deterministic single values as design parameters. Subsequently the different design alternatives are compared using a discounted cash flow analysis that assumes that all parameters remain as-predicted for the entire project period. In reality the future is unknown and at best a possible range of values for design parameters can be estimated. A Monte Carlo simulation could then be used to calculate the expected Net Present Value of project alternatives, as well as so-called target curves (cumulative frequency distribution of possible Net Present Values). The same analysis could be done after flexibilities were incorporated in the design, either by using decision rules to decide about the moment of capacity increase, or by buying Real Options (in this case land) to cater for potential capacity increases in the future. This procedure was applied to a sanitation and wastewater treatment case in Lusaka, Zambia. It included various combinations of on-site anaerobic baffled reactors and off-site waste stabilisation ponds. For the case study, it was found that the expected net value of wastewater treatment systems can be increased by 35-60% by designing a small flexible system with Real Options, rather than a large inflexible system.

Ethical Dilemmas for the Computational Linguist in the Business World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCallum-Bayliss, Heather

1993-01-01

Reports on a computer application in which collaboration did not precede project design. Important project parameters established without author input presented ethical dilemmas in balancing contract obligations and methodological rigor. (Author/CK)

The AMBRE Project: Stellar parameterisation of the ESO:FEROS archived spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Worley, C. C.; de Laverny, P.; Recio-Blanco, A.; Hill, V.; Bijaoui, A.; Ordenovic, C.

2012-06-01

Context. The AMBRE Project is a collaboration between the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (OCA) that has been established in order to carry out the determination of stellar atmospheric parameters for the archived spectra of four ESO spectrographs. Aims: The analysis of the FEROS archived spectra for their stellar parameters (effective temperatures, surface gravities, global metallicities, alpha element to iron ratios and radial velocities) has been completed in the first phase of the AMBRE Project. From the complete ESO:FEROS archive dataset that was received, a total of 21 551 scientific spectra have been identified, covering the period 2005 to 2010. These spectra correspond to 6285 stars. Methods: The determination of the stellar parameters was carried out using the stellar parameterisation algorithm, MATISSE (MATrix Inversion for Spectral SynthEsis), which has been developed at OCA to be used in the analysis of large scale spectroscopic studies in galactic archaeology. An analysis pipeline has been constructed that integrates spectral normalisation, cleaning and radial velocity correction procedures in order that the FEROS spectra could be analysed automatically with MATISSE to obtain the stellar parameters. The synthetic grid against which the MATISSE analysis is carried out is currently constrained to parameters of FGKM stars only. Results: Stellar atmospheric parameters, effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity and alpha element abundances, were determined for 6508 (30.2%) of the FEROS archived spectra (~3087 stars). Radial velocities were determined for 11 963 (56%) of the archived spectra. 2370 (11%) spectra could not be analysed within the pipeline due to very low signal-to-noise ratios or missing spectral orders. 12 673 spectra (58.8%) were analysed in the pipeline but their parameters were discarded based on quality criteria and error analysis determined within the automated process. The majority of these rejected spectra were found to have broad spectral features, as probed both by the direct measurement of the features and cross-correlation function breadths, indicating that they may be hot and/or fast rotating stars, which are not considered within the adopted reference synthetic spectra grid. The current configuration of the synthetic spectra grid is devoted to slow-rotating FGKM stars. Hence non-standard spectra (binaries, chemically peculiar stars etc.) that could not be identified may pollute the analysis.

Occupational Diversity of Rural Residents in Virginia: A Research Study of Multiple Job Holding and Labor Exchange. Virginia Higher Education Research Project No. 2034410.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, Clifton D.; And Others

For a 1979 study of occupational division of labor in rural areas, in-depth interviews conducted with 541 randomly selected respondents from 4 Virginia counties examined socio-demographic parameters (age, sex, race, and occupation); degree of involvement in multiple job holding; economic and social-psychological motives for participation in…

The Role of Economic Uncertainty on the Block Economic Value - a New Valuation Approach / Rola Czynnika Niepewności Przy Obliczaniu Wskaźnika Rentowności - Nowe Podejście

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dehghani, H.; Ataee-Pour, M.

2012-12-01

The block economic value (EV) is one of the most important parameters in mine evaluation. This parameter can affect significant factors such as mining sequence, final pit limit and net present value. Nowadays, the aim of open pit mine planning is to define optimum pit limits and an optimum life of mine production scheduling that maximizes the pit value under some technical and operational constraints. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the block economic value at the first stage of the mine planning process, correctly. Unrealistic block economic value estimation may cause the mining project managers to make the wrong decision and thus may impose inexpiable losses to the project. The effective parameters such as metal price, operating cost, grade and so forth are always assumed certain in the conventional methods of EV calculation. While, obviously, these parameters have uncertain nature. Therefore, usually, the conventional methods results are far from reality. In order to solve this problem, a new technique is used base on an invented binomial tree which is developed in this research. This method can calculate the EV and project PV under economic uncertainty. In this paper, the EV and project PV were initially determined using Whittle formula based on certain economic parameters and a multivariate binomial tree based on the economic uncertainties such as the metal price and cost uncertainties. Finally the results were compared. It is concluded that applying the metal price and cost uncertainties causes the calculated block economic value and net present value to be more realistic than certain conditions.

Investigation of dynamic SPECT measurements of the arterial input function in human subjects using simulation, phantom and human studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winant, Celeste D.; Aparici, Carina Mari; Zelnik, Yuval R.; Reutter, Bryan W.; Sitek, Arkadiusz; Bacharach, Stephen L.; Gullberg, Grant T.

2012-01-01

Computer simulations, a phantom study and a human study were performed to determine whether a slowly rotating single-photon computed emission tomography (SPECT) system could provide accurate arterial input functions for quantification of myocardial perfusion imaging using kinetic models. The errors induced by data inconsistency associated with imaging with slow camera rotation during tracer injection were evaluated with an approach called SPECT/P (dynamic SPECT from positron emission tomography (PET)) and SPECT/D (dynamic SPECT from database of SPECT phantom projections). SPECT/P simulated SPECT-like dynamic projections using reprojections of reconstructed dynamic 94Tc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (94Tc-MIBI) PET images acquired in three human subjects (1 min infusion). This approach was used to evaluate the accuracy of estimating myocardial wash-in rate parameters K1 for rotation speeds providing 180° of projection data every 27 or 54 s. Blood input and myocardium tissue time-activity curves (TACs) were estimated using spatiotemporal splines. These were fit to a one-compartment perfusion model to obtain wash-in rate parameters K1. For the second method (SPECT/D), an anthropomorphic cardiac torso phantom was used to create real SPECT dynamic projection data of a tracer distribution derived from 94Tc-MIBI PET scans in the blood pool, myocardium, liver and background. This method introduced attenuation, collimation and scatter into the modeling of dynamic SPECT projections. Both approaches were used to evaluate the accuracy of estimating myocardial wash-in parameters for rotation speeds providing 180° of projection data every 27 and 54 s. Dynamic cardiac SPECT was also performed in a human subject at rest using a hybrid SPECT/CT scanner. Dynamic measurements of 99mTc-tetrofosmin in the myocardium were obtained using an infusion time of 2 min. Blood input, myocardium tissue and liver TACs were estimated using the same spatiotemporal splines. The spatiotemporal maximum-likelihood expectation-maximization (4D ML-EM) reconstructions gave more accurate reconstructions than did standard frame-by-frame static 3D ML-EM reconstructions. The SPECT/P results showed that 4D ML-EM reconstruction gave higher and more accurate estimates of K1 than did 3D ML-EM, yielding anywhere from a 44% underestimation to 24% overestimation for the three patients. The SPECT/D results showed that 4D ML-EM reconstruction gave an overestimation of 28% and 3D ML-EM gave an underestimation of 1% for K1. For the patient study the 4D ML-EM reconstruction provided continuous images as a function of time of the concentration in both ventricular cavities and myocardium during the 2 min infusion. It is demonstrated that a 2 min infusion with a two-headed SPECT system rotating 180° every 54 s can produce measurements of blood pool and myocardial TACs, though the SPECT simulation studies showed that one must sample at least every 30 s to capture a 1 min infusion input function.

The relative pose estimation of aircraft based on contour model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Tai; Sun, Xiangyi

2017-02-01

This paper proposes a relative pose estimation approach based on object contour model. The first step is to obtain a two-dimensional (2D) projection of three-dimensional (3D)-model-based target, which will be divided into 40 forms by clustering and LDA analysis. Then we proceed by extracting the target contour in each image and computing their Pseudo-Zernike Moments (PZM), thus a model library is constructed in an offline mode. Next, we spot a projection contour that resembles the target silhouette most in the present image from the model library with reference of PZM; then similarity transformation parameters are generated as the shape context is applied to match the silhouette sampling location, from which the identification parameters of target can be further derived. Identification parameters are converted to relative pose parameters, in the premise that these values are the initial result calculated via iterative refinement algorithm, as the relative pose parameter is in the neighborhood of actual ones. At last, Distance Image Iterative Least Squares (DI-ILS) is employed to acquire the ultimate relative pose parameters.

Assessment of Foot Shape in Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Wolan-Nieroda, Andżelina; Guzik, Agnieszka; Bazarnik-Mucha, Katarzyna; Rachwał, Maciej; Drzał-Grabiec, Justyna; Szeliga, Ewa; Walicka-Cupryś, Katarzyna

2018-04-11

BACKGROUND Available publications provide little evidence pertaining to assessment of foot shape in children with intellectual disability. The aim of this study was to assess the parameters of foot shape in children and adolescents with intellectual disability and to evaluate the relationship between the degree of disability and these parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study involved 90 individuals aged 7-15 years, including 45 subjects with mild and moderate levels of intellectual disability (study group) and 45 peers with normal intellectual development (control group). Each participant was subjected to photogrammetric assessment of foot shape based on the projection moire effect. RESULTS Analysis of the relationship between the disability level and the assessed parameters showed that the length of the right (p=0.006) and left (p=0.004) foot, as well as Wejsflog's rate for the right (p<0.001) and left (p<0.001) foot, were significantly higher among children with mild disability, whereas GAMMA angle of the right (p=0.028) and left (p=0.006) foot was significantly higher among children with moderate disability. CONCLUSIONS The findings show a significant relationship between the degree of disability and the assessed foot parameters. Significant differences between the subjects with intellectual disability and the control group were identified in the basic parameters defining foot structure.

Dredging-related mobilisation of trace metals: a case study in The Netherlands.

PubMed

van den Berg, G A; Meijers, G G; van der Heijdt, L M; Zwolsman, J J

2001-06-01

Mobilisation of contaminants is an important issue in environmental risk assessment of dredging projects. This study has aimed at identifying the effects of dredging on mobilisation of trace metals (Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb). The intensities and time scales of trace metal mobilisation were investigated during an experimental dredging project conducted under field conditions. The loss of contaminated dredge spoil is mainly reflected by increasing levels of trace metals in the suspended matter, dissolved trace metal concentrations in the water column are not significantly influenced by the dredging activities. This indicates a strong binding mechanism of trace metals to the solid phase or a fast redistribution over sorptive phases in response to oxidation of e.g. trace metal sulphides. Given the differences in levels of reactive phases (Mn, Fe, sulphides and organic matter) between the riverine suspended matter and the sediments, changes in the levels of these parameters in the suspended matter upon dredging may give information on the processes influencing the behaviour of trace metals and on the potential loss of sediment during dredging operations. Therefore, we recommend to routinely measure these parameters in studies on contaminant behaviour related to dredging activities.

Future discharge of the French tributaries of the Rhine: a semi-distributed multi-model approach using CMIP5 projections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thirel, Guillaume; de Lavenne, Alban; Wagner, Jean-Pierre; Perrin, Charles; Gerlinger, Kai; Drogue, Gilles; Renard, Benjamin

2016-04-01

Several projects studied the impact of climate change on the Rhine basin during the past years, using the CMIP3 projections (see Explore2070, FLOW MS, RheinBlick2050 or VULNAR), either on the French or German sides. These studies showed the likely decrease of low flows and a high uncertainty regarding the evolution of high flows. This may have tremendous impacts on several aspects related to discharge, including pollution, flood protection, irrigation, rivers ecosystems and drinking water. While focusing on the same basin (or part of it), many differences including the climate scenarios and models, the hydrological models and the study periods used for these projects make the outcomes of these projects difficult to compare rigorously. Therefore the MOSARH21 (stands for MOselle-SArre-RHine discharge in the 21st century) was built to update and homogenise discharge projections for the French tributaries of the Rhine basin. Two types of models were used: the physically-oriented LARSIM model, which is widely used in Germany and was used in one of the previous projects (FLOW MS), and the semi-distributed conceptual GRSD model tested on French catchments for various objectives. Through the use of these two hydrological models and multiple sets of parameters obtained by various calibrations runs, the structural and parametric uncertainties in the hydrological projections were quantified, as they tend to be neglected in climate change impact studies. The focus of the impact analysis is put on low flows, high flows and regime. Although this study considers only French tributaries of the Rhine, it will foster further cooperation on transboundary basins across Europe, and should contribute to propose better bases for the future definition of adaptation strategies between riverine countries.

Fluid modeling on three dimensional two plasmon decay instabilities and stimulated Raman scattering using FLAME-MD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Rui; Cao, Shihui; Wan, Zhenhua; Hu, Guangyue; Zheng, Jian; Hao, Liang; Liu, Wenda; Ren, Chuang

2017-10-01

We push our FLAME project forward with a newly developed code FLAME-MD (Multi-Dimensional) based on the fluid model presented in Ref.. Simulations are performed to study two plasmon decay (TPD) instabilities and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in three dimensions (3D) with parameters relevant to ICF. 3D effects on the growth of TPD and SRS, including laser polarizations and multi beam configurations, are studied. This material is based upon work supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant No. 11642020, 11621202; by Science Challenge Project (No. JCKY2016212A505); and by DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Grant DE-SC0014318.

MARK-AGE standard operating procedures (SOPs): A successful effort.

PubMed

Moreno-Villanueva, María; Capri, Miriam; Breusing, Nicolle; Siepelmeyer, Anne; Sevini, Federica; Ghezzo, Alessandro; de Craen, Anton J M; Hervonen, Antti; Hurme, Mikko; Schön, Christiane; Grune, Tilman; Franceschi, Claudio; Bürkle, Alexander

2015-11-01

Within the MARK-AGE project, a population study (3337 subjects) was conducted to identify a set of biomarkers of ageing which, as a combination of parameters with appropriate weighting, would measure biological age better than any single marker. The MARK-AGE project involves 14 European countries and a total of 26 research centres. In such a study, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are an essential task, which are binding for all MARK-AGE Beneficiaries. The SOPs cover all aspects of subject's recruitment, collection, shipment and distribution of biological samples (blood and its components, buccal mucosa cells or BMC and urine) as well as the anthropometric measurements and questionnaires. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2010-10-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the eclipse region and the orbital secular evolution).

PERSEUS QC: preparing statistic data sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belokopytov, Vladimir; Khaliulin, Alexey; Ingerov, Andrey; Zhuk, Elena; Gertman, Isaac; Zodiatis, George; Nikolaidis, Marios; Nikolaidis, Andreas; Stylianou, Stavros

2017-09-01

The Desktop Oceanographic Data Processing Module was developed for visual analysis of interdisciplinary cruise measurements. The program provides the possibility of data selection based on different criteria, map plotting, sea horizontal sections, and sea depth vertical profiles. The data selection in the area of interest can be specified according to a set of different physical and chemical parameters complimented by additional parameters, such as the cruise number, ship name, and time period. The visual analysis of a set of vertical profiles in the selected area allows to determine the quality of the data, their location and the time of the in-situ measurements and to exclude any questionable data from the statistical analysis. For each selected set of profiles, the average vertical profile, the minimal and maximal values of the parameter under examination and the root mean square (r.m.s.) are estimated. These estimates are compared with the parameter ranges, set for each sub-region by MEDAR/MEDATLAS-II and SeaDataNet2 projects. In the framework of the PERSEUS project, certain parameters which lacked a range were calculated from scratch, while some of the previously used ranges were re-defined using more comprehensive data sets based on SeaDataNet2, SESAME and PERSEUS projects. In some cases we have used additional sub- regions to redefine the ranges ore precisely. The recalculated ranges are used to improve the PERSEUS Data Quality Control.

OCoc- from Ocean Colour to Organic Carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heim, B.; Overduin, P. P.; Schirrmeister, L.; Doerffer, R.

2009-04-01

Enhanced permafrost warming and increased arctic river discharges have heightened concern about the input of terrigenous matter into Arctic coastal waters. Especially, large parts of the Central and Eastern Siberian coastline are characterized by highly erosive sedimentary ice-rich material. The ‘OCoc-from Ocean Colour to Organic Carbon' project (IPY-project 1176), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), is an Ocean Colour study joined with the Arctic Circum-polar Coastal Observatory Network Acco-Net (ACCO-Net: IPY-project 90) originating from the Arctic Coastal Dynamics ACD project . OCoc uses Ocean Colour satellite data for synoptic monitoring of the input of organic matter - from both fluvial and coastal sources - into the Arctic coastal waters. Initial results from the German-Russian Expedition Lena08 along the southeastern Laptev Sea Coast (Arctic Siberia, Russia) in August 2008 are presented. Ocean Colour MERIS Reduced Resolution (RR)-LIB data of the Laptev Sea Coast from August 2008 have been processed towards L2 parameters using Beam-Visat4.2© and the MERIS case2 regional processor for coastal application (C2R). C2R uses neural network procedures for the retrieval of water leaving reflectances and neural network procedures to derive the inherent optical properties (IOPs) from the water leaving reflectances. C2R output parameters are IOPs (absorption and backscattering coefficients), apparent optical properties (AOPs) (water leaving radiance reflectance, attenuation coefficient ‘k'), optical parameters such as the first attenuation depth (‘Z90') and calculated concentrations of chlorophyll, total suspended matter, and yellow substance absorption. Initial comparisons with Lena08-Expedition data (Secchi depths, cDOM) and water transparency data from former arctic cruises show that the MERIS-C2R optical parameters 'total absorption' and the first attenuation depth, 'Z90', seem adequately to represent true conditions. High attenuation values are the tracers for the organic-rich terrigenous input. The synoptic information of MERIS Ocean Colour products will provide valuable spatial and dynamical information on the Organic Carbon and sediment fluxes from the Siberian permafrost coast.

Climate change impact on the establishment and seasonal abundance of Invasive Mosquito Species: current state and future risk maps over southeast Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagaris, Efthimios; -Eleni Sotiropoulou, Rafaella; Sotiropoulos, Andreas; Spanos, Ioannis; Milonas, Panayiotis; Michaelakis, Antonios

2017-04-01

Establishment and seasonal abundance of a region for Invasive Mosquito Species (IMS) are related to climatic parameters such as temperature and precipitation. In this work the current state is assessed using data from the European Climate Assessment and Dataset (ECA&D) project over Greece and Italy for the development of current spatial risk databases of IMS. Results are validated from the installation of a prototype IMS monitoring device that has been designed and developed in the framework of the LIFE CONOPS project at key points across the two countries. Since climate models suggest changes in future temperature and precipitation rates, the future potentiality of IMS establishment and spread over Greece and Italy is assessed using the climatic parameters in 2050's provided by the NASA GISS GCM ModelE under the IPCC-A1B emissions scenarios. The need for regional climate projections in a finer grid size is assessed using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to dynamically downscale GCM simulations. The estimated changes in the future meteorological parameters are combined with the observation data in order to estimate the future levels of the climatic parameters of interest. The final product includes spatial distribution maps presenting the future suitability of a region for the establishment and seasonal abundance of the IMS over Greece and Italy. Acknowledgement: LIFE CONOPS project "Development & demonstration of management plans against - the climate change enhanced - invasive mosquitoes in S. Europe" (LIFE12 ENV/GR/000466).

A line-source method for aligning on-board and other pinhole SPECT systems

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

Yan, Susu; Bowsher, James; Yin, Fang-Fang

2013-12-15

Purpose: In order to achieve functional and molecular imaging as patients are in position for radiation therapy, a robotic multipinhole SPECT system is being developed. Alignment of the SPECT system—to the linear accelerator (LINAC) coordinate frame and to the coordinate frames of other on-board imaging systems such as cone-beam CT (CBCT)—is essential for target localization and image reconstruction. An alignment method that utilizes line sources and one pinhole projection is proposed and investigated to achieve this goal. Potentially, this method could also be applied to the calibration of the other pinhole SPECT systems.Methods: An alignment model consisting of multiple alignmentmore » parameters was developed which maps line sources in three-dimensional (3D) space to their two-dimensional (2D) projections on the SPECT detector. In a computer-simulation study, 3D coordinates of line-sources were defined in a reference room coordinate frame, such as the LINAC coordinate frame. Corresponding 2D line-source projections were generated by computer simulation that included SPECT blurring and noise effects. The Radon transform was utilized to detect angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the line-source projections. Alignment parameters were then estimated by a nonlinear least squares method, based on the α and ρ values and the alignment model. Alignment performance was evaluated as a function of number of line sources, Radon transform accuracy, finite line-source width, intrinsic camera resolution, Poisson noise, and acquisition geometry. Experimental evaluations were performed using a physical line-source phantom and a pinhole-collimated gamma camera attached to a robot.Results: In computer-simulation studies, when there was no error in determining angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the measured projections, six alignment parameters (three translational and three rotational) were estimated perfectly using three line sources. When angles (α) and offsets (ρ) were provided by the Radon transform, estimation accuracy was reduced. The estimation error was associated with rounding errors of Radon transform, finite line-source width, Poisson noise, number of line sources, intrinsic camera resolution, and detector acquisition geometry. Statistically, the estimation accuracy was significantly improved by using four line sources rather than three and by thinner line-source projections (obtained by better intrinsic detector resolution). With five line sources, median errors were 0.2 mm for the detector translations, 0.7 mm for the detector radius of rotation, and less than 0.5° for detector rotation, tilt, and twist. In experimental evaluations, average errors relative to a different, independent registration technique were about 1.8 mm for detector translations, 1.1 mm for the detector radius of rotation (ROR), 0.5° and 0.4° for detector rotation and tilt, respectively, and 1.2° for detector twist.Conclusions: Alignment parameters can be estimated using one pinhole projection of line sources. Alignment errors are largely associated with limited accuracy of the Radon transform in determining angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the line-source projections. This alignment method may be important for multipinhole SPECT, where relative pinhole alignment may vary during rotation. For pinhole and multipinhole SPECT imaging on-board radiation therapy machines, the method could provide alignment of SPECT coordinates with those of CBCT and the LINAC.« less

A line-source method for aligning on-board and other pinhole SPECT systems

PubMed Central

Yan, Susu; Bowsher, James; Yin, Fang-Fang

2013-01-01

Purpose: In order to achieve functional and molecular imaging as patients are in position for radiation therapy, a robotic multipinhole SPECT system is being developed. Alignment of the SPECT system—to the linear accelerator (LINAC) coordinate frame and to the coordinate frames of other on-board imaging systems such as cone-beam CT (CBCT)—is essential for target localization and image reconstruction. An alignment method that utilizes line sources and one pinhole projection is proposed and investigated to achieve this goal. Potentially, this method could also be applied to the calibration of the other pinhole SPECT systems. Methods: An alignment model consisting of multiple alignment parameters was developed which maps line sources in three-dimensional (3D) space to their two-dimensional (2D) projections on the SPECT detector. In a computer-simulation study, 3D coordinates of line-sources were defined in a reference room coordinate frame, such as the LINAC coordinate frame. Corresponding 2D line-source projections were generated by computer simulation that included SPECT blurring and noise effects. The Radon transform was utilized to detect angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the line-source projections. Alignment parameters were then estimated by a nonlinear least squares method, based on the α and ρ values and the alignment model. Alignment performance was evaluated as a function of number of line sources, Radon transform accuracy, finite line-source width, intrinsic camera resolution, Poisson noise, and acquisition geometry. Experimental evaluations were performed using a physical line-source phantom and a pinhole-collimated gamma camera attached to a robot. Results: In computer-simulation studies, when there was no error in determining angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the measured projections, six alignment parameters (three translational and three rotational) were estimated perfectly using three line sources. When angles (α) and offsets (ρ) were provided by the Radon transform, estimation accuracy was reduced. The estimation error was associated with rounding errors of Radon transform, finite line-source width, Poisson noise, number of line sources, intrinsic camera resolution, and detector acquisition geometry. Statistically, the estimation accuracy was significantly improved by using four line sources rather than three and by thinner line-source projections (obtained by better intrinsic detector resolution). With five line sources, median errors were 0.2 mm for the detector translations, 0.7 mm for the detector radius of rotation, and less than 0.5° for detector rotation, tilt, and twist. In experimental evaluations, average errors relative to a different, independent registration technique were about 1.8 mm for detector translations, 1.1 mm for the detector radius of rotation (ROR), 0.5° and 0.4° for detector rotation and tilt, respectively, and 1.2° for detector twist. Conclusions: Alignment parameters can be estimated using one pinhole projection of line sources. Alignment errors are largely associated with limited accuracy of the Radon transform in determining angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the line-source projections. This alignment method may be important for multipinhole SPECT, where relative pinhole alignment may vary during rotation. For pinhole and multipinhole SPECT imaging on-board radiation therapy machines, the method could provide alignment of SPECT coordinates with those of CBCT and the LINAC. PMID:24320537

A line-source method for aligning on-board and other pinhole SPECT systems.

PubMed

Yan, Susu; Bowsher, James; Yin, Fang-Fang

2013-12-01

In order to achieve functional and molecular imaging as patients are in position for radiation therapy, a robotic multipinhole SPECT system is being developed. Alignment of the SPECT system-to the linear accelerator (LINAC) coordinate frame and to the coordinate frames of other on-board imaging systems such as cone-beam CT (CBCT)-is essential for target localization and image reconstruction. An alignment method that utilizes line sources and one pinhole projection is proposed and investigated to achieve this goal. Potentially, this method could also be applied to the calibration of the other pinhole SPECT systems. An alignment model consisting of multiple alignment parameters was developed which maps line sources in three-dimensional (3D) space to their two-dimensional (2D) projections on the SPECT detector. In a computer-simulation study, 3D coordinates of line-sources were defined in a reference room coordinate frame, such as the LINAC coordinate frame. Corresponding 2D line-source projections were generated by computer simulation that included SPECT blurring and noise effects. The Radon transform was utilized to detect angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the line-source projections. Alignment parameters were then estimated by a nonlinear least squares method, based on the α and ρ values and the alignment model. Alignment performance was evaluated as a function of number of line sources, Radon transform accuracy, finite line-source width, intrinsic camera resolution, Poisson noise, and acquisition geometry. Experimental evaluations were performed using a physical line-source phantom and a pinhole-collimated gamma camera attached to a robot. In computer-simulation studies, when there was no error in determining angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the measured projections, six alignment parameters (three translational and three rotational) were estimated perfectly using three line sources. When angles (α) and offsets (ρ) were provided by the Radon transform, estimation accuracy was reduced. The estimation error was associated with rounding errors of Radon transform, finite line-source width, Poisson noise, number of line sources, intrinsic camera resolution, and detector acquisition geometry. Statistically, the estimation accuracy was significantly improved by using four line sources rather than three and by thinner line-source projections (obtained by better intrinsic detector resolution). With five line sources, median errors were 0.2 mm for the detector translations, 0.7 mm for the detector radius of rotation, and less than 0.5° for detector rotation, tilt, and twist. In experimental evaluations, average errors relative to a different, independent registration technique were about 1.8 mm for detector translations, 1.1 mm for the detector radius of rotation (ROR), 0.5° and 0.4° for detector rotation and tilt, respectively, and 1.2° for detector twist. Alignment parameters can be estimated using one pinhole projection of line sources. Alignment errors are largely associated with limited accuracy of the Radon transform in determining angles (α) and offsets (ρ) of the line-source projections. This alignment method may be important for multipinhole SPECT, where relative pinhole alignment may vary during rotation. For pinhole and multipinhole SPECT imaging on-board radiation therapy machines, the method could provide alignment of SPECT coordinates with those of CBCT and the LINAC.

75 FR 37754 - Gallatin County Resource Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-30

... timeframes for the first round of projects and Public Comments. DATES: The meeting will be held on July 14... business will be conducted: Determine parameters and timeframes for the first round of projects and Public...

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Coal Module

EIA Publications

2011-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) Coal Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Transportation Module

EIA Publications

2017-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) International Transportation model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Residential Module

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) Residential Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Refinery Module

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) Refinery Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Main Module

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) Main Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Electricity Module

EIA Publications

2017-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) World Electricity Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

Self calibrating monocular camera measurement of traffic parameters.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-01

This proposed project will extend the work of previous projects that have developed algorithms and software : to measure traffic speed under adverse conditions using un-calibrated cameras. The present implementation : uses the WSDOT CCTV cameras moun...

A generalized public goods game with coupling of individual ability and project benefit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Li-Xin; Xu, Wen-Juan; He, Yun-Xin; Zhong, Chen-Yang; Chen, Rong-Da; Qiu, Tian; Shi, Yong-Dong; Ren, Fei

2017-08-01

Facing a heavy task, any single person can only make a limited contribution and team cooperation is needed. As one enjoys the benefit of the public goods, the potential benefits of the project are not always maximized and may be partly wasted. By incorporating individual ability and project benefit into the original public goods game, we study the coupling effect of the four parameters, the upper limit of individual contribution, the upper limit of individual benefit, the needed project cost and the upper limit of project benefit on the evolution of cooperation. Coevolving with the individual-level group size preferences, an increase in the upper limit of individual benefit promotes cooperation while an increase in the upper limit of individual contribution inhibits cooperation. The coupling of the upper limit of individual contribution and the needed project cost determines the critical point of the upper limit of project benefit, where the equilibrium frequency of cooperators reaches its highest level. Above the critical point, an increase in the upper limit of project benefit inhibits cooperation. The evolution of cooperation is closely related to the preferred group-size distribution. A functional relation between the frequency of cooperators and the dominant group size is found.

Multiteide Project: Multiparametric characterization of the activity of Teide-Pico Viejo volcanic system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domínguez Cerdeña, Itahiza; Villasante-Marcos, Victor; Meletlidis, Stavros; Sainz-Maza, Sergio; Abella, Rafael; Torres, Pedro A.; Sánchez, Nieves; Luengo-Oroz, Natividad; José Blanco, María; García-Cañada, Laura; Pereda de Pablo, Jorge; Lamolda, Héctor; Moure, David; Del Fresno, Carmen; Finizola, Anthony; Felepto, Alicia

2017-04-01

Teide-Pico Viejo complex stands for one of the major natural volcanic hazards in the Canary Islands, due to the expected types of eruptions in the area and the high number of inhabitants in Tenerife Island. Therefore, it is necessary to have a volcanic alert system able to afford a precise assessment of the current state of the complex. For this purpose, the knowledge of the expected signals at each volcanic activity level is required. Moreover, the external effects that can affect the measurements shall be distinguished, external influences as the atmosphere are qualitatively known but have not been quantified yet. The objective of the project is to collect, analyze and jointly and continuously evaluate over time geophysical, geodetic, geochemical and meteorological data from the Teide-Pico Viejo complex and its surroundings. A continuous multiparametric network have been deployed in the area, which, together with the data provided by the Volcano Monitoring Network of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) and data from other institutions will provide a comprehensive set of data with high resolution in both space and time. This multiparametric network includes a seismic array, two self-potential lines for continuous measurements, five magnetometers and two weather stations. The network will be complemented with 8 CGPS stations, one tiltmeter, 10 seismic stations, and four thermometric stations on the fumaroles of Teide volcano that IGN already manage in Tenerife. The data will be completed with the results from different repeated surveys of self potential, soil temperature and CO2 diffuse flux in several pre-established areas on top of Teide throughout the entire duration of project. During the project, new computation tools will be developed to study the correlation between the different parameters analyzed. The results obtained will characterize the possible seasonal fluctuations of each parameter and the variations related to meteorological phenomena. In addition, they will allow identifying the response of all the analyzed parameters to specific events that are traditionally studied with a single technique, such as short episodes of tremor (sporadically registered in Teide-Pico Viejo surroundings) or changes in activity of the hydrothermal system of the volcanic complex. We present here the first multiparametric results obtained from the project, including locations with the seismic array, CO2 and temperature maps of Teide fumaroles zones and magnetometric measurements.

Adapting Coastal State Indicators to end-users: the iCoast Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demarchi, Alessandro; Isotta Cristofori, Elena; Gracia, Vicente; Sairouní, Abdel; García-León, Manuel; Cámaro, Walther; Facello, Anna

2016-04-01

The extraordinary development of the built environment and of the population densities in the coastal areas are making coastal communities highly exposed. The sea level rise induced by climate change will worsen this coastal vulnerability scenario and a considerable amount of people are expected to be threatened by coastal flooding in the future. Due to the increasing number of catastrophic events, and the consequent increased number of damages and people affected, over the last decades coastal hazard management has become a fundamental activity in order to improve the resilience of coastal community. In this scenario, iCoast (integrated COastal Alert SysTem) project has been founded to develop a tool able to address coastal risks caused by extreme waves and high sea water levels in European coastal areas. In the framework of iCoast Project, a set of Coastal State Indicators (CSIs) has been developed in order to improve the forecasting and the assessment of coastal risks. CSIs are indeed parameters able to provide end-users with an essential information about coastal hazards and related impacts. Within the iCoast Project, following a comprehensive literature review about existing indicators concerning coastal risks, a list of CSIs have been chosen as parameters that can be derived from the meteorological and the hydrodynamic modules. They include both physical variables used as trigger for meteorological and flood warnings from the majority of the operational National/Regional warning systems and further essential parameters, so called 'storm integrated' coastal-storm indicators, able to describe the physical processes that drive coastal damages, such as erosion, accumulation, flooding, destructions. Nowadays, it is generally acknowledged that communities are not homogenous and hence their different vulnerable groups might need different warnings. Generally, even existing national EWS in developed countries are often ineffective to issue targeted warnings for specific user groups because they generate warnings whenever strong winds or high waves are expected. Once aggregated, weighted and compared with established thresholds, CSIs whereas allow to produce alert messages that can be tailored to different end-users needs. In the present study, the set of CSIs chosen in the framework of the iCoast Project, along with their performances tested for the case study of the Spanish NW Mediterranean Coast (i.e. Catalan Coast), is presented.

Feasibility study of wind-generated electricity for rural applications in southwestern Ohio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohring, G. W.

The parameters associated with domestic production of wind generated electricity for direct use by small farms and rural homes in the southwestern Ohio region are discussed. The project involves direct utility interfaced electricity generation from a horizontal axis, down-wind, fixed pitch, wind powered induction generator system. Goals of the project are to determine: the ability to produce useful amounts of domestic wind generated electricity in the southwestern Ohio region; economic justification for domestic wind generated electrical production; and the potential of domestic wind generated electricity for reducing dependence on non-renewable energy resources in the southwestern Ohio region.

A theoretical NMR study of selected benzazoles: Comparison of GIPAW and GIAO-PCM (DMSO) calculations.

PubMed

Marín-Luna, Marta; Alkorta, Ibon; Elguero, José

2018-03-01

This paper compares the absolute shieldings obtained by gauge-including-projected-augmented-wave (GIPAW) to those obtained by gauge-invariant atomic orbital/Becke, 3-parameter, Lee-Yang-Parr (GIAO/B3LYP)/6-311++G(d,p)-polarizable continuum model (PCM, dimethyl sulfoxide) for nine benzazoles (benzimidazoles, indazoles, and benzotriazoles) recorded in the solid-state. Three nuclei were explored, 13 C, 15 N, and 19 F, and the gauge-including-projected-augmented-wave approach only proved better for 15 N MAS NMR. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Performance of buried pipe installation : technical summary.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-05-01

The goal of this research project was to determine the effects of geometric and mechanical parameters characterizing the soil-structure interaction developed in a buried pipe installation. Parameters such as pipe ring stiff ness, bedding thickness, t...

DEHYDROGENATION CATALYST FOR PRODUCTION OF MTBE

EPA Science Inventory

The objectives of this project were to better understand the effect of different catalyst preparation parameters, the effect of different catalyst treatment parameters, and the mechanism of deactivation. Accordingly, catalysts were made using various preparation methods and with...

OTF CCSDS Mission Operations Prototype Parameter Service. Phase I: Exit Presentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reynolds, Walter F.; Lucord, Steven A.; Stevens, John E.

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the prototype of phase 1 of the parameter service design of the CCSDS mission operations. The project goals are to: (1) Demonstrate the use of Mission Operations standards to implement the Parameter Service (2) Demonstrate interoperability between Houston MCC and a CCSDS Mission Operations compliant mission operations center (3) Utilize Mission Operations Common Architecture. THe parameter service design, interfaces, and structures are described.

Application of life cycle assessment for an evaluation of wastewater treatment and reuse project--case study of Xi'an, China.

