A proposed coast-wide reference monitoring system for evaluating Wetland restoration trajectories in Louisiana

USGS Publications Warehouse

Steyer, G.D.; Sasser, C.E.; Visser, J.M.; Swenson, E.M.; Nyman, J.A.; Raynie, R.C.

2003-01-01

Wetland restoration efforts conducted in Louisiana under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act require monitoring the effectiveness of individual projects as well as monitoring the cumulative effects of all projects in restoring, creating, enhancing, and protecting the coastal landscape. The effectiveness of the traditional paired-reference monitoring approach in Louisiana has been limited because of difficulty in finding comparable reference sites. A multiple reference approach is proposed that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling. This approach includes a suite of sites that encompass the range of ecological condition for each stratum, with projects placed on a continuum of conditions found for that stratum. Trajectories in reference sites through time are then compared with project trajectories through time. Plant community zonation complicated selection of indicators, strata, and sample size. The approach proposed could serve as a model for evaluating wetland ecosystems.

A proposed coast-wide reference monitoring system for evaluating wetland restoration trajectories in Louisiana.

PubMed

Steyer, Gregory D; Sasser, Charles E; Visser, Jenneke M; Swenson, Erick M; Nyman, John A; Raynie, Richard C

2003-01-01

Wetland restoration efforts conducted in Louisiana under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act require monitoring the effectiveness of individual projects as well as monitoring the cumulative effects of all projects in restoring, creating, enhancing, and protecting the coastal landscape. The effectiveness of the traditional paired-reference monitoring approach in Louisiana has been limited because of difficulty in finding comparable reference sites. A multiple reference approach is proposed that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling. This approach includes a suite of sites that encompass the range of ecological condition for each stratum, with projects placed on a continuum of conditions found for that stratum. Trajectories in reference sites through time are then compared with project trajectories through time. Plant community zonation complicated selection of indicators, strata, and sample size. The approach proposed could serve as a model for evaluating wetland ecosystems.

Fundamental Importance of Reference Glucose Analyzer Accuracy for Evaluating the Performance of Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems (BGMSs).

PubMed

Bailey, Timothy S; Klaff, Leslie J; Wallace, Jane F; Greene, Carmine; Pardo, Scott; Harrison, Bern; Simmons, David A

2016-07-01

As blood glucose monitoring system (BGMS) accuracy is based on comparison of BGMS and laboratory reference glucose analyzer results, reference instrument accuracy is important to discriminate small differences between BGMS and reference glucose analyzer results. Here, we demonstrate the important role of reference glucose analyzer accuracy in BGMS accuracy evaluations. Two clinical studies assessed the performance of a new BGMS, using different reference instrument procedures. BGMS and YSI analyzer results were compared for fingertip blood that was obtained by untrained subjects' self-testing and study staff testing, respectively. YSI analyzer accuracy was monitored using traceable serum controls. In study 1 (N = 136), 94.1% of BGMS results were within International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15197:2013 accuracy criteria; YSI analyzer serum control results showed a negative bias (-0.64% to -2.48%) at the first site and a positive bias (3.36% to 6.91%) at the other site. In study 2 (N = 329), 97.8% of BGMS results were within accuracy criteria; serum controls showed minimal bias (<0.92%) at both sites. These findings suggest that the ability to demonstrate that a BGMS meets accuracy guidelines is influenced by reference instrument accuracy. © 2016 Diabetes Technology Society.

Monitoring with Data Automata

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Havelund, Klaus

2014-01-01

We present a form of automaton, referred to as data automata, suited for monitoring sequences of data-carrying events, for example emitted by an executing software system. This form of automata allows states to be parameterized with data, forming named records, which are stored in an efficiently indexed data structure, a form of database. This very explicit approach differs from other automaton-based monitoring approaches. Data automata are also characterized by allowing transition conditions to refer to other parameterized states, and by allowing transitions sequences. The presented automaton concept is inspired by rule-based systems, especially the Rete algorithm, which is one of the well-established algorithms for executing rule-based systems. We present an optimized external DSL for data automata, as well as a comparable unoptimized internal DSL (API) in the Scala programming language, in order to compare the two solutions. An evaluation compares these two solutions to several other monitoring systems.

49 CFR 614.101 - Cross-reference to management systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... traffic monitoring for highways and public transportation facilities and equipment. ... 49 Transportation 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Cross-reference to management systems. 614.101 Section 614.101 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) FEDERAL TRANSIT...