PubMed

Zhang, Q H; Wang, X C; Xiong, J Q; Chen, R; Cao, B

2010-03-01

In order to illuminate the benefit of a wastewater treatment and reuse project, a life cycle assessment (LCA) model was proposed by combining the process-based LCA and the input-output based LCA in one framework and using energy consumption as the sole parameter for quantitative evaluation of the project. The life cycle consumption was evaluated mainly by life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis taking into account the construction phase, operation phase and demolishment phase of the project. For evaluating the life cycle benefit of treated water reuse, attention was paid to the decrease of secondary effluent discharge and water saving. As a result of comprehensive LCA analysis of a case project in Xi'an, China, it was understood that the life cycle benefit gained from treated wastewater reuse much surpassed the life cycle energy consumption. The advantage of wastewater treatment and reuse was well shown by LCA analysis using the proposed model. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical design of ultrashort throw liquid crystal on silicon projection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jiun-Woei

2017-05-01

An ultrashort throw liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) projector for home cinema, virtual reality, and automobile heads-up display has been designed and fabricated. To achieve the best performance and highest-quality image, this study aimed to design wide-angle projection optics and optimize the illumination for LCoS. Based on the telecentric lens projection system and optimized Koehler illumination, the optical parameters were calculated. The projector's optical system consisted of a conic aspheric mirror and image optics using either symmetric double Gauss or a large-angle eyepiece to achieve a full projection angle larger than 155 deg. By applying Koehler illumination, image resolution was enhanced and the modulation transfer function of the image in high spatial frequency was increased to form a high-quality illuminated image. The partial coherence analysis verified that the design was capable of 2.5 lps/mm within a 2 m×1.5 m projected image. The throw ratio was less than 0.25 in HD format.

A Study on the Self-Adaption Incentive Performance Salary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chuanming; Wang, Yang

In project managing, the performance salary management mode is often used to motivate project managers and other similar staff to improve performance or reduce the cost. But the engineering activities who own a lot of internal and external uncertain factors can not be known by the principle. It is difficult for to develop a suitable incentive target to project managers etch. This paper thinks that the manager self master the maximum of information on engineering activities. So this paper sets up an incentive model: the project managers themselves report performance objectives; owner gives the managers reward or punishment combined with their reported performance and actual performance. The model to ensure that the project manager is only accurate self reported its results to get the maximum profit. At the same time, it cans incentive managers to improve performance or reduce the cost. This paper focuses on setting up the model, analyzing the model parameters. And cite an example analyze them.

Land-surface parameter optimisation using data assimilation techniques: the adJULES system V1.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raoult, Nina M.; Jupp, Tim E.; Cox, Peter M.; Luke, Catherine M.

2016-08-01

Land-surface models (LSMs) are crucial components of the Earth system models (ESMs) that are used to make coupled climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century. The Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) is the land-surface model used in the climate and weather forecast models of the UK Met Office. JULES is also extensively used offline as a land-surface impacts tool, forced with climatologies into the future. In this study, JULES is automatically differentiated with respect to JULES parameters using commercial software from FastOpt, resulting in an analytical gradient, or adjoint, of the model. Using this adjoint, the adJULES parameter estimation system has been developed to search for locally optimum parameters by calibrating against observations. This paper describes adJULES in a data assimilation framework and demonstrates its ability to improve the model-data fit using eddy-covariance measurements of gross primary production (GPP) and latent heat (LE) fluxes. adJULES also has the ability to calibrate over multiple sites simultaneously. This feature is used to define new optimised parameter values for the five plant functional types (PFTs) in JULES. The optimised PFT-specific parameters improve the performance of JULES at over 85 % of the sites used in the study, at both the calibration and evaluation stages. The new improved parameters for JULES are presented along with the associated uncertainties for each parameter.

Report on the measurement results for the EURAMET 658 extension: project to examine underlying parameters in radiance scale realisation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McEvoy, Helen; Martin, Maria Jose; Steiner, Anton; Schreiber, Ekkehard; Girard, Ferruccio; Battuello, Mauro; Sadli, Mohamed; Ridoux, Pascal; Gutschwager, Berndt; Hollandt, Joerg; Diril, Ahmet; Pehlivan, Özlem

2018-01-01

This report describes the measurement procedures and participant results for the EURAMET project 658 extension—'project to examine underlying parameters in radiance temperature scale realisation from 156 °C to 1000 °C', with particular emphasis on the results of the variable temperature and fixed point blackbody measurements for the justification of radiation thermometry CMCs. Main text To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCT, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

Pharmacovigilance in Space: Stability Payload Compliance Procedures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daniels, Vernie R.; Putcha, Lakshmi

2007-01-01

Pharmacovigilance is the science of, and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of drug-related problems. Over the lase decade, pharmacovigilance activities have contributed to the development of numerous technological and conventional advances focused on medication safety and regulatory intervention. The topics discussed include: 1) Proactive Pharmacovigilance; 2) A New Frontier; 3) Research Activities; 4) Project Purpose; 5) Methods; 6) Flight Stability Kit Components; 7) Experimental Conditions; 8) Research Project Logistics; 9) Research Plan; 10) Pharmaceutical Stability Research Project Pharmacovigilance Aspects; 11) Security / Control; 12) Packaging/Containment Actions; 13) Shelf-Life Assessments; 14) Stability Assessment Parameters; 15) Chemical Content Analysis; 16) Preliminary Results; 17) Temperature/Humidity; 18) Changes in PHysical and Chemical Assessment Parameters; 19) Observations; and 20) Conclusions.

A study of model parameters associated with the urban climate using HCMM data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Infrared and visible data from the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM) satellite were used to study the intensity of the urban heat island, commonly defined as the temperature difference between the center of the city and the surrounding suburban and rural regions, as a function of changes in the season and changes in meteorological conditions in order to derive various parameters which may be used in numerical models for urban climate. The analysis was focused on the city of St. Louis; and in situ data from St. Louis was combined with HCMM data in order to derive the various parameters. The HCMM data were mapped onto a Mercator projection map of the city and ground temperatures were established using data corrected for the effects of atmospheric absorption. The corrected and uncorrected HCMM data were compared to determine the magnitude of the error induced by atmospheric effects.

Phase 1 of the near term hybrid passenger vehicle development program, appendix A. Mission analysis and performance specification studies. Volume 2: Appendices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Traversi, M.; Barbarek, L. A. C.

1979-01-01

A handy reference for JPL minimum requirements and guidelines is presented as well as information on the use of the fundamental information source represented by the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey. Data on U.S. demographic statistics and highway speeds are included along with methodology for normal parameters evaluation, synthesis of daily distance distributions, and projection of car ownership distributions. The synthesis of tentative mission quantification results, of intermediate mission quantification results, and of mission quantification parameters are considered and 1985 in place fleet fuel economy data are included.

Computational Control of Flexible Aerospace Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharpe, Lonnie, Jr.; Shen, Ji Yao

1994-01-01

The main objective of this project is to establish a distributed parameter modeling technique for structural analysis, parameter estimation, vibration suppression and control synthesis of large flexible aerospace structures. This report concentrates on the research outputs produced in the last two years of the project. The main accomplishments can be summarized as follows. A new version of the PDEMOD Code had been completed. A theoretical investigation of the NASA MSFC two-dimensional ground-based manipulator facility by using distributed parameter modelling technique has been conducted. A new mathematical treatment for dynamic analysis and control of large flexible manipulator systems has been conceived, which may provide a embryonic form of a more sophisticated mathematical model for future modified versions of the PDEMOD Codes.

MOSE: A Demonstrator for an Automatic Operational System for the Optical Turbulence Forecast for ESO Sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masciadri, Elena; Lascaux, F.; Turchi, A.; Fini, L.

2017-09-01

"Most of the observations performed with new-generation ground-based telescopes are employing the Service Mode. To optimize the flexible-scheduling of scientific programs and instruments, the optical turbulence (OT) forecast is a must, particularly when observations are supported by adaptive optics (AO) and Interferometry. Reliable OT forecast are crucial to optimize the usage of AO and interferometric facilities which is not possible when using only optical measurements. Numerical techniques are the best placed to achieve such a goal. The MOSE project (MOdeling ESO Sites), co-funded by ESO, aimed at proving the feasibility of the forecast of (1) all the classical atmospheric parameters (such as temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity) and (2) the optical turbulence i.e. the CN 2 profiles and all the main integrated astro-climatic parameters derived from the CN 2 (the seeing, the isoplanatic angle, the wavefront coherence time) above the two ESO sites of Cerro Paranal and Cerro Armazones. The proposed technique is based on the use of a non-hydrostatic atmospheric meso-scale model and a dedicated code for the optical turbulence. The final goal of the project aimed at implementing an automatic system for the operational forecasts of the aforementioned parameters to support the astronomical observations above the two sites. MOSE Phase A and B have been completed and a set of dedicated papers have been published on the topic. Model performances have been extensively quantified with several dedicated figures of merit and we proved that our tool is able to provide reliable forecasts of optical turbulence and atmospheric parameters with very satisfactory score of success. This should guarantee us to make a step ahead in the framework of the Service Mode of new generation telescopes. A conceptual design as well as an operational plan of the automatic system has been submitted to ESO as integral part of the feasibility study. We completed a negotiation with ESO for the implementation of the demonstrator of system on March 2016. In this seminar I will review the principles on which the proposed technique is based on; I will briefly review the most important challenges associated to the optical turbulence forecast for ground-based observations, I will summarize the most important results we achieved at conclusion of the feasibility study, how our results open new scenarios for the operation of the most sophisticated AO systems (WFAO), the next steps for the implementation of a demonstrator and plans for the forecast of further parameters. I will conclude showing a few outputs of the operational system we implemented for the LBT in the context of a similar project (ALTA Project). "

Experimental Packet Radio System Design Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-03-13

specific design parameters (packet format, data rates, modulation type, spread factor, etc.) for the initial system configuration. c. Prototype...are described along with size, weight and power estimates, and projections of per- formance parameters . d. Measurement and Test. The plan...are presented covering the communications link, system parameters , and various levels of network operation and performance. This plan is a snapshot

Assessing the value of delay to truckers and carriers.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-07-01

This project evaluates the value of delay (VOD) to commercial vehicle operators due to highway congestion. : The VOD for congestion is a fundamental parameter driving the private sectors response to public freight : projects and policies such as c...

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Greenhouse Gases Module

EIA Publications

2011-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) Greenhouse Gases Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Natural Gas Module

EIA Publications

2011-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) Natural Gas Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

Assessing the value of delay to truckers and carriers.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-07-01

This project evaluates the value of delay (VOD) to commercial vehicle operators due to highway congestion. The VOD for : congestion is a fundamental parameter driving the private sectors response to public freight projects and policies such as cor...

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: District Heat Module

EIA Publications

2017-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) District Heat Model. It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

World Energy Projection System Plus Model Documentation: Industrial Module

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

This report documents the objectives, analytical approach and development of the World Energy Projection System Plus (WEPS ) World Industrial Model (WIM). It also catalogues and describes critical assumptions, computational methodology, parameter estimation techniques, and model source code.

JUPITER PROJECT - MERGING INVERSE PROBLEM FORMULATION TECHNOLOGIES

EPA Science Inventory

The JUPITER (Joint Universal Parameter IdenTification and Evaluation of Reliability) project seeks to enhance and build on the technology and momentum behind two of the most popular sensitivity analysis, data assessment, calibration, and uncertainty analysis programs used in envi...

Clinical outcomes in pediatric hemodialysis patients in the USA: lessons from CMS' ESRD CPM Project.

PubMed

Neu, Alicia M; Frankenfield, Diane L

2009-07-01

Although prospective randomized trials have provided important information and allowed the development of evidence-based guidelines in adult hemodialysis (HD) patients, with approximately 800 prevalent pediatric HD patients in the United States, such studies are difficult to perform in this population. Observational data obtained through the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS') End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Clinical Performance Measures (CPM) Project have allowed description of the clinical care provided to pediatric HD patients as well as identification of risk factors for failure to reach adult targets for clinical parameters such as hemoglobin, single-pool Kt/V (spKt/V) and serum albumin. In addition, studies linking data from the ESRD CPM Project and the United States Renal Data System have allowed evaluation of associations between achievement of those targets and the outcomes of hospitalization and death. The results of those studies, while unable to prove cause and effect, suggest that the adult ESRD CPM targets may assist in identifying pediatric HD patients at risk for poor outcomes.

Social Indicators for Rural Development: Descriptive Social Reporting. Final Report, Sociology Report No. 141.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Keith A.; And Others

Project 2142 was a multi-phase effort to discover and mobilize for dissemination to rural decision-makers various information and findings pertaining to the quality of life experienced by rural people. The initial research phases involved design of a conceptual framework that placed some parameters on the variety of social phenomena studied.…

Studies in Adolescent Health: Research to Improve Health Services for Mothers and Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California Univ., Los Angeles. School of Public Health.

This publication is one in a series summarizing final reports of research projects concerned with improving health services for mothers, children and physically handicapped youth. Topics of the 10 reports include: (1) ambulatory care patterns of urban adolescents in New York City, (2) selected parameters of school achievement among New York City…

Interdisciplinary Program for Quantitative Flaw Definition.

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-01-01

Ceramics .................... 284 UNIT C, TASK 4 - Microfocus X-Ray and Image Enhance- ment of Radiographic Data ....................... 292 UNIT C, TASK 5...Conventional Ultrasonic Inspection Methods Applied to Ceramics ..................... 294 iii 7! SC595.32SA OVERVIEW PROJECT I - QUANTITATIVE...parameters. Unit C was initiated in October of 1977 following encouraging nondestructive defect detectability studies in structural ceramics , using

Examination of the Assumptions and Properties of the Graded Item Response Model: An Example Using a Mathematics Performance Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Suzanne; And Others

1995-01-01

Over 5,000 students participated in a study of the dimensionality and stability of the item parameter estimates of a mathematics performance assessment developed for the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning (QUASAR) Project. Results demonstrate the test's dimensionality and illustrate ways to examine use of the…

A general software reliability process simulation technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tausworthe, Robert C.

1991-01-01

The structure and rationale of the generalized software reliability process, together with the design and implementation of a computer program that simulates this process are described. Given assumed parameters of a particular project, the users of this program are able to generate simulated status timelines of work products, numbers of injected anomalies, and the progress of testing, fault isolation, repair, validation, and retest. Such timelines are useful in comparison with actual timeline data, for validating the project input parameters, and for providing data for researchers in reliability prediction modeling.

California GAMA Special Study: Analysis of Carbamazepine, Oxcarbazepine and Metabolites as Wastewater Tracers in Water Resource Studies

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

Owens, J. E.; Vu, A. K.; Esser, B. K.

2010-08-20

The Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program is a comprehensive groundwater quality monitoring program managed by the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The GAMA Special Studies project provides analyses and interpretation of constituents of concern that allow assessment of current groundwater conditions. In addition, the Special Studies project develops analyses that will enhance the monitoring and assessment effort by focusing on specific constituents of concern and water quality parameters, such as disinfection byproducts (DBP), wastewater indicators, and redox conditions, as it relates to irrigation and groundwater management. This study developed a robust analytical method for the quantitationmore » of CBZ, OXC, CBZ-E, CBZ-DiOH, and CBZ-10-OH in wastewater treatement plant (WWTP) effluent and in groundwater in the parts per trillion range.« less

An overview of impact of subsurface drainage project studies on salinity management in developing countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tiwari, Priyanka; Goel, Arun

2017-05-01

Subsurface drainage has been used for more than a century to keep water table at a desired level of salinity and waterlogging control. This paper has been focused on the impact assessment of pilot studies in India and some other countries from 1969 to 2014 . This review article may prove quite useful in deciding the installation of subsurface drainage project depending on main design parameters, such as drain depth and drain spacing, installation area and type of used outlet. A number of pilot studies have been taken up in past to solve the problems of soil salinity and waterlogging in India. The general guidelines that arise on the behalf of this review paper are to adapt drain depth >1.2 m and spacing depending on soil texture classification, i.e., 100-150 m for light-textured soils, 50-100 m for medium-textured soils and 30-50 m heavy-textured soils, for better result obtained from the problem areas in Indian soil and climatic conditions. An attempt has been made in the manner of literature survey to highlight the salient features of these studies, and it is hopeful to go a long way in selecting design parameters for subsurface drainage problems in the future with similar soil, water table and climatic conditions.

System and Propagation Availability Analysis for NASA's Advanced Air Transportation Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ugweje, Okechukwu C.

2000-01-01

This report summarizes the research on the System and Propagation Availability Analysis for NASA's project on Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT). The objectives of the project were to determine the communication systems requirements and architecture, and to investigate the effect of propagation on the transmission of space information. In this report, results from the first year investigation are presented and limitations are highlighted. To study the propagation links, an understanding of the total system architecture is necessary since the links form the major component of the overall architecture. This study was conducted by way of analysis, modeling and simulation on the system communication links. The overall goals was to develop an understanding of the space communication requirements relevant to the AATT project, and then analyze the links taking into consideration system availability under adverse atmospheric weather conditions. This project began with a preliminary study of the end-to-end system architecture by modeling a representative communication system in MATLAB SIMULINK. Based on the defining concepts, the possibility of computer modeling was determined. The investigations continue with the parametric studies of the communication system architecture. These studies were also carried out with SIMULINK modeling and simulation. After a series of modifications, two end-to-end communication links were identified as the most probable models for the communication architecture. Link budget calculations were then performed in MATHCAD and MATLAB for the identified communication scenarios. A remarkable outcome of this project is the development of a graphic user interface (GUI) program for the computation of the link budget parameters in real time. Using this program, one can interactively compute the link budget requirements after supplying a few necessary parameters. It provides a framework for the eventual automation of several computations required in many experimental NASA missions. For the first year of this project, most of the stated objectives were accomplished. We were able to identify probable communication systems architectures, model and analyze several communication links, perform numerous simulation on different system models, and then develop a program for the link budget analysis. However, most of the work is still unfinished. The effect of propagation on the transmission of information in the identified communication channels has not been performed. Propagation effects cannot be studied until the system under consideration is identified and characterized. To study the propagation links, an understanding of the total communications architecture is necessary. It is important to mention that the original project was intended for two years and the results presented here are only for the first year of research. It is prudent therefore that these efforts be continued in order to obtain a complete picture of the system and propagation availability requirements.

Calibration of stereo rigs based on the backward projection process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Feifei; Zhao, Hong; Ma, Yueyang; Bu, Penghui; Zhao, Zixin

2016-08-01

High-accuracy 3D measurement based on binocular vision system is heavily dependent on the accurate calibration of two rigidly-fixed cameras. In most traditional calibration methods, stereo parameters are iteratively optimized through the forward imaging process (FIP). However, the results can only guarantee the minimal 2D pixel errors, but not the minimal 3D reconstruction errors. To address this problem, a simple method to calibrate a stereo rig based on the backward projection process (BPP) is proposed. The position of a spatial point can be determined separately from each camera by planar constraints provided by the planar pattern target. Then combined with pre-defined spatial points, intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the stereo-rig can be optimized by minimizing the total 3D errors of both left and right cameras. An extensive performance study for the method in the presence of image noise and lens distortions is implemented. Experiments conducted on synthetic and real data demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method.

Impact of global climate change on ozone, particulate matter, and secondary organic aerosol concentrations in California: A model perturbation analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horne, Jeremy R.; Dabdub, Donald

2017-03-01

Air quality simulations are performed to determine the impact of changes in future climate and emissions on regional air quality in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) of California. The perturbation parameters considered in this study include (1) temperature, (2) absolute humidity, (3) biogenic VOC emissions due to temperature changes, and (4) boundary conditions. All parameters are first perturbed individually. In addition, the impact of simultaneously perturbing more than one parameter is analyzed. Air quality is simulated with meteorology representative of a summertime ozone pollution episode using both a baseline 2005 emissions inventory and a future emissions projection for the year 2023. Different locations within the modeling domain exhibit varying degrees of sensitivity to the perturbations considered. Afternoon domain wide average ozone concentrations are projected to increase by 13-18% as a result of changes in future climate and emissions. Afternoon increases at individual locations range from 10 to 36%. The change in afternoon particulate matter (PM) levels is a strong function of location in the basin, ranging from -7.1% to +4.7% when using 2005 emissions and -8.6% to +1.7% when using 2023 emissions. Afternoon secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentrations for the entire domain are projected to decrease by over 15%, and the change in SOA levels is not a strong function of the emissions inventory utilized. Temperature increases play the dominant role in determining the overall impact on ozone, PM, and SOA concentrations in both the individual and combined perturbation scenarios.

A spectral X-ray CT simulation study for quantitative determination of iron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Ting; Kaftandjian, Valérie; Duvauchelle, Philippe; Zhu, Yuemin

2018-06-01

Iron is an essential element in the human body and disorders in iron such as iron deficiency or overload can cause serious diseases. This paper aims to explore the ability of spectral X-ray CT to quantitatively separate iron from calcium and potassium and to investigate the influence of different acquisition parameters on material decomposition performance. We simulated spectral X-ray CT imaging of a PMMA phantom filled with iron, calcium, and potassium solutions at various concentrations (15-200 mg/cc). Different acquisition parameters were considered, such as the number of energy bins (6, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60) and exposure factor per projection (0.025, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 mA s). Based on the simulation data, we investigated the performance of two regularized material decomposition approaches: projection domain method and image domain method. It was found that the former method discriminated iron from calcium, potassium and water in all cases and tended to benefit from lower number of energy bins for lower exposure factor acquisition. The latter method succeeded in iron determination only when the number of energy bins equals 60, and in this case, the contrast-to-noise ratios of the decomposed iron images are higher than those obtained using the projection domain method. The results demonstrate that both methods are able to discriminate and quantify iron from calcium, potassium and water under certain conditions. Their performances vary with the acquisition parameters of spectral CT. One can use one method or the other to benefit better performance according to the data available.

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) project. VI - Spacecraft, scientific instruments, and launching rocket. Part 4 - TRMM rain radar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meneghini, Robert; Atlas, David; Awaka, Jun; Okamoto, Ken'ichi; Ihara, Toshio; Nakamura, Kenji; Kozu, Toshiaki; Manabe, Takeshi

1990-01-01

The basic system parameters for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) radar system are frequency, beamwidth, scan angle, resolution, number of independent samples, pulse repetition frequency, data rate, and so on. These parameters were chosen to satisfy NASA's mission requirements. Six candidates for the TRMM rain radar were studied. The study considered three major competitive items: (1) a pulse-compression radar vs. a conventional radar; (2) an active-array radar with a solid state power amplifier vs. a passive-array radar with a traveling-wave-tube amplifier; and (3) antenna types (planar-array antenna vs. cylindrical parabolic antenna). Basic system parameters such as radar sensitivities, power consumption, weight, and size of these six types are described. Trade-off studies of these cases show that the non-pulse-compression active-array radar with a planar array is considered to be the most suitable candidate for the TRMM rain radar at 13.8 GHz.

Optimization of knowledge-based systems and expert system building tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yasuda, Phyllis; Mckellar, Donald

1993-01-01

The objectives of the NASA-AMES Cooperative Agreement were to investigate, develop, and evaluate, via test cases, the system parameters and processing algorithms that constrain the overall performance of the Information Sciences Division's Artificial Intelligence Research Facility. Written reports covering various aspects of the grant were submitted to the co-investigators for the grant. Research studies concentrated on the field of artificial intelligence knowledge-based systems technology. Activities included the following areas: (1) AI training classes; (2) merging optical and digital processing; (3) science experiment remote coaching; (4) SSF data management system tests; (5) computer integrated documentation project; (6) conservation of design knowledge project; (7) project management calendar and reporting system; (8) automation and robotics technology assessment; (9) advanced computer architectures and operating systems; and (10) honors program.

Patient-specific 3D models created by 3D imaging system or bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré-Fringe projections: a comparative study of accuracy and reliability on spinal curvatures and vertebral rotation data.

PubMed

Hocquelet, Arnaud; Cornelis, François; Jirot, Anna; Castaings, Laurent; de Sèze, Mathieu; Hauger, Olivier

2016-10-01

The aim of this study is to compare the accuracy and reliability of spinal curvatures and vertebral rotation data based on patient-specific 3D models created by 3D imaging system or by bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré-Fringe projections. Sixty-two consecutive patients from a single institution were prospectively included. For each patient, frontal and sagittal calibrated low-dose bi-planar X-rays were performed and coupled simultaneously with an optical Moiré back surface-based technology. The 3D reconstructions of spine and pelvis were performed independently by one radiologist and one technician in radiology using two different semi-automatic methods using 3D radio-imaging system (method 1) or bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré projections (method 2). Both methods were compared using Bland-Altman analysis, and reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). ICC showed good to very good agreement. Between the two techniques, the maximum 95 % prediction limits was -4.9° degrees for the measurements of spinal coronal curves and less than 5° for other parameters. Inter-rater reliability was excellent for all parameters across both methods, except for axial rotation with method 2 for which ICC was fair. Method 1 was faster for reconstruction time than method 2 for both readers (13.4 vs. 20.7 min and 10.6 vs. 13.9 min; p = 0.0001). While a lower accuracy was observed for the evaluation of the axial rotation, bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré-Fringe projections may be an accurate and reliable tool to perform 3D reconstructions of the spine and pelvis.

Projections of health care expenditures as a share of the GDP: actuarial and macroeconomic approaches.

PubMed Central

Warshawsky, M J

1994-01-01

STUDY QUESTION. Can the steady increases in health care expenditures as a share of GDP projected by widely cited actuarial models be rationalized by a macroeconomic model with sensible parameters and specification? DATA SOURCES. National Income and Product Accounts, and Social Security and Health Care Financing Administration are the data sources used in parameters estimates. STUDY DESIGN. Health care expenditures as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) are projected using two methodological approaches--actuarial and macroeconomic--and under various assumptions. The general equilibrium macroeconomic approach has the advantage of allowing an investigation of the causes of growth in the health care sector and its consequences for the overall economy. DATA COLLECTION METHODS. Simulations are used. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. Both models unanimously project a continued increase in the ratio of health care expenditures to GDP. Under the most conservative assumptions, that is, robust economic growth, improved demographic trends, or a significant moderation in the rate of health care price inflation, the health care sector will consume more than a quarter of national output by 2065. Under other (perhaps more realistic) assumptions, including a continuation of current trends, both approaches predict that health care expenditures will comprise between a third and a half of national output. In the macroeconomic model, the increasing use of capital goods in the health care sector explains the observed rise in relative prices. Moreover, this "capital deepening" implies that a relatively modest fraction of the labor force is employed in health care and that the rest of the economy is increasingly starved for capital, resulting in a declining standard of living. PMID:8063567

Study of CO2 bubble dynamics in seawater from QICS field Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, B.; Dewar, M.; Sellami, N.; Stahl, H.; Blackford, J.

2011-12-01

One of the concerns of employing CCS at engineering scale is the risk of leakage of storage CO2 on the environment and especially on the marine life. QICS, a scientific research project was launched with an aim to study the effects of a potential leak from a CCS system on the UK marine environment [1]. The project involves the injection of CO2 from a shore-based lab into shallow marine sediments. One of the main objectives of the project is to generate experimental data to be compared with the developed physical models. The results of the models are vital for the biogeochemical and ecological models in order to predict the impact of a CO2 leak in a variety of situations. For the evaluation of the fate of the CO2 bubbles into the surrounding seawater, the physical model requires two key parameters to be used as input which are: (i) a correlation of the drag coefficient as function of the CO2 bubble Reynolds number and (ii) the CO2 bubble size distribution. By precisely measuring the CO2 bubble size and rising speed, these two parameters can be established. For this purpose, the dynamical characteristics of the rising CO2 bubbles in Scottish seawater were investigated experimentally within the QICS project. Observations of the CO2 bubbles plume rising freely in the in seawater column were captured by video survey using a ruler positioned at the leakage pockmark as dimension reference. This observation made it possible, for the first time, to discuss the dynamics of the CO2 bubbles released in seawater. [1] QICS, QICS: Quantifying and Monitoring Potential Ecosystem Impacts of Geological Carbon Storage. (Accessed 15.07.13), http://www.bgs.ac.uk/qics/home.html

Study of CO2 bubble dynamics in seawater from QICS field Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, B.; Dewar, M.; Sellami, N.; Stahl, H.; Blackford, J.

2013-12-01

One of the concerns of employing CCS at engineering scale is the risk of leakage of storage CO2 on the environment and especially on the marine life. QICS, a scientific research project was launched with an aim to study the effects of a potential leak from a CCS system on the UK marine environment [1]. The project involves the injection of CO2 from a shore-based lab into shallow marine sediments. One of the main objectives of the project is to generate experimental data to be compared with the developed physical models. The results of the models are vital for the biogeochemical and ecological models in order to predict the impact of a CO2 leak in a variety of situations. For the evaluation of the fate of the CO2 bubbles into the surrounding seawater, the physical model requires two key parameters to be used as input which are: (i) a correlation of the drag coefficient as function of the CO2 bubble Reynolds number and (ii) the CO2 bubble size distribution. By precisely measuring the CO2 bubble size and rising speed, these two parameters can be established. For this purpose, the dynamical characteristics of the rising CO2 bubbles in Scottish seawater were investigated experimentally within the QICS project. Observations of the CO2 bubbles plume rising freely in the in seawater column were captured by video survey using a ruler positioned at the leakage pockmark as dimension reference. This observation made it possible, for the first time, to discuss the dynamics of the CO2 bubbles released in seawater. [1] QICS, QICS: Quantifying and Monitoring Potential Ecosystem Impacts of Geological Carbon Storage. (Accessed 15.07.13), http://www.bgs.ac.uk/qics/home.html

Enhancing Astronomy Major Learning Through Group Research Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGraw, Allison M.; Hardegree-Ullman, K.; Turner, J.; Shirley, Y. L.; Walker-Lafollette, A.; Scott, A.; Guvenen, B.; Raphael, B.; Sanford, B.; Smart, B.; Nguyen, C.; Jones, C.; Smith, C.; Cates, I.; Romine, J.; Cook, K.; Pearson, K.; Biddle, L.; Small, L.; Donnels, M.; Nieberding, M.; Kwon, M.; Thompson, R.; De La Rosa, R.; Hofmann, R.; Tombleson, R.; Smith, T.; Towner, A. P.; Wallace, S.

2013-01-01

The University of Arizona Astronomy Club has been using group research projects to enhance the learning experience of undergraduates in astronomy and related fields. Students work on two projects that employ a peer-mentoring system so they can learn crucial skills and concepts necessary in research environments. Students work on a transiting exoplanet project using the 1.55-meter Kuiper Telescope on Mt. Bigelow in Southern Arizona to collect near-UV and optical wavelength data. The goal of the project is to refine planetary parameters and to attempt to detect exoplanet magnetic fields by searching for near-UV light curve asymmetries. The other project is a survey that utilizes the 12-meter Arizona Radio Observatory on Kitt Peak to search for the spectroscopic signature of infall in nearby starless cores. These are unique projects because students are involved throughout the entire research process, including writing proposals for telescope time, observing at the telescopes, data reduction and analysis, writing papers for publication in journals, and presenting research at scientific conferences. Exoplanet project members are able to receive independent study credit for participating in the research, which helps keep the project on track. Both projects allow students to work on professional research and prepare for several astronomy courses early in their academic career. They also encourage teamwork and mentor-style peer teaching, and can help students identify their own research projects as they expand their knowledge.

IVS Tropospheric Parameters: Comparison with DORIS and GPS for CONT02

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schuh, Harald; Snajdrova, Kristyna; Boehm, Johannes; Willis, Pascal; Engelhardt, Gerald; Lanotte, Roberto; Tomasi, Paolo; Negusini, Monia; MacMillan, Daniel; Vereshchagina, Iraida

2004-01-01

In April 2002 the IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry) set up the Pilot Project - Tropospheric Parameters, and the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics (IGG), Vienna, was put in charge of coordinating the project. Seven IVS Analysis Centers have joined the project and regularly submitted their estimates of tropospheric parameters (wet and total zenith delays, horizontal gradients) for all IVS-R1 mid IVS-R4 sessions since January 1st, 2002. The individual submissions are combined by a two-step procedure to obtain stable, robust and highly accurate tropospheric parameter time series with one hour resolution (internal accuracy: 2-4 ram). Starting with July 2003, the combined tropospheric estimates became operational IVS products. In the second half of October 2002 the VLBI campaign CONT02 was observed with 8 stations participating around the globe. At four of them (Gilmore Creek, U.S.A.; Hartebeesthoek, South Africa; Kokee Park, U.S.A.; Ny-Alesund, Norway) also total zenith delays from DORIS (Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite) are available and these estimates are compared with those from the IGS (International GPS Service) and the IVS. The distance from the DORIS beacons to the co-located GPS and VLBI stations is around 2 km or less for the four sites mentioned above.

Project management of life-science research projects: project characteristics, challenges and training needs.

PubMed

Beukers, Margot W

2011-02-01

Thirty-four project managers of life-science research projects were interviewed to investigate the characteristics of their projects, the challenges they faced and their training requirements. A set of ten discriminating parameters were identified based on four project categories: contract research, development, discovery and call-based projects--projects set up to address research questions defined in a call for proposals. The major challenges these project managers are faced with relate to project members, leadership without authority and a lack of commitment from the respective organization. Two-thirds of the project managers indicated that they would be interested in receiving additional training, mostly on people-oriented, soft skills. The training programs that are currently on offer, however, do not meet their needs. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Embedded Active Fiber Optic Sensing Network for Structural Health Monitoring in Harsh Environments

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

Wang, Anbo

This report summarizes technical progress on the program “Embedded Active Fiber Optic Sensing Network for Structural Health Monitoring in Harsh Environments” funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, and performed by the Center for Photonics Technology at Virginia Tech. The objective of this project is to develop a first-of-a-kind technology for remote fiber optic generation and detection of acoustic waves for structural health monitoring in harsh environments. During the project period, which is from April 1, 2013 to Septemeber 30, 2016, three different acoustic generation mechanisms were studied in detail for their applications inmore » building a fiber optic acoustic generation unit (AGU), including laser induced plasma breakdown (LIP), Erbium-doped fiber laser absorption, and metal laser absorption. By comparing the performance of the AGUs designed based on these three mechanisms and analyzing the experimental results with simulations, the metal laser absorption method was selected to build a complete fiber optic structure health monitoring (FO-SHM) system for the proposed high temperature multi-parameter structure health monitoring application. Based on the simulation of elastic wave propagation and fiber Bragg grating acoustic pulse detection, an FO-SHM element together with a completed interrogation system were designed and built. This system was first tested on an aluminum piece in the low-temperature range and successfully demonstrated its capability of multi-parameter monitoring and multi-point sensing. In the later stages of the project, the research was focused on improving the surface attachment design and preparing the FO-SHM element for high temperature environment tests. After several upgrades to the surface attachment methods, the FO-SHM element was able to work reliably up to 600oC when attached to P91 pipes, which are the target material of this project. In the final stage of this project, this FO-SHM sensing system was tested in the simulated harsh environment for its multi-parameter monitoring performance and high-temperature survivability.« less

Development of space simulation / net-laboratory system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usui, H.; Matsumoto, H.; Ogino, T.; Fujimoto, M.; Omura, Y.; Okada, M.; Ueda, H. O.; Murata, T.; Kamide, Y.; Shinagawa, H.; Watanabe, S.; Machida, S.; Hada, T.

A research project for the development of space simulation / net-laboratory system was approved by Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST) in the category of Research and Development for Applying Advanced Computational Science and Technology(ACT-JST) in 2000. This research project, which continues for three years, is a collaboration with an astrophysical simulation group as well as other space simulation groups which use MHD and hybrid models. In this project, we develop a proto type of unique simulation system which enables us to perform simulation runs by providing or selecting plasma parameters through Web-based interface on the internet. We are also developing an on-line database system for space simulation from which we will be able to search and extract various information such as simulation method and program, manuals, and typical simulation results in graphic or ascii format. This unique system will help the simulation beginners to start simulation study without much difficulty or effort, and contribute to the promotion of simulation studies in the STP field. In this presentation, we will report the overview and the current status of the project.

Determination of projection effects of CMEs using quadrature observations with the two STEREO spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bronarska, K.; Michalek, G.

2018-07-01

Since 1995 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been routinely observed thanks to the sensitive Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraphs (LASCO) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. Their observed characteristics are stored, among other, in the SOHO/LASCO catalog. These parameters are commonly used in scientific studies. Unfortunately, coronagraphic observations of CMEs are subject to projection effects. This makes it practically impossible to determine the true properties of CMEs and therefore makes it more difficult to forecast their geoeffectiveness. In this study, using quadrature observations with the two Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecrafts, we estimate the projection effect affecting velocity of CMEs included in the SOHO/LASCO catalog. It was demonstrated that this effect depends significantly on width and source location of CMEs. It can be very significant for narrow events and originating from the disk center. The effect diminishes with increasing width and absolute longitude of source location of CMEs. For very wide (width ⩾ 250°) or limb events (| longitude ⩾ 70°) projection effects completely disappears.

Numerical study on characteristic of two-dimensional metal/dielectric photonic crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zong, Yi-Xin; Xia, Jian-Bai; Wu, Hai-Bin

2017-04-01

An improved plan-wave expansion method is adopted to theoretically study the photonic band diagrams of two-dimensional (2D) metal/dielectric photonic crystals. Based on the photonic band structures, the dependence of flat bands and photonic bandgaps on two parameters (dielectric constant and filling factor) are investigated for two types of 2D metal/dielectric (M/D) photonic crystals, hole and cylinder photonic crystals. The simulation results show that band structures are affected greatly by these two parameters. Flat bands and bandgaps can be easily obtained by tuning these parameters and the bandgap width may reach to the maximum at certain parameters. It is worth noting that the hole-type photonic crystals show more bandgaps than the corresponding cylinder ones, and the frequency ranges of bandgaps also depend strongly on these parameters. Besides, the photonic crystals containing metallic medium can obtain more modulation of photonic bands, band gaps, and large effective refractive index, etc. than the dielectric/dielectric ones. According to the numerical results, the needs of optical devices for flat bands and bandgaps can be met by selecting the suitable geometry and material parameters. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB922200) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 605210010).

Multiple sclerosis in Canada 2011 to 2031: results of a microsimulation modelling study of epidemiological and economic impacts.

PubMed

Amankwah, Nana; Marrie, Ruth Ann; Bancej, Christina; Garner, Rochelle; Manuel, Douglas G; Wall, Ron; Finès, Philippe; Bernier, Julie; Tu, Karen; Reimer, Kim

2017-02-01

The objective of our study was to present model-based estimates and projections on current and future health and economic impacts of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Canada over a 20-year time horizon (2011-2031). Using Statistics Canada's Population Health Microsimulation Model (POHEM) framework, specifically the population-based longitudinal, microsimulation model named POHEM-Neurological, we identified people with MS from health administrative data sources and derived incidence and mortality rate parameters from a British Columbia population-based cohort for future MS incidence and mortality projections. We also included a utility-based measure (Health Utilities Index Mark 3) reflecting states of functional health to allow projections of health-related quality of life. Finally, we estimated caregiving parameters and health care costs from Canadian national surveys and health administrative data and included them as model parameters to assess the health and economic impact of the neurological conditions. The number of incident MS cases is expected to rise slightly from 4051 cases in 2011 to 4794 cases per 100 000 population in 2031, and the number of Canadians affected by MS will increase from 98 385 in 2011 to 133 635 in 2031. The total per capita health care cost (excluding out-of-pocket expenses) for adults aged 20 and older in 2011 was about $16 800 for individuals with MS, and approximately $2500 for individuals without a neurological condition. Thus, after accounting for additional expenditures due to MS (excluding out-of-pocket expenses), total annual health sector costs for MS are expected to reach $2.0 billion by 2031. As well, the average out-of-pocket expenditure for people with MS was around $1300 annually throughout the projection period. MS is associated with a significant economic burden on society, since it usually affects young adults during prime career- and family-building years. Canada has a particularly high prevalence of MS, so research such as the present study is essential to provide a better understanding of the current and future negative impacts of MS on the Canadian population, so that health care system policymakers can best plan how to meet the needs of patients who are affected by MS. These findings also suggest that identifying strategies to prevent MS and more effectively treat the disease are needed to mitigate these future impacts.

Multiple sclerosis in Canada 2011 to 2031: results of a microsimulation modelling study of epidemiological and economic impacts

PubMed Central

Nana, Amankwah; Ruth, Ann Marrie; Christina, Bancej; Rochelle, Garner; Douglas, G. Manuel; Ron, Wall; Philippe, Finès; Julie, Bernier; Karen, Tu; Kim, Reimer

2017-01-01

Introduction: The objective of our study was to present model-based estimates and projections on current and future health and economic impacts of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Canada over a 20-year time horizon (2011–2031). Methods: Using Statistics Canada’s Population Health Microsimulation Model (POHEM) framework, specifically the population-based longitudinal, microsimulation model named POHEM-Neurological, we identified people with MS from health administrative data sources and derived incidence and mortality rate parameters from a British Columbia population-based cohort for future MS incidence and mortality projections. We also included a utility-based measure (Health Utilities Index Mark 3) reflecting states of functional health to allow projections of health-related quality of life. Finally, we estimated caregiving parameters and health care costs from Canadian national surveys and health administrative data and included them as model parameters to assess the health and economic impact of the neurological conditions. Results: The number of incident MS cases is expected to rise slightly from 4051 cases in 2011 to 4794 cases per 100 000 population in 2031, and the number of Canadians affected by MS will increase from 98 385 in 2011 to 133 635 in 2031. The total per capita health care cost (excluding out-of-pocket expenses) for adults aged 20 and older in 2011 was about $16 800 for individuals with MS, and approximately $2500 for individuals without a neurological condition. Thus, after accounting for additional expenditures due to MS (excluding out-of-pocket expenses), total annual health sector costs for MS are expected to reach $2.0 billion by 2031. As well, the average out-of-pocket expenditure for people with MS was around $1300 annually throughout the projection period. Conclusion: MS is associated with a significant economic burden on society, since it usually affects young adults during prime career- and family-building years. Canada has a particularly high prevalence of MS, so research such as the present study is essential to provide a better understanding of the current and future negative impacts of MS on the Canadian population, so that health care system policymakers can best plan how to meet the needs of patients who are affected by MS. These findings also suggest that identifying strategies to prevent MS and more effectively treat the disease are needed to mitigate these future impacts. PMID:28273039

Sensitivity Analysis Tailored to Constrain 21st Century Terrestrial Carbon-Uptake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller, S. J.; Gerber, S.

2013-12-01

The long-term fate of terrestrial carbon (C) in response to climate change remains a dominant source of uncertainty in Earth-system model projections. Increasing atmospheric CO2 could be mitigated by long-term net uptake of C, through processes such as increased plant productivity due to "CO2-fertilization". Conversely, atmospheric conditions could be exacerbated by long-term net release of C, through processes such as increased decomposition due to higher temperatures. This balance is an important area of study, and a major source of uncertainty in long-term (>year 2050) projections of planetary response to climate change. We present results from an innovative application of sensitivity analysis to LM3V, a dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), intended to identify observed/observable variables that are useful for constraining long-term projections of C-uptake. We analyzed the sensitivity of cumulative C-uptake by 2100, as modeled by LM3V in response to IPCC AR4 scenario climate data (1860-2100), to perturbations in over 50 model parameters. We concurrently analyzed the sensitivity of over 100 observable model variables, during the extant record period (1970-2010), to the same parameter changes. By correlating the sensitivities of observable variables with the sensitivity of long-term C-uptake we identified model calibration variables that would also constrain long-term C-uptake projections. LM3V employs a coupled carbon-nitrogen cycle to account for N-limitation, and we find that N-related variables have an important role to play in constraining long-term C-uptake. This work has implications for prioritizing field campaigns to collect global data that can help reduce uncertainties in the long-term land-atmosphere C-balance. Though results of this study are specific to LM3V, the processes that characterize this model are not completely divorced from other DGVMs (or reality), and our approach provides valuable insights into how data can be leveraged to be better constrain projections for the land carbon sink.

Optimization of the reconstruction parameters in [123I]FP-CIT SPECT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niñerola-Baizán, Aida; Gallego, Judith; Cot, Albert; Aguiar, Pablo; Lomeña, Francisco; Pavía, Javier; Ros, Domènec

2018-04-01

The aim of this work was to obtain a set of parameters to be applied in [123I]FP-CIT SPECT reconstruction in order to minimize the error between standardized and true values of the specific uptake ratio (SUR) in dopaminergic neurotransmission SPECT studies. To this end, Monte Carlo simulation was used to generate a database of 1380 projection data-sets from 23 subjects, including normal cases and a variety of pathologies. Studies were reconstructed using filtered back projection (FBP) with attenuation correction and ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) with correction for different degradations (attenuation, scatter and PSF). Reconstruction parameters to be optimized were the cut-off frequency of a 2D Butterworth pre-filter in FBP, and the number of iterations and the full width at Half maximum of a 3D Gaussian post-filter in OSEM. Reconstructed images were quantified using regions of interest (ROIs) derived from Magnetic Resonance scans and from the Automated Anatomical Labeling map. Results were standardized by applying a simple linear regression line obtained from the entire patient dataset. Our findings show that we can obtain a set of optimal parameters for each reconstruction strategy. The accuracy of the standardized SUR increases when the reconstruction method includes more corrections. The use of generic ROIs instead of subject-specific ROIs adds significant inaccuracies. Thus, after reconstruction with OSEM and correction for all degradations, subject-specific ROIs led to errors between standardized and true SUR values in the range [‑0.5, +0.5] in 87% and 92% of the cases for caudate and putamen, respectively. These percentages dropped to 75% and 88% when the generic ROIs were used.

Automated system for generation of soil moisture products for agricultural drought assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raja Shekhar, S. S.; Chandrasekar, K.; Sesha Sai, M. V. R.; Diwakar, P. G.; Dadhwal, V. K.

2014-11-01

Drought is a frequently occurring disaster affecting lives of millions of people across the world every year. Several parameters, indices and models are being used globally to forecast / early warning of drought and monitoring drought for its prevalence, persistence and severity. Since drought is a complex phenomenon, large number of parameter/index need to be evaluated to sufficiently address the problem. It is a challenge to generate input parameters from different sources like space based data, ground data and collateral data in short intervals of time, where there may be limitation in terms of processing power, availability of domain expertise, specialized models & tools. In this study, effort has been made to automate the derivation of one of the important parameter in the drought studies viz Soil Moisture. Soil water balance bucket model is in vogue to arrive at soil moisture products, which is widely popular for its sensitivity to soil conditions and rainfall parameters. This model has been encoded into "Fish-Bone" architecture using COM technologies and Open Source libraries for best possible automation to fulfill the needs for a standard procedure of preparing input parameters and processing routines. The main aim of the system is to provide operational environment for generation of soil moisture products by facilitating users to concentrate on further enhancements and implementation of these parameters in related areas of research, without re-discovering the established models. Emphasis of the architecture is mainly based on available open source libraries for GIS and Raster IO operations for different file formats to ensure that the products can be widely distributed without the burden of any commercial dependencies. Further the system is automated to the extent of user free operations if required with inbuilt chain processing for every day generation of products at specified intervals. Operational software has inbuilt capabilities to automatically download requisite input parameters like rainfall, Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) from respective servers. It can import file formats like .grd, .hdf, .img, generic binary etc, perform geometric correction and re-project the files to native projection system. The software takes into account the weather, crop and soil parameters to run the designed soil water balance model. The software also has additional features like time compositing of outputs to generate weekly, fortnightly profiles for further analysis. Other tools to generate "Area Favorable for Crop Sowing" using the daily soil moisture with highly customizable parameters interface has been provided. A whole India analysis would now take a mere 20 seconds for generation of soil moisture products which would normally take one hour per day using commercial software.

Out-of-Focus Projector Calibration Method with Distortion Correction on the Projection Plane in the Structured Light Three-Dimensional Measurement System.

PubMed

Zhang, Jiarui; Zhang, Yingjie; Chen, Bo

2017-12-20

The three-dimensional measurement system with a binary defocusing technique is widely applied in diverse fields. The measurement accuracy is mainly determined by out-of-focus projector calibration accuracy. In this paper, a high-precision out-of-focus projector calibration method that is based on distortion correction on the projection plane and nonlinear optimization algorithm is proposed. To this end, the paper experimentally presents the principle that the projector has noticeable distortions outside its focus plane. In terms of this principle, the proposed method uses a high-order radial and tangential lens distortion representation on the projection plane to correct the calibration residuals caused by projection distortion. The final accuracy parameters of out-of-focus projector were obtained using a nonlinear optimization algorithm with good initial values, which were provided by coarsely calibrating the parameters of the out-of-focus projector on the focal and projection planes. Finally, the experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method can accuracy calibrate an out-of-focus projector, regardless of the amount of defocusing.

U.S. Balance-of-Station Cost Drivers and Sensitivities (Presentation)

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

Maples, B.

2012-10-01

With balance-of-system (BOS) costs contributing up to 70% of the installed capital cost, it is fundamental to understanding the BOS costs for offshore wind projects as well as potential cost trends for larger offshore turbines. NREL developed a BOS model using project cost estimates developed by GL Garrad Hassan. Aspects of BOS covered include engineering and permitting, ports and staging, transportation and installation, vessels, foundations, and electrical. The data introduce new scaling relationships for each BOS component to estimate cost as a function of turbine parameters and size, project parameters and size, and soil type. Based on the new BOSmore » model, an analysis to understand the non‐turbine costs has been conducted. This analysis establishes a more robust baseline cost estimate, identifies the largest cost components of offshore wind project BOS, and explores the sensitivity of the levelized cost of energy to permutations in each BOS cost element. This presentation shows results from the model that illustrates the potential impact of turbine size and project size on the cost of energy from U.S. offshore wind plants.« less

AHP-based spatial analysis of water quality impact assessment due to change in vehicular traffic caused by highway broadening in Sikkim Himalaya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Polash; Ghose, Mrinal Kanti; Pradhan, Ratika

2018-05-01

Spatial analysis of water quality impact assessment of highway projects in mountainous areas remains largely unexplored. A methodology is presented here for Spatial Water Quality Impact Assessment (SWQIA) due to highway-broadening-induced vehicular traffic change in the East district of Sikkim. Pollution load of the highway runoff was estimated using an Average Annual Daily Traffic-Based Empirical model in combination with mass balance model to predict pollution in the rivers within the study area. Spatial interpolation and overlay analysis were used for impact mapping. Analytic Hierarchy Process-Based Water Quality Status Index was used to prepare a composite impact map. Model validation criteria, cross-validation criteria, and spatial explicit sensitivity analysis show that the SWQIA model is robust. The study shows that vehicular traffic is a significant contributor to water pollution in the study area. The model is catering specifically to impact analysis of the concerned project. It can be an aid for decision support system for the project stakeholders. The applicability of SWQIA model needs to be explored and validated in the context of a larger set of water quality parameters and project scenarios at a greater spatial scale.

The Impact of Variability of Selected Geological and Mining Parameters on the Value and Risks of Projects in the Hard Coal Mining Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kopacz, Michał

2017-09-01

The paper attempts to assess the impact of variability of selected geological (deposit) parameters on the value and risks of projects in the hard coal mining industry. The study was based on simulated discounted cash flow analysis, while the results were verified for three existing bituminous coal seams. The Monte Carlo simulation was based on nonparametric bootstrap method, while correlations between individual deposit parameters were replicated with use of an empirical copula. The calculations take into account the uncertainty towards the parameters of empirical distributions of the deposit variables. The Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were selected as the main measures of value and risk, respectively. The impact of volatility and correlation of deposit parameters were analyzed in two aspects, by identifying the overall effect of the correlated variability of the parameters and the indywidual impact of the correlation on the NPV and IRR. For this purpose, a differential approach, allowing determining the value of the possible errors in calculation of these measures in numerical terms, has been used. Based on the study it can be concluded that the mean value of the overall effect of the variability does not exceed 11.8% of NPV and 2.4 percentage points of IRR. Neglecting the correlations results in overestimating the NPV and the IRR by up to 4.4%, and 0.4 percentage point respectively. It should be noted, however, that the differences in NPV and IRR values can vary significantly, while their interpretation depends on the likelihood of implementation. Generalizing the obtained results, based on the average values, the maximum value of the risk premium in the given calculation conditions of the "X" deposit, and the correspondingly large datasets (greater than 2500), should not be higher than 2.4 percentage points. The impact of the analyzed geological parameters on the NPV and IRR depends primarily on their co-existence, which can be measured by the strength of correlation. In the analyzed case, the correlations result in limiting the range of variation of the geological parameters and economics results (the empirical copula reduces the NPV and IRR in probabilistic approach). However, this is due to the adjustment of the calculation under conditions similar to those prevailing in the deposit.

Missile Manufacturing Technology Conference Held at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on 22-26 September 1975. Panel Presentations: Guidance

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-01-01

Instead of the current three. Some de - tail on each component follows. II. POTENTIAL MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS Gyro Because of the...ranges of environment. With Imbedded microprocessors. It Is possible that parameters, once de - fined, can be placed within the microprocessor memory...Project cost: $53,000 Estimated duration of the project Is nine months. Benefits: Benefits to be de :ved from this project are a reduction

Optimization and evaluation of metal injection molding by using X-ray tomography

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

Yang, Shidi; Zhang, Ruijie; Qu, Xuanhui, E-mail: quxh@ustb.edu.cn

2015-06-15

6061 aluminum alloy and 316L stainless steel green bodies were obtained by using different injection parameters (injection pressure, speed and temperature). After injection process, the green bodies were scanned by X-ray tomography. The projection and reconstruction images show the different kinds of defects obtained by the improper injection parameters. Then, 3D rendering of the Al alloy green bodies was used to demonstrate the spatial morphology characteristics of the serious defects. Based on the scanned and calculated results, it is convenient to obtain the proper injection parameters for the Al alloy. Then, reasons of the defect formation were discussed. During moldmore » filling, the serious defects mainly formed in the case of low injection temperature and high injection speed. According to the gray value distribution of projection image, a threshold gray value was obtained to evaluate whether the quality of green body can meet the desired standard. The proper injection parameters of 316L stainless steel can be obtained efficiently by using the method of analyzing the Al alloy injection. - Highlights: • Different types of defects in green bodies were scanned by using X-ray tomography. • Reasons of the defect formation were discussed. • Optimization of the injection parameters can be simplified greatly by the way of X-ray tomography. • Evaluation standard of the injection process can be obtained by using the gray value distribution of projection image.« less

Three-dimensional deformable-model-based localization and recognition of road vehicles.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhaoxiang; Tan, Tieniu; Huang, Kaiqi; Wang, Yunhong

2012-01-01

We address the problem of model-based object recognition. Our aim is to localize and recognize road vehicles from monocular images or videos in calibrated traffic scenes. A 3-D deformable vehicle model with 12 shape parameters is set up as prior information, and its pose is determined by three parameters, which are its position on the ground plane and its orientation about the vertical axis under ground-plane constraints. An efficient local gradient-based method is proposed to evaluate the fitness between the projection of the vehicle model and image data, which is combined into a novel evolutionary computing framework to estimate the 12 shape parameters and three pose parameters by iterative evolution. The recovery of pose parameters achieves vehicle localization, whereas the shape parameters are used for vehicle recognition. Numerous experiments are conducted in this paper to demonstrate the performance of our approach. It is shown that the local gradient-based method can evaluate accurately and efficiently the fitness between the projection of the vehicle model and the image data. The evolutionary computing framework is effective for vehicles of different types and poses is robust to all kinds of occlusion.

Statistical deprojection of galaxy pairs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nottale, Laurent; Chamaraux, Pierre

2018-06-01

Aims: The purpose of the present paper is to provide methods of statistical analysis of the physical properties of galaxy pairs. We perform this study to apply it later to catalogs of isolated pairs of galaxies, especially two new catalogs we recently constructed that contain ≈1000 and ≈13 000 pairs, respectively. We are particularly interested by the dynamics of those pairs, including the determination of their masses. Methods: We could not compute the dynamical parameters directly since the necessary data are incomplete. Indeed, we only have at our disposal one component of the intervelocity between the members, namely along the line of sight, and two components of their interdistance, i.e., the projection on the sky-plane. Moreover, we know only one point of each galaxy orbit. Hence we need statistical methods to find the probability distribution of 3D interdistances and 3D intervelocities from their projections; we designed those methods under the term deprojection. Results: We proceed in two steps to determine and use the deprojection methods. First we derive the probability distributions expected for the various relevant projected quantities, namely intervelocity vz, interdistance rp, their ratio, and the product rp v_z^2, which is involved in mass determination. In a second step, we propose various methods of deprojection of those parameters based on the previous analysis. We start from a histogram of the projected data and we apply inversion formulae to obtain the deprojected distributions; lastly, we test the methods by numerical simulations, which also allow us to determine the uncertainties involved.

Students’ planetarium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brozis, Mirosław; Świderski, Kamil

2018-05-01

Our students built a full-size, mobile planetarium in three weeks. The planetarium was built with commonly available, cheap construction materials. Our priorities were mobility, possibility of quick assembly and reassembly and the students’ availability of materials in every place in the world. The students calculated all the parameters of the planetarium’s construction themselves, chose materials of appropriate technical parameters, built the planetarium’s framework, elaborated the methods of projections and sounding. Taking into consideration the spectators’ comfort they also designed systems of air conditioning and cooling. The project is completely consistent with the STEM and even the STEAM method. The artistic factor of the students’ work was revealed during the visualisation of planetarium projections and its adornment. The final product of their work is a functional planetarium and a manual for its construction.

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2011-04-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the mechanisms leading to the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2012-10-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the mechanisms leading to the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2012-04-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the mechanisms leading to the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2011-10-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the mechanisms leading to the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2013-04-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the mechanisms leading to the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Identification of linkages between potential Environmental and Social Impacts of Surface Mining and Ecosystem Services in Thar Coal field, Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hina, A.

2017-12-01

Although Thar coal is recognized to be one of the most abundant fossil fuel that could meet the need to combat energy crisis of Pakistan, but there still remains a challenge to tackle the associated environmental and socio-ecological changes and its linkage to the provision of ecosystem services of the region. The study highlights the importance of considering Ecosystem service assessment to be undertaken in all strategic Environmental and Social Assessments of Thar coal field projects. The three-step approach has been formulated to link the project impacts to the provision of important ecosystem services; 1) Identification of impact indicators and parameters by analyzing the environmental and social impacts of surface mining in Thar Coal field through field investigation, literature review and stakeholder consultations; 2) Ranking of parameters and criteria alternatives using Multi-criteria Decision Analysis(MCDA) tool: (AHP method); 3) Using ranked parameters as a proxy to prioritize important ecosystem services of the region; The ecosystem services that were prioritized because of both high significance of project impact and high project dependence are highlighted as: Water is a key ecosystem service to be addressed and valued due to its high dependency in the area for livestock, human wellbeing, agriculture and other purposes. Crop production related to agricultural services, in association with supply services such as soil quality, fertility, and nutrient recycling and water retention need to be valued. Cultural services affected in terms of land use change and resettlement and rehabilitation factors are recommended to be addressed. The results of the analysis outline a framework of identifying these linkages as key constraints to foster the emergence of green growth and development in Pakistan. The practicality of implementing these assessments requires policy instruments and strategies to support human well-being and social inclusion while minimizing environmental degradation and loss of ecosystem services. Keywords Ecosystem service assessment; Environmental and Social Impact Assessment; coal mining; Thar Coal Field; Sustainable development

Linkage Of A Finite Element Flow Model With A Soil Moisture Model: Challanges Under Semiarid Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roediger, T.; Siebert, C.; Krause, P.

2008-12-01

The arid to semiarid Middle East is a region of extreme growth of population. Hence, the rare and over- expoitated water resources in that region have to be more protected against antropogenic and geogenic pollution. One way to help solving that complex issue is to develop an intelligent and integrated strategy to manage all available water resources, which is the aim of the multilateral SMART-project in the Lower Jordan Valley. To generate such an IWRM, all water resources (groundwater, surface runoff, waste water) of the valley and its shoulders have to be quanti- and qualitatively evaluated. The strategy of SMART is to upscale knowledge, extracted from local catchment areas to the project scale, which covers the area between Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, Dead Sea and Amman. The study areas of the here presented sub-project are the Wadis Qilt (Palestine) and Al Arab (Jordan). The aim of the sub-project is to evaluate natural resources on catchment scale by combining hydrochemical and hydraulical methods to develop a high precision model. Concerning the quantification of the system, two seperated models will be linked: a numerical finite element flow-model for the groundwater passage and a new devolped hydrological model JAMS, which is excellently prepared for humid conditions. The power of JAMS is the highly accurate assessment of soil moisture balance and consequently of surface runoff and groundwater recharge. However, the empirical equations and input parameters have to be adjusted onto the conditions of the semiarid Wadi Al Arab and the arid Wadi Qilt. After the adaption of JAMS, the spatially and temporarily differentiated calculation of runoff and groundwater recharge is possible. Beside climatic gradients, the key issue is, to correctly evaluate the evapotranspiration in respect to the different classes of landuse. In the study area Wadi Al Arab, the groundwater recharge was calculated as area-indicated output parameter of JAMS. This output was used to be the spatial differentiated input parameter of the numerical flow model. The advantage is the direct comparability of the finite-element meshs of JAMS and FeFlow. However, the individual definitions of values (recharge, base flow, exfiltration of JAMS, infiltration of FeFlow, etc.) of both models have to be linked by an interface between both systems. One of the biggest challenges is the temporal discretization of recharge between leaving soilcrust and entering groundwater table. In fact, the target was to evaluate the effects of retardation of the unsaturated zone in dependence to the hydraulic parameters of the entire groundwater reservoir.

Do detailed simulations with size-resolved microphysics reproduce basic features of observed cirrus ice size distributions?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fridlind, A. M.; Atlas, R.; van Diedenhoven, B.; Ackerman, A. S.; Rind, D. H.; Harrington, J. Y.; McFarquhar, G. M.; Um, J.; Jackson, R.; Lawson, P.

2017-12-01

It has recently been suggested that seeding synoptic cirrus could have desirable characteristics as a geoengineering approach, but surprisingly large uncertainties remain in the fundamental parameters that govern cirrus properties, such as mass accommodation coefficient, ice crystal physical properties, aggregation efficiency, and ice nucleation rate from typical upper tropospheric aerosol. Only one synoptic cirrus model intercomparison study has been published to date, and studies that compare the shapes of observed and simulated ice size distributions remain sparse. Here we amend a recent model intercomparison setup using observations during two 2010 SPARTICUS campaign flights. We take a quasi-Lagrangian column approach and introduce an ensemble of gravity wave scenarios derived from collocated Doppler cloud radar retrievals of vertical wind speed. We use ice crystal properties derived from in situ cloud particle images, for the first time allowing smoothly varying and internally consistent treatments of nonspherical ice capacitance, fall speed, gravitational collection, and optical properties over all particle sizes in our model. We test two new parameterizations for mass accommodation coefficient as a function of size, temperature and water vapor supersaturation, and several ice nucleation scenarios. Comparison of results with in situ ice particle size distribution data, corrected using state-of-the-art algorithms to remove shattering artifacts, indicate that poorly constrained uncertainties in the number concentration of crystals smaller than 100 µm in maximum dimension still prohibit distinguishing which parameter combinations are more realistic. When projected area is concentrated at such sizes, the only parameter combination that reproduces observed size distribution properties uses a fixed mass accommodation coefficient of 0.01, on the low end of recently reported values. No simulations reproduce the observed abundance of such small crystals when the projected area is concentrated at larger sizes. Simulations across the parameter space are also compared with MODIS collection 6 retrievals and forward simulations of cloud radar reflectivity and mean Doppler velocity. Results motivate further in situ and laboratory measurements to narrow parameter uncertainties in models.

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

Raoult, Nina M.; Jupp, Tim E.; Cox, Peter M.

Land-surface models (LSMs) are crucial components of the Earth system models (ESMs) that are used to make coupled climate–carbon cycle projections for the 21st century. The Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) is the land-surface model used in the climate and weather forecast models of the UK Met Office. JULES is also extensively used offline as a land-surface impacts tool, forced with climatologies into the future. In this study, JULES is automatically differentiated with respect to JULES parameters using commercial software from FastOpt, resulting in an analytical gradient, or adjoint, of the model. Using this adjoint, the adJULES parameter estimationmore » system has been developed to search for locally optimum parameters by calibrating against observations. This paper describes adJULES in a data assimilation framework and demonstrates its ability to improve the model–data fit using eddy-covariance measurements of gross primary production (GPP) and latent heat (LE) fluxes. adJULES also has the ability to calibrate over multiple sites simultaneously. This feature is used to define new optimised parameter values for the five plant functional types (PFTs) in JULES. The optimised PFT-specific parameters improve the performance of JULES at over 85 % of the sites used in the study, at both the calibration and evaluation stages. Furthermore, the new improved parameters for JULES are presented along with the associated uncertainties for each parameter.« less

Budget Period 2 Summary Report Part 3: Hywind Maine Project

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

Driscoll, Frederick; Platt, Andrew; Sirnivas, Senu

2015-08-15

This project was performed under the Work for Others—Funds in Agreement FIA-14-1793 between Statoil and the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, manager and operator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). To support the development of a 6-MW spar-mounted offshore wind turbine, NREL performed tasks on behalf of Statoil in the following three categories: 1. Design and analysis 2. Wake modeling 3. Concept resource assessment. This document summarizes the work performed in Work Package (WP) 3, where the spatial variability and influence that relevant parameters have on levelized cost of energy (LCOE) were analyzed. The study allows Statoil to identify areasmore » of interest for floating wind technology and the Hywind concept in particular. This report describes the results of a study that NREL conducted to provide targeted insight into the United States (U.S.) offshore wind resource area that Statoil can use for taking strategic decisions about how to commercialize and market the company’s Hywind technology. The report centers on a new spatio-economic methodology that NREL has developed to assess how variability in spatial parameters can influence levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for different technologies. The method combines wind plant performance modeling, economic modeling, and national geospatial data layers to estimate the cost of potential projects using Hywind technology, considering the following parameters: • Water depth • Possible inshore assembly areas • Wind resource • Existing grid features and potential connection points • Wave regime • Environmentally sensitive areas • Seabed conditions • Competitive use areas • Prospective staging ports The scope of the study covers the major offshore regions within the contiguous United States, including the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean, and the Great Lakes. The spatio-economic assessment extends to 92 km (50 nm) off of the nearest land mass, consistent with the available data on wind characteristics. The study is restricted to those locations that meet the depth criteria for Hywind technology—defined as water depths between 100 m to 1,000 m—and only considered sites with net capacity factors that exceed 30%.« less

Identifying the parameters for effective implementation of liquid-only plow routes.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-10-05

This project focused on two key areas. The first was taking a snapshot of current best practices : in regard to during-storm liquid applications for snow and ice control. The project learned why, : where, when and how the duri...

Concurrent Software Engineering Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stankovic, Nenad; Tillo, Tammam

2009-01-01

Concurrent engineering or overlapping activities is a business strategy for schedule compression on large development projects. Design parameters and tasks from every aspect of a product's development process and their interdependencies are overlapped and worked on in parallel. Concurrent engineering suffers from negative effects such as excessive…

NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resource (POWER) Project Unveils a New Geospatial Data Portal

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-16

NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resource (POWER) Project Unveils a New Geospatial Data Portal ... current POWER home page. The new POWER will include improved solar and meteorological data with all parameters available on a 0.5-degree ...

A geographic information system to predict soil erosion potential in rural transportation construction project

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-06-30

Topographic surface modeling using a Geographic Information System (GIS) can be useful for the prediction of soil erosion resulting from highway construction projects. The assumption is that terrain, along with other parameters, will influence the po...

Spatial variation of statistical properties of extreme water levels along the eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pindsoo, Katri; Soomere, Tarmo; Rocha, Eugénio

2016-04-01

Most of existing projections of future extreme water levels rely on the use of classic generalised extreme value distributions. The choice to use a particular distribution is often made based on the absolute value of the shape parameter of the Generalise Extreme Value distribution. If this parameter is small, the Gumbel distribution is most appropriate while in the opposite case the Weibull or Frechet distribution could be used. We demonstrate that the alongshore variation in the statistical properties of numerically simulated high water levels along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea is so large that the use of a single distribution for projections of extreme water levels is highly questionable. The analysis is based on two simulated data sets produced in the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. The output of the Rossby Centre Ocean model is sampled with a resolution of 6 h and the output of the circulation model NEMO with a resolution of 1 h. As the maxima of water levels of subsequent years may be correlated in the Baltic Sea, we also employ maxima for stormy seasons. We provide a detailed analysis of spatial variation of the parameters of the family of extreme value distributions along an approximately 600 km long coastal section from the north-western shore of Latvia in the Baltic Proper until the eastern Gulf of Finland. The parameters are evaluated using maximum likelihood method and method of moments. The analysis also covers the entire Gulf of Riga. The core parameter of this family of distributions, the shape parameter of the Generalised Extreme Value distribution, exhibits extensive variation in the study area. Its values evaluated using the Hydrognomon software and maximum likelihood method, vary from about -0.1 near the north-western coast of Latvia in the Baltic Proper up to about 0.05 in the eastern Gulf of Finland. This parameter is very close to zero near Tallinn in the western Gulf of Finland. Thus, it is natural that the Gumbel distribution gives adequate projections of extreme water levels for the vicinity of Tallinn. More importantly, this feature indicates that the use of a single distribution for the projections of extreme water levels and their return periods for the entire Baltic Sea coast is inappropriate. The physical reason is the interplay of the complex shape of large subbasins (such as the Gulf of Riga and Gulf of Finland) of the sea and highly anisotropic wind regime. The 'impact' of this anisotropy on the statistics of water level is amplified by the overall anisotropy of the distributions of the frequency of occurrence of high and low water levels. The most important conjecture is that long-term behaviour of water level extremes in different coastal sections of the Baltic Sea may be fundamentally different.

Demographic analysis, a comparison of the jackknife and bootstrap methods, and predation projection: a case study of Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).

PubMed

Yu, Ling-Yuan; Chen, Zhen-Zhen; Zheng, Fang-Qiang; Shi, Ai-Ju; Guo, Ting-Ting; Yeh, Bao-Hua; Chi, Hsin; Xu, Yong-Yu

2013-02-01

The life table of the green lacewing, Chrysopa pallens (Rambur), was studied at 22 degrees C, a photoperiod of 15:9 (L:D) h, and 80% relative humidity in the laboratory. The raw data were analyzed using the age-stage, two-sex life table. The intrinsic rate of increase (r), the finite rate of increase (lambda), the net reproduction rate (R0), and the mean generation time (T) of Ch. pallens were 0.1258 d(-1), 1.1340 d(-1), 241.4 offspring and 43.6 d, respectively. For the estimation of the means, variances, and SEs of the population parameters, we compared the jackknife and bootstrap techniques. Although similar values of the means and SEs were obtained with both techniques, significant differences were observed in the frequency distribution and variances of all parameters. The jackknife technique will result in a zero net reproductive rate upon the omission of a male, an immature death, or a nonreproductive female. This result represents, however, a contradiction because an intrinsic rate of increase exists in this situation. Therefore, we suggest that the jackknife technique should not be used for the estimation of population parameters. In predator-prey interactions, the nonpredatory egg and pupal stages of the predator are time refuges for the prey, and the pest population can grow during these times. In this study, a population projection based on the age-stage, two-sex life table is used to determine the optimal interval between releases to fill the predation gaps and maintain the predatory capacity of the control agent.

The ESASSI-08 cruise in the South Scotia Ridge region: preliminary analysis of hydrodynamic and biogeochemical data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomis, D.; Flexas, M. M.; Palmer, M.; Jordà, G.; Orsi, A. H.; Yvon-Lewis, S. A.

2009-04-01

The ESASSI-08 oceanographic cruise carried out in January 2008 was the major milestone of ESASSI, the Spanish component of SASSI (a core project of the International Polar Year devoted to study the shelf-slope exchanges in different locations of Antarctica). The sampling strategy of the cruise consisted of 11 full-depth CTD/ADCP sections across the northern and southern slope of the South Scotia Ridge (SSR), between Elephant and Orkney Islands. The sections extend from shelf waters to open sea and the profiles were gathered at an unprecedented spatial resolution over the slope (about 2 nm). Water samples for chemical and biological analysis were also collected at each station; the analyzed parameters include trace gases (CFCs), oxygen isotopes, carbon-related parameters, and nutrients. In this presentation we show the overall distribution of the main variables across the different sections. Namely, we present: a water mass analysis (in terms of potential temperature, salinity and neutral density), estimates of velocities and fluxes across different transects and distributions of biogeochemical parameters. The ultimate aims of the ESASSI project are: 1) to elucidate the fate of the ASF when it enters the SSR from the Weddell Sea; 2) to estimate the shelf-slope exchanges for different parameters; and 3) to quantify the importance of the ventilation associated with intermediate waters flowing over the SSR with respect to the ventilation associated with bottom waters that are blocked by the SSR and flow around the Orkney Plateau.

Assessment of Foot Shape in Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Wolan-Nieroda, Andżelina; Bazarnik-Mucha, Katarzyna; Rachwał, Maciej; Drzał-Grabiec, Justyna; Szeliga, Ewa; Walicka-Cupryś, Katarzyna

2018-01-01

Background Available publications provide little evidence pertaining to assessment of foot shape in children with intellectual disability. The aim of this study was to assess the parameters of foot shape in children and adolescents with intellectual disability and to evaluate the relationship between the degree of disability and these parameters. Material/Methods The study involved 90 individuals aged 7–15 years, including 45 subjects with mild and moderate levels of intellectual disability (study group) and 45 peers with normal intellectual development (control group). Each participant was subjected to photogrammetric assessment of foot shape based on the projection moire effect. Results Analysis of the relationship between the disability level and the assessed parameters showed that the length of the right (p=0.006) and left (p=0.004) foot, as well as Wejsflog’s rate for the right (p<0.001) and left (p<0.001) foot, were significantly higher among children with mild disability, whereas GAMMA angle of the right (p=0.028) and left (p=0.006) foot was significantly higher among children with moderate disability. Conclusions The findings show a significant relationship between the degree of disability and the assessed foot parameters. Significant differences between the subjects with intellectual disability and the control group were identified in the basic parameters defining foot structure. PMID:29636442

Verification and Validation of Requirements on the CEV Parachute Assembly System Using Design of Experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schulte, Peter Z.; Moore, James W.