The arrangement of deformation monitoring project and analysis of monitoring data of a hydropower engineering safety monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wanshun; Chen, Zhuo; Li, Xiuwen

2018-03-01

The safety monitoring is very important in the operation and management of water resources and hydropower projects. It is the important means to understand the dam running status, to ensure the dam safety, to safeguard people’s life and property security, and to make full use of engineering benefits. This paper introduces the arrangement of engineering safety monitoring system based on the example of a water resource control project. The monitoring results of each monitoring project are analyzed intensively to show the operating status of the monitoring system and to provide useful reference for similar projects.

Making intelligent systems team players. A guide to developing intelligent monitoring systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Land, Sherry A.; Malin, Jane T.; Thronesberry, Carroll; Schreckenghost, Debra L.

1995-01-01

This reference guide for developers of intelligent monitoring systems is based on lessons learned by developers of the DEcision Support SYstem (DESSY), an expert system that monitors Space Shuttle telemetry data in real time. DESSY makes inferences about commands, state transitions, and simple failures. It performs failure detection rather than in-depth failure diagnostics. A listing of rules from DESSY and cue cards from DESSY subsystems are included to give the development community a better understanding of the selected model system. The G-2 programming tool used in developing DESSY provides an object-oriented, rule-based environment, but many of the principles in use here can be applied to any type of monitoring intelligent system. The step-by-step instructions and examples given for each stage of development are in G-2, but can be used with other development tools. This guide first defines the authors' concept of real-time monitoring systems, then tells prospective developers how to determine system requirements, how to build the system through a combined design/development process, and how to solve problems involved in working with real-time data. It explains the relationships among operational prototyping, software evolution, and the user interface. It also explains methods of testing, verification, and validation. It includes suggestions for preparing reference documentation and training users.

General-Purpose Monitoring during Speech Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ries, Stephanie; Janssen, Niels; Dufau, Stephane; Alario, F.-Xavier; Burle, Boris

2011-01-01

The concept of "monitoring" refers to our ability to control our actions on-line. Monitoring involved in speech production is often described in psycholinguistic models as an inherent part of the language system. We probed the specificity of speech monitoring in two psycholinguistic experiments where electroencephalographic activities were…

Fundamental Importance of Reference Glucose Analyzer Accuracy for Evaluating the Performance of Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems (BGMSs)

PubMed Central

Bailey, Timothy S.; Klaff, Leslie J.; Wallace, Jane F.; Greene, Carmine; Pardo, Scott; Harrison, Bern; Simmons, David A.

2016-01-01

Background: As blood glucose monitoring system (BGMS) accuracy is based on comparison of BGMS and laboratory reference glucose analyzer results, reference instrument accuracy is important to discriminate small differences between BGMS and reference glucose analyzer results. Here, we demonstrate the important role of reference glucose analyzer accuracy in BGMS accuracy evaluations. Methods: Two clinical studies assessed the performance of a new BGMS, using different reference instrument procedures. BGMS and YSI analyzer results were compared for fingertip blood that was obtained by untrained subjects’ self-testing and study staff testing, respectively. YSI analyzer accuracy was monitored using traceable serum controls. Results: In study 1 (N = 136), 94.1% of BGMS results were within International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15197:2013 accuracy criteria; YSI analyzer serum control results showed a negative bias (−0.64% to −2.48%) at the first site and a positive bias (3.36% to 6.91%) at the other site. In study 2 (N = 329), 97.8% of BGMS results were within accuracy criteria; serum controls showed minimal bias (<0.92%) at both sites. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the ability to demonstrate that a BGMS meets accuracy guidelines is influenced by reference instrument accuracy. PMID:26902794

[On the way to national reference system of laboratory medicine].

PubMed

Muravskaia, N P; Men'shikov, V V

2014-10-01

The application of standard samples and reference techniques of implementation of measurements is needed for a valid support of reliability of analyses applied in clinical diagnostic laboratories. They play role of landmarks under metrologic monitoring, calibration of devices and control of quality of results. The article presents analysis of shortcomings interfering with formation of national reference system in Russia harmonized with possibilities provided by international organizations. Among them are the joint Committee on metrologic monitoring in laboratory medicine under the auspices of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Federation of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine, etc. The results of the recent development of national normative documents, standard samples and techniques assisted by the authors of article are considered. They are the first steps to organization of national reference system which would comprise all range of modern analytical technologies of laboratory medicine. The national and international measures are proposed to enhance the promptest resolving of task of organization of national reference system for laboratory medicine in the interests of increasing of effectiveness of medical care to citizen of Russia.

On the establishment and maintenance of a modern conventional terrestrial reference system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bock, Y.; Zhu, S. Y.

1982-01-01

The frame of the Conventional Terrestrial Reference System (CTS) is defined by an adopted set of coordinates, at a fundamental epoxh, of a global network of stations which contribute the vertices of a fundamental polyhedron. A method to estimate this set of coordinates using a combination of modern three dimensional geodetic systems is presented. Once established, the function of the CTS is twofold. The first is to monitor the external (or global) motions of the polyhedron with respect to the frame of a Conventional Inertial Reference System, i.e., those motions common to all stations. The second is to monitor the internal motions (or deformations) of the polyhedron, i.e., those motions that are not common to all stations. Two possible estimators for use in earth deformation analysis are given and their statistical and physical properties are described.

Focus Upon Implementing the GGOS Decadal Vision for Geohazards Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LaBrecque, John; Stangl, Gunter

2017-04-01

The Global Geodetic Observing System of the IAG identified present and future roles for Geodesy in the development and well being of the global society. The GGOS is focused upon the development of infrastructure, information, analysis, and educational systems to advance the International Global Reference Frame, the International Celestial Reference System, the International Height Reference System, atmospheric dynamics, sea level change and geohazards monitoring. The geohazards initiative is guided by an eleven nation working group initially focused upon the development and integration of regional multi-GNSS networks and analysis systems for earthquake and tsunami early warning. The opportunities and challenges being addressed by the Geohazards working group include regional network design, algorithm development and implementation, communications, funding, and international agreements on data access. This presentation will discuss in further detail these opportunities and challenges for the GGOS focus upon earthquake and tsunami early warning.

Oxygen sensor for monitoring gas mixtures containing hydrocarbons

DOEpatents

Ruka, Roswell J.; Basel, Richard A.

1996-01-01

A gas sensor measures O.sub.2 content of a reformable monitored gas containing hydrocarbons H.sub.2 O and/or CO.sub.2, preferably in association with an electrochemical power generation system. The gas sensor has a housing communicating with the monitored gas environment and carries the monitored gas through an integral catalytic hydrocarbon reforming chamber containing a reforming catalyst, and over a solid electrolyte electrochemical cell used for sensing purposes. The electrochemical cell includes a solid electrolyte between a sensor electrode that is exposed to the monitored gas, and a reference electrode that is isolated in the housing from the monitored gas and is exposed to a reference gas environment. A heating element is also provided in heat transfer communication with the gas sensor. A circuit that can include controls operable to adjust operations via valves or the like is connected between the sensor electrode and the reference electrode to process the electrical signal developed by the electrochemical cell. The electrical signal varies as a measure of the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of the monitored gas. Signal noise is effectively reduced by maintaining a constant temperature in the area of the electrochemical cell and providing a monitored gas at chemical equilibria when contacting the electrochemical cell. The output gas from the electrochemical cell of the sensor is fed back into the conduits of the power generating system.

Oxygen sensor for monitoring gas mixtures containing hydrocarbons

DOEpatents

Ruka, R.J.; Basel, R.A.

1996-03-12

A gas sensor measures O{sub 2} content of a reformable monitored gas containing hydrocarbons, H{sub 2}O and/or CO{sub 2}, preferably in association with an electrochemical power generation system. The gas sensor has a housing communicating with the monitored gas environment and carries the monitored gas through an integral catalytic hydrocarbon reforming chamber containing a reforming catalyst, and over a solid electrolyte electrochemical cell used for sensing purposes. The electrochemical cell includes a solid electrolyte between a sensor electrode that is exposed to the monitored gas, and a reference electrode that is isolated in the housing from the monitored gas and is exposed to a reference gas environment. A heating element is also provided in heat transfer communication with the gas sensor. A circuit that can include controls operable to adjust operations via valves or the like is connected between the sensor electrode and the reference electrode to process the electrical signal developed by the electrochemical cell. The electrical signal varies as a measure of the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of the monitored gas. Signal noise is effectively reduced by maintaining a constant temperature in the area of the electrochemical cell and providing a monitored gas at chemical equilibria when contacting the electrochemical cell. The output gas from the electrochemical cell of the sensor is fed back into the conduits of the power generating system. 4 figs.

Monitoring of Earth Rotation by VLBI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma., Chopo; Macmillan, D. S.