2011-01-01

The Crew Exploration Vehicle Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) project conducts computer simulations to verify that flight performance requirements on parachute loads and terminal rate of descent are met. Design of Experiments (DoE) provides a systematic method for variation of simulation input parameters. When implemented and interpreted correctly, a DoE study of parachute simulation tools indicates values and combinations of parameters that may cause requirement limits to be violated. This paper describes one implementation of DoE that is currently being developed by CPAS, explains how DoE results can be interpreted, and presents the results of several preliminary studies. The potential uses of DoE to validate parachute simulation models and verify requirements are also explored.

Achieving mask order processing automation, interoperability and standardization based on P10

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, B.; Filies, O.; Sadran, D.; Tissier, Michel; Albin, D.; Stavroulakis, S.; Voyiatzis, E.

2007-02-01

Last year the MUSCLE (Masks through User's Supply Chain: Leadership by Excellence) project was presented. Here is the project advancement. A key process in mask supply chain management is the exchange of technical information for ordering masks. This process is large, complex, company specific and error prone, and leads to longer cycle times and higher costs due to missing or wrong inputs. Its automation and standardization could produce significant benefits. We need to agree on the standard for mandatory and optional parameters, and also a common way to describe parameters when ordering. A system was created to improve the performance in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as cycle time and cost of production. This tool allows us to evaluate and measure the effect of factors, as well as the effect of implementing the improvements of the complete project. Next, a benchmark study and a gap analysis were performed. These studies show the feasibility of standardization, as there is a large overlap in requirements. We see that the SEMI P10 standard needs enhancements. A format supporting the standard is required, and XML offers the ability to describe P10 in a flexible way. Beyond using XML for P10, the semantics of the mask order should also be addressed. A system design and requirements for a reference implementation for a P10 based management system are presented, covering a mechanism for the evolution and for version management and a design for P10 editing and data validation.

A Preliminary Tsunami vulnerability analysis for Bakirkoy district in Istanbul

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tufekci, Duygu; Lutfi Suzen, M.; Cevdet Yalciner, Ahmet; Zaytsev, Andrey

2016-04-01

Resilience of coastal utilities after earthquakes and tsunamis has major importance for efficient and proper rescue and recovery operations soon after the disasters. Vulnerability assessment of coastal areas under extreme events has major importance for preparedness and development of mitigation strategies. The Sea of Marmara has experienced numerous earthquakes as well as associated tsunamis. There are variety of coastal facilities such as ports, small craft harbors, and terminals for maritime transportation, water front roads and business centers mainly at North Coast of Marmara Sea in megacity Istanbul. A detailed vulnerability analysis for Yenikapi region and a detailed resilience analysis for Haydarpasa port in Istanbul have been studied in previously by Cankaya et al., (2015) and Aytore et al., (2015) in SATREPS project. In this study, the methodology of vulnerability analysis under tsunami attack given in Cankaya et al., (2015) is modified and applied to Bakirkoy district of Istanbul. Bakirkoy district is located at western part of Istanbul and faces to the North Coast of Marmara Sea from 28.77oE to 28.89oE. High resolution spatial dataset of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) is used and analyzed. The bathymetry and topography database and the spatial dataset containing all buildings/structures/infrastructures in the district are collated and utilized for tsunami numerical modeling and following vulnerability analysis. The tsunami parameters from deterministically defined worst case scenarios are computed from the simulations using tsunami numerical model NAMI DANCE. The vulnerability assessment parameters in the district according to vulnerability and resilience are defined; and scored by implementation of a GIS based TVA with appropriate MCDA methods. The risk level is computed using tsunami intensity (level of flow depth from simulations) and TVA results at every location in Bakirkoy district. The preliminary results are presented and discussed. Acknowledgements: Partial support by Japan-Turkey Joint Research Project by JICA on earthquakes and tsunamis in Marmara Region in (JICA SATREPS - MarDiM Project), 603839 ASTARTE Project of EU, UDAP-C-12-14 project of AFAD, Turkey, 108Y227, 113M556, 213M534 projects of TUBITAK Turkey, RAPSODI (CONCERT_Dis-021) of CONCERT-Japan Joint Call and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality are acknowledged.

Rapid Debris Analysis Project Task 3 Final Report - Sensitivity of Fallout to Source Parameters, Near-Detonation Environment Material Properties, Topography, and Meteorology

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

Goldstein, Peter

2014-01-24

This report describes the sensitivity of predicted nuclear fallout to a variety of model input parameters, including yield, height of burst, particle and activity size distribution parameters, wind speed, wind direction, topography, and precipitation. We investigate sensitivity over a wide but plausible range of model input parameters. In addition, we investigate a specific example with a relatively narrow range to illustrate the potential for evaluating uncertainties in predictions when there are more precise constraints on model parameters.

Analysis the temporal and spatial impact of water harvesting on Aforestation processes, at the Northen Negev region, Israel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argaman, E.; Egozi, R.; Goldshlager, N.

2012-04-01

Water availability in arid regions is a major limiting factor, which affect plant development. Therefore, knowledge about preliminary and ongoing spatial & temporal conditions (e.g. land surface properties, hydrological regime and vegetation dynamics) can improve greatly afforestation practice. The Ambassadors forest is one of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) new afforestation projects (initiated on 2005), which rely on water harvesting irrigation systems, located at the northern Negev region, Israel. Temporal and spatial processes are studied utilizing ground, air-borne and space-borne techniques for assessment of surface processes, that take place due to significant land-use change. Since 2005 the area shows significant variation of surface energy balance components which impact the spatial and temporal forest generation. Both human and climate affect these parameters, hence their influence is essential for future study of the region. Parameters of surface Albedo & Temperature and Vegetation dynamics are gathered by space-borne sensors (e.g. MODIS, Landsat & ALI) and verified at field scale in conjunction with ground-truth measurements of climate and soil properties. In addition, the project study various scenarios that might result from diverse climate trajectories that impact soil formation factors and therefore forest development. Preliminary results show that surface physical & ecoligical properties had changed significantly since the aforestation project began, comparing previous years. Sharp increase of surface albedo detected since 2005 that raised from 0.25 to 0.32, while vegetation density, estimated from NDVI, had dropped from annaul average of 0.21 down to 0.13 during 10-year time period. These changes are related to human interferance. The current paper presents the first phase of the long-term study of the Remote Sensing analysis and the current surface monitoring phase.

Flow Tube Studies of Gas Phase Chemical Processes of Atmospheric Importance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molina, Mario J.

1997-01-01

The objective of this project is to conduct measurements of elementary reaction rate constants and photochemistry parameters for processes of importance in the atmosphere. These measurements are being carried out under temperature and pressure conditions covering those applicable to the stratosphere and upper troposphere, using the chemical ionization mass spectrometry turbulent flow technique developed in our laboratory.

The global economic contribution of protected natural lands and wilderness through tourism

Treesearch

H. Ken Cordell; J. Michael Bowker

2007-01-01

These are the first-round results of a project aimed at exploring at a global scale the complex relationships between protected natural lands, tourism, and economic growth. In this fist round we mainly were interested in secondary sources of data and parameters from previously published studies. In presenting results for the 8th World Wilderness Congress, we provided...

A Computational Study of Rare Gas Clusters: Stepping Stones to the Solid State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glendening, Eric D.; Halpern, Arthur M.

2012-01-01

An upper-level undergraduate or beginning graduate project is described in which students obtain the Lennard-Jones 6-12 potential parameters for Ne[subscript 2] and Ar[subscript 2] from ab initio calculations and use the results to express pairwise interactions between the atoms in clusters containing up to N = 60 atoms. The students use simulated…

Special ISO Class 6 Cleanroom for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Richard A.; Matthews, Scott A.

2008-01-01

The parameters and restrictions for a horizontal flow ISO Class 6 Clean room to support the assembly of the new LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) were unusual. The project time line was critical. A novel Clean room design was developed and built within the time restraints. This paper describes the design criteria, timing, successful performance, and future benefits of this unique Clean room project.

Engineering Analysis and Economic Evaluation of the Synthesis of Composite CuO/ZnO/ZrO2 Nanocatalyst

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nandiyanto, A. B. D.; Hayati, W. R.; Aziz, T. A.; Ragadhita, R.; Abdullah, A. G.; Widiaty, I.

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the synthesis process of composite CuO/ZnO/ZrO2 (CZZ) nanocatalyst. The CZZ nanocatalyst is used as a catalyst in the hydrogenation reaction, which is used to convert harmful CO2 gas into liquid fuels such as methanol. In this study, CZZ produced using the sol-gel autocombustion method was selected as a model of the production procedure. The evaluation was conducted into two factors: engineering and economic analysis. Engineering analysis was analyzed based on the available apparatuses and raw materials in online web. Then, these data were used and compared with the mass balance approximation. The economic analysis was done using several economic parameters, including such as gross margin, internal rate return, payback period, cumulative net value, break even point (BEP), profitability index on sales to investment. Engineering analysis showed the present method can be applied using available apparatuses and raw materials in market. Economic analysis result confirmed that the present project is profitable. The analysis concluded that the present project for the production of CZZ nanocatalyst is prospective in small scale industry and profitable (by positive values in all economic parameters).

Sensitivity of projected long-term CO2 emissions across the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marangoni, G.; Tavoni, M.; Bosetti, V.; Borgonovo, E.; Capros, P.; Fricko, O.; Gernaat, D. E. H. J.; Guivarch, C.; Havlik, P.; Huppmann, D.; Johnson, N.; Karkatsoulis, P.; Keppo, I.; Krey, V.; Ó Broin, E.; Price, J.; van Vuuren, D. P.

2017-01-01

Scenarios showing future greenhouse gas emissions are needed to estimate climate impacts and the mitigation efforts required for climate stabilization. Recently, the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) have been introduced to describe alternative social, economic and technical narratives, spanning a wide range of plausible futures in terms of challenges to mitigation and adaptation. Thus far the key drivers of the uncertainty in emissions projections have not been robustly disentangled. Here we assess the sensitivities of future CO2 emissions to key drivers characterizing the SSPs. We use six state-of-the-art integrated assessment models with different structural characteristics, and study the impact of five families of parameters, related to population, income, energy efficiency, fossil fuel availability, and low-carbon energy technology development. A recently developed sensitivity analysis algorithm allows us to parsimoniously compute both the direct and interaction effects of each of these drivers on cumulative emissions. The study reveals that the SSP assumptions about energy intensity and economic growth are the most important determinants of future CO2 emissions from energy combustion, both with and without a climate policy. Interaction terms between parameters are shown to be important determinants of the total sensitivities.

A Liver-centric Multiscale Modeling Framework for Xenobiotics ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

We describe a multi-scale framework for modeling acetaminophen-induced liver toxicity. Acetaminophen is a widely used analgesic. Overdose of acetaminophen can result in liver injury via its biotransformation into toxic product, which further induce massive necrosis. Our study focuses on developing a multi-scale computational model to characterize both phase I and phase II metabolism of acetaminophen, by bridging Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling at the whole body level, cell movement and blood flow at the tissue level and cell signaling and drug metabolism at the sub-cellular level. To validate the model, we estimated our model parameters by fi?tting serum concentrations of acetaminophen and its glucuronide and sulfate metabolites to experiments, and carried out sensitivity analysis on 35 parameters selected from three modules. Our study focuses on developing a multi-scale computational model to characterize both phase I and phase II metabolism of acetaminophen, by bridging Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling at the whole body level, cell movement and blood flow at the tissue level and cell signaling and drug metabolism at the sub-cellular level. This multiscale model bridges the CompuCell3D tool used by the Virtual Tissue project with the httk tool developed by the Rapid Exposure and Dosimetry project.

[Development of a digital chest phantom for studies on energy subtraction techniques].

PubMed

Hayashi, Norio; Taniguchi, Anna; Noto, Kimiya; Shimosegawa, Masayuki; Ogura, Toshihiro; Doi, Kunio

2014-03-01

Digital chest phantoms continue to play a significant role in optimizing imaging parameters for chest X-ray examinations. The purpose of this study was to develop a digital chest phantom for studies on energy subtraction techniques under ideal conditions without image noise. Computed tomography (CT) images from the LIDC (Lung Image Database Consortium) were employed to develop a digital chest phantom. The method consisted of the following four steps: 1) segmentation of the lung and bone regions on CT images; 2) creation of simulated nodules; 3) transformation to attenuation coefficient maps from the segmented images; and 4) projection from attenuation coefficient maps. To evaluate the usefulness of digital chest phantoms, we determined the contrast of the simulated nodules in projection images of the digital chest phantom using high and low X-ray energies, soft tissue images obtained by energy subtraction, and "gold standard" images of the soft tissues. Using our method, the lung and bone regions were segmented on the original CT images. The contrast of simulated nodules in soft tissue images obtained by energy subtraction closely matched that obtained using the gold standard images. We thus conclude that it is possible to carry out simulation studies based on energy subtraction techniques using the created digital chest phantoms. Our method is potentially useful for performing simulation studies for optimizing the imaging parameters in chest X-ray examinations.

The NASA NEESPI Data Portal to Support Studies of Climate and Environmental Changes in Non-Boreal Europe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Suhung; Leptoukh, Gregory; Loboda, Tatiana; Csiszar, Ivan; Romanov, Peter; Gerasimov, Irina

2008-01-01

NASA NEESPI (Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative) data portal is a NASA funded project that focuses on collecting satellite remote sensing data, providing tools, information, and services in support of NEESPI scientific objectives (Leptoukh, et al., 2007). The data can be accessed online through anonymous ftp, through an advanced data searching and ordering system Mirador that uses keywords to find data quickly in a Google-like interface, and through the Goddard Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni). The portal provides preprocessed data from different satellite sensors and numerical models to the same spatial and temporal resolution and the same projection so that the data can be used easily to perform inter-comparison or relationship studies. In addition, it provides parameter and spatially subsetted data for regional studies. Studies of regional carbon, hydrology, aerosols in non-boreal Europe and their interactions with global climate are very challenging research topics. The NASA NEESPI data portal makes many satellite data available for such studies, including information on land cover types, fire, vegetation index, aerosols, land surface temperature, soil moisture, precipitation, snow/ice, and other parameters. This paper will introduce the features and products available in the system, focusing on the online data 1 tool, Giovanni NEESPI. An example that explores different data through Giovanni NEESPI in temperate region of non-boreal Europe will be presented.

Applying Multimodel Ensemble from Regional Climate Models for Improving Runoff Projections on Semiarid Regions of Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia Galiano, S. G.; Olmos, P.; Giraldo Osorio, J. D.

2015-12-01

In the Mediterranean area, significant changes on temperature and precipitation are expected throughout the century. These trends could exacerbate the existing conditions in regions already vulnerable to climatic variability, reducing the water availability. Improving knowledge about plausible impacts of climate change on water cycle processes at basin scale, is an important step for building adaptive capacity to the impacts in this region, where severe water shortages are expected for the next decades. RCMs ensemble in combination with distributed hydrological models with few parameters, constitutes a valid and robust methodology to increase the reliability of climate and hydrological projections. For reaching this objective, a novel methodology for building Regional Climate Models (RCMs) ensembles of meteorological variables (rainfall an temperatures), was applied. RCMs ensembles are justified for increasing the reliability of climate and hydrological projections. The evaluation of RCMs goodness-of-fit to build the ensemble is based on empirical probability density functions (PDF) extracted from both RCMs dataset and a highly resolution gridded observational dataset, for the time period 1961-1990. The applied method is considering the seasonal and annual variability of the rainfall and temperatures. The RCMs ensembles constitute the input to a distributed hydrological model at basin scale, for assessing the runoff projections. The selected hydrological model is presenting few parameters in order to reduce the uncertainties involved. The study basin corresponds to a head basin of Segura River Basin, located in the South East of Spain. The impacts on runoff and its trend from observational dataset and climate projections, were assessed. Considering the control period 1961-1990, plausible significant decreases in runoff for the time period 2021-2050, were identified.

Automatic contouring of geologic fabric and finite strain data on the unit hyperboloid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vollmer, Frederick W.

2018-06-01

Fabric and finite strain analysis, an integral part of studies of geologic structures and orogenic belts, is commonly done by the analysis of particles whose shapes can be approximated as ellipses. Given a sample of such particles, the mean and confidence intervals of particular parameters can be calculated, however, taking the extra step of plotting and contouring the density distribution can identify asymmetries or modes related to sedimentary fabrics or other factors. A common graphical strain analysis technique is to plot final ellipse ratios, Rf , versus orientations, ϕf on polar Elliott or Rf / ϕ plots to examine the density distribution. The plot may be contoured, however, it is desirable to have a contouring method that is rapid, reproducible, and based on the underlying geometry of the data. The unit hyperboloid, H2 , gives a natural parameter space for two-dimensional strain, and various projections, including equal-area and stereographic, have useful properties for examining density distributions for anisotropy. An index, Ia , is given to quantify the magnitude and direction of anisotropy. Elliott and Rf / ϕ plots can be understood by applying hyperbolic geometry and recognizing them as projections of H2 . These both distort area, however, so the equal-area projection is preferred for examining density distributions. The algorithm presented here gives fast, accurate, and reproducible contours of density distributions calculated directly on H2 . The algorithm back-projects the data onto H2 , where the density calculation is done at regular nodes using a weighting value based on the hyperboloid distribution, which is then contoured. It is implemented as an Octave compatible MATLAB function that plots ellipse data using a variety of projections, and calculates and displays contours of their density distribution on H2 .

Crustal dynamics project data analysis, 1986. Volume 1: Fixed station VLBI geodetic results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, C.; Ryan, J. W.

1987-01-01

The Goddard VLBI group reports the results of analyzing 361 Mark III VLBI data sets from fixed observatories through the end of 1985 which are available to the Crustal Dynamics Project. All POLARIS/IRIS full-day data sets are included. The mobile VLBI sites at Platteville, Colorado; Penticton, British Columbia; and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories are also included since these occupations bear on the study of plate stability. Two large solutions, GLB027 and GLB028, were used to obtain site/baseline evolutions and earth rotation parameters, respectively. Source positions and nutation offsets were also adjusted in each solution. The results include 23 sites and 101 baselines.

Land-surface parameter optimisation using data assimilation techniques: the adJULES system V1.0

DOE PAGES

Raoult, Nina M.; Jupp, Tim E.; Cox, Peter M.; ...

2016-08-25

Land-surface models (LSMs) are crucial components of the Earth system models (ESMs) that are used to make coupled climate–carbon cycle projections for the 21st century. The Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) is the land-surface model used in the climate and weather forecast models of the UK Met Office. JULES is also extensively used offline as a land-surface impacts tool, forced with climatologies into the future. In this study, JULES is automatically differentiated with respect to JULES parameters using commercial software from FastOpt, resulting in an analytical gradient, or adjoint, of the model. Using this adjoint, the adJULES parameter estimationmore » system has been developed to search for locally optimum parameters by calibrating against observations. This paper describes adJULES in a data assimilation framework and demonstrates its ability to improve the model–data fit using eddy-covariance measurements of gross primary production (GPP) and latent heat (LE) fluxes. adJULES also has the ability to calibrate over multiple sites simultaneously. This feature is used to define new optimised parameter values for the five plant functional types (PFTs) in JULES. The optimised PFT-specific parameters improve the performance of JULES at over 85 % of the sites used in the study, at both the calibration and evaluation stages. Furthermore, the new improved parameters for JULES are presented along with the associated uncertainties for each parameter.« less

Characterization of arterial traffic congestion through analysis of operational parameters (gap acceptance and lane changing).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-05-01

This project monitored an urban arterial highway to characterize recurring congestion. There were two major initiatives in the project. The first one focused on observed variations in gap acceptance and lane changing in relation to traffic flow rates...

Lessons learned in deploying software estimation technology and tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Panlilio-Yap, Nikki; Ho, Danny

1994-01-01

Developing a software product involves estimating various project parameters. This is typically done in the planning stages of the project when there is much uncertainty and very little information. Coming up with accurate estimates of effort, cost, schedule, and reliability is a critical problem faced by all software project managers. The use of estimation models and commercially available tools in conjunction with the best bottom-up estimates of software-development experts enhances the ability of a product development group to derive reasonable estimates of important project parameters. This paper describes the experience of the IBM Software Solutions (SWS) Toronto Laboratory in selecting software estimation models and tools and deploying their use to the laboratory's product development groups. It introduces the SLIM and COSTAR products, the software estimation tools selected for deployment to the product areas, and discusses the rationale for their selection. The paper also describes the mechanisms used for technology injection and tool deployment, and concludes with a discussion of important lessons learned in the technology and tool insertion process.

Generic precise augmented reality guiding system and its calibration method based on 3D virtual model.

PubMed

Liu, Miao; Yang, Shourui; Wang, Zhangying; Huang, Shujun; Liu, Yue; Niu, Zhenqi; Zhang, Xiaoxuan; Zhu, Jigui; Zhang, Zonghua

2016-05-30

Augmented reality system can be applied to provide precise guidance for various kinds of manual works. The adaptability and guiding accuracy of such systems are decided by the computational model and the corresponding calibration method. In this paper, a novel type of augmented reality guiding system and the corresponding designing scheme are proposed. Guided by external positioning equipment, the proposed system can achieve high relative indication accuracy in a large working space. Meanwhile, the proposed system is realized with a digital projector and the general back projection model is derived with geometry relationship between digitized 3D model and the projector in free space. The corresponding calibration method is also designed for the proposed system to obtain the parameters of projector. To validate the proposed back projection model, the coordinate data collected by a 3D positioning equipment is used to calculate and optimize the extrinsic parameters. The final projecting indication accuracy of the system is verified with subpixel pattern projecting technique.

The 12-foot pressure wind tunnel restoration project model support systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sasaki, Glen E.

1992-01-01

The 12 Foot Pressure Wind Tunnel is a variable density, low turbulence wind tunnel that operates at subsonic speeds, and up to six atmospheres total pressure. The restoration of this facility is of critical importance to the future of the U.S. aerospace industry. As part of this project, several state of the art model support systems are furnished to provide an optimal balance between aerodynamic and operational efficiency parameters. Two model support systems, the Rear Strut Model Support, and the High Angle of Attack Model Support are discussed. This paper covers design parameters, constraints, development, description, and component selection.

Aluminum and chromium ion particle studies for enhancement of surface properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

An experimental project was undertaken which produced ion plated coatings on steel substrates. About twenty tensile samples of 4340 steel were ion plated in the Denton system with aluminum using resistance heating evaporation boats. In the V.T.A. 7375 system, ten samples were chromium ion plated; four on 4340 steel disks and the other six onto 440-C stainless steel rods for roller bearing wear improvement testing. Each of the samples was plated on a separate run to correlate the film parameters with the run parameters. Some of the chromium literature was reviewed, and improvements to the vacuum system were made.

Investigation of polymer derived ceramics cantilevers for application of high speed atomic force microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chia-Yun

High speed Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has a wide variety of applications ranging from nanomanufacturing to biophysics. In order to have higher scanning speed of certain AFM modes, high resonant frequency cantilevers are needed; therefore, the goal of this research is to investigate using polymer derived ceramics for possible applications in making high resonant frequency AFM cantilevers using complex cross sections. The polymer derived ceramic that will be studied, is silicon carbide. Polymer derived ceramics offer a potentially more economic fabrication approach for MEMS due to their relatively low processing temperatures and ease of complex shape design. Photolithography was used to make the desired cantilever shapes with micron scale size followed by a wet etching process to release the cantilevers from the substrates. The whole manufacturing process we use borrow well-developed techniques from the semiconducting industry, and as such this project also could offer the opportunity to reduce the fabrication cost of AFM cantilevers and MEMS in general. The characteristics of silicon carbide made from the precursor polymer, SMP-10 (Starfire Systems), were studied. In order to produce high qualities of silicon carbide cantilevers, where the major concern is defects, proper process parameters needed to be determined. Films of polymer derived ceramics often have defects due to shrinkage during the conversion process. Thus control of defects was a central issue in this study. A second, related concern was preventing oxidation; the polymer derived ceramics we chose is easily oxidized during processing. Establishing an environment without oxygen in the whole process was a significant challenge in the project. The optimization of the parameters for using photolithography and wet etching process was the final and central goal of the project; well established techniques used in microfabrication were modified for use in making the cantilever in the project. The techniques developed here open a path to the fabrication of cantilevers with unconventional cross sections.

Developing population models with data from marked individuals

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hae Yeong Ryu,; Kevin T. Shoemaker,; Eva Kneip,; Anna Pidgeon,; Patricia Heglund,; Brooke Bateman,; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Reşit Akçakaya,

2016-01-01

Population viability analysis (PVA) is a powerful tool for biodiversity assessments, but its use has been limited because of the requirements for fully specified population models such as demographic structure, density-dependence, environmental stochasticity, and specification of uncertainties. Developing a fully specified population model from commonly available data sources – notably, mark–recapture studies – remains complicated due to lack of practical methods for estimating fecundity, true survival (as opposed to apparent survival), natural temporal variability in both survival and fecundity, density-dependence in the demographic parameters, and uncertainty in model parameters. We present a general method that estimates all the key parameters required to specify a stochastic, matrix-based population model, constructed using a long-term mark–recapture dataset. Unlike standard mark–recapture analyses, our approach provides estimates of true survival rates and fecundities, their respective natural temporal variabilities, and density-dependence functions, making it possible to construct a population model for long-term projection of population dynamics. Furthermore, our method includes a formal quantification of parameter uncertainty for global (multivariate) sensitivity analysis. We apply this approach to 9 bird species and demonstrate the feasibility of using data from the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program. Bias-correction factors for raw estimates of survival and fecundity derived from mark–recapture data (apparent survival and juvenile:adult ratio, respectively) were non-negligible, and corrected parameters were generally more biologically reasonable than their uncorrected counterparts. Our method allows the development of fully specified stochastic population models using a single, widely available data source, substantially reducing the barriers that have until now limited the widespread application of PVA. This method is expected to greatly enhance our understanding of the processes underlying population dynamics and our ability to analyze viability and project trends for species of conservation concern.

Microbial models with data-driven parameters predict stronger soil carbon responses to climate change.

PubMed

Hararuk, Oleksandra; Smith, Matthew J; Luo, Yiqi

2015-06-01

Long-term carbon (C) cycle feedbacks to climate depend on the future dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC). Current models show low predictive accuracy at simulating contemporary SOC pools, which can be improved through parameter estimation. However, major uncertainty remains in global soil responses to climate change, particularly uncertainty in how the activity of soil microbial communities will respond. To date, the role of microbes in SOC dynamics has been implicitly described by decay rate constants in most conventional global carbon cycle models. Explicitly including microbial biomass dynamics into C cycle model formulations has shown potential to improve model predictive performance when assessed against global SOC databases. This study aimed to data-constrained parameters of two soil microbial models, evaluate the improvements in performance of those calibrated models in predicting contemporary carbon stocks, and compare the SOC responses to climate change and their uncertainties between microbial and conventional models. Microbial models with calibrated parameters explained 51% of variability in the observed total SOC, whereas a calibrated conventional model explained 41%. The microbial models, when forced with climate and soil carbon input predictions from the 5th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), produced stronger soil C responses to 95 years of climate change than any of the 11 CMIP5 models. The calibrated microbial models predicted between 8% (2-pool model) and 11% (4-pool model) soil C losses compared with CMIP5 model projections which ranged from a 7% loss to a 22.6% gain. Lastly, we observed unrealistic oscillatory SOC dynamics in the 2-pool microbial model. The 4-pool model also produced oscillations, but they were less prominent and could be avoided, depending on the parameter values. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ward round template: enhancing patient safety on ward rounds.

PubMed

Gilliland, Niall; Catherwood, Natalie; Chen, Shaouyn; Browne, Peter; Wilson, Jacob; Burden, Helena

2018-01-01

Concerns had been raised at clinical governance regarding the safety of our inpatient ward rounds with particular reference to: documentation of clinical observations and National Early Warning Score (NEWS), compliance with Trust guidance for venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment, antibiotic stewardship, palliative care and treatment escalation plans (TEP). This quality improvement project was conceived to ensure these parameters were considered and documented during the ward round, thereby improving patient care and safety. These parameters were based on Trust patient safety guidance and CQUIN targets. The quality improvement technique of plan-do-study-act (PDSA) was used in this project. We retrospectively reviewed ward round entries to record baseline measurements, based on the above described parameters, prior to making any changes. Following this, the change applied was the introduction of a ward round template to include the highlighted important baseline parameters. Monthly PDSA cycles are performed, and baseline measurements are re-examined, then relevant changes were made to the ward round template. Documentation of baseline measurements was poor prior to introduction of the ward round template; this improved significantly following introduction of a standardised ward round template. Following three cycles, documentation of VTE risk assessments increased from 14% to 92%. Antibiotic stewardship documentation went from 0% to 100%. Use of the TEP form went from 29% to 78%. Following introduction of the ward round template, compliance improved significantly in all safety parameters. Important safety measures being discussed on ward rounds will lead to enhanced patient safety and will improve compliance to Trust guidance and comissioning for quality and innovation (CQUIN) targets. Ongoing change implementation will focus on improving compliance with usage of the template on all urology ward rounds.

OHIO RIVER WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT USING LANDSAT-7 DATA

EPA Science Inventory

The objectives of this project were (1) to develop a universal index for measuring Turbidity and Chlorophyll-A from remote sensing data and (2) to correlate satellite image parameters from Landsat-7 data with field measurements of water quality for five parameters: Chlorophyll-A ...

A fluidized bed technique for estimating soil critical shear stress

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soil erosion models, depending on how they are formulated, always have erodibilitiy parameters in the erosion equations. For a process-based model like the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model, the erodibility parameters include rill and interrill erodibility and critical shear stress. Thes...

Environment and health: Probes and sensors for environment digital control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schettini, Chiara

2014-05-01

The idea of studying the environment using New Technologies (NT) came from a MIUR (Ministry of Education of the Italian Government) notice that allocated funds for the realization of innovative school science projects. The "Environment and Health" project uses probes and sensors for digital control of environment (water, air and soil). The working group was composed of 4 Science teachers from 'Liceo Statale G. Mazzini ', under the coordination of teacher Chiara Schettini. The Didactic Section of Naples City of Sciences helped the teachers in developing the project and it organized a refresher course for them on the utilization of digital control sensors. The project connects Environment and Technology because the study of the natural aspects and the analysis of the chemical-physical parameters give students and teachers skills for studying the environment based on the utilization of NT in computing data elaboration. During the practical project, samples of air, water and soil are gathered in different contexts. Sample analysis was done in the school's scientific laboratory with digitally controlled sensors. The data are elaborated with specific software and the results have been written in a booklet and in a computing database. During the first year, the project involved 6 school classes (age of the students 14—15 years), under the coordination of Science teachers. The project aims are: 1) making students more aware about environmental matters 2) achieving basic skills for evaluating air, water and soil quality. 3) achieving strong skills for the utilization of digitally controlled sensors. 4) achieving computing skills for elaborating and presenting data. The project aims to develop a large environmental conscience and the need of a ' good ' environment for defending our health. Moreover it would increase the importance of NT as an instrument of knowledge.

Variability and epistemic uncertainty in water ingestion rates and pharmacokinetic parameters, and impact on the association between perfluorooctanoate and preeclampsia in the C8 Health Project population.

PubMed

Avanasi, Raghavendhran; Shin, Hyeong-Moo; Vieira, Veronica M; Bartell, Scott M

2016-04-01

We recently utilized a suite of environmental fate and transport models and an integrated exposure and pharmacokinetic model to estimate individual perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) serum concentrations, and also assessed the association of those concentrations with preeclampsia for participants in the C8 Health Project (a cross-sectional study of over 69,000 people who were environmentally exposed to PFOA near a major U.S. fluoropolymer production facility located in West Virginia). However, the exposure estimates from this integrated model relied on default values for key independent exposure parameters including water ingestion rates, the serum PFOA half-life, and the volume of distribution for PFOA. The aim of the present study is to assess the impact of inter-individual variability and epistemic uncertainty in these parameters on the exposure estimates and subsequently, the epidemiological association between PFOA exposure and preeclampsia. We used Monte Carlo simulation to propagate inter-individual variability/epistemic uncertainty in the exposure assessment and reanalyzed the epidemiological association. Inter-individual variability in these parameters mildly impacted the serum PFOA concentration predictions (the lowest mean rank correlation between the estimated serum concentrations in our study and the original predicted serum concentrations was 0.95) and there was a negligible impact on the epidemiological association with preeclampsia (no change in the mean adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and the contribution of exposure uncertainty to the total uncertainty including sampling variability was 7%). However, when epistemic uncertainty was added along with the inter-individual variability, serum PFOA concentration predictions and their association with preeclampsia were moderately impacted (the mean AOR of preeclampsia occurrence was reduced from 1.12 to 1.09, and the contribution of exposure uncertainty to the total uncertainty was increased up to 33%). In conclusion, our study shows that the change of the rank exposure among the study participants due to variability and epistemic uncertainty in the independent exposure parameters was large enough to cause a 25% bias towards the null. This suggests that the true AOR of the association between PFOA and preeclampsia in this population might be higher than the originally reported AOR and has more uncertainty than indicated by the originally reported confidence interval. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ECUT (Energy Conversion and Utilization Technologies) program: Biocatalysis Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

Fiscal year 1987 research activities and accomplishments for the Biocatalysis Project of the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Conversion and Utilization Technologies (ECUT) Division are presented. The project's technical activities were organized into three work elements. The Molecular Modeling and Applied Genetics work element includes modeling and simulation studies to verify a dynamic model of the enzyme carboxypeptidase; plasmid stabilization by chromosomal integration; growth and stability characteristics of plasmid-containing cells; and determination of optional production parameters for hyper-production of polyphenol oxidase. The Bioprocess Engineering work element supports efforts in novel bioreactor concepts that are likely to lead to substantially higher levels of reactor productivity, product yields, and lower separation energetics. The Bioprocess Design and Assessment work element attempts to develop procedures (via user-friendly computer software) for assessing the economics and energetics of a given biocatalyst process.

A simulation study of the impact of the public-private partnership strategy on the performance of transport infrastructure.

PubMed

Huang, Zhengfeng; Zheng, Pengjun; Ma, Yanqiang; Li, Xuan; Xu, Wenjun; Zhu, Wanlu

2016-01-01

The choice of investment strategy has a great impact on the performance of transport infrastructure. Positive projects such as the "Subway plus Property" model in Hong Kong have created sustainable financial profits for the public transport projects. Owing to a series of public debt and other constraints, public-private partnership (PPP) was introduced as an innovative investment model to address this issue and help develop transport infrastructure. Yet, few studies provide a deeper understanding of relationships between PPP strategy and the performance of such transport projects (particularly the whole transport system). This paper defines the research scope as a regional network of freeway. With a popular PPP model, travel demand prediction method, and relevant parameters as input, agents in a simulation framework can simulate the choice of PPP freeway over time. The simulation framework can be used to analyze the relationship between the PPP strategy and performance of the regional freeway network. This study uses the Freeway Network of Yangtze River Delta (FN-YRD) in China as the context. The results demonstrate the value of using simulation models of complex transportation systems to help decision makers choose the right PPP projects. Such a tool is viewed as particularly important given the ongoing transformation of functions of the Chinese transportation sector, including franchise rights of transport projects, and freeway charging mechanism.

Astronomical large projects managed with MANATEE: management tool for effective engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Vargas, M. L.; Mujica-Alvarez, E.; Pérez-Calpena, A.

2012-09-01

This paper describes MANATEE, which is the Management project web tool developed by FRACTAL, specifically designed for managing large astronomical projects. MANATEE facilitates the management by providing an overall view of the project and the capabilities to control the three main projects parameters: scope, schedule and budget. MANATEE is one of the three tools of the FRACTAL System & Project Suite, which is composed also by GECO (System Engineering Tool) and DOCMA (Documentation Management Tool). These tools are especially suited for those Consortia and teams collaborating in a multi-discipline, complex project in a geographically distributed environment. Our Management view has been applied successfully in several projects and currently is being used for Managing MEGARA, the next instrument for the GTC 10m telescope.

Framework for Probabilistic Projections of Energy-Relevant Streamflow Indicators under Climate Change Scenarios for the U.S.

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

Wagener, Thorsten; Mann, Michael; Crane, Robert

2014-04-29

This project focuses on uncertainty in streamflow forecasting under climate change conditions. The objective is to develop easy to use methodologies that can be applied across a range of river basins to estimate changes in water availability for realistic projections of climate change. There are three major components to the project: Empirical downscaling of regional climate change projections from a range of Global Climate Models; Developing a methodology to use present day information on the climate controls on the parameterizations in streamflow models to adjust the parameterizations under future climate conditions (a trading-space-for-time approach); and Demonstrating a bottom-up approach tomore » establishing streamflow vulnerabilities to climate change. The results reinforce the need for downscaling of climate data for regional applications, and further demonstrates the challenges of using raw GCM data to make local projections. In addition, it reinforces the need to make projections across a range of global climate models. The project demonstrates the potential for improving streamflow forecasts by using model parameters that are adjusted for future climate conditions, but suggests that even with improved streamflow models and reduced climate uncertainty through the use of downscaled data, there is still large uncertainty is the streamflow projections. The most useful output from the project is the bottom-up vulnerability driven approach to examining possible climate and land use change impacts on streamflow. Here, we demonstrate an inexpensive and easy to apply methodology that uses Classification and Regression Trees (CART) to define the climate and environmental parameters space that can produce vulnerabilities in the system, and then feeds in the downscaled projections to determine the probability top transitioning to a vulnerable sate. Vulnerabilities, in this case, are defined by the end user.« less

NARSTO EPA SS LOS ANGELES PM25 NITRATE

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-04-09

NARSTO EPA SS LOS ANGELES PM25 NITRATE Project Title:  NARSTO Discipline:  ... Order:   E arthdata Search Parameters:  Nitrate Particles Order Data:  Earthdata Search:   Order ... Guide Documents:  Los Angeles PM25 Nitrate Guide Los Angeles Project Plan  (PDF) Los ...

FIRST ORDER KINETIC GAS GENERATION MODEL PARAMETERS FOR WET LANDFILLS

EPA Science Inventory

Landfill gas is produced as a result of a sequence of physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring within an anaerobic landfill. Landfill operators, energy recovery project owners, regulators, and energy users need to be able to project the volume of gas produced and re...

Inter-model variability in hydrological extremes projections for Amazonian sub-basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andres Rodriguez, Daniel; Garofolo, Lucas; Lázaro de Siqueira Júnior, José; Samprogna Mohor, Guilherme; Tomasella, Javier

2014-05-01

Irreducible uncertainties due to knowledge's limitations, chaotic nature of climate system and human decision-making process drive uncertainties in Climate Change projections. Such uncertainties affect the impact studies, mainly when associated to extreme events, and difficult the decision-making process aimed at mitigation and adaptation. However, these uncertainties allow the possibility to develop exploratory analyses on system's vulnerability to different sceneries. The use of different climate model's projections allows to aboard uncertainties issues allowing the use of multiple runs to explore a wide range of potential impacts and its implications for potential vulnerabilities. Statistical approaches for analyses of extreme values are usually based on stationarity assumptions. However, nonstationarity is relevant at the time scales considered for extreme value analyses and could have great implications in dynamic complex systems, mainly under climate change transformations. Because this, it is required to consider the nonstationarity in the statistical distribution parameters. We carried out a study of the dispersion in hydrological extremes projections using climate change projections from several climate models to feed the Distributed Hydrological Model of the National Institute for Spatial Research, MHD-INPE, applied in Amazonian sub-basins. This model is a large-scale hydrological model that uses a TopModel approach to solve runoff generation processes at the grid-cell scale. MHD-INPE model was calibrated for 1970-1990 using observed meteorological data and comparing observed and simulated discharges by using several performance coeficients. Hydrological Model integrations were performed for present historical time (1970-1990) and for future period (2010-2100). Because climate models simulate the variability of the climate system in statistical terms rather than reproduce the historical behavior of climate variables, the performances of the model's runs during the historical period, when feed with climate model data, were tested using descriptors of the Flow Duration Curves. The analyses of projected extreme values were carried out considering the nonstationarity of the GEV distribution parameters and compared with extremes events in present time. Results show inter-model variability in a broad dispersion on projected extreme's values. Such dispersion implies different degrees of socio-economic impacts associated to extreme hydrological events. Despite the no existence of one optimum result, this variability allows the analyses of adaptation strategies and its potential vulnerabilities.

Fuel Cell Demonstration Project at a Sunline Transit Agency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsiung, S.

2001-09-01

This is the final report summarizing the Fuel Cell Demonstration Project activities of the XCELLSIS Zebus (zero emissions bus) performance at the SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Palms, California. Under this demonstration project, SunLine participated with XCELLSIS in the fueling, training, operating, and testing of this prototype fuel cell bus. The report presents a summary of project activities, including the results of the 13-month test of the XCELLSIS Zebus performance at SunLine Transit. This final report includes data relating to Zebus performance, along with the successes achieved beyond the technical realm. The study concludes that the project was very useful in establishing operating parameters and environmental testing in extreme heat conditions and in transferring technology to a transit agency. At the end of the 13-month test period, the Zebus ran flawlessly in the Michelin Challenge Bibendum from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, a 275-mile trek. SunLine refueled the Zebus in transit to Baker, California, 150 miles from its home base. Everyone who encountered or rode the Zebus was impressed with its smoothness, low engine noise, and absence of emissions. The study states that the future for the Zebus looks very bright. Fuel cell projects are anticipated to continue in California and Europe with the introduction new buses equipped with Ballard P5 and other fuel cell engines as early as the first half of 2003.

Effects of sparse sampling in combination with iterative reconstruction on quantitative bone microstructure assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mei, Kai; Kopp, Felix K.; Fehringer, Andreas; Pfeiffer, Franz; Rummeny, Ernst J.; Kirschke, Jan S.; Noël, Peter B.; Baum, Thomas

2017-03-01

The trabecular bone microstructure is a key to the early diagnosis and advanced therapy monitoring of osteoporosis. Regularly measuring bone microstructure with conventional multi-detector computer tomography (MDCT) would expose patients with a relatively high radiation dose. One possible solution to reduce exposure to patients is sampling fewer projection angles. This approach can be supported by advanced reconstruction algorithms, with their ability to achieve better image quality under reduced projection angles or high levels of noise. In this work, we investigated the performance of iterative reconstruction from sparse sampled projection data on trabecular bone microstructure in in-vivo MDCT scans of human spines. The computed MDCT images were evaluated by calculating bone microstructure parameters. We demonstrated that bone microstructure parameters were still computationally distinguishable when half or less of the radiation dose was employed.

Projected and Observed Aridity and Climate Change in the East Coast of South India under RCP 4.5.

PubMed

Ramachandran, A; Praveen, Dhanya; Jaganathan, R; Palanivelu, K

2015-01-01

In the purview of global warming, the present study attempts to project changes in climate and quantify the changes in aridity of two coastal districts in south India under the RCP 4.5 trajectory. Projected climate change output generated by RegCM 4.4 model, pertaining to 14 grid points located within the study area, was analyzed and processed for this purpose. The meteorological parameters temperature and precipitations were used to create De Martonne Aridity Index, to assess the spatial distribution of aridity. The original index values ranged from 13.7 to 16.4 mm/°C, characterizing this area as a semidry climate. The outcome from the changed scenario analysis under RCP 4.5 showed that, during the end of the 21st century, the aridity may be increased more as the index values tend to reduce. The increasing trend in the drying phenomenon may be attributed to the rising of mean annual temperatures.

Projected and Observed Aridity and Climate Change in the East Coast of South India under RCP 4.5

PubMed Central

Ramachandran, A.; Praveen, Dhanya; Jaganathan, R.; Palanivelu, K.

2015-01-01

In the purview of global warming, the present study attempts to project changes in climate and quantify the changes in aridity of two coastal districts in south India under the RCP 4.5 trajectory. Projected climate change output generated by RegCM 4.4 model, pertaining to 14 grid points located within the study area, was analyzed and processed for this purpose. The meteorological parameters temperature and precipitations were used to create De Martonne Aridity Index, to assess the spatial distribution of aridity. The original index values ranged from 13.7 to 16.4 mm/°C, characterizing this area as a semidry climate. The outcome from the changed scenario analysis under RCP 4.5 showed that, during the end of the 21st century, the aridity may be increased more as the index values tend to reduce. The increasing trend in the drying phenomenon may be attributed to the rising of mean annual temperatures. PMID:26771002

Project WISH: The Emerald City

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oz, Hayrani; Slonksnes, Linda (Editor); Rogers, James W. (Editor); Sherer, Scott E. (Editor); Strosky, Michelle A. (Editor); Szmerekovsky, Andrew G. (Editor); Klupar, G. Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

The preliminary design of a permanently manned autonomous space oasis (PEMASO), including its pertinent subsystems, was performed during the 1990 Winter and Spring quarters. The purpose for the space oasis was defined and the preliminary design work was started with emphasis placed on the study of orbital mechanics, power systems and propulsion systems. A rotating torus was selected as the preliminary configuration, and overall size, mass and location of some subsystems within the station were addressed. Computer software packages were utilized to determine station transfer parameters and thus the preliminary propulsion requirements. Power and propulsion systems were researched to determine feasible configurations and many conventional schemes were ruled out. Vehicle dynamics and control, mechanical and life support systems were also studied. For each subsystem studied, the next step in the design process to be performed during the continuation of the project was also addressed.

Final Report: Hydrogen Production Pathways Cost Analysis (2013 – 2016)

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

James, Brian David; DeSantis, Daniel Allan; Saur, Genevieve

This report summarizes work conducted under a three year Department of Energy (DOE) funded project to Strategic Analysis, Inc. (SA) to analyze multiple hydrogen (H 2) production technologies and project their corresponding levelized production cost of H 2. The analysis was conducted using the H2A Hydrogen Analysis Tool developed by the DOE and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The project was led by SA but conducted in close collaboration with the NREL and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). In-depth techno-economic analysis (TEA) of five different H 2 production methods was conducted. These TEAs developed projections for capital costs, fuel/feedstock usage, energymore » usage, indirect capital costs, land usage, labor requirements, and other parameters, for each H 2 production pathway, and use the resulting cost and system parameters as inputs into the H2A discounted cash flow model to project the production cost of H 2 ($/kgH 2). Five technologies were analyzed as part of the project and are summarized in this report: Proton Exchange Membrane technology (PEM), High temperature solid oxide electrolysis cell technology (SOEC), Dark fermentation of biomass for H 2 production, H 2 production via Monolithic Piston-Type Reactors with rapid swing reforming and regeneration reactions, and Reformer-Electrolyzer-Purifier (REP) technology developed by Fuel Cell Energy, Inc. (FCE).« less

Experiences with collaborative climate impacts assessments for regional governments in southwestern British Columbia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobie, S. R.; Murdock, T. Q.

2016-12-01

Infrastructure vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning have created demand for detailed information about climate change and extreme events from local and regional governments. Individual communities often have distinct priorities regarding climate change impacts. While projections from climate models are available to investigate these impacts, they are not always applicable or easily interpreted by local agencies. We discuss a series of climate impacts assessments for several regional and local governments in southwestern British Columbia. Each of the assessments was conducted with input from the users on project definition from the start of the process and on interpretation of results throughout each project. To produce sufficient detail for the assessment regions, we produce high-resolution (800m) simulations of precipitation and temperature using downscaled climate model projections. Sets of derived climate parameters tailored to each region are calculated from both standard indices such as CLIMDEX and from an energy-balance snowpack model. Involving user groups from the beginning of the analysis helps to convey the meaning and confidence of each set of climate change parameters to users and also clarifies what projections are feasible or not for impact assessments. We discuss the different levels of involvement and collaboration with each organization, and the resulting decisions implemented following each of the projects.

Measurement system for determination of current-voltage characteristics of PV modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idzkowski, Adam; Walendziuk, Wojciech; Borawski, Mateusz; Sawicki, Aleksander

2015-09-01

The realization of a laboratory stand for testing photovoltaic panels is presented here. The project of the laboratory stand was designed in SolidWorks software. The aim of the project was to control the electrical parameters of a PV panel. For this purpose a meter that measures electrical parameters i.e. voltage, current and power, was realized. The meter was created with the use of LabJack DAQ device and LabVIEW software. The presented results of measurements were obtained in different conditions (variable distance from the source of light, variable tilt angle of the panel). Current voltage characteristics of photovoltaic panel were created and all parameters could be detected in different conditions. The standard uncertainties of sample voltage, current, power measurements were calculated. The paper also gives basic information about power characteristics and efficiency of a solar cell.

Borehole Tool for the Comprehensive Characterization of Hydrate-bearing Sediments

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

Dai, Sheng; Santamarina, J. Carlos

Reservoir characterization and simulation require reliable parameters to anticipate hydrate deposits responses and production rates. The acquisition of the required fundamental properties currently relies on wireline logging, pressure core testing, and/or laboratory observations of synthesized specimens, which are challenged by testing capabilities and innate sampling disturbances. The project reviews hydrate-bearing sediments, properties, and inherent sampling effects, albeit lessen with the developments in pressure core technology, in order to develop robust correlations with index parameters. The resulting information is incorporated into a tool for optimal field characterization and parameter selection with uncertainty analyses. Ultimately, the project develops a borehole tool formore » the comprehensive characterization of hydrate-bearing sediments at in situ, with the design recognizing past developments and characterization experience and benefited from the inspiration of nature and sensor miniaturization.« less

OCoc- from Ocean Colour to Organic Carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heim, B.; Overduin, P. P.; Schirrmeister, L.; Lantuit, H.; Doerffer, R.

2009-12-01

Enhanced permafrost warming and increased arctic river discharges have heightened concern about the input of terrigenous matter into Arctic coastal waters. The ‘OCoc-from Ocean Colour to Organic Carbon’ project (IPY-project 1176), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), is an Ocean Colour study joined with the Arctic Coastal Dynamics ACD network and Arctic Circum-polar Coastal Observatory Network ACCO-Net (IPY-project 90). OCoc uses Ocean Colour satellite data for synoptical monitoring of organic matter fluxes from fluvial and coastal sources. Initial results from German-Russian expeditions at the southeastern Laptev Sea Coast (Arctic Siberia, Russia) in August 2008 and August 2009 are presented. Large parts of this coastal zone are characterized by highly erosive organic-rich material. Ocean Colour MERIS Reduced Resolution (RR)-LIB data of the have been processed towards optical aquatic parameters using Beam-Visat4.2 and the MERIS case2 regional processor for coastal application (C2R). Calculated aquatic parameters are absorption and backscattering coefficients, apparent optical properties such as the first attenuation depth (‘Z90’) and calculated concentrations of chlorophyll, total suspended matter and coloured dissolved organic matter absorption from the water leaving reflectances. Initial comparisons with expedition data (Secchi depths, cDOM) show that the MERIS-C2R optical parameters ’total absorption’ and the first attenuation depth, ’Z90’, seem adequately to represent true conditions. High attenuation values in the spectral blue wavelength range may serve as tracer for the organic-rich terrigenous input. The synoptic information of Ocean Colour products will provide valuable spatial and dynamical information on the Organic Carbon and sediment fluxes from the Siberian permafrost coast.

Probabilistic accident consequence uncertainty analysis: Dispersion and deposition uncertainty assessment, appendices A and B

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

Harper, F.T.; Young, M.L.; Miller, L.A.

The development of two new probabilistic accident consequence codes, MACCS and COSYMA, completed in 1990, estimate the risks presented by nuclear installations based on postulated frequencies and magnitudes of potential accidents. In 1991, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) began a joint uncertainty analysis of the two codes. The objective was to develop credible and traceable uncertainty distributions for the input variables of the codes. Expert elicitation, developed independently, was identified as the best technology available for developing a library of uncertainty distributions for the selected consequence parameters. The study was formulatedmore » jointly and was limited to the current code models and to physical quantities that could be measured in experiments. To validate the distributions generated for the wet deposition input variables, samples were taken from these distributions and propagated through the wet deposition code model along with the Gaussian plume model (GPM) implemented in the MACCS and COSYMA codes. Resulting distributions closely replicated the aggregated elicited wet deposition distributions. Project teams from the NRC and CEC cooperated successfully to develop and implement a unified process for the elaboration of uncertainty distributions on consequence code input parameters. Formal expert judgment elicitation proved valuable for synthesizing the best available information. Distributions on measurable atmospheric dispersion and deposition parameters were successfully elicited from experts involved in the many phenomenological areas of consequence analysis. This volume is the second of a three-volume document describing the project and contains two appendices describing the rationales for the dispersion and deposition data along with short biographies of the 16 experts who participated in the project.« less

Rapid Response Risk Assessment in New Project Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graber, Robert R.

2010-01-01

A capability for rapidly performing quantitative risk assessments has been developed by JSC Safety and Mission Assurance for use on project design trade studies early in the project life cycle, i.e., concept development through preliminary design phases. A risk assessment tool set has been developed consisting of interactive and integrated software modules that allow a user/project designer to assess the impact of alternative design or programmatic options on the probability of mission success or other risk metrics. The risk and design trade space includes interactive options for selecting parameters and/or metrics for numerous design characteristics including component reliability characteristics, functional redundancy levels, item or system technology readiness levels, and mission event characteristics. This capability is intended for use on any project or system development with a defined mission, and an example project will used for demonstration and descriptive purposes, e.g., landing a robot on the moon. The effects of various alternative design considerations and their impact of these decisions on mission success (or failure) can be measured in real time on a personal computer. This capability provides a high degree of efficiency for quickly providing information in NASA s evolving risk-based decision environment

Searching for dark absorption with direct detection experiments

DOE PAGES

Bloch, Itay M.; Essig, Rouven; Tobioka, Kohsaku; ...

2017-06-16

We consider the absorption by bound electrons of dark matter in the form of dark photons and axion-like particles, as well as of dark photons from the Sun, in current and next-generation direct detection experiments. Experiments sensitive to electron recoils can detect such particles with masses between a few eV to more than 10 keV. For dark photon dark matter, we update a previous bound based on XENON10 data and derive new bounds based on data from XENON100 and CDMSlite. We find these experiments to disfavor previously allowed parameter space. Moreover, we derive sensitivity projections for SuperCDMS at SNOLAB formore » silicon and germanium targets, as well as for various possible experiments with scintillating targets (cesium iodide, sodium iodide, and gallium arsenide). The projected sensitivity can probe large new regions of parameter space. For axion-like particles, the same current direction detection data improves on previously known direct-detection constraints but does not bound new parameter space beyond known stellar cooling bounds. However, projected sensitivities of the upcoming SuperCDMS SNOLAB using germanium can go beyond these and even probe parameter space consistent with possible hints from the white dwarf luminosity function. We find similar results for dark photons from the sun. For all cases, direct-detection experiments can have unprecedented sensitivity to dark-sector particles.« less

Searching for dark absorption with direct detection experiments

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

Bloch, Itay M.; Essig, Rouven; Tobioka, Kohsaku

We consider the absorption by bound electrons of dark matter in the form of dark photons and axion-like particles, as well as of dark photons from the Sun, in current and next-generation direct detection experiments. Experiments sensitive to electron recoils can detect such particles with masses between a few eV to more than 10 keV. For dark photon dark matter, we update a previous bound based on XENON10 data and derive new bounds based on data from XENON100 and CDMSlite. We find these experiments to disfavor previously allowed parameter space. Moreover, we derive sensitivity projections for SuperCDMS at SNOLAB formore » silicon and germanium targets, as well as for various possible experiments with scintillating targets (cesium iodide, sodium iodide, and gallium arsenide). The projected sensitivity can probe large new regions of parameter space. For axion-like particles, the same current direction detection data improves on previously known direct-detection constraints but does not bound new parameter space beyond known stellar cooling bounds. However, projected sensitivities of the upcoming SuperCDMS SNOLAB using germanium can go beyond these and even probe parameter space consistent with possible hints from the white dwarf luminosity function. We find similar results for dark photons from the sun. For all cases, direct-detection experiments can have unprecedented sensitivity to dark-sector particles.« less

Progress report for project modeling Arctic barrier island-lagoon system response to projected Arctic warming

USGS Publications Warehouse

Erikson, Li H.; Gibbs, Ann E.; Richmond, Bruce M.; Storlazzi, Curt; B.M. Jones,

2012-01-01

Changes in Arctic coastal ecosystems in response to global warming may be some of the most severe on the planet. A better understanding and analysis of the rates at which these changes are expected to occur over the coming decades is crucial in order to delineate high-priority areas that are likely to be affected by climate changes. In this study we investigate the likelihood of changes to habitat-supporting barrier island – lagoon systems in response to projected changes in atmospheric and oceanographic forcing associated with Arctic warming. To better understand the relative importance of processes responsible for the current and future coastal landscape, key parameters related to increasing arctic temperatures are investigated and used to establish boundary conditions for models that simulate barrier island migration and inundation of deltaic deposits and low-lying tundra. The modeling effort investigates the dominance and relative importance of physical processes shaping the modern Arctic coastline as well as decadal responses due to projected conditions out to the year 2100.

A derivation of the Cramer-Rao lower bound of euclidean parameters under equality constraints via score function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Susyanto, Nanang

2017-12-01

We propose a simple derivation of the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) of parameters under equality constraints from the CRLB without constraints in regular parametric models. When a regular parametric model and an equality constraint of the parameter are given, a parametric submodel can be defined by restricting the parameter under that constraint. The tangent space of this submodel is then computed with the help of the implicit function theorem. Finally, the score function of the restricted parameter is obtained by projecting the efficient influence function of the unrestricted parameter on the appropriate inner product spaces.

Model-based iterative reconstruction in low-dose CT colonography-feasibility study in 65 patients for symptomatic investigation.

PubMed

Vardhanabhuti, Varut; James, Julia; Nensey, Rehaan; Hyde, Christopher; Roobottom, Carl

2015-05-01

To compare image quality on computed tomographic colonography (CTC) acquired at standard dose (STD) and low dose (LD) using filtered-back projection, adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction, and model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) techniques. A total of 65 symptomatic patients were prospectively enrolled for the study and underwent STD and LD CTC with filtered-back projection, adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction, and MBIR to allow direct per-patient comparison. Objective image noise, subjective image analyses, and polyp detection were assessed. Objective image noise analysis demonstrates significant noise reduction using MBIR technique (P < .05) despite being acquired at lower doses. Subjective image analyses were superior for LD MBIR in all parameters except visibility of extracolonic lesions (two-dimensional) and visibility of colonic wall (three-dimensional) where there were no significant differences. There was no significant difference in polyp detection rates (P > .05). Doses: LD (dose-length product, 257.7), STD (dose-length product, 483.6). LD MBIR CTC objectively shows improved image noise using parameters in our study. Subjectively, image quality is maintained. Polyp detection shows no significant difference but because of small numbers needs further validation. Average dose reduction of 47% can be achieved. This study confirms feasibility of using MBIR in this context of CTC in symptomatic population. Copyright © 2015 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A gamma ray observatory ground attitude error analysis study using the generalized calibration system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ketchum, E.

1988-01-01

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) will be responsible for performing ground attitude determination for Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) support. The study reported in this paper provides the FDD and the GRO project with ground attitude determination error information and illustrates several uses of the Generalized Calibration System (GCS). GCS, an institutional software tool in the FDD, automates the computation of the expected attitude determination uncertainty that a spacecraft will encounter during its mission. The GRO project is particularly interested in the uncertainty in the attitude determination using Sun sensors and a magnetometer when both star trackers are inoperable. In order to examine the expected attitude errors for GRO, a systematic approach was developed including various parametric studies. The approach identifies pertinent parameters and combines them to form a matrix of test runs in GCS. This matrix formed the basis for this study.

Subsonic Aircraft Safety Icing Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Sharon Monica; Reveley, Mary S.; Evans, Joni K.; Barrientos, Francesca A.

2008-01-01

NASA's Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) Project is one of four projects within the agency s Aviation Safety Program (AvSafe) in the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). The IRAC Project, which was redesigned in the first half of 2007, conducts research to advance the state of the art in aircraft control design tools and techniques. A "Key Decision Point" was established for fiscal year 2007 with the following expected outcomes: document the most currently available statistical/prognostic data associated with icing for subsonic transport, summarize reports by subject matter experts in icing research on current knowledge of icing effects on control parameters and establish future requirements for icing research for subsonic transports including the appropriate alignment. This study contains: (1) statistical analyses of accident and incident data conducted by NASA researchers for this "Key Decision Point", (2) an examination of icing in other recent statistically based studies, (3) a summary of aviation safety priority lists that have been developed by various subject-matter experts, including the significance of aircraft icing research in these lists and (4) suggested future requirements for NASA icing research. The review of several studies by subject-matter experts was summarized into four high-priority icing research areas. Based on the Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) Project goals and objectives, the IRAC project was encouraged to conduct work in all of the high-priority icing research areas that were identified, with the exception of the developing of methods to sense and document actual icing conditions.

Study of Material Densification of In718 in the Higher Throughput Parameter Regime

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cordner, Samuel

2016-01-01

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process used increasingly in the aerospace industry to reduce the cost, weight, and fabrication time for complex propulsion components. Previous optimization studies for SLM using the Concept Laser M1 and M2 machines at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center have centered on machine default parameters. The objective of this project is to characterize how heat treatment affects density and porosity from a microscopic point of view. This is performs using higher throughput parameters (a previously unexplored region of the manufacturing operating envelope for this application) on material consolidation. Density blocks were analyzed to explore the relationship between build parameters (laser power, scan speed, and hatch spacing) and material consolidation (assessed in terms of density and porosity). The study also considers the impact of post-processing, specifically hot isostatic pressing and heat treatment, as well as deposition pattern on material consolidation in the higher energy parameter regime. Metallurgical evaluation of specimens will also be presented. This work will contribute to creating a knowledge base (understanding material behavior in all ranges of the AM equipment operating envelope) that is critical to transitioning AM from the custom low rate production sphere it currently occupies to the world of mass high rate production, where parts are fabricated at a rapid rate with confidence that they will meet or exceed all stringent functional requirements for spaceflight hardware. These studies will also provide important data on the sensitivity of material consolidation to process parameters that will inform the design and development of future flight articles using SLM.

Principle of maximum entropy for reliability analysis in the design of machine components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yimin

2018-03-01

We studied the reliability of machine components with parameters that follow an arbitrary statistical distribution using the principle of maximum entropy (PME). We used PME to select the statistical distribution that best fits the available information. We also established a probability density function (PDF) and a failure probability model for the parameters of mechanical components using the concept of entropy and the PME. We obtained the first four moments of the state function for reliability analysis and design. Furthermore, we attained an estimate of the PDF with the fewest human bias factors using the PME. This function was used to calculate the reliability of the machine components, including a connecting rod, a vehicle half-shaft, a front axle, a rear axle housing, and a leaf spring, which have parameters that typically follow a non-normal distribution. Simulations were conducted for comparison. This study provides a design methodology for the reliability of mechanical components for practical engineering projects.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: A catalog of exoplanet physical parameters (Foreman-Mackey+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foreman-Mackey, D.; Hogg, D. W.; Morton, T. D.

2017-05-01

The first ingredient for any probabilistic inference is a likelihood function, a description of the probability of observing a specific data set given a set of model parameters. In this particular project, the data set is a catalog of exoplanet measurements and the model parameters are the values that set the shape and normalization of the occurrence rate density. (2 data files).

CoBOP: Microbial Biofilms: A Parameter Altering the Apparent Optical Properties of Sediments, Seagrasses and Surfaces

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-09-30

CoBOP: MICROBIAL BIOFILMS: A PARAMETER ALTERING THE APPARENT OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF SEDIMENTS, SEAGRASSES AND SURFACES. Alan W. Decho Department...AND SUBTITLE CoBOP: Microbial Biofilms: A Parameter Altering The Apparent Optical Properties Of Sediments, Seagrasses And Surfaces 5a. CONTRACT...biofilm processes and light distributions ( photosynthesis ). Therefore, the data acquired from this project will be closely paired with results of

Identification of critical factors affecting flexibility in hospital construction projects.

PubMed

Olsson, Nils E O; Hansen, Geir K

2010-01-01

This paper analyzes the dynamics relating to flexibility in a hospital project context. Three research questions are addressed: (1) When is flexibility used in the life cycle of a project? (2) What are the stakeholders' perspectives on project flexibility? And (3) What is the nature of the interaction between flexibility in the process of a project and flexibility in terms of the characteristics of a building? Flexibility is discussed from both a project management point of view and from a hospital architecture perspective. Flexibility in project life cycle and from a stakeholder perspective is examined, and the interaction between flexibility in scope lock-in and building flexibility is investigated. The results are based on case studies of four Norwegian hospital projects. Information relating to the projects has been obtained from evaluation reports, other relevant documents, and interviews. Observations were codified and analyzed based on selected parameters that represent different aspects of flexibility. One of the cases illustrates how late changes can have a significant negative impact on the project itself, contributing to delays and cost overruns. Another case illustrates that late scope lock-in on a limited part of the project, in this case related to medical equipment, can be done in a controlled manner. Project owners and users appear to have given flexibility high priority. Project management teams are less likely to embrace changes and late scope lock-in. Architects and consultants are important for translating program requirements into physical design. A highly flexible building did not stop some stakeholders from pushing for significant changes and extensions during construction.

NREL Suite of Tools for PV and Storage Analysis

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

Elgqvist, Emma M; Salasovich, James A

Many different factors such as the solar resource, technology costs and incentives, utility cost and consumption, space available, and financial parameters impact the technical and economic potential of a PV project. NREL has developed techno-economic modeling tools that can be used to evaluate PV projects at a site.

Designing for Energy Conservation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Estes, R. C.

This document is a description of the energy efficient designs for new schools in the Alief Independent School District of Houston, Texas. Exhibit A shows how four major school projects differ from conventional designs. Parameters and designs for heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and lighting are given. Twenty year projected energy costs and…

SPiRIT-TPC with GET readout electronics for the study of density dependent symmetry energy of high dense matter with Heavy RI collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isobe, Tadaaki; SPiRIT Collaboration

2014-09-01

The nuclear Equation of State (EoS) is a fundamental property of nuclear matter that describes the relationships between the parameters for a nuclear system, such as energy, density and temperature. An international collaboration, named SPiRIT, to study the nuclear EoS has been formed recently. One of the main devices of experimental setup is a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) which will be installed into the SAMURAI dipole magnet at RIKEN-RIBF. The TPC can measure charged pions, protons and light ions simultaneously in heavy RI collisions, and those will be used as probes to study the asymmetric dense nuclear matter. In addition to the status of the SPiRIT project, testing of SPiRIT-TPC with GET electronics will be presented in this talk. GET, general electronics for TPC, is a project for the development of novel electronics for TPC supported by NSF and ANR. This work is supported in part by the Japan Grant-in-Aide award and the US DOE grant DE-SC0004835 and JUSEIPEN.

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2013-10-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the role played by the high energy photons released from the pulsar in the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Timing of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nichi; Possenti, Andrea; Manchester, Dick; Johnston, Simon; Kramer, Michael; Sarkissian, John; Lyne, Andrew; Burgay, Marta; Corongiu, Alessandro; Camilo, Fernando; Bailes, Matthew; van Straten, Willem

2014-04-01

Timing of the dozen pulsars discovered by us in P303 is ensuring high quality results: (a) the peculiarities (in position or projected acceleration) of all the 5 millisecond pulsars in NGC6752 suggested the presence of non thermal dynamics in the core, perhaps due to black-holes of intermediate mass; (b) the eclipsing pulsar in NGC6397 is a stereotype for studying the late evolution of exotic binaries. We propose to continue our timing project focusing mostly on NGC6752 at 20cm (in order to measure additional parameters useful to constrain the existence of a black-hole) and NGC6397 at 10cm (for studying the orbital secular evolution, the eclipse region, and the role played by the high energy photons released from the pulsar in the ejection of matter from the binary system).

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory: Annual report, October 1, 1986--September 30, 1987

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

Not Available

1987-01-01

This report contains papers on the following topics: Principle Parameters Achieved in Experimental Devices (FY87); Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor; Princeton Beta Experiment-Modification; S-1 Spheromak; Current-Drive Experiment; X-Ray Laser Studies; Theoretical Division; Tokamak Modeling; Compact Ignition Tokamak; Engineering Department; Project Planning and Safety Office; Quality Assurance and Reliability; Administrative Operations; and PPPL Patent Invention Disclosures (FY87).

What the Discourse Tells Us: Talk and Indicators of High-Level Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soter, Anna O.; Wilkinson, Ian A.; Murphy, P. Karen; Rudge, Lucila; Reninger, Kristin; Edwards, Margaret

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustive literature search in Year 1 and a meta-analysis in Year 2 of a 3-year project in which nine (9) small-group discussion approaches were identified. Having identified parameters of discussion that were, to a greater or lesser extent, present in these nine discussion…

Non-Preemptive Time Warp Scheduling Algorithms

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-06-01

conducted in the Applied Technology Program of the Arroyo Center. Questions involving technical issues should be addressed to Dr. ,Jed Marti. Project...emphasizing mid- to long- terin problents. Its research is carried out in five programs : Policy and Strategy Studies: Force Development and Employment...various system parameters to reduce the global program execution time. Because we wanted to scale the system up, we did not allow interprocessor

Comparing cold-stored and freshly lifted water oak (Quercus nigra) seedlings based on physiological parameters

Treesearch

Rosa C. Goodman; Kent G. Apostol; Douglass F. Jacobs; Barrett C. Wilson; Emile S. Gardiner

2007-01-01

Water oak is often used in afforestation projects in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, but its field performance is often poor due to low survival rates and severe top dieback immediately after planting. The poor physiological quality of planting stock may be a contributing factor to this transplanting problem. In this study, cold storage was investigated to...

Life sciences payload definition and integration study. Volume 3: Preliminary equipment item specification catalog for the carry-on laboratories. [for Spacelab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

All general purpose equipment items contained in the final carry-on laboratory (COL) design concepts are described in terms of specific requirements identified for COL use, hardware status, and technical parameters such as weight, volume, power, range, and precision. Estimated costs for each item are given, along with projected development times.

AN APPROACH TO COST EFFECTIVENESS OF A SELECTIVE MECHANIZED DOCUMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM. ARMY TECHNICAL LIBRARY IMPROVEMENT STUDIES (ATLIS), REPORT NO. 12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

SEGARRA, CARLOS O.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT WAS TO IDENTIFY AND DEFINE THE PARAMETERS OF AN ECONOMICAL AND PRACTICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE U.S. ARMY ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LABORATORIES. THE PROGRAM INCLUDED FOUR PHASES--(1) DATA REQUIREMENTS DEFINITION, (2) COST ANALYSIS AND SYSTEM DEFINITION, (3) HARDWARE SELECTION, SYSTEM TEST AND EVALUATION, AND…

Improving the Fit of a Land-Surface Model to Data Using its Adjoint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raoult, Nina; Jupp, Tim; Cox, Peter; Luke, Catherine

2016-04-01

Land-surface models (LSMs) are crucial components of the Earth System Models (ESMs) which are used to make coupled climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century. The Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) is the land-surface model used in the climate and weather forecast models of the UK Met Office. In this study, JULES is automatically differentiated using commercial software from FastOpt, resulting in an analytical gradient, or adjoint, of the model. Using this adjoint, the adJULES parameter estimation system has been developed, to search for locally optimum parameter sets by calibrating against observations. We present an introduction to the adJULES system and demonstrate its ability to improve the model-data fit using eddy covariance measurements of gross primary production (GPP) and latent heat (LE) fluxes. adJULES also has the ability to calibrate over multiple sites simultaneously. This feature is used to define new optimised parameter values for the 5 Plant Functional Types (PFTS) in JULES. The optimised PFT-specific parameters improve the performance of JULES over 90% of the FLUXNET sites used in the study. These reductions in error are shown and compared to reductions found due to site-specific optimisations. Finally, we show that calculation of the 2nd derivative of JULES allows us to produce posterior probability density functions of the parameters and how knowledge of parameter values is constrained by observations.

Determination of recent horizontal crustal movements and deformations of African and Eurasian plates in western Mediterranean region using geodetic-GPS computations extended to 2006 (from 1997) related to NAFREF and AFREF frames.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azzouzi, R.