2000-01-01

Monitoring Earth rotation with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) has unique potential because of direct access to the Celestial Reference System (CRF and Terrestrial Reference System (TRF) and the feasibility of re-analyzing the entire data set. While formal precision of better than 0.045 mas for pole and 0.002 ms for UT 1 has been seen in the best 24-hr data, the accuracy of the Earth Orientation Parameter (EOP) time series as a whole is subject to logistical, operational, analytical and conceptual constraints. The current issues related to the VLBI data set and the CORE program for greater time resolution such as analysis consistency, network jitter and reference frame stability will be discussed.

40 CFR Appendix B to Subpart Uuuuu... - -HCl and HF Monitoring Provisions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... extractive Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) continuous emissions monitoring systems in appendix... Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy” (incorporated by reference, see § 63.14), each applied...

40 CFR Appendix B to Subpart Uuuuu... - -HCl and HF Monitoring Provisions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... extractive Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) continuous emissions monitoring systems in appendix... Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy” (incorporated by reference, see § 63.14), each applied...

14 CFR 171.263 - Localizer automatic monitor system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... (CONTINUED) NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES Interim Standard Microwave Landing... provide an automatic monitor system that transmits a warning to designated local and remote control points... centerline equivalent to more than 0.015 DDM at the ISMLS reference datum. (2) For localizers in which the...

14 CFR 171.263 - Localizer automatic monitor system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... (CONTINUED) NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES Interim Standard Microwave Landing... provide an automatic monitor system that transmits a warning to designated local and remote control points... centerline equivalent to more than 0.015 DDM at the ISMLS reference datum. (2) For localizers in which the...

14 CFR 171.263 - Localizer automatic monitor system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... (CONTINUED) NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES Interim Standard Microwave Landing... provide an automatic monitor system that transmits a warning to designated local and remote control points... centerline equivalent to more than 0.015 DDM at the ISMLS reference datum. (2) For localizers in which the...

14 CFR 171.263 - Localizer automatic monitor system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... (CONTINUED) NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES Interim Standard Microwave Landing... provide an automatic monitor system that transmits a warning to designated local and remote control points... centerline equivalent to more than 0.015 DDM at the ISMLS reference datum. (2) For localizers in which the...

14 CFR 171.263 - Localizer automatic monitor system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... (CONTINUED) NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES Interim Standard Microwave Landing... provide an automatic monitor system that transmits a warning to designated local and remote control points... centerline equivalent to more than 0.015 DDM at the ISMLS reference datum. (2) For localizers in which the...

40 CFR Appendix B to Subpart Uuuuu - -HCl and HF Monitoring Provisions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) continuous emissions monitoring systems in appendix B to... Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy” (incorporated by reference, see § 63.14), each applied...

A minimally invasive system for glucose area under the curve measurement using interstitial fluid extraction technology: evaluation of the accuracy and usefulness with oral glucose tolerance tests in subjects with and without diabetes.

PubMed

Sakaguchi, Kazuhiko; Hirota, Yushi; Hashimoto, Naoko; Ogawa, Wataru; Sato, Toshiyuki; Okada, Seiki; Hagino, Kei; Asakura, Yoshihiro; Kikkawa, Yasuo; Kojima, Junko; Maekawa, Yasunori; Nakajima, Hiromu

2012-06-01

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of managing postprandial hyperglycemia, but adequate monitoring of postprandial glucose remains difficult because of wide variations in levels. We have therefore developed a minimally invasive system to monitor postprandial glucose area under the curve (AUC). This system involves no blood sampling and uses interstitial fluid glucose (IG) AUC (IG-AUC) as a surrogate marker of postprandial glucose. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of this system by comparing data with the findings of oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) in subjects with and without diabetes. The glucose AUC monitoring system was validated by OGTTs in 37 subjects with and 10 subjects without diabetes. A plastic microneedle array was stamped on the forearm to extract IG. A hydrogel patch was then placed on the pretreated area to accumulate IG. Glucose and sodium ion concentrations in the hydrogel were measured to calculate IG-AUC at 2-h postload glucose. Plasma glucose (PG) levels were measured every 30 min to calculate reference PG-AUC. IG-AUC correlated strongly with reference PG-AUC (r=0.93) over a wide range. The level of correlation between IG-AUC and maximum PG level was also high (r=0.86). The painless nature of the technique was confirmed by the response of patients to questionnaires. The glucose AUC monitoring system using IG provided good estimates of reference PG-AUC and maximum PG level during OGTTs in subjects with and without diabetes. This system provides easy-to-use monitoring of glucose AUC, which is a good indicator of postprandial glucose.