2009-04-01

Determination of recent horizontal crustal movements and deformations of African and Eurasian plates in western Mediterranean region using geodetic-GPS computations extended to 2006 (from 1997) related to NAFREF and AFREF frames. By: R. Azzouzi*, M. Ettarid*, El H. Semlali*, et A. Rimi+ * Filière de Formation en Topographie Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II B.P. 6202 Rabat-Instituts MAROC + Département de la Physique du Globe Université Mohammed V Rabat MAROC This study focus on the use of the geodetic spatial technique GPS for geodynamic purposes generally in the Western Mediterranean area and particularly in Morocco. It aims to exploit this technique first to determine the geodetic coordinates on some western Mediterranean sites. And also this technique is used to detect and to determine movements cross the boundary line between the two African and Eurasian crustal plates on some well chosen GPS-Geodynamics sites. It will allow us also to estimate crustal dynamic parameters of tension that results. These parameters are linked to deformations of terrestrial crust in the region. They are also associated with tectonic constraints of the study area. The usefulness of repeated measurements of these elements, the estimate of displacements and the determination of their temporal rates is indisputable. Indeed, sismo-tectonique studies allow a good knowledge of the of earthquake processes, their frequency their amplitude and even of their prediction in the world in general and in Moroccan area especially. They allow also contributing to guarantee more security for all most important management projects, as projects of building great works (dams, bridges, nuclear centrals). And also as preliminary study, for the most important joint-project between Europe and Africa through the Strait of Gibraltar. For our application, 23 GPS monitoring stations under the ITRF2000 reference frame are chosen in Eurasian and African plates. The sites are located around the Western Mediterranean and especially on Morocco. Exploiting parameters of positions and dispersions of these stations within the 1997-2003 period, the motion and the interaction types of interaction between African and Eurasian tectonic plates can be estimated. Similarly, the crustal dynamic parameters of tension of these sites will be computed. The time occupation on repeated observations sites is at least 72 hours. The measurements are continuous on permanent stations. The precise ephemerides are used in GPS computations. The post-treatments are done using commercial and scientific softwares. The coordinates obtained for two consecutive periods to and t within a period of 8 years will be used by programs established for this purpose to estimate crustal dynamic parameters of tension as well as to evaluate the appropriate movements. Even crustal dynamic parameters will be determined on each sites of the GPS-Geodynamics network, whose interest of seismic investigations is very important. This will allow best knowledge of substantial seismic activities of the surrounding zones. It can be deduced by measuring the motions and their parameter tensions using GPS. These estimations will contribute on the earthquake prediction by supervising the strain accumulation and its release in the active areas. For the geodetically aspect the GPS-Geodynamics sites computed in the ITRF frame can be used with other similar ounces' of Africa country and some well selected and convenient IGS, EUREF stations..to determine first the NAFREF and the AFRER frames.

Discovering local order parameters in liquid water using machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soto, Adrian; Lu, Deyu; Yoo, Shinjae; Fernandez-Serra, Marivi

The local arrangement of water molecules in liquid phase is still being discussed and questioned. The prevailing view is that water is composed of a mixture of two structurally different liquids. One of the main challenges has been to find order parameters that are able to discriminate the complex structures of these distinct molecular environments. Several local order parameters have been proposed and studied in all sorts of atomistic simulations of liquid water but, to date, none has been able to capture the predicted dual character. This presents an ideal problem to treat with methods capable of unveiling information from complex data. In this talk we will discuss how local order parameters can be constructed from molecular dynamics trajectories by using machine learning and other related techniques. Work was partially supported by DOE Award No. DE-FG02-09ER16052, by DOE Early Career Award No. DE-SC0003871, by BNL LDRD 16-039 project and BNL Contract No. DE-SC0012704.

Remote sensing of effects of land use practices on water quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graves, D. H.; Colthrap, G. B.

1977-01-01

An intensive study was conducted to determine the utility of manual densitometry and color additive viewing of aircraft and LANDSAT transparencies for monitoring land use and land use change. The relationship between land use and selected water quality parameters was also evaluated. Six watersheds located in the Cumberland Plateau region of eastern Kentucky comprised the study area for the project. Land uses present within the study area were reclaimed surface mining and forestry. Fertilization of one of the forested watersheds also occurred during the study period.

Economics of wind energy for utilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccabe, T. F.; Goldenblatt, M. K.

1982-01-01

Utility acceptance of this technology will be contingent upon the establishment of both its technical and economic feasibility. This paper presents preliminary results from a study currently underway to establish the economic value of central station wind energy to certain utility systems. The results for the various utilities are compared specifically in terms of three parameters which have a major influence on the economic value: (1) wind resource, (2) mix of conventional generation sources, and (3) specific utility financial parameters including projected fuel costs. The wind energy is derived from modeling either MOD-2 or MOD-0A wind turbines in wind resources determined by a year of data obtained from the DOE supported meteorological towers with a two-minute sampling frequency. In this paper, preliminary results for six of the utilities studied are presented and compared.

Detailed assessment of global transport-energy models’ structures and projections

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

Yeh, Sonia; Mishra, Gouri Shankar; Fulton, Lew

This paper focuses on comparing the frameworks and projections from four major global transportation models with considerable transportation technology and behavioral detail. We analyze and compare the modeling frameworks, underlying data, assumptions, intermediate parameters, and projections to identify the sources of divergence or consistency, as well as key knowledge gaps. We find that there are significant differences in the base-year data and key parameters for future projections, especially for developing countries. These include passenger and freight activity, mode shares, vehicle ownership rates, and even energy consumption by mode, particularly for shipping, aviation and trucking. This may be due in partmore » to a lack of previous efforts to do such consistency-checking and “bench-marking.” We find that the four models differ in terms of the relative roles of various mitigation strategies to achieve a 2°C / 450 ppm CO2e target: the economics-based integrated assessment models favor the use of low carbon fuels as the primary mitigation option followed by efficiency improvements, whereas transport-only and expert-based models favor efficiency improvements of vehicles followed by mode shifts. We offer recommendations for future modeling improvements focusing on (1) reducing data gaps; (2) translating the findings from this study into relevant policy implications such as feasibility of current policy goals, additional policy targets needed, regional vs. global reductions, etc.; (3) modeling strata of demographic groups to improve understanding of vehicle ownership levels, travel behavior, and urban vs. rural considerations; and (4) conducting coordinated efforts in aligning input assumptions and historical data, policy analysis, and modeling insights.« less

Cohort profile: the German ClinSurv HIV project--a multicentre open clinical cohort study supplementing national HIV surveillance.

PubMed

Bätzing-Feigenbaum, J; Kollan, C; Kühne, A; Matysiak-Klose, D; Gunsenheimer-Bartmeyer, B; Hamouda, O

2011-05-01

New forms of HIV/AIDS therapy require new surveillance instruments to meet shifting public health demands. The Clinical Surveillance of HIV Disease (ClinSurv HIV) project was established in 1999 as a collaboration between major HIV treatment centres in Germany and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The project contributes to national HIV surveillance and focuses on the changing epidemiology of HIV/AIDS after the introduction of new therapies in 1995. ClinSurv HIV is designed as an open multicentre observational cohort study of HIV-infected patients. Anonymized data on diagnoses, treatment and laboratory parameters are collected in a standardized format. Data are currently sampled biannually via 11 centres specializing in HIV diagnosis and care within the legal framework of the German Protection against Infection Act [Infektionsschutzgesetz (IfSG)]. A total of 14874 patients were enrolled in the study by 30 June 2009. Of these, 10221 patients (68.7%) were enrolled after 1 January 1999 and 6006 patients (40.4%) were known to have been diagnosed as positive for HIV before 1999. Evaluation indicators, such as the number of newly enrolled patients per half-year period, loss to follow-up, completeness of data per case, availability of data per possible clinical contact, and internal quality control parameters, show a very stable evolution in the cohort, which although open, can be observed. Comparison with the national HIV surveillance data suggests a high degree of representativeness according to major demographic variables. Bearing in mind the obvious strengths and weaknesses discussed, the German ClinSurv HIV cohort provides a broad range of research opportunities in the field of HIV/AIDS both within Germany and in international collaborative research.

Changes in projected spatial and seasonal groundwater recharge in the upper Colorado River Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tillman, Fred; Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; Pruitt, Tom

2017-01-01

The Colorado River is an important source of water in the western United States, supplying the needs of more than 38 million people in the United States and Mexico. Groundwater discharge to streams has been shown to be a critical component of streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB), particularly during low-flow periods. Understanding impacts on groundwater in the basin from projected climate change will assist water managers in the region in planning for potential changes in the river and groundwater system. A previous study on changes in basin-wide groundwater recharge in the UCRB under projected climate change found substantial increases in temperature, moderate increases in precipitation, and mostly periods of stable or slight increases in simulated groundwater recharge through 2099. This study quantifies projected spatial and seasonal changes in groundwater recharge within the UCRB from recent historical (1950 to 2015) through future (2016 to 2099) time periods, using a distributed-parameter groundwater recharge model with downscaled climate data from 97 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate projections. Simulation results indicate that projected increases in basin-wide recharge of up to 15% are not distributed uniformly within the basin or throughout the year. Northernmost subregions within the UCRB are projected an increase in groundwater recharge, while recharge in other mainly southern subregions will decline. Seasonal changes in recharge also are projected within the UCRB, with decreases of 50% or more in summer months and increases of 50% or more in winter months for all subregions, and increases of 10% or more in spring months for many subregions.

Changes in Projected Spatial and Seasonal Groundwater Recharge in the Upper Colorado River Basin.

PubMed

Tillman, Fred D; Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; Pruitt, Tom

2017-07-01

The Colorado River is an important source of water in the western United States, supplying the needs of more than 38 million people in the United States and Mexico. Groundwater discharge to streams has been shown to be a critical component of streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB), particularly during low-flow periods. Understanding impacts on groundwater in the basin from projected climate change will assist water managers in the region in planning for potential changes in the river and groundwater system. A previous study on changes in basin-wide groundwater recharge in the UCRB under projected climate change found substantial increases in temperature, moderate increases in precipitation, and mostly periods of stable or slight increases in simulated groundwater recharge through 2099. This study quantifies projected spatial and seasonal changes in groundwater recharge within the UCRB from recent historical (1950 to 2015) through future (2016 to 2099) time periods, using a distributed-parameter groundwater recharge model with downscaled climate data from 97 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate projections. Simulation results indicate that projected increases in basin-wide recharge of up to 15% are not distributed uniformly within the basin or throughout the year. Northernmost subregions within the UCRB are projected an increase in groundwater recharge, while recharge in other mainly southern subregions will decline. Seasonal changes in recharge also are projected within the UCRB, with decreases of 50% or more in summer months and increases of 50% or more in winter months for all subregions, and increases of 10% or more in spring months for many subregions. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Multi objective climate change impact assessment using multi downscaled climate scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rana, Arun; Moradkhani, Hamid

2016-04-01

Global Climate Models (GCMs) are often used to downscale the climatic parameters on a regional and global scale. In the present study, we have analyzed the changes in precipitation and temperature for future scenario period of 2070-2099 with respect to historical period of 1970-2000 from a set of statistically downscaled GCM projections for Columbia River Basin (CRB). Analysis is performed using 2 different statistically downscaled climate projections namely the Bias Correction and Spatial Downscaling (BCSD) technique generated at Portland State University and the Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogs (MACA) technique, generated at University of Idaho, totaling to 40 different scenarios. Analysis is performed on spatial, temporal and frequency based parameters in the future period at a scale of 1/16th of degree for entire CRB region. Results have indicated in varied degree of spatial change pattern for the entire Columbia River Basin, especially western part of the basin. At temporal scales, winter precipitation has higher variability than summer and vice-versa for temperature. Frequency analysis provided insights into possible explanation to changes in precipitation.

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

Morales, George J.; Maggs, James E.

The project expanded and developed mathematical descriptions, and corresponding numerical modeling, of non-diffusive transport to incorporate new perspectives derived from basic transport experiments performed in the LAPD device at UCLA, and at fusion devices throughout the world. By non-diffusive it is meant that the transport of fundamental macroscopic parameters of a system, such as temperature and density, does not follow the standard diffusive behavior predicted by a classical Fokker-Planck equation. The appearance of non-diffusive behavior is often related to underlying microscopic processes that cause the value of a system parameter, at one spatial position, to be linked to distant events,more » i.e., non-locality. In the LAPD experiments the underlying process was traced to large amplitude, coherent drift-waves that give rise to chaotic trajectories. Significant advances were made in this project. The results have lead to a new perspective about the fundamentals of edge transport in magnetically confined plasmas; the insight has important consequences for worldwide studies in fusion devices. Progress was also made in advancing the mathematical techniques used to describe fractional diffusion.« less

Payload accommodation and development planning tools - A Desktop Resource Leveling Model (DRLM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilchey, John D.; Ledbetter, Bobby; Williams, Richard C.

1989-01-01

The Desktop Resource Leveling Model (DRLM) has been developed as a tool to rapidly structure and manipulate accommodation, schedule, and funding profiles for any kind of experiments, payloads, facilities, and flight systems or other project hardware. The model creates detailed databases describing 'end item' parameters, such as mass, volume, power requirements or costs and schedules for payload, subsystem, or flight system elements. It automatically spreads costs by calendar quarters and sums costs or accommodation parameters by total project, payload, facility, payload launch, or program phase. Final results can be saved or printed out, automatically documenting all assumptions, inputs, and defaults.

Crustal dynamics project data analysis, 1991: VLBI geodetic results, 1979 - 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, C.; Ryan, J. W.; Caprette, D. S.

1992-01-01

The Goddard VLBI group reports the results of analyzing 1412 Mark II data sets acquired from fixed and mobile observing sites through the end of 1990 and available to the Crustal Dynamics Project. Three large solutions were used to obtain Earth rotation parameters, nutation offsets, global source positions, site velocities, and baseline evolution. Site positions are tabulated on a yearly basis from 1979 through 1992. Site velocities are presented in both geocentric Cartesian coordinates and topocentric coordinates. Baseline evolution is plotted for 175 baselines. Rates are computed for earth rotation and nutation parameters. Included are 104 sources, 88 fixed stations and mobile sites, and 688 baselines.

Search for scalar dark matter via pseudoscalar portal interactions in light of the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Kwei-Chou

2018-01-01

In light of the observed Galactic center gamma-ray excess, we investigate a simplified model, for which the scalar dark matter interacts with quarks through a pseudoscalar mediator. The viable regions of the parameter space, that can also account for the relic density and evade the current searches, are identified, if the low-velocity dark matter annihilates through an s -channel off shell mediator mostly into b ¯b , and/or annihilates directly into two hidden on shell mediators, which subsequently decay into the quark pairs. These two kinds of annihilations are s wave. The projected monojet limit set by the high luminosity LHC sensitivity could constrain the favored parameter space, where the mediator's mass is larger than the dark matter mass by a factor of 2. We show that the projected sensitivity of 15-year Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies can provide a stringent constraint on the most parameter space allowed in this model. If the on shell mediator channel contributes to the dark matter annihilation cross sections over 50%, this model with a lighter mediator can be probed in the projected PICO-500L experiment.

3D Seismic Imaging over a Potential Collapse Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gritto, Roland; O'Connell, Daniel; Elobaid Elnaiem, Ali; Mohamed, Fathelrahman; Sadooni, Fadhil

2016-04-01

The Middle-East has seen a recent boom in construction including the planning and development of complete new sub-sections of metropolitan areas. Before planning and construction can commence, however, the development areas need to be investigated to determine their suitability for the planned project. Subsurface parameters such as the type of material (soil/rock), thickness of top soil or rock layers, depth and elastic parameters of basement, for example, comprise important information needed before a decision concerning the suitability of the site for construction can be made. A similar problem arises in environmental impact studies, when subsurface parameters are needed to assess the geological heterogeneity of the subsurface. Environmental impact studies are typically required for each construction project, particularly for the scale of the aforementioned building boom in the Middle East. The current study was conducted in Qatar at the location of a future highway interchange to evaluate a suite of 3D seismic techniques in their effectiveness to interrogate the subsurface for the presence of karst-like collapse structures. The survey comprised an area of approximately 10,000 m2 and consisted of 550 source- and 192 receiver locations. The seismic source was an accelerated weight drop while the geophones consisted of 3-component 10 Hz velocity sensors. At present, we analyzed over 100,000 P-wave phase arrivals and performed high-resolution 3-D tomographic imaging of the shallow subsurface. Furthermore, dispersion analysis of recorded surface waves will be performed to obtain S-wave velocity profiles of the subsurface. Both results, in conjunction with density estimates, will be utilized to determine the elastic moduli of the subsurface rock layers.

U (1 ) -symmetric infinite projected entangled-pair states study of the spin-1/2 square J1-J2 Heisenberg model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haghshenas, R.; Sheng, D. N.

2018-05-01

We develop an improved variant of U (1 ) -symmetric infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS) ansatz to investigate the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-1 /2 square J1-J2 Heisenberg model. In order to improve the accuracy of the ansatz, we discuss a simple strategy to select automatically relevant symmetric sectors and also introduce an optimization method to treat second-neighbor interactions more efficiently. We show that variational ground-state energies of the model obtained by the U (1 ) -symmetric iPEPS ansatz (for a fixed bond dimension D ) set a better upper bound, improving previous tensor-network-based results. By studying the finite-D scaling of the magnetically order parameter, we find a Néel phase for J2/J1<0.53 . For 0.53

Department of Defense Software Factbook

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-07

parameters, these rules of thumb may not provide a lot of value to project managers estimating their software efforts. To get the information useful to them...organization determine the total cost of a particular project , but it is a useful metric to technical managers when they are required to submit an annual...outcome. It is most likely a combination of engineering, management , and funding factors. Although a project may resist planning a schedule slip, this

Brain perfusion imaging using a Reconstruction-of-Difference (RoD) approach for cone-beam computed tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mow, M.; Zbijewski, W.; Sisniega, A.; Xu, J.; Dang, H.; Stayman, J. W.; Wang, X.; Foos, D. H.; Koliatsos, V.; Aygun, N.; Siewerdsen, J. H.

2017-03-01

Purpose: To improve the timely detection and treatment of intracranial hemorrhage or ischemic stroke, recent efforts include the development of cone-beam CT (CBCT) systems for perfusion imaging and new approaches to estimate perfusion parameters despite slow rotation speeds compared to multi-detector CT (MDCT) systems. This work describes development of a brain perfusion CBCT method using a reconstruction of difference (RoD) approach to enable perfusion imaging on a newly developed CBCT head scanner prototype. Methods: A new reconstruction approach using RoD with a penalized-likelihood framework was developed to image the temporal dynamics of vascular enhancement. A digital perfusion simulation was developed to give a realistic representation of brain anatomy, artifacts, noise, scanner characteristics, and hemo-dynamic properties. This simulation includes a digital brain phantom, time-attenuation curves and noise parameters, a novel forward projection method for improved computational efficiency, and perfusion parameter calculation. Results: Our results show the feasibility of estimating perfusion parameters from a set of images reconstructed from slow scans, sparse data sets, and arc length scans as short as 60 degrees. The RoD framework significantly reduces noise and time-varying artifacts from inconsistent projections. Proper regularization and the use of overlapping reconstructed arcs can potentially further decrease bias and increase temporal resolution, respectively. Conclusions: A digital brain perfusion simulation with RoD imaging approach has been developed and supports the feasibility of using a CBCT head scanner for perfusion imaging. Future work will include testing with data acquired using a 3D-printed perfusion phantom currently and translation to preclinical and clinical studies.

In-country and lending institution environmental requirements for thermal power plants in the Philippines and India

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

Lehman, A.T.; Khanna, R.

1996-11-01

Diverse environmental reviews and approvals are required by both Government and non-government organizations (NGOs) for licensing or permitting of major thermal power plants in Asia; specifically, India and Philippines. The number and type of approvals required for a specific project vary depending on site characteristics, fuel source, project-specific design and operating parameters as well as type of project financing. A model 400 MW coal-fired project located in Asia is presented to illustrate the various lender and host country environmental guidelines. A case study of the environmental reviews and approvals for Ogden Quezon Power, Inc. Project (Quezon Province, Republic of themore » Philippines) is also included. A list of acronyms is provided at the paper`s end. As independent power project (IPP) developers seek financing for these capital-intensive infrastructure projects, a number of international finance/lending institutions are likely to become involved. Each lender considers different environmental aspects of a project. This paper compares relevant environmental requirements of various lenders which finance IPPs and their interest in a project`s environmental review. Finally, the authors of this paper believe that the environmental review process can bring together many parties involved with IPP development, including local and central governments, non government organizations, various lenders (such as multilateral and export credit agencies) as well as project proponents. Environmental review provides input opportunity for interested and affected parties. Airing environmental issues in open forums such as public hearings or meetings helps ensure projects are not evaluated without public input.« less

Research on Construction Technology of First Pile in an Urban Expressway under Complicated Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhi gang

2017-12-01

This paper develops a research method on the construction of the first pile in the process of the construction on an urban expressway under complicated conditions, such as the difference between the underground conditions and the exploration results,the sand formation,the whole weathered and the rich groundwater. We study the relevant technical parameters and construction organization through construction of the first pile. The results show that construction on the first pile is very important under complicated conditions and can provide a basis to continuously improve the level of the whole pile foundation construction technology, and ultimately determine the entire project feasible construction program and the successful completion of the construction project.

SAR investigations of glaciers in northwestern North America

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lingle, Craig S.; Harrison, William D.

1995-01-01

The objective of this project was to investigate the utility of satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery for measurement of geophysical parameters on Alaskan glaciers relevant to their mass balance and dynamics, including: (1) the positions of firn lines (late-summer snow lines); (2) surface velocities on fast-flowing (surging) glaciers, and also on slower steady-flow glaciers; and (3) the positions and changes in the positions of glacier termini. Preliminary studies of topography and glacier surface velocity with SAR interferometry have also been carried out. This project was motivated by the relationships of multi-year to decadal changes in glacier geometry to changing climate, and the probable significant contribution of Alaskan glaciers to rising sea level.

Classification of Magnetic Nanoparticle Systems—Synthesis, Standardization and Analysis Methods in the NanoMag Project

PubMed Central

Bogren, Sara; Fornara, Andrea; Ludwig, Frank; del Puerto Morales, Maria; Steinhoff, Uwe; Fougt Hansen, Mikkel; Kazakova, Olga; Johansson, Christer

2015-01-01

This study presents classification of different magnetic single- and multi-core particle systems using their measured dynamic magnetic properties together with their nanocrystal and particle sizes. The dynamic magnetic properties are measured with AC (dynamical) susceptometry and magnetorelaxometry and the size parameters are determined from electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Using these methods, we also show that the nanocrystal size and particle morphology determines the dynamic magnetic properties for both single- and multi-core particles. The presented results are obtained from the four year EU NMP FP7 project, NanoMag, which is focused on standardization of analysis methods for magnetic nanoparticles. PMID:26343639

Crustal dynamics project data analysis, 1987. Volume 1: Fixed station VLBI geodetic results, 1979-1986

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryan, J. W.; Ma, C.

1987-01-01

The Goddard VLBI group reports the results of analyzing Mark III data sets from fixed observatories through the end of 1986 and available to the Crustal Dynamics Project. All full-day data from POLARIS/IRIS are included. The mobile VLBI sites at Platteville (Colorado), Penticton (British Columbia), and Yellowknife (Northwest Territories) are also included since these occupations bear on the study of plate stability. Two large solutions, GLB121 and GLB122, were used to obtain Earth rotation parameters and baseline evolutions, respectively. Radio source positions were estimated globally while nutation offsets were estimated from each data set. The results include 25 sites and 108 baselines.

Identification of Trends into Dose Calculations for Astronauts through Performing Sensitivity Analysis on Calculational Models Used by the Radiation Health Office

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Thomas; VanBaalen, Mary

2009-01-01

The Radiation Health Office (RHO) determines each astronaut s cancer risk by using models to associate the amount of radiation dose that astronauts receive from spaceflight missions. The baryon transport codes (BRYNTRN), high charge (Z) and energy transport codes (HZETRN), and computer risk models are used to determine the effective dose received by astronauts in Low Earth orbit (LEO). This code uses an approximation of the Boltzman transport formula. The purpose of the project is to run this code for various International Space Station (ISS) flight parameters in order to gain a better understanding of how this code responds to different scenarios. The project will determine how variations in one set of parameters such as, the point of the solar cycle and altitude can affect the radiation exposure of astronauts during ISS missions. This project will benefit NASA by improving mission dosimetry.

LEDs on the threshold for use in projection systems: challenges, limitations and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moffat, Bryce Anton

2006-02-01

The use of coloured LEDs as light sources in digital projectors depends on an optimal combination of optical, electrical and thermal parameters to meet the performance and cost targets needed to enable these products to compete in the marketplace. This paper describes the system design methodology for a digital micromirror display (DMD) based optical engine using LEDs as the light source, starting at the basic physical and geometrical parameters of the DMD and other optical elements through characterization of the LEDs to optimizing the system performance by determining optimal driving conditions. The main challenge in using LEDs is the luminous flux density, which is just at the threshold of acceptance in projection systems and thus only a fully optimized optical system with a uniformly bright set of LEDs can be used. As a result of this work we have developed two applications: a compact pocket projector and a rear projection television.

Comparison of Asymmetric and Ice-cream Cone Models for Halo Coronal Mass Ejections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Na, H.; Moon, Y.

2011-12-01

Halo coronal mass ejections (HCMEs) are major cause of the geomagnetic storms. To minimize the projection effect by coronagraph observation, several cone models have been suggested: an ice-cream cone model, an asymmetric cone model etc. These models allow us to determine the three dimensional parameters of HCMEs such as radial speed, angular width, and the angle between sky plane and central axis of the cone. In this study, we compare these parameters obtained from different models using 48 well-observed HCMEs from 2001 to 2002. And we obtain the root mean square error (RMS error) between measured projection speeds and calculated projection speeds for both cone models. As a result, we find that the radial speeds obtained from the models are well correlated with each other (R = 0.86), and the correlation coefficient of angular width is 0.6. The correlation coefficient of the angle between sky plane and central axis of the cone is 0.31, which is much smaller than expected. The reason may be due to the fact that the source locations of the asymmetric cone model are distributed near the center, while those of the ice-cream cone model are located in a wide range. The average RMS error of the asymmetric cone model (85.6km/s) is slightly smaller than that of the ice-cream cone model (87.8km/s).

ExM:System Support for Extreme-Scale, Many-Task Applications

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

Katz, Daniel S

The ever-increasing power of supercomputer systems is both driving and enabling the emergence of new problem-solving methods that require the effi cient execution of many concurrent and interacting tasks. Methodologies such as rational design (e.g., in materials science), uncertainty quanti fication (e.g., in engineering), parameter estimation (e.g., for chemical and nuclear potential functions, and in economic energy systems modeling), massive dynamic graph pruning (e.g., in phylogenetic searches), Monte-Carlo- based iterative fi xing (e.g., in protein structure prediction), and inverse modeling (e.g., in reservoir simulation) all have these requirements. These many-task applications frequently have aggregate computing needs that demand the fastestmore » computers. For example, proposed next-generation climate model ensemble studies will involve 1,000 or more runs, each requiring 10,000 cores for a week, to characterize model sensitivity to initial condition and parameter uncertainty. The goal of the ExM project is to achieve the technical advances required to execute such many-task applications efficiently, reliably, and easily on petascale and exascale computers. In this way, we will open up extreme-scale computing to new problem solving methods and application classes. In this document, we report on combined technical progress of the collaborative ExM project, and the institutional financial status of the portion of the project at University of Chicago, over the rst 8 months (through April 30, 2011)« less

Two-dimensional analytical model of double-gate tunnel FETs with interface trapped charges including effects of channel mobile charge carriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Huifang; Dai, Yuehua

2017-02-01

A two-dimensional analytical model of double-gate (DG) tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) with interface trapped charges is proposed in this paper. The influence of the channel mobile charges on the potential profile is also taken into account in order to improve the accuracy of the models. On the basis of potential profile, the electric field is derived and the expression for the drain current is obtained by integrating the BTBT generation rate. The model can be used to study the impact of interface trapped charges on the surface potential, the shortest tunneling length, the drain current and the threshold voltage for varying interface trapped charge densities, length of damaged region as well as the structural parameters of the DG TFET and can also be utilized to design the charge trapped memory devices based on TFET. The biggest advantage of this model is that it is more accurate, and in its expression there are no fitting parameters with small calculating amount. Very good agreements for both the potential, drain current and threshold voltage are observed between the model calculations and the simulated results. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61376106), the University Natural Science Research Key Project of Anhui Province (No. KJ2016A169), and the Introduced Talents Project of Anhui Science and Technology University.

Rapid scatter estimation for CBCT using the Boltzmann transport equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Mingshan; Maslowski, Alex; Davis, Ian; Wareing, Todd; Failla, Gregory; Star-Lack, Josh

2014-03-01

Scatter in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is a significant problem that degrades image contrast, uniformity and CT number accuracy. One means of estimating and correcting for detected scatter is through an iterative deconvolution process known as scatter kernel superposition (SKS). While the SKS approach is efficient, clinically significant errors on the order 2-4% (20-40 HU) still remain. We have previously shown that the kernel method can be improved by perturbing the kernel parameters based on reference data provided by limited Monte Carlo simulations of a first-pass reconstruction. In this work, we replace the Monte Carlo modeling with a deterministic Boltzmann solver (AcurosCTS) to generate the reference scatter data in a dramatically reduced time. In addition, the algorithm is improved so that instead of adjusting kernel parameters, we directly perturb the SKS scatter estimates. Studies were conducted on simulated data and on a large pelvis phantom scanned on a tabletop system. The new method reduced average reconstruction errors (relative to a reference scan) from 2.5% to 1.8%, and significantly improved visualization of low contrast objects. In total, 24 projections were simulated with an AcurosCTS execution time of 22 sec/projection using an 8-core computer. We have ported AcurosCTS to the GPU, and current run-times are approximately 4 sec/projection using two GPU's running in parallel.

Statistical modeling methods to analyze the impacts of multiunit process variability on critical quality attributes of Chinese herbal medicine tablets.

PubMed

Sun, Fei; Xu, Bing; Zhang, Yi; Dai, Shengyun; Yang, Chan; Cui, Xianglong; Shi, Xinyuan; Qiao, Yanjiang

2016-01-01

The quality of Chinese herbal medicine tablets suffers from batch-to-batch variability due to a lack of manufacturing process understanding. In this paper, the Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) immediate release tablet was taken as the research subject. By defining the dissolution of five active pharmaceutical ingredients and the tablet tensile strength as critical quality attributes (CQAs), influences of both the manipulated process parameters introduced by an orthogonal experiment design and the intermediate granules' properties on the CQAs were fully investigated by different chemometric methods, such as the partial least squares, the orthogonal projection to latent structures, and the multiblock partial least squares (MBPLS). By analyzing the loadings plots and variable importance in the projection indexes, the granule particle sizes and the minimal punch tip separation distance in tableting were identified as critical process parameters. Additionally, the MBPLS model suggested that the lubrication time in the final blending was also important in predicting tablet quality attributes. From the calculated block importance in the projection indexes, the tableting unit was confirmed to be the critical process unit of the manufacturing line. The results demonstrated that the combinatorial use of different multivariate modeling methods could help in understanding the complex process relationships as a whole. The output of this study can then be used to define a control strategy to improve the quality of the PNS immediate release tablet.

SU-D-12A-06: A Comprehensive Parameter Analysis for Low Dose Cone-Beam CT Reconstruction

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

Lu, W; Southern Medical University, Guangzhou; Yan, H

Purpose: There is always a parameter in compressive sensing based iterative reconstruction (IR) methods low dose cone-beam CT (CBCT), which controls the weight of regularization relative to data fidelity. A clear understanding of the relationship between image quality and parameter values is important. The purpose of this study is to investigate this subject based on experimental data and a representative advanced IR algorithm using Tight-frame (TF) regularization. Methods: Three data sets of a Catphan phantom acquired at low, regular and high dose levels are used. For each tests, 90 projections covering a 200-degree scan range are used for reconstruction. Threemore » different regions-of-interest (ROIs) of different contrasts are used to calculate contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) for contrast evaluation. A single point structure is used to measure modulation transfer function (MTF) for spatial-resolution evaluation. Finally, we analyze CNRs and MTFs to study the relationship between image quality and parameter selections. Results: It was found that: 1) there is no universal optimal parameter. The optimal parameter value depends on specific task and dose level. 2) There is a clear trade-off between CNR and resolution. The parameter for the best CNR is always smaller than that for the best resolution. 3) Optimal parameters are also dose-specific. Data acquired under a high dose protocol require less regularization, yielding smaller optimal parameter values. 4) Comparing with conventional FDK images, TF-based CBCT images are better under a certain optimally selected parameters. The advantages are more obvious for low dose data. Conclusion: We have investigated the relationship between image quality and parameter values in the TF-based IR algorithm. Preliminary results indicate optimal parameters are specific to both the task types and dose levels, providing guidance for selecting parameters in advanced IR algorithms. This work is supported in part by NIH (1R01CA154747-01)« less

Ocean acidification over the next three centuries using a simple global climate carbon-cycle model: projections and sensitivities

DOE PAGES

Hartin, Corinne A.; Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin; Patel, Pralit; ...

2016-08-01

Continued oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO 2 is projected to significantly alter the chemistry of the upper oceans over the next three centuries, with potentially serious consequences for marine ecosystems. Relatively few models have the capability to make projections of ocean acidification, limiting our ability to assess the impacts and probabilities of ocean changes. In this study we examine the ability of Hector v1.1, a reduced-form global model, to project changes in the upper ocean carbonate system over the next three centuries, and quantify the model's sensitivity to parametric inputs. Hector is run under prescribed emission pathways from the Representativemore » Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and compared to both observations and a suite of Coupled Model Intercomparison (CMIP5) model outputs. Current observations confirm that ocean acidification is already taking place, and CMIP5 models project significant changes occurring to 2300. Hector is consistent with the observational record within both the high- (> 55°) and low-latitude oceans (< 55°). The model projects low-latitude surface ocean pH to decrease from preindustrial levels of 8.17 to 7.77 in 2100, and to 7.50 in 2300; aragonite saturation levels (Ω Ar) decrease from 4.1 units to 2.2 in 2100 and 1.4 in 2300 under RCP 8.5. These magnitudes and trends of ocean acidification within Hector are largely consistent with the CMIP5 model outputs, although we identify some small biases within Hector's carbonate system. Of the parameters tested, changes in [H +] are most sensitive to parameters that directly affect atmospheric CO 2 concentrations – Q 10 (terrestrial respiration temperature response) as well as changes in ocean circulation, while changes in Ω Ar saturation levels are sensitive to changes in ocean salinity and Q 10. We conclude that Hector is a robust tool well suited for rapid ocean acidification projections and sensitivity analyses, and it is capable of emulating both current observations and large-scale climate models under multiple emission pathways.« less

Ocean acidification over the next three centuries using a simple global climate carbon-cycle model: projections and sensitivities

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

Hartin, Corinne A.; Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin; Patel, Pralit

Continued oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO 2 is projected to significantly alter the chemistry of the upper oceans over the next three centuries, with potentially serious consequences for marine ecosystems. Relatively few models have the capability to make projections of ocean acidification, limiting our ability to assess the impacts and probabilities of ocean changes. In this study we examine the ability of Hector v1.1, a reduced-form global model, to project changes in the upper ocean carbonate system over the next three centuries, and quantify the model's sensitivity to parametric inputs. Hector is run under prescribed emission pathways from the Representativemore » Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and compared to both observations and a suite of Coupled Model Intercomparison (CMIP5) model outputs. Current observations confirm that ocean acidification is already taking place, and CMIP5 models project significant changes occurring to 2300. Hector is consistent with the observational record within both the high- (> 55°) and low-latitude oceans (< 55°). The model projects low-latitude surface ocean pH to decrease from preindustrial levels of 8.17 to 7.77 in 2100, and to 7.50 in 2300; aragonite saturation levels (Ω Ar) decrease from 4.1 units to 2.2 in 2100 and 1.4 in 2300 under RCP 8.5. These magnitudes and trends of ocean acidification within Hector are largely consistent with the CMIP5 model outputs, although we identify some small biases within Hector's carbonate system. Of the parameters tested, changes in [H +] are most sensitive to parameters that directly affect atmospheric CO 2 concentrations – Q 10 (terrestrial respiration temperature response) as well as changes in ocean circulation, while changes in Ω Ar saturation levels are sensitive to changes in ocean salinity and Q 10. We conclude that Hector is a robust tool well suited for rapid ocean acidification projections and sensitivity analyses, and it is capable of emulating both current observations and large-scale climate models under multiple emission pathways.« less

Ocean acidification over the next three centuries using a simple global climate carbon-cycle model: projections and sensitivities

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

Hartin, Corinne A.; Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin; Patel, Pralit

Continued oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO 2 is projected to significantly alter the chemistry of the upper oceans over the next three centuries, with potentially serious consequences for marine ecosystems. Relatively few models have the capability to make projections of ocean acidification, limiting our ability to assess the impacts and probabilities of ocean changes. In this study we examine the ability of Hector v1.1, a reduced-form global model, to project changes in the upper ocean carbonate system over the next three centuries, and quantify the model's sensitivity to parametric inputs. Hector is run under prescribed emission pathways from the Representativemore » Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and compared to both observations and a suite of Coupled Model Intercomparison (CMIP5) model outputs. Current observations confirm that ocean acidification is already taking place, and CMIP5 models project significant changes occurring to 2300. Hector is consistent with the observational record within both the high- (> 55°) and low-latitude oceans (< 55°). The model projects low-latitude surface ocean pH to decrease from preindustrial levels of 8.17 to 7.77 in 2100, and to 7.50 in 2300; aragonite saturation levels (Ω Ar) decrease from 4.1 units to 2.2 in 2100 and 1.4 in 2300 under RCP 8.5. These magnitudes and trends of ocean acidification within Hector are largely consistent with the CMIP5 model outputs, although we identify some small biases within Hector's carbonate system. Of the parameters tested, changes in [H +] are most sensitive to parameters that directly affect atmospheric CO 2 concentrations – Q 10 (terrestrial respiration temperature response) as well as changes in ocean circulation, while changes in Ω Ar saturation levels are sensitive to changes in ocean salinity and Q 10. We conclude that Hector is a robust tool well suited for rapid ocean acidification projections and sensitivity analyses, and it is capable of emulating both current observations and large-scale climate models under multiple emission pathways.« less

Metal mixture modeling evaluation project: 2. Comparison of four modeling approaches.

PubMed

Farley, Kevin J; Meyer, Joseph S; Balistrieri, Laurie S; De Schamphelaere, Karel A C; Iwasaki, Yuichi; Janssen, Colin R; Kamo, Masashi; Lofts, Stephen; Mebane, Christopher A; Naito, Wataru; Ryan, Adam C; Santore, Robert C; Tipping, Edward

2015-04-01

As part of the Metal Mixture Modeling Evaluation (MMME) project, models were developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan), the US Geological Survey (USA), HDR|HydroQual (USA), and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (United Kingdom) to address the effects of metal mixtures on biological responses of aquatic organisms. A comparison of the 4 models, as they were presented at the MMME workshop in Brussels, Belgium (May 2012), is provided in the present study. Overall, the models were found to be similar in structure (free ion activities computed by the Windermere humic aqueous model [WHAM]; specific or nonspecific binding of metals/cations in or on the organism; specification of metal potency factors or toxicity response functions to relate metal accumulation to biological response). Major differences in modeling approaches are attributed to various modeling assumptions (e.g., single vs multiple types of binding sites on the organism) and specific calibration strategies that affected the selection of model parameters. The models provided a reasonable description of additive (or nearly additive) toxicity for a number of individual toxicity test results. Less-than-additive toxicity was more difficult to describe with the available models. Because of limitations in the available datasets and the strong interrelationships among the model parameters (binding constants, potency factors, toxicity response parameters), further evaluation of specific model assumptions and calibration strategies is needed. © 2014 SETAC.

Evaluation of the predictive capability of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical models for a heated bentonite/clay system (HE-E) in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

DOE PAGES

Garitte, B.; Shao, H.; Wang, X. R.; ...

2017-01-09

Process understanding and parameter identification using numerical methods based on experimental findings are a key aspect of the international cooperative project DECOVALEX. Comparing the predictions from numerical models against experimental results increases confidence in the site selection and site evaluation process for a radioactive waste repository in deep geological formations. In the present phase of the project, DECOVALEX-2015, eight research teams have developed and applied models for simulating an in-situ heater experiment HE-E in the Opalinus Clay in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland. The modelling task was divided into two study stages, related to prediction and interpretation ofmore » the experiment. A blind prediction of the HE-E experiment was performed based on calibrated parameter values for both the Opalinus Clay, that were based on the modelling of another in-situ experiment (HE-D), and modelling of laboratory column experiments on MX80 granular bentonite and a sand/bentonite mixture .. After publication of the experimental data, additional coupling functions were analysed and considered in the different models. Moreover, parameter values were varied to interpret the measured temperature, relative humidity and pore pressure evolution. The analysis of the predictive and interpretative results reveals the current state of understanding and predictability of coupled THM behaviours associated with geologic nuclear waste disposal in clay formations.« less

Development of low-stress Iridium coatings for astronomical x-ray mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Döhring, Thorsten; Probst, Anne-Catherine; Stollenwerk, Manfred; Wen, Mingwu; Proserpio, Laura

2016-07-01

Previously used mirror technologies are not suitable for the challenging needs of future X-ray telescopes. This is why the required high precision mirror manufacturing triggers new technical developments around the world. Some aspects of X-ray mirrors production are studied within the interdisciplinary project INTRAAST, a German acronym for "industry transfer of astronomical mirror technologies". The project is embedded in a cooperation of Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences and the Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestrial Physics. One important task is the development of low-stress Iridium coatings for X-ray mirrors based on slumped thin glass substrates. The surface figure of the glass substrates is measured before and after the coating process by optical methods. Correlating the surface shape deformation to the parameters of coating deposition, here especially to the Argon sputtering pressure, allows for an optimization of the process. The sputtering parameters also have an influence on the coating layer density and on the micro-roughness of the coatings, influencing their X-ray reflection properties. Unfortunately the optimum coating process parameters seem to be contrarious: low Argon pressure resulted in better micro-roughness and higher density, whereas higher pressure leads to lower coating stress. Therefore additional measures like intermediate coating layers and temperature treatment will be considered for further optimization. The technical approach for the low-stress Iridium coating development, the experimental equipment, and the obtained first experimental results are presented within this paper.

Development of a full ice-cream cone model for halo CME structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Na, Hyeonock; Moon, Yong-Jae

2015-04-01

The determination of three dimensional parameters (e.g., radial speed, angular width, source location) of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) is very important for space weather forecast. To estimate these parameters, several cone models based on a flat cone or a shallow ice-cream cone with spherical front have been suggested. In this study, we investigate which cone model is proper for halo CME morphology using 33 CMEs which are identified as halo CMEs by one spacecraft (SOHO or STEREO-A or B) and as limb CMEs by the other ones. From geometrical parameters of these CMEs such as their front curvature, we find that near full ice-cream cone CMEs (28 events) are dominant over shallow ice-cream cone CMEs (5 events). So we develop a new full ice-cream cone model by assuming that a full ice-cream cone consists of many flat cones with different heights and angular widths. This model is carried out by the following steps: (1) construct a cone for given height and angular width, (2) project the cone onto the sky plane, (3) select points comprising the outer boundary, (4) minimize the difference between the estimated projection points with the observed ones. We apply this model to several halo CMEs and compare the results with those from other methods such as a Graduated Cylindrical Shell model and a geometrical triangulation method.

Evaluation of the predictive capability of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical models for a heated bentonite/clay system (HE-E) in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

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

Garitte, B.; Shao, H.; Wang, X. R.

Process understanding and parameter identification using numerical methods based on experimental findings are a key aspect of the international cooperative project DECOVALEX. Comparing the predictions from numerical models against experimental results increases confidence in the site selection and site evaluation process for a radioactive waste repository in deep geological formations. In the present phase of the project, DECOVALEX-2015, eight research teams have developed and applied models for simulating an in-situ heater experiment HE-E in the Opalinus Clay in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland. The modelling task was divided into two study stages, related to prediction and interpretation ofmore » the experiment. A blind prediction of the HE-E experiment was performed based on calibrated parameter values for both the Opalinus Clay, that were based on the modelling of another in-situ experiment (HE-D), and modelling of laboratory column experiments on MX80 granular bentonite and a sand/bentonite mixture .. After publication of the experimental data, additional coupling functions were analysed and considered in the different models. Moreover, parameter values were varied to interpret the measured temperature, relative humidity and pore pressure evolution. The analysis of the predictive and interpretative results reveals the current state of understanding and predictability of coupled THM behaviours associated with geologic nuclear waste disposal in clay formations.« less

Modelling the influence of climate change on the chemical concentrations in the Baltic Sea region with the POPCYCLING-Baltic model.

PubMed

Kong, Deguo; MacLeod, Matthew; Cousins, Ian T

2014-09-01

The effect of projected future changes in temperature, wind speed, precipitation and particulate organic carbon on concentrations of persistent organic chemicals in the Baltic Sea regional environment is evaluated using the POPCYCLING-Baltic multimedia chemical fate model. Steady-state concentrations of hypothetical perfectly persistent chemicals with property combinations that encompass the entire plausible range for non-ionizing organic substances are modelled under two alternative climate change scenarios (IPCC A2 and B2) and compared to a baseline climate scenario. The contributions of individual climate parameters are deduced in model experiments in which only one of the four parameters is changed from the baseline scenario. Of the four selected climate parameters, temperature is the most influential, and wind speed is least. Chemical concentrations in the Baltic region are projected to change by factors of up to 3.0 compared to the baseline climate scenario. For chemicals with property combinations similar to legacy persistent organic pollutants listed by the Stockholm Convention, modelled concentration ratios between two climate change scenarios and the baseline scenario range from factors of 0.5 to 2.0. This study is a first step toward quantitatively assessing climate change-induced changes in the environmental concentrations of persistent organic chemicals in the Baltic Sea region. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Format and basic geometry of a perspective display of air traffic for the cockpit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcgreevy, Michael Wallace; Ellis, Stephen R.

1991-01-01

The design and implementation of a perspective display of air traffic for the cockpit is discussed. Parameters of the perspective are variable and interactive so that the appearance of the projected image can be widely varied. This approach makes allowances for exploration of perspective parameters and their interactions. The display was initially used to study the cases of horizontal maneuver biases found in experiments involving a plan view air traffic display format. Experiments to determine the effect of perspective geometry on spatial judgements have evolved from the display program. Several scaling techniques and other adjustments to the perspective are used to tailor the geometry for effective presentation of 3-D traffic situations.

Thermal Orbital Environmental Parameter Study on the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) Using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharp, John R.; McConnaughey, Paul K. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The natural thermal environmental parameters used on the Space Station Program (SSP 30425) were generated by the Space Environmental Effects Branch at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) utilizing extensive data from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), a series of satellites which measured low earth orbit (LEO) albedo and outgoing long-wave radiation. Later, this temporal data was presented as a function of averaging times and orbital inclination for use by thermal engineers in NASA Technical Memorandum TM 4527. The data was not presented in a fashion readily usable by thermal engineering modeling tools and required knowledge of the thermal time constants and infrared versus solar spectrum sensitivity of the hardware being analyzed to be used properly. Another TM was recently issued as a guideline for utilizing these environments (NASA/TM-2001-211221) with more insight into the utilization by thermal analysts. This paper gives a top-level overview of the environmental parameters presented in the TM and a study of the effects of implementing these environments on an ongoing MSFC project, the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS), compared to conventional orbital parameters that had been historically used.

Determination of Kinetic and Thermodynamic Parameters that Describe Isothermal Seed Germination: A Student Research Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hageseth, Gaylord T.

1982-01-01

Describes a project for students to collect and fit data to a theoretical mathematical model that describes the rate of isothermal seed germination, including activation energy for substrate and produce and the autocatalytic reaction, and changes in enthalpy, entropy, and the Gibb's free energy. (Author/SK)

Technical Elements, Demonstration Projects, and Fiscal Models in Medicaid Managed Care for People with Developmental Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kastner, Theodore A.; Walsh, Kevin K.; Criscione, Teri

1997-01-01

Presents a general model of the structure and functioning of managed care and describes elements (provider networks, fiscal elements, risk estimation, case-mix, management information systems, practice parameters, and quality improvement) critical to people with developmental disabilities. Managed care demonstration projects and a hypothetical…

Future particle-physics projects in the United States

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

Denisov, D. S., E-mail: denisovd@fnal.gov

2015-07-15

Basic proposals of experiments aimed at precision measurements of Standard Model parameters and at searches for new particles, including dark-matter particles, are described along with future experimental projects considered by American Physical Society at the meeting in the summer of 2013 and intended for implementation within the next ten to twenty years.

Future particle-physics projects in the United States

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

Denisov, D. S.

2015-08-25

Basic proposals of experiments aimed at precision measurements of Standard Model parameters and at searches for new particles, including dark-matter particles, are described along with future experimental projects considered by American Physical Society at the meeting in the summer of 2013 and intended for implementation within the next ten to twenty years.

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017 : Community Report

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

Feng, J.; Fox, P.; Dawson, W. A.

This white paper summarizes the workshop “U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter” held at University of Maryland from March 23-25. The flagships of the US Dark Matter search program are the G2 experiments ADMX, LZ, and SuperCDMS, which will cover well-motivated axion and WIMP dark matter over a range of masses. The workshop assumes that a complete exploration of this parameter space remains the highest priority of the dark matter community, and focuses instead on the science case for additional new small-scale projects in dark matter science that complement the G2 program (and other ongoing projects worldwide). Itmore » therefore concentrates on exploring distinct, well-motivated parameter space that will not be covered by the existing program; on surveying ideas for such projects (i.e. projects costing ~$10M or less); and on placing these ideas in a global context. The workshop included over 100 presentations of new ideas, proposals and recent science and R&D results from the US and international scientific community.« less

Mixed H ∞ and Passive Projective Synchronization for Fractional Order Memristor-Based Neural Networks with Time-Delay and Parameter Uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Xiao-Na; Song, Shuai; Tejado Balsera, Inés; Liu, Lei-Po

2017-10-01

This paper investigates the mixed H ∞ and passive projective synchronization problem for fractional-order (FO) memristor-based neural networks. Our aim is to design a controller such that, though the unavoidable phenomena of time-delay and parameter uncertainty are fully considered, the resulting closed-loop system is asymptotically stable with a mixed H ∞ and passive performance level. By combining active and adaptive control methods, a novel hybrid control strategy is designed, which can guarantee the robust stability of the closed-loop system and also ensure a mixed H ∞ and passive performance level. Via the application of FO Lyapunov stability theory, the projective synchronization conditions are addressed in terms of linear matrix inequality techniques. Finally, two simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. U1604146, U1404610, 61473115, 61203047, Science and Technology Research Project in Henan Province under Grant Nos. 152102210273, 162102410024, and Foundation for the University Technological Innovative Talents of Henan Province under Grant No. 18HASTIT019

Online Sequential Projection Vector Machine with Adaptive Data Mean Update

PubMed Central

Chen, Lin; Jia, Ji-Ting; Zhang, Qiong; Deng, Wan-Yu; Wei, Wei

2016-01-01

We propose a simple online learning algorithm especial for high-dimensional data. The algorithm is referred to as online sequential projection vector machine (OSPVM) which derives from projection vector machine and can learn from data in one-by-one or chunk-by-chunk mode. In OSPVM, data centering, dimension reduction, and neural network training are integrated seamlessly. In particular, the model parameters including (1) the projection vectors for dimension reduction, (2) the input weights, biases, and output weights, and (3) the number of hidden nodes can be updated simultaneously. Moreover, only one parameter, the number of hidden nodes, needs to be determined manually, and this makes it easy for use in real applications. Performance comparison was made on various high-dimensional classification problems for OSPVM against other fast online algorithms including budgeted stochastic gradient descent (BSGD) approach, adaptive multihyperplane machine (AMM), primal estimated subgradient solver (Pegasos), online sequential extreme learning machine (OSELM), and SVD + OSELM (feature selection based on SVD is performed before OSELM). The results obtained demonstrated the superior generalization performance and efficiency of the OSPVM. PMID:27143958

Online Sequential Projection Vector Machine with Adaptive Data Mean Update.

PubMed

Chen, Lin; Jia, Ji-Ting; Zhang, Qiong; Deng, Wan-Yu; Wei, Wei

2016-01-01

We propose a simple online learning algorithm especial for high-dimensional data. The algorithm is referred to as online sequential projection vector machine (OSPVM) which derives from projection vector machine and can learn from data in one-by-one or chunk-by-chunk mode. In OSPVM, data centering, dimension reduction, and neural network training are integrated seamlessly. In particular, the model parameters including (1) the projection vectors for dimension reduction, (2) the input weights, biases, and output weights, and (3) the number of hidden nodes can be updated simultaneously. Moreover, only one parameter, the number of hidden nodes, needs to be determined manually, and this makes it easy for use in real applications. Performance comparison was made on various high-dimensional classification problems for OSPVM against other fast online algorithms including budgeted stochastic gradient descent (BSGD) approach, adaptive multihyperplane machine (AMM), primal estimated subgradient solver (Pegasos), online sequential extreme learning machine (OSELM), and SVD + OSELM (feature selection based on SVD is performed before OSELM). The results obtained demonstrated the superior generalization performance and efficiency of the OSPVM.

How do the methodological choices of your climate change study affect your results? A hydrologic case study across the Pacific Northwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chegwidden, O.; Nijssen, B.; Rupp, D. E.; Kao, S. C.; Clark, M. P.

2017-12-01

We describe results from a large hydrologic climate change dataset developed across the Pacific Northwestern United States and discuss how the analysis of those results can be seen as a framework for other large hydrologic ensemble investigations. This investigation will better inform future modeling efforts and large ensemble analyses across domains within and beyond the Pacific Northwest. Using outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), we provide projections of hydrologic change for the domain through the end of the 21st century. The dataset is based upon permutations of four methodological choices: (1) ten global climate models (2) two representative concentration pathways (3) three meteorological downscaling methods and (4) four unique hydrologic model set-ups (three of which entail the same hydrologic model using independently calibrated parameter sets). All simulations were conducted across the Columbia River Basin and Pacific coastal drainages at a 1/16th ( 6 km) resolution and at a daily timestep. In total, the 172 distinct simulations offer an updated, comprehensive view of climate change projections through the end of the 21st century. The results consist of routed streamflow at 400 sites throughout the domain as well as distributed spatial fields of relevant hydrologic variables like snow water equivalent and soil moisture. In this presentation, we discuss the level of agreement with previous hydrologic projections for the study area and how these projections differ with specific methodological choices. By controlling for some methodological choices we can show how each choice affects key climatic change metrics. We discuss how the spread in results varies across hydroclimatic regimes. We will use this large dataset as a case study for distilling a wide range of hydroclimatological projections into useful climate change assessments.

Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects.

PubMed

Pannell, David J; Gibson, Fiona L

2016-04-01

Conservation decision makers commonly use project-scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high--up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted-additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real-world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30-50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Reconstruction of quadratic curves in 3D using two or more perspective views: simulation studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sanjeev; Sukavanam, N.; Balasubramanian, R.

2006-01-01

The shapes of many natural and man-made objects have planar and curvilinear surfaces. The images of such curves usually do not have sufficient distinctive features to apply conventional feature-based reconstruction algorithms. In this paper, we describe a method of reconstruction of a quadratic curve in 3-D space as an intersection of two cones containing the respective projected curve images. The correspondence between this pair of projections of the curve is assumed to be established in this work. Using least-square curve fitting, the parameters of a curve in 2-D space are found. From this we are reconstructing the 3-D quadratic curve. Relevant mathematical formulations and analytical solutions for obtaining the equation of reconstructed curve are given. The result of the described reconstruction methodology are studied by simulation studies. This reconstruction methodology is applicable to LBW decision in cricket, path of the missile, Robotic Vision, path lanning etc.

Comparative study of thermochemical processes for hydrogen production from biomass fuels.

PubMed

Biagini, Enrico; Masoni, Lorenzo; Tognotti, Leonardo

2010-08-01

Different thermochemical configurations (gasification, combustion, electrolysis and syngas separation) are studied for producing hydrogen from biomass fuels. The aim is to provide data for the production unit and the following optimization of the "hydrogen chain" (from energy source selection to hydrogen utilization) in the frame of the Italian project "Filiera Idrogeno". The project focuses on a regional scale (Tuscany, Italy), renewable energies and automotive hydrogen. Decentred and small production plants are required to solve the logistic problems of biomass supply and meet the limited hydrogen infrastructures. Different options (gasification with air, oxygen or steam/oxygen mixtures, combustion, electrolysis) and conditions (varying the ratios of biomass and gas input) are studied by developing process models with uniform hypothesis to compare the results. Results obtained in this work concern the operating parameters, process efficiencies, material and energetic needs and are fundamental to optimize the entire hydrogen chain. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Utilization of Short-Simulations for Tuning High-Resolution Climate Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, W.; Xie, S.; Ma, P. L.; Rasch, P. J.; Qian, Y.; Wan, H.; Ma, H. Y.; Klein, S. A.

2016-12-01

Many physical parameterizations in atmospheric models are sensitive to resolution. Tuning the models that involve a multitude of parameters at high resolution is computationally expensive, particularly when relying primarily on multi-year simulations. This work describes a complementary set of strategies for tuning high-resolution atmospheric models, using ensembles of short simulations to reduce the computational cost and elapsed time. Specifically, we utilize the hindcast approach developed through the DOE Cloud Associated Parameterization Testbed (CAPT) project for high-resolution model tuning, which is guided by a combination of short (< 10 days ) and longer ( 1 year) Perturbed Parameters Ensemble (PPE) simulations at low resolution to identify model feature sensitivity to parameter changes. The CAPT tests have been found to be effective in numerous previous studies in identifying model biases due to parameterized fast physics, and we demonstrate that it is also useful for tuning. After the most egregious errors are addressed through an initial "rough" tuning phase, longer simulations are performed to "hone in" on model features that evolve over longer timescales. We explore these strategies to tune the DOE ACME (Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy) model. For the ACME model at 0.25° resolution, it is confirmed that, given the same parameters, major biases in global mean statistics and many spatial features are consistent between Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP)-type simulations and CAPT-type hindcasts, with just a small number of short-term simulations for the latter over the corresponding season. The use of CAPT hindcasts to find parameter choice for the reduction of large model biases dramatically improves the turnaround time for the tuning at high resolution. Improvement seen in CAPT hindcasts generally translates to improved AMIP-type simulations. An iterative CAPT-AMIP tuning approach is therefore adopted during each major tuning cycle, with the former to survey the likely responses and narrow the parameter space, and the latter to verify the results in climate context along with assessment in greater detail once an educated set of parameter choice is selected. Limitations on using short-term simulations for tuning climate model are also discussed.

Standard Reference Material (SRM 1990) for Single Crystal Diffractometer Alignment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wong-Ng, W.; Siegrist, T.; DeTitta, G.T.; Finger, L.W.; Evans, H.T.; Gabe, E.J.; Enright, G.D.; Armstrong, J.T.; Levenson, M.; Cook, L.P.; Hubbard, C.R.

2001-01-01

An international project was successfully completed which involved two major undertakings: (1) a round-robin to demonstrate the viability of the selected standard and (2) the certification of the lattice parameters of the SRM 1990, a Standard Reference Material?? for single crystal diffractometer alignment. This SRM is a set of ???3500 units of Cr-doped Al2O3, or ruby spheres [(0 420.011 mole fraction % Cr (expanded uncertainty)]. The round-robin consisted of determination of lattice parameters of a pair of crystals' the ruby sphere as a standard, and a zeolite reference to serve as an unknown. Fifty pairs of crystals were dispatched from Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to volunteers in x-ray laboratories world-wide. A total of 45 sets of data was received from 32 laboratories. The mean unit cell parameters of the ruby spheres was found to be a=4.7608 A?? ?? 0.0062 A??, and c=12.9979 A?? ?? 0.020 A?? (95 % intervals of the laboratory means). The source of errors of outlier data was identified. The SRM project involved the certification of lattice parameters using four well-aligned single crystal diffractometers at (Bell Laboratories) Lucent Technologies and at NRC of Canada (39 ruby spheres), the quantification of the Cr content using a combined microprobe and SEM/EDS technique, and the evaluation of the mosaicity of the ruby spheres using a double-crystal spectrometry method. A confirmation of the lattice parameters was also conducted using a Guinier-Ha??gg camera. Systematic corrections of thermal expansion and refraction corrections were applied. These rubies_ are rhombohedral, with space group R3c. The certified mean unit cell parameters are a=4.76080 ?? 0.00029 A??, and c=12 99568 A?? ?? 0.00087 A?? (expanded uncertainty). These certified lattice parameters fall well within the results of those obtained from the international round-robin study. The Guinier-Ha??gg transmission measurements on five samples of powdered rubies (a=4.7610 A?? ?? 0.0013 A??, and c=12.9954 A?? ?? 0.0034 A??) agreed well with the values obtained from the single crystal spheres.

Standard Reference Material (SRM 1990) For Single Crystal Diffractometer Alignment

PubMed Central

Wong-Ng, W.; Siegrist, T.; DeTitta, G. T.; Finger, L. W.; Evans, H. T.; Gabe, E. J.; Enright, G. D.; Armstrong, J. T.; Levenson, M.; Cook, L. P.; Hubbard, C. R.

2001-01-01

An international project was successfully completed which involved two major undertakings: (1) a round-robin to demonstrate the viability of the selected standard and (2) the certification of the lattice parameters of the SRM 1990, a Standard Reference Material® for single crystal diffractometer alignment. This SRM is a set of ≈3500 units of Cr-doped Al2O3, or ruby spheres [(0.420.011 mole fraction % Cr (expanded uncertainty)]. The round-robin consisted of determination of lattice parameters of a pair of crystals: the ruby sphere as a standard, and a zeolite reference to serve as an unknown. Fifty pairs of crystals were dispatched from Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to volunteers in x-ray laboratories world-wide. A total of 45 sets of data was received from 32 laboratories. The mean unit cell parameters of the ruby spheres was found to be a=4.7608 ű0.0062 Å, and c=12.9979 ű0.020 Å (95 % intervals of the laboratory means). The source of errors of outlier data was identified. The SRM project involved the certification of lattice parameters using four well-aligned single crystal diffractometers at (Bell Laboratories) Lucent Technologies and at NRC of Canada (39 ruby spheres), the quantification of the Cr content using a combined microprobe and SEM/EDS technique, and the evaluation of the mosaicity of the ruby spheres using a double-crystal spectrometry method. A confirmation of the lattice parameters was also conducted using a Guinier-Hägg camera. Systematic corrections of thermal expansion and refraction corrections were applied. These rubies– are rhombohedral, with space group R3¯c. The certified mean unit cell parameters are a=4.76080±0.00029 Å, and c=12.99568 ű0.00087 Å (expanded uncertainty). These certified lattice parameters fall well within the results of those obtained from the international round-robin study. The Guinier-Hägg transmission measurements on five samples of powdered rubies (a=4.7610 ű0.0013 Å, and c = 12.9954 ű0.0034 Å) agreed well with the values obtained from the single crystal spheres. PMID:27500067

Capabilities of Air Force Wastewater Treatment Plants in Complying with Projected Regulatory Requirements

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-01

Beale AFB ............. .................... .. 66 Columbus APB ............ ................... ... 68 Ellsworth AFB ... AFB ........... ................. .. 68 E-4-1. NPDES Parameters and Effluent Levels for Ellsworth AFB .......... ................. .. 70 E-4-2...Process Efficiencies for BOD and TSS at Ellsworth AFB ....... ................ ... 71 E-5-1. NPDES Parameters and Effluent Levels for Grand Forks AFB

Parameter Resetting in Second Language Acquisition. University Research Institute Final Project Report, 1987-88.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phinney-Liapis, Marianne

Analyses of the Null Subject Parameter (NSP) suggest that several factors may influence the resetting process for second language acquisition, such as specific "trigger" data, awareness of agreement as a part of awareness of agreement (INFL), and stylistic rules such as subject postposing and anaphoric reference. Four tests were…

Predicting Performance on a Firefighter's Ability Test from Fitness Parameters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michaelides, Marcos A.; Parpa, Koulla M.; Thompson, Jerald; Brown, Barry

2008-01-01

The purpose of this project was to identify the relationships between various fitness parameters such as upper body muscular endurance, upper and lower body strength, flexibility, body composition and performance on an ability test (AT) that included simulated firefighting tasks. A second intent was to create a regression model that would predict…

Reliable Real-Time Solution of Parametrized Partial Differential Equations: Reduced-Basis Output Bound Methods. Appendix 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prudhomme, C.; Rovas, D. V.; Veroy, K.; Machiels, L.; Maday, Y.; Patera, A. T.; Turinici, G.; Zang, Thomas A., Jr. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

We present a technique for the rapid and reliable prediction of linear-functional outputs of elliptic (and parabolic) partial differential equations with affine parameter dependence. The essential components are (i) (provably) rapidly convergent global reduced basis approximations, Galerkin projection onto a space W(sub N) spanned by solutions of the governing partial differential equation at N selected points in parameter space; (ii) a posteriori error estimation, relaxations of the error-residual equation that provide inexpensive yet sharp and rigorous bounds for the error in the outputs of interest; and (iii) off-line/on-line computational procedures, methods which decouple the generation and projection stages of the approximation process. The operation count for the on-line stage, in which, given a new parameter value, we calculate the output of interest and associated error bound, depends only on N (typically very small) and the parametric complexity of the problem; the method is thus ideally suited for the repeated and rapid evaluations required in the context of parameter estimation, design, optimization, and real-time control.

System parameter identification from projection of inverse analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, K.; Law, S. S.; Zhu, X. Q.

2017-05-01

The output of a system due to a change of its parameters is often approximated with the sensitivity matrix from the first order Taylor series. The system output can be measured in practice, but the perturbation in the system parameters is usually not available. Inverse sensitivity analysis can be adopted to estimate the unknown system parameter perturbation from the difference between the observation output data and corresponding analytical output data calculated from the original system model. The inverse sensitivity analysis is re-visited in this paper with improvements based on the Principal Component Analysis on the analytical data calculated from the known system model. The identification equation is projected into a subspace of principal components of the system output, and the sensitivity of the inverse analysis is improved with an iterative model updating procedure. The proposed method is numerical validated with a planar truss structure and dynamic experiments with a seven-storey planar steel frame. Results show that it is robust to measurement noise, and the location and extent of stiffness perturbation can be identified with better accuracy compared with the conventional response sensitivity-based method.

Recommendations for the use of mist nets for inventory and monitoring of bird populations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ralph, C. John; Dunn, Erica H.; Peach, Will J.; Handel, Colleen M.; Ralph, C. John; Dunn, Erica H.

2004-01-01

We provide recommendations on the best practices for mist netting for the purposes of monitoring population parameters such as abundance and demography. Studies should be carefully thought out before nets are set up, to ensure that sampling design and estimated sample size will allow study objectives to be met. Station location, number of nets, type of nets, net placement, and schedule of operation should be determined by the goals of the particular project, and we provide guidelines for typical mist-net studies. In the absence of study-specific requirements for novel protocols, commonly used protocols should be used to enable comparison of results among studies. Regardless of the equipment, net layout, or netting schedule selected, it is important for all studies that operations be strictly standardized, and a well-written operation protocol will help in attaining this goal. We provide recommendations for data to be collected on captured birds, and emphasize the need for good training of project personnel

Geotechnical Properties of Periplatform Carbonate Sediments

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-07-01

and Atmospheric and geoacoustic parameters for similar sediments in Research Laboratory participated in Ocean Drilling other regions. Leg 101. During...this exercise sha’"w-water and midwater depth carbonate sediments from a few deep drill holes were studied extensively by Results and Recommendations...protected by the grains and are less Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 86. In: Heath, G. R., affected by consolidation than they are in matrix- Bruckle, L. H

THREED: A computer program for three dimensional transformation of coordinates. [in lunar photo triangulation mapping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, K. W.

1974-01-01

Program THREED was developed for the purpose of a research study on the treatment of control data in lunar phototriangulation. THREED is the code name of a computer program for performing absolute orientation by the method of three-dimensional projective transformation. It has the capability of performing complete error analysis on the computed transformation parameters as well as the transformed coordinates.

Comparison of Cone Model Parameters for Halo Coronal Mass Ejections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Na, Hyeonock; Moon, Y.-J.; Jang, Soojeong; Lee, Kyoung-Sun; Kim, Hae-Yeon

2013-11-01

Halo coronal mass ejections (HCMEs) are a major cause of geomagnetic storms, hence their three-dimensional structures are important for space weather. We compare three cone models: an elliptical-cone model, an ice-cream-cone model, and an asymmetric-cone model. These models allow us to determine three-dimensional parameters of HCMEs such as radial speed, angular width, and the angle [ γ] between sky plane and cone axis. We compare these parameters obtained from three models using 62 HCMEs observed by SOHO/LASCO from 2001 to 2002. Then we obtain the root-mean-square (RMS) error between the highest measured projection speeds and their calculated projection speeds from the cone models. As a result, we find that the radial speeds obtained from the models are well correlated with one another ( R > 0.8). The correlation coefficients between angular widths range from 0.1 to 0.48 and those between γ-values range from -0.08 to 0.47, which is much smaller than expected. The reason may be the different assumptions and methods. The RMS errors between the highest measured projection speeds and the highest estimated projection speeds of the elliptical-cone model, the ice-cream-cone model, and the asymmetric-cone model are 376 km s-1, 169 km s-1, and 152 km s-1. We obtain the correlation coefficients between the location from the models and the flare location ( R > 0.45). Finally, we discuss strengths and weaknesses of these models in terms of space-weather application.

Scatter and veiling glare corrections for quantitative digital subtraction angiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ersahin, Atila; Molloi, Sabee Y.; Qian, Yao-Jin

1994-05-01

In order to quantitate anatomical and physiological parameters such as vessel dimensions and volumetric blood flow, it is necessary to make corrections for scatter and veiling glare (SVG), which are the major sources of nonlinearities in videodensitometric digital subtraction angiography (DSA). A convolution filtering technique has been investigated to estimate SVG distribution in DSA images without the need to sample the SVG for each patient. This technique utilizes exposure parameters and image gray levels to estimate SVG intensity by predicting the total thickness for every pixel in the image. At this point, corrections were also made for variation of SVG fraction with beam energy and field size. To test its ability to estimate SVG intensity, the correction technique was applied to images of a Lucite step phantom, anthropomorphic chest phantom, head phantom, and animal models at different thicknesses, projections, and beam energies. The root-mean-square (rms) percentage error of these estimates were obtained by comparison with direct SVG measurements made behind a lead strip. The average rms percentage errors in the SVG estimate for the 25 phantom studies and for the 17 animal studies were 6.22% and 7.96%, respectively. These results indicate that the SVG intensity can be estimated for a wide range of thicknesses, projections, and beam energies.

Comparison of Different EO Sensors for Mapping Tree Species- A Case Study in Southwest Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enßle, Fabian; Kattenborn, Teja; Koch, Barbara

2014-11-01

The variety of different remote sensing sensors and thus the types of data specifications which are available is increasing continuously. Especially the differences in geometric, radiometric and temporal resolutions of different platforms affect their ability for the mapping of forests. These differences hinder the comparability and application of uniform methods of different remotely sensed data across the same region of interest. The quality and quantity of retrieved forest parameters is directly dependent on the data source, and therefore the objective of this project is to analyse the relationship between the data source and its derived parameters. A comparison of different optical EO-data (e.g. spatial resolution and spectral resolution of specific bands) will help to define the optimum data sets to produce a reproducible method to provide additional inputs to the Dragon cooperative project, specifically to method development for woody biomass estimation and biodiversity assessment services. This poster presents the first results on tree species mapping in a mixed temperate forest by satellite imagery taken from four different sensors. Tree species addressed in this pilot study are Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and red oak (Quercus rubra). The spatial resolution varies from 2m to 30m and the spectral resolutions range from 8bands up to 155bands.

Comparison of Different EO Sensors for Mapping Tree Species- A Case Study in Southwest Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enβle, Fabian; Kattenborn, Teja; Koch, Barbara

2014-11-01

The variety of different remote sensing sensors and thus the types of data specifications which are available is increasing continuously. Especially the differences in geometric, radiometric and temporal resolutions of different platforms affect their ability for the mapping of forests. These differences hinder the comparability and application of uniform methods of different remotely sensed data across the same region of interest. The quality and quantity of retrieved forest parameters is directly dependent on the data source, and therefore the objective of this project is to analyse the relationship between the data source and its derived parameters. A comparison of different optical EO-data (e.g. spatial resolution and spectral resolution of specific bands) will help to define the optimum data sets to produce a reproducible method to provide additional inputs to the Dragon cooperative project, specifically to method development for woody biomass estimation and biodiversity assessment services. This poster presents the first results on tree species mapping in a mixed temperate forest by satellite imagery taken from four different sensors. Tree species addressed in this pilot study are: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and red oak (Quercus rubra). The spatial resolution varies from 2m to 30m and the spectral resolutions range from 8bands up to 155bands.

Pilot project of biogas production from pig manure and urine mixture at ambient temperature in Ventanilla (Lima, Peru).

PubMed

Ferrer, I; Gamiz, M; Almeida, M; Ruiz, A

2009-01-01

Parque Porcino de Ventanilla has an extension of 840ha with 2200 farmers dedicated to pig production. There is a lack of services in the area (i.e., water supply, electricity, or waste collection). Anaerobic treatment of pig manure would replace current dumping and incineration, reducing environmental pollution and hazards to public health, as well as providing an organic fertilizer and biogas. The objective of the present work was to study the viability of ambient temperature anaerobic digestion of pig manure diluted in urine, by means of on-site pilot scale reactors. The final goal was to establish design parameters for anaerobic digesters to be implemented; since it was part of a project to improve life conditions for the farmers through the incorporation of better management techniques. Experiments were carried out in a low-cost pilot plant, which consists of three anaerobic digesters (225L total volume), without heating or agitation, placed in a greenhouse. The start-up of the digestion process was performed with a mixture of temperature adapted pig manure-sludge and fresh rumen, and showed a good performance regardless of the dilution of pig manure with water or urine, which is a key parameter due to the scarcity of water in the area under study.

A new code for Galileo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dolinar, S.

1988-01-01

Over the past six to eight years, an extensive research effort was conducted to investigate advanced coding techniques which promised to yield more coding gain than is available with current NASA standard codes. The delay in Galileo's launch due to the temporary suspension of the shuttle program provided the Galileo project with an opportunity to evaluate the possibility of including some version of the advanced codes as a mission enhancement option. A study was initiated last summer to determine if substantial coding gain was feasible for Galileo and, is so, to recommend a suitable experimental code for use as a switchable alternative to the current NASA-standard code. The Galileo experimental code study resulted in the selection of a code with constant length 15 and rate 1/4. The code parameters were chosen to optimize performance within cost and risk constraints consistent with retrofitting the new code into the existing Galileo system design and launch schedule. The particular code was recommended after a very limited search among good codes with the chosen parameters. It will theoretically yield about 1.5 dB enhancement under idealizing assumptions relative to the current NASA-standard code at Galileo's desired bit error rates. This ideal predicted gain includes enough cushion to meet the project's target of at least 1 dB enhancement under real, non-ideal conditions.