Quaternion Based Thermal Condition Monitoring System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Wai Kit; Loo, Chu Kiong; Lim, Way Soong; Tan, Poi Ngee

In this paper, we will propose a new and effective machine condition monitoring system using log-polar mapper, quaternion based thermal image correlator and max-product fuzzy neural network classifier. Two classification characteristics namely: peak to sidelobe ratio (PSR) and real to complex ratio of the discrete quaternion correlation output (p-value) are applied in the proposed machine condition monitoring system. Large PSR and p-value observe in a good match among correlation of the input thermal image with a particular reference image, while small PSR and p-value observe in a bad/not match among correlation of the input thermal image with a particular reference image. In simulation, we also discover that log-polar mapping actually help solving rotation and scaling invariant problems in quaternion based thermal image correlation. Beside that, log-polar mapping can have a two fold of data compression capability. Log-polar mapping can help smoother up the output correlation plane too, hence makes a better measurement way for PSR and p-values. Simulation results also show that the proposed system is an efficient machine condition monitoring system with accuracy more than 98%.

A new venous infusion pathway monitoring system.

PubMed

Maki, Hiromichi; Yonezawa, Yoshiharu; Ogawa, Hidekuni; Ninomiya, Ishio; Sata, Koji; Hamada, Shingo; Caldwell, W Morton

2007-01-01

A new infusion catheter pathway monitoring system employing linear integrated circuits and a low-power 8-bit single chip microcomputer has been developed for hospital and home use. The sensor consists of coaxial three-layer conductive tapes wrapped around the polyvinyl chloride infusion tube. The inner tape is the main electrode, which records an AC (alternating current) voltage induced on the patient's body by electrostatic coupling from the normal 100 volt, 60 Hz AC power line wiring field in the patient's room. The outside tape layer is a reference electrode to monitor the AC voltage around the main electrode. The center tape layer is connected to system ground and functions as a shield. The microcomputer calculates the ratio of the induced AC voltages recorded by the main and reference electrodes and if the ratio indicates a detached infusion, alerts the nursing station, via the nurse call system or low transmitting power mobile phone.

40 CFR 75.22 - Reference test methods.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... recertification of continuous emission monitoring Systems; NOX emission tests of low mass emission units under... continuous moisture monitoring systems are conducted. For the purpose of determining the stack gas molecular... traverse requirement of the method; (iv) Section 8.6 of the method allowing for the use of “Dynamic Spiking...

40 CFR 75.22 - Reference test methods.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... certification or recertification of continuous emission monitoring systems and excepted monitoring systems under... a wet basis to a dry basis) and shall be used when relative accuracy test audits of continuous... traverse requirement of the method; (iv) Section 8.6 of the method allowing for the use of “Dynamic Spiking...

The Relationship of Personality Traits and Self-Monitoring Behavior to Choice of Business Major.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noel, Noel Mark; Michaels Chad; Levas, Michael G.

2003-01-01

Using Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Revised Self-Monitoring Scale, 177 undergraduate business students assessed their personality traits. Personalities and self-monitoring differed by major (accounting, management information systems, marketing) in ways that supported conventional stereotypes. (Contains 24 references.) (SK)

Discipline Monitoring System: A School Self-Study Project for Montgomery County Public Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, William M.; Splaine, Pam

The Discipline Monitoring System (DMS) is a computer-assisted model allowing individual secondary schools to analyze their disciplinary actions. The Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland) adopted this model to manipulate the following data: who is suspended, who is referred, who makes referrals, characteristics of these persons, and events…

105KE Basin Area Radiation Monitor System (ARMS) Acceptance Test Procedure

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

KINKEL, C.C.

1999-12-14

This procedure is intended for the Area Radiation Monitoring System, ARMS, that is replacing the existing Programmable Input-Output Processing System, PIOPS, radiation monitoring system in the 105KE basin. The new system will be referred to as the 105KE ARMS, 105KE Area Radiation Monitoring System. This ATP will ensure calibration integrity of the 105KE radiation detector loops. Also, this ATP will test and document the display, printing, alarm output, alarm acknowledgement, upscale check, and security functions. This ATP test is to be performed after completion of the 105KE ARMS installation. The alarm outputs of the 105KE ARMS will be connected tomore » the basin detector alarms, basin annunciator system, and security Alarm Monitoring System, AMS, located in the 200 area Central Alarm Station (CAS).« less

CCSDS Spacecraft Monitor and Control Service Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merri, Mario; Schmidt, Michael; Ercolani, Alessandro; Dankiewicz, Ivan; Cooper, Sam; Thompson, Roger; Symonds, Martin; Oyake, Amalaye; Vaughs, Ashton; Shames, Peter

2004-01-01

This CCSDS paper presents a reference