Ab initio study on rare-earth iron-pnictides RFeAsO (R = Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd) in low-temperature Cmma phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eryigit, Resul; Gurel, Tanju; Erturk, Esra; Lukoyanov, A. V.; Akcay, Guven; Anisimov, V. I.

2014-03-01

We present density functional theory calculations on iron-based pnictides RFeAsO (R = Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd). The calculations have been carried out using plane-waves and projector augmented wave (PAW) pseudopotential approach. Structural, magnetic and electronic properties are studied within generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and also within GGA+U in order to investigate the influence of electron correlation effects. Low-temperature Cmma structure is fully optimized by GGA considering both non-magnetic and magnetic cells. We have found that spin-polarized structure improves the agreement with experiments on equilibrium lattice parameters, particularly c lattice parameter and Fe-As bond-lengths. Electronic band structure, total density of states, and spin-dependent orbital-resolved density of states are also analyzed in the frameworks of GGA and GGA+U and discussed. For all materials, by including on-site Coulomb correction, rare earth 4f states move away from the Fermi level and the Fermi level features of the systems are found to be mostly defined by the 3d electron-electron correlations in Fe. This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK Project No. TBAG-111T796) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 12-02-91371-CT_a).

Ground-state information geometry and quantum criticality in an inhomogeneous spin model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Yu-Quan

2015-09-01

We investigate the ground-state Riemannian metric and the cyclic quantum distance of an inhomogeneous quantum spin-1/2 chain in a transverse field. This model can be diagonalized by using a general canonical transformation to the fermionic Hamiltonian mapped from the spin system. The ground-state Riemannian metric is derived exactly on a parameter manifold ring S1, which is introduced by performing a gauge transformation to the spin Hamiltonian through a twist operator. The cyclic ground-state quantum distance and the second derivative of the ground-state energy are studied in different exchange coupling parameter regions. Particularly, we show that, in the case of exchange coupling parameter Ja = Jb, the quantum ferromagnetic phase can be characterized by an invariant quantum distance and this distance will decay to zero rapidly in the paramagnetic phase. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11404023 and 11347131).

On the plethora of representations arising in noncommutative quantum mechanics and an explicit construction of noncommutative 4-tori

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chowdhury, S. Hasibul Hassan

2017-06-01

We construct a 2-parameter family of unitarily equivalent irreducible representations of the triply extended group GNC of translations of R4 associated with a family of its 4-dimensional coadjoint orbits and show how a continuous 2-parameter family of gauge potentials emerges from these unitarily equivalent representations. We show that the Landau and the symmetric gauges of noncommutative quantum mechanics, widely used in the literature, in fact, belong to this 2-parameter family of gauges. We also provide an explicit construction of noncommutative 4-tori and compute the associated star products using the unitary dual of the group GNC that was studied at length in an earlier paper [S. H. H. Chowdhury and S. T. Ali, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 47, 085301 (2014)]. Finally, we construct projective modules over such noncommutative 4-tori and compute constant curvature connections on them using Rieffel's method.

V2S: Voice to Sign Language Translation System for Malaysian Deaf People

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mean Foong, Oi; Low, Tang Jung; La, Wai Wan

The process of learning and understand the sign language may be cumbersome to some, and therefore, this paper proposes a solution to this problem by providing a voice (English Language) to sign language translation system using Speech and Image processing technique. Speech processing which includes Speech Recognition is the study of recognizing the words being spoken, regardless of whom the speaker is. This project uses template-based recognition as the main approach in which the V2S system first needs to be trained with speech pattern based on some generic spectral parameter set. These spectral parameter set will then be stored as template in a database. The system will perform the recognition process through matching the parameter set of the input speech with the stored templates to finally display the sign language in video format. Empirical results show that the system has 80.3% recognition rate.

[Improvement of the microcinematography technic for the study of cell cycles].

PubMed

Gueulette, J; Beauduin, M; Grégoire, V; Van Dorpe, J C; Wambersie, A

1984-10-01

An improvement of time-lapse microcinematography technique is described. It consists in directly printing the time on the microscopical frame, at the moment of the shooting. The time (digital watch), as well as other relevant parameters (temperature etc.) are displayed on a "parameter board", the image of which is encrusted into the microscopical frame by means of an auxiliary two-component lens system. These lenses (current type of microscopical and photographical objectives) are centered on an axis perpendicular to the microscope-camera axis and provide a reduced image of the "parameter board", which is projected on the film edge after deflection by a 45 degree mirror. The latter (aluminized perspex sheet) is located above the photographical eyepiece; it is pierced at the place of the eyepoint in order to give way to the light rays coming out of the cellular culture.

Atomic approximation to the projection on electronic states in the Douglas-Kroll-Hess approach to the relativistic Kohn-Sham method.

PubMed

Matveev, Alexei V; Rösch, Notker

2008-06-28

We suggest an approximate relativistic model for economical all-electron calculations on molecular systems that exploits an atomic ansatz for the relativistic projection transformation. With such a choice, the projection transformation matrix is by definition both transferable and independent of the geometry. The formulation is flexible with regard to the level at which the projection transformation is approximated; we employ the free-particle Foldy-Wouthuysen and the second-order Douglas-Kroll-Hess variants. The (atomic) infinite-order decoupling scheme shows little effect on structural parameters in scalar-relativistic calculations; also, the use of a screened nuclear potential in the definition of the projection transformation shows hardly any effect in the context of the present work. Applications to structural and energetic parameters of various systems (diatomics AuH, AuCl, and Au(2), two structural isomers of Ir(4), and uranyl dication UO(2) (2+) solvated by 3-6 water ligands) show that the atomic approximation to the conventional second-order Douglas-Kroll-Hess projection (ADKH) transformation yields highly accurate results at substantial computational savings, in particular, when calculating energy derivatives of larger systems. The size-dependence of the intrinsic error of the ADKH method in extended systems of heavy elements is analyzed for the atomization energies of Pd(n) clusters (n

SU-E-I-15: Comparison of Radiation Dose for Radiography and EOS in Adolescent Scoliosis Patients

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

Schueler, B; Walz-Flannigan, A

Purpose: To estimate patient radiation dose for whole spine imaging using EOS, a new biplanar slot-scanning radiographic system and compare with standard scoliosis radiography. Methods: The EOS imaging system (EOS Imaging, Paris, France) consists of two orthogonal x-ray fan beams which simultaneously acquire frontal and lateral projection images of a standing patient. The patient entrance skin air kerma was measured for each projection image using manufacturer-recommended exposure parameters for spine imaging. Organ and effective doses were estimated using a commercially-available Monte Carlo simulation program (PCXMC, STUK, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki, Finland) for a 15 year old mathematical phantommore » model. These results were compared to organ and effective dose estimated for scoliosis radiography using computed radiography (CR) with standard exposure parameters obtained from a survey of pediatric radiographic projections. Results: The entrance skin air kerma for EOS was found to be 0.18 mGy and 0.33 mGy for posterior-anterior (PA) and lateral projections, respectively. This compares to 0.76 mGy and 1.4 mGy for CR, PA and lateral projections. Effective dose for EOS (PA and lateral projections combined) is 0.19 mSv compared to 0.51 mSv for CR. Conclusion: The EOS slot-scanning radiographic system allows for reduced patient radiation dose in scoliosis patients as compared to standard CR radiography.« less

Nutritional situation of the elderly in Eastern/Baltic and Central/Western Europe - the AgeingNutrition project.

PubMed

Lesser, Stephanie; Pauly, Lioba; Volkert, Dorothee; Stehle, Peter

2008-01-01

In the AgeingNutrition project, funded by the European Commission, partners from 10 'Eastern/Baltic' (new) European (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey) and 5 'Central/Western' (old) European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, and Spain) performed a comparative analysis of existing data on nutritional status, food intake, nutrient intake, dietary habits and lifestyle of the aging population in Europe. Using predefined inclusion criteria, 36 studies (22 from Eastern/Baltic, 14 from Central/Western countries) were chosen for evaluation. The studies varied in general design, data assessment and parameters and methods applied (especially regarding assessment of nutritional situation, comprising anthropometry, blood lipid profile, dietary nutrient and food intake). Thus, data evaluation by recalculation of raw data had to be restricted to a few distinct, common parameters. Energy intake is too high in both regions, especially in some of the 'younger old' and seems not to be adjusted to energy expenditure. Simultaneously, energy intake was considerably lower than recommended in some very old seniors in Eastern/Baltic countries. Interestingly, quantity and quality of available information is similar in 'new' and 'old' member states. Immense variations in methodology hampered performing reliable comparative evaluation. It is, thus, mandatory to standardize methods for assessment of nutrition and health status for future international multicenter studies. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A probabilistic approach to emissions from transportation sector in the coming decades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, F.; Winijkul, E.; Bond, T. C.; Streets, D. G.

2010-12-01

Future emission estimates are necessary for understanding climate change, designing national and international strategies for air quality control and evaluating mitigation policies. Emission inventories are uncertain and future projections even more so. Most current emission projection models are deterministic; in other words, there is only single answer for each scenario. As a result, uncertainties have not been included in the estimation of climate forcing or other environmental effects, but it is important to quantify the uncertainty inherent in emission projections. We explore uncertainties of emission projections from transportation sector in the coming decades by sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. These projections are based on a technology driven model: the Speciated Pollutants Emission Wizard (SPEW)-Trend, which responds to socioeconomic conditions in different economic and mitigation scenarios. The model contains detail about technology stock, including consumption growth rates, retirement rates, timing of emission standards, deterioration rates and transition rates from normal vehicles to vehicles with extremely high emission factors (termed “superemitters”). However, understanding of these parameters, as well as relationships with socioeconomic conditions, is uncertain. We project emissions from transportation sectors under four different IPCC scenarios (A1B, A2, B1, and B2). Due to the later implementation of advanced emission standards, Africa has the highest annual growth rate (1.2-3.1%) from 2010 to 2050. Superemitters begin producing more than 50% of global emissions around year 2020. We estimate uncertainties from the relationships between technological change and socioeconomic conditions and examine their impact on future emissions. Sensitivities to parameters governing retirement rates are highest, causing changes in global emissions from-26% to +55% on average from 2010 to 2050. We perform Monte Carlo simulations to examine how these uncertainties will affect total emissions if any input parameter that has inherent the uncertainties is substituted by a range of values-probability distribution and varies at the same time; the 95% confidence interval of global emission annual growth rate is -1.9% to +0.2% per year.

SBSI: an extensible distributed software infrastructure for parameter estimation in systems biology.

PubMed

Adams, Richard; Clark, Allan; Yamaguchi, Azusa; Hanlon, Neil; Tsorman, Nikos; Ali, Shakir; Lebedeva, Galina; Goltsov, Alexey; Sorokin, Anatoly; Akman, Ozgur E; Troein, Carl; Millar, Andrew J; Goryanin, Igor; Gilmore, Stephen

2013-03-01

Complex computational experiments in Systems Biology, such as fitting model parameters to experimental data, can be challenging to perform. Not only do they frequently require a high level of computational power, but the software needed to run the experiment needs to be usable by scientists with varying levels of computational expertise, and modellers need to be able to obtain up-to-date experimental data resources easily. We have developed a software suite, the Systems Biology Software Infrastructure (SBSI), to facilitate the parameter-fitting process. SBSI is a modular software suite composed of three major components: SBSINumerics, a high-performance library containing parallelized algorithms for performing parameter fitting; SBSIDispatcher, a middleware application to track experiments and submit jobs to back-end servers; and SBSIVisual, an extensible client application used to configure optimization experiments and view results. Furthermore, we have created a plugin infrastructure to enable project-specific modules to be easily installed. Plugin developers can take advantage of the existing user-interface and application framework to customize SBSI for their own uses, facilitated by SBSI's use of standard data formats. All SBSI binaries and source-code are freely available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/sbsi under an Apache 2 open-source license. The server-side SBSINumerics runs on any Unix-based operating system; both SBSIVisual and SBSIDispatcher are written in Java and are platform independent, allowing use on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The SBSI project website at http://www.sbsi.ed.ac.uk provides documentation and tutorials.

Population models for passerine birds: structure, parameterization, and analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Noon, B.R.; Sauer, J.R.; McCullough, D.R.; Barrett, R.H.

1992-01-01

Population models have great potential as management tools, as they use infonnation about the life history of a species to summarize estimates of fecundity and survival into a description of population change. Models provide a framework for projecting future populations, determining the effects of management decisions on future population dynamics, evaluating extinction probabilities, and addressing a variety of questions of ecological and evolutionary interest. Even when insufficient information exists to allow complete identification of the model, the modelling procedure is useful because it forces the investigator to consider the life history of the species when determining what parameters should be estimated from field studies and provides a context for evaluating the relative importance of demographic parameters. Models have been little used in the study of the population dynamics of passerine birds because of: (1) widespread misunderstandings of the model structures and parameterizations, (2) a lack of knowledge of life histories of many species, (3) difficulties in obtaining statistically reliable estimates of demographic parameters for most passerine species, and (4) confusion about functional relationships among demographic parameters. As a result, studies of passerine demography are often designed inappropriately and fail to provide essential data. We review appropriate models for passerine bird populations and illustrate their possible uses in evaluating the effects of management or other environmental influences on population dynamics. We identify environmental influences on population dynamics. We identify parameters that must be estimated from field data, briefly review existing statistical methods for obtaining valid estimates, and evaluate the present status of knowledge of these parameters.

Estimation of thermodynamic parameters for Au- and Mg-based metallic glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaur, Jitendra; Mishra, R. K.

2017-10-01

The study of temperature dependent thermodynamic parameters; Gibb's free energy difference (ΔG), entropy difference (ΔS) and enthalpy difference (ΔH) between the undercooled liquid and the corresponding equilibrium solid phases has been proved to be extremely advantageous in the study of the thermodynamic behaviour of Metallic glass (MG) forming melts. In last two decades, Au- and Mg-based alloys were found to form glass phases. In present study, the three thermodynamic parameters viz., ΔG, ΔS and ΔH are calculated theoretically in the entire temperature range Tm (melting temperature) to Tg (glass transition temperature) for both Au- and Mg-based five samples of MGs; Au77Ge13.6Si9.4, Au53.2Pb27.5Sb19.3, Au81.4Si18.6, Mg85.5Cu14.5 and Mg81.6Ga18.4 on the basis of Taylor's series expansion. A relative study is also made between the present result and the result obtained experimentally as well as on the basis of expressions projected by the earlier researchers. An attempt is also been made to narrate the reduced glass transition temperature with glass forming ability for all five MGs.

GIS integration of the 1:75,000 Romanian topographic map series from the World War I

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timár, G.; Mugnier, C. J.

2009-04-01

During the WWI, the Kingdom of Romania developed a 1:75,000 topographic map series, covering not only the actual territory of the country (the former Danube Principalities and Dobrogea) but also Bessarabia (now the Republic of Moldova), which was under Russian rule. The map sheets were issued between 1914 and 1917. The whole map consists of two zones; Columns A-F are the western zone, while Columns G-Q are belonging to the eastern one. To integrate the scanned map sheets to a geographic information system (GIS), the parameters of the map projection and the geodetic datum should be defined as well as the sheet labelling system. The sheets have no grid lines indicated; most of them have latitude and longitude lines but some of them have no coordinate descriptions. The sheets, however, can be rectified using their four corners as virtual control points, and using the following grid and datum parameters: Eastern zone: • Projection type: Bonne. • Projection center: latitude=46d 30m; longitude=27d 20m 13.35s (from Greenwich). • Base ellipsoid: Bessel 1841 • Datum parameters (from local to WGS84): dX=+875 m; dY=-119 m; dZ=+313 m. • Sheet size: 40*40 kilometers, projection center is the NW corner of the 779 (Column L; Row VII) sheet. Western zone: • Projection type: Bonne. • Projection center: latitude=45d; longitude=26d 6m 41.18s (from Greenwich); • Base ellipsoid: Bessel 1841 • Datum parameters (from local to WGS84): dX=+793 m; dY=+364 m; dZ=+173 m. • Sheet size: 0.6*0.4 grad (new degrees), except Column F, which is wider to east to fill the territory to the zone boundary. In Columns E and F geographic coordinates are indicated in new degrees, with the prime meridian of Bucharest. Apart from the system of columns and rows, each sheet has its own label of three or four digit. The last two digit correspond to the column number (69 for Column A going up to 84 for Column Q) while the first digit(s) refer directly to row number (1-15). During the rectification process, the coordinates of the corners (the control points) should be defined in the respective Bonne zone projected coordinates. It can be done by simple additions in the eastern zone but it needs conversion from geographic to projected coordinates in the western one. The general accuracy of this geo-referencing method is up to 200 meters - this error is the same in the 1:75,000 series of the Habsburg Empire made from the 1880s.

Feedback from uncertainties propagation research projects conducted in different hydraulic fields: outcomes for engineering projects and nuclear safety assessment.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bacchi, Vito; Duluc, Claire-Marie; Bertrand, Nathalie; Bardet, Lise

2017-04-01

In recent years, in the context of hydraulic risk assessment, much effort has been put into the development of sophisticated numerical model systems able reproducing surface flow field. These numerical models are based on a deterministic approach and the results are presented in terms of measurable quantities (water depths, flow velocities, etc…). However, the modelling of surface flows involves numerous uncertainties associated both to the numerical structure of the model, to the knowledge of the physical parameters which force the system and to the randomness inherent to natural phenomena. As a consequence, dealing with uncertainties can be a difficult task for both modelers and decision-makers [Ioss, 2011]. In the context of nuclear safety, IRSN assesses studies conducted by operators for different reference flood situations (local rain, small or large watershed flooding, sea levels, etc…), that are defined in the guide ASN N°13 [ASN, 2013]. The guide provides some recommendations to deal with uncertainties, by proposing a specific conservative approach to cover hydraulic modelling uncertainties. Depending of the situation, the influencing parameter might be the Strickler coefficient, levee behavior, simplified topographic assumptions, etc. Obviously, identifying the most influencing parameter and giving it a penalizing value is challenging and usually questionable. In this context, IRSN conducted cooperative (Compagnie Nationale du Rhone, I-CiTy laboratory of Polytech'Nice, Atomic Energy Commission, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières) research activities since 2011 in order to investigate feasibility and benefits of Uncertainties Analysis (UA) and Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) when applied to hydraulic modelling. A specific methodology was tested by using the computational environment Promethee, developed by IRSN, which allows carrying out uncertainties propagation study. This methodology was applied with various numerical models and in different contexts, as river flooding on the Rhône River (Nguyen et al., 2015) and on the Garonne River, for the studying of local rainfall (Abily et al., 2016) or for tsunami generation, in the framework of the ANR-research project TANDEM. The feedback issued from these previous studies is analyzed (technical problems, limitations, interesting results, etc…) and the perspectives and a discussion on how a probabilistic approach of uncertainties should improve the actual deterministic methodology for risk assessment (also for other engineering applications) will be finally given.

Models for estimating and projecting global, regional and national prevalence and disease burden of asthma: protocol for a systematic review.

PubMed

Bhuia, Mohammad Romel; Nwaru, Bright I; Weir, Christopher J; Sheikh, Aziz

2017-05-17

Models that have so far been used to estimate and project the prevalence and disease burden of asthma are in most cases inadequately described and irreproducible. We aim systematically to describe and critique the existing models in relation to their strengths, limitations and reproducibility, and to determine the appropriate models for estimating and projecting the prevalence and disease burden of asthma. We will search the following electronic databases to identify relevant literature published from 1980 to 2017: Medline, Embase, WHO Library and Information Services and Web of Science Core Collection. We will identify additional studies by searching the reference list of all the retrieved papers and contacting experts. We will include observational studies that used models for estimating and/or projecting prevalence and disease burden of asthma regarding human population of any age and sex. Two independent reviewers will assess the studies for inclusion and extract data from included papers. Data items will include authors' names, publication year, study aims, data source and time period, study population, asthma outcomes, study methodology, model type, model settings, study variables, methods of model derivation, methods of parameter estimation and/or projection, model fit information, key findings and identified research gaps. A detailed critical narrative synthesis of the models will be undertaken in relation to their strengths, limitations and reproducibility. A quality assessment checklist and scoring framework will be used to determine the appropriate models for estimating and projecting the prevalence anddiseaseburden of asthma. We will not collect any primary data for this review, and hence there is no need for formal National Health Services Research Ethics Committee approval. We will present our findings at scientific conferences and publish the findings in the peer-reviewed scientific journal. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Geophysics Integrated Studies in the Sun Earth System: A Cooperative Project of Vietnam, Europe, and Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amory-Mazaudier, C.; et al.

2006-11-01

lhminh@igp.ncst.ac.vn The Hanoi Institute of Geophysics (Vietnam) will participate to international Heliophysical Year. This paper presents Vietnam‘s participation into this International cooperative project : the Vietnamese network of magnetometers, meteorological stations, ionosondes and GPS receivers involved in campaigns of measurements, the research field selected for the training of young Vietnamese scientists, and the Institutes involve in this training. This paper also presents some particularities of geophysical parameters in Vietnam : the strong amplitude of the equatorial electrojet observed by satellite data and confirmed by magnetic observations at the ground level presented for the first time to the international community, the monsoon signature etc. Finally the differences between the Asian sector and the African sector lead to the development of comparative studies between Asia and Africa.

The weight hierarchies and chain condition of a class of codes from varieties over finite fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Xinen; Feng, Gui-Liang; Rao, T. R. N.

1996-01-01

The generalized Hamming weights of linear codes were first introduced by Wei. These are fundamental parameters related to the minimal overlap structures of the subcodes and very useful in several fields. It was found that the chain condition of a linear code is convenient in studying the generalized Hamming weights of the product codes. In this paper we consider a class of codes defined over some varieties in projective spaces over finite fields, whose generalized Hamming weights can be determined by studying the orbits of subspaces of the projective spaces under the actions of classical groups over finite fields, i.e., the symplectic groups, the unitary groups and orthogonal groups. We give the weight hierarchies and generalized weight spectra of the codes from Hermitian varieties and prove that the codes satisfy the chain condition.

Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory Standard Measures (BHP-SM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Thomas J.; Cromwell, Ronita

2017-01-01

The Spaceflight Standard Measures is a NASA Johnson Space Center Human Research Project (HRP) project that proposes to collect a set of core measurements, representative of many of the human spaceflight risks, from astronauts before, during and after long-duration International Space Station (ISS) missions. The term "standard measures" is defined as a set of core measurements, including physiological, biochemical, psychosocial, cognitive, and functional, that are reliable, valid, and accepted in terrestrial science, are associated with a specific and measurable outcome known to occur as a consequence of spaceflight, that will be collected in a standardized fashion from all (or most) crewmembers. While such measures might be used to define standards of health and performance or readiness for flight, the prime intent in their collection is to allow longitudinal analysis of multiple parameters in order to answer a variety of operational, occupational, and research-based questions. These questions are generally at a high level, and the approach for this project is to populate the standard measures database with the smallest set of data necessary to indicate further detailed research is required. Also included as standard measures are parameters that are not outcome-based in and of-themselves, but provide ancillary information that supports interpretation of the outcome measures, e.g., nutritional assessment, vehicle environmental parameters, crew debriefs, etc. The project's main aim is to ensure that an optimized minimal set of measures is consistently captured from all ISS crewmembers until the end of Station in order to characterize the human in space. -This allows the HRP to identify, establish, and evaluate a common set of measures for use in spaceflight and analog research to: develop baselines, systematically characterize risk likelihood and consequences, and assess effectiveness of countermeasures that work for behavioral health and performance risk factors. -By standardizing the battery of measures on all crewmembers, it will allow the HRP to evaluate countermeasures that work for one physiological system and ensure another system is not negatively affected. -These measures, named "Standard Measures," will serve as a data repository and be available to other studies under data sharing agreements.

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

Yavas, Oe.

The Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) Project was started in 1997 with support of the State Planning Organization (SPO) of Turkey under Ankara University's coordination. After completing Feasibility Report (FR, 2000) and Conceptual Design Repot (CDR, 2005), third phase of the project was started in 2006 as an inter-university project with support of SPO. Third phase of the project has two main scientific goals: to write Technical Design Report (TDR) of TAC and to establish an Infrared Free Electron Laser (IR FEL) facility as a first step. The first facility and TDR studies are planned to be completed in 2012. Constructionmore » phase of TAC will cover 2013-2023. TAC collaboration include ten Turkish Universities: Ankara, Gazi, Istanbul, Bogazici, Dogus, Uludag, Dumlupmar, Nigde, Erciyes and S. Demirel Universities. It was planned that the first facility will be an IR FEL and Bremsstrahlung laboratory based on 15-40 MeV electron linac and two optical cavities with 2.5 and 9 cm undulators to scan 2-250 microns wavelength range. Main purpose of the facility is to use IR FEL for research in material science, nonlinear optics, semiconductors, biotechnology, medicine and photochemical processes. In this study; aims, regional importance, main parts and main parameters of TAC and TAC IR FEL and Bremsstrahlung facility are explained. Road map of the TAC project is given. National and international collaborations are explained.« less

Micro-Optic Color Separation Technology for Efficient Projection Displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gunning, W. J.; Boehmer, E.

1997-01-01

Phase 1 of this project focused on development of an overall optical concept which incorporated a single liquid crystal spatial light modulator. The system achieved full color by utilizing an echelon grating, which diffracted the incident light into three orders with different color spectra, in combination with a microlens array, which spatially separated RGB bands and directed the light of the appropriate wavelength to the appropriate color dot. Preliminary echelon grating designs were provided by MIT/LL and reviewed by Rockwell. Additional Rockwell activities included the Identification of microlens designs, light sources (ILC), and projection optics to fulfill the overall design requirements. An Internal subcontract was established with Rockwell's Collins Avionics and Communications Division (CACD) which specified the liquid crystal SLM (Sharp Model No. LQ 46EO2) and built the projection display baseline projector. Full Color projected video images were produced and shown at the 1995 HDS meeting in Washington. Analysis of the luminance performance of the projector and detailed parameter trade studies helped define the dependence of overall display efficiency on lamp collimation, and indicated that a lamp with very small arc dimension is required for the optical concept to be viable.

An innovative time-cost-quality tradeoff modeling of building construction project based on resource allocation.

PubMed

Hu, Wenfa; He, Xinhua

2014-01-01

The time, quality, and cost are three important but contradictive objectives in a building construction project. It is a tough challenge for project managers to optimize them since they are different parameters. This paper presents a time-cost-quality optimization model that enables managers to optimize multiobjectives. The model is from the project breakdown structure method where task resources in a construction project are divided into a series of activities and further into construction labors, materials, equipment, and administration. The resources utilized in a construction activity would eventually determine its construction time, cost, and quality, and a complex time-cost-quality trade-off model is finally generated based on correlations between construction activities. A genetic algorithm tool is applied in the model to solve the comprehensive nonlinear time-cost-quality problems. Building of a three-storey house is an example to illustrate the implementation of the model, demonstrate its advantages in optimizing trade-off of construction time, cost, and quality, and help make a winning decision in construction practices. The computational time-cost-quality curves in visual graphics from the case study prove traditional cost-time assumptions reasonable and also prove this time-cost-quality trade-off model sophisticated.

[Project Leonardo-da-Vinci for better nursing care].

PubMed

Gábor, Katalin; Csanádi, Lajosné; Helembai, Kornélia; Szögi, Zoltánné; Tulkán, Ibolya; Unginé, Kántor Katalin

2002-08-18

The aim of the present paper is to inform physicians about the work completed by nurses and professors of baccalaureat nurses in the framework of Leonardo da Vinci project, organised and sponsored by the European Union. The goal of the project was to increase the effectiveness of chief nurses throughout their further training programme in the field of management. The team of Szeged chose the human resource management, since in this field is possible to achieve the greatest improvement with the smallest financial investment. We measured the fluctuations and the absentees of the nurses, the changes in the degree of education, the nurse' and patient' satisfaction at the beginning and at the end of the period studied. Except the patient's satisfaction all the other parameters improved by the end of tested period. The project provided a unique possibility to compare the state of the Hungarian nursing with that of the countries belonging to the European Union, to exchange the experience and to learn some new methods. In the framework of this project a book of two volumes was prepared containing the suggestions of EU. This book is widely available in English and in French.

Platform of integrated tools to support environmental studies and management of dredging activities.

PubMed

Feola, Alessandra; Lisi, Iolanda; Salmeri, Andrea; Venti, Francesco; Pedroncini, Andrea; Gabellini, Massimo; Romano, Elena

2016-01-15

Dredging activities can cause environmental impacts due to, among other, the increase of the Suspended Solid Concentration (SSC) and their subsequent dispersion and deposition (DEP) far from the dredging point. The dynamics of the resulting dredging plume can strongly differ in spatial and temporal evolution. This evolution, for both conventional mechanical and hydraulic dredges, depends on the different mechanisms of sediment release in water column and the site-specific environmental conditions. Several numerical models are currently in use to simulate the dredging plume dynamics. Model results can be analysed to study dispersion and advection processes at different depths and distances from the dredging source. Usually, scenarios with frequent and extreme meteomarine conditions are chosen and extreme values of parameters (i.e. maximum intensity or total duration) are evaluated for environmental assessment. This paper presents a flexible, consistent and integrated methodological approach. Statistical parameters and indexes are derived from the analysis of SSC and DEP simulated time-series to numerically estimate their spatial (vertical and horizontal) and seasonal variability, thereby allowing a comparison of the effects of hydraulic and mechanical dredges. Events that exceed defined thresholds are described in term of magnitude, duration and frequency. A new integrated index combining these parameters, SSCnum, is proposed for environmental assessment. Maps representing the proposed parameters allow direct comparison of effects due to different (mechanical and hydraulic) dredges at progressive distances from the dredging zone. Results can contribute towards identification and assessment of the potential environmental effects of a proposed dredging project. A suitable evaluation of alternative technical choices, appropriate mitigation, management and monitoring measure is allowed in this framework. Environmental Risk Assessment and Decision Support Systems (DSS) may take advantage of the proposed tool. The approach is applied to a hypothetical dredging project in the Augusta Harbour (Eastern coast of Sicily Island-Italy). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Erlang circular model motivated by inverse stereographic projection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pramesti, G.

2018-05-01

The Erlang distribution is a special case of the Gamma distribution with the shape parameter is an integer. This paper proposed a new circular model used inverse stereographic projection. The inverse stereographic projection which is a mapping that projects a random variable from a real line onto a circle can be used in circular statistics to construct a distribution on the circle from real domain. From the circular model, then can be derived the characteristics of the Erlang circular model such as the mean resultant length, mean direction, circular variance and trigonometric moments of the distribution.

Offshore Wind Plant Balance-of-Station Cost Drivers and Sensitivities (Poster)

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

Saur, G.; Maples, B.; Meadows, B.

2012-09-01

With Balance of System (BOS) costs contributing up to 70% of the installed capital cost, it is fundamental to understanding the BOS costs for offshore wind projects as well as potential cost trends for larger offshore turbines. NREL developed a BOS model using project cost estimates developed by GL Garrad Hassan. Aspects of BOS covered include engineering and permitting, ports and staging, transportation and installation, vessels, foundations, and electrical. The data introduce new scaling relationships for each BOS component to estimate cost as a function of turbine parameters and size, project parameters and size, and soil type. Based on themore » new BOS model, an analysis to understand the non-turbine costs associated with offshore turbine sizes ranging from 3 MW to 6 MW and offshore wind plant sizes ranging from 100 MW to 1000 MW has been conducted. This analysis establishes a more robust baseline cost estimate, identifies the largest cost components of offshore wind project BOS, and explores the sensitivity of the levelized cost of energy to permutations in each BOS cost element. This presentation shows results from the model that illustrates the potential impact of turbine size and project size on the cost of energy from US offshore wind plants.« less

Projection parameters for zirconia-alumina-ceria coatings made by flame spraying from results of numerical simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez, L.; Ferrer, M.; Vargas, F.; Peña, G.

2017-12-01

A numerical simulation was performed with the software Jets et Poudres, the results let choose the parameters to deposit zirconia-alumina-ceria coatings of different composition on substrates of red clay, by thermal spraying with the oxyacetylene flame to obtain homogeneous coatings with good adhesion to the substrate. The effect of the projection distance (7, 10 and 12cm) between the substrate and the torch, the fusion percentage of particles and the K-Sommerfeld number was determined. This number is dimensionless and is affected by the projection distance and by the chemical composition of the particles. For a projection distance of 9cm, the fusion percentage of the particles varies between 83.8% and 100%, and the K-Sommerfeld number between 47.3 and 50 for the different compounds. This makes possible to obtain uniform coatings with good wettability, therefore, good adhesion to the substrate, while for the distance of 7cm the fusion percentage varies between 22% and 38%, due to the short time of the particles in the flame which causes low adhesion, when the projection distance is 12cm the particles do not have sufficient kinetic energy to reach the substrate and therefore the coating is not deposited.

Sizing Power Components of an Electrically Driven Tail Cone Thruster and a Range Extender

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jansen, Ralph H.; Bowman, Cheryl; Jankovsky, Amy

2016-01-01

The aeronautics industry has been challenged on many fronts to increase efficiency, reduce emissions, and decrease dependency on carbon-based fuels. This paper provides an overview of the turboelectric and hybrid electric technologies being developed under NASA's Advanced Air Transportation Technology (AATT) Project and discusses how these technologies can impact vehicle design. The discussion includes an overview of key hybrid electric studies and technology investments, the approach to making informed investment decisions based on key performance parameters and mission studies, and the power system architectures for two candidate aircraft. Finally, the power components for a single-aisle turboelectric aircraft with an electrically driven tail cone thruster and for a hybrid-electric nine-passenger aircraft with a range extender are parametrically sized, and the sensitivity of these components to key parameters is presented.

Visual Literacy and Cultural Production: Examining Black Masculinity through Participatory Community Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Theresa Renee

2012-01-01

This paper highlights the results of a project, in which a group of students, who were enrolled in an African American film criticism course at a large university in Southern California, participated in a community engagement project that incorporated visual and media literacy skills acquired in the classroom setting. The parameters of the project…

Mapping Surface Cover Parameters Using Aggregation Rules and Remotely Sensed Cover Classes. Version 1.9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arain, Altaf M.; Shuttleworth, W. James; Yang, Z-Liang; Michaud, Jene; Dolman, Johannes

1997-01-01

A coupled model, which combines the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS) with an advanced atmospheric boundary-layer model, was used to validate hypothetical aggregation rules for BATS-specific surface cover parameters. The model was initialized and tested with observations from the Anglo-Brazilian Amazonian Climate Observational Study and used to simulate surface fluxes for rain forest and pasture mixes at a site near Manaus in Brazil. The aggregation rules are shown to estimate parameters which give area-average surface fluxes similar to those calculated with explicit representation of forest and pasture patches for a range of meteorological and surface conditions relevant to this site, but the agreement deteriorates somewhat when there are large patch-to-patch differences in soil moisture. The aggregation rules, validated as above, were then applied to remotely sensed 1 km land cover data set to obtain grid-average values of BATS vegetation parameters for 2.8 deg x 2.8 deg and 1 deg x 1 deg grids within the conterminous United States. There are significant differences in key vegetation parameters (aerodynamic roughness length, albedo, leaf area index, and stomatal resistance) when aggregate parameters are compared to parameters for the single, dominant cover within the grid. However, the surface energy fluxes calculated by stand-alone BATS with the 2-year forcing, data from the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) CDROM were reasonably similar using aggregate-vegetation parameters and dominant-cover parameters, but there were some significant differences, particularly in the western USA.

Hydrological Modeling in the Bull Run Watershed in Support of a Piloting Utility Modeling Applications (PUMA) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nijssen, B.; Chiao, T. H.; Lettenmaier, D. P.; Vano, J. A.

2016-12-01

Hydrologic models with varying complexities and structures are commonly used to evaluate the impact of climate change on future hydrology. While the uncertainties in future climate projections are well documented, uncertainties in streamflow projections associated with hydrologic model structure and parameter estimation have received less attention. In this study, we implemented and calibrated three hydrologic models (the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM), the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS), and the Variable Infiltration Capacity model (VIC)) for the Bull Run watershed in northern Oregon using consistent data sources and best practice calibration protocols. The project was part of a Piloting Utility Modeling Applications (PUMA) project with the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) under the umbrella of the Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA). Ultimately PWB would use the model evaluation to select a model to perform in-house climate change analysis for Bull Run Watershed. This presentation focuses on the experimental design of the comparison project, project findings and the collaboration between the team at the University of Washington and at PWB. After calibration, the three models showed similar capability to reproduce seasonal and inter-annual variations in streamflow, but differed in their ability to capture extreme events. Furthermore, the annual and seasonal hydrologic sensitivities to changes in climate forcings differed among models, potentially attributable to different model representations of snow and vegetation processes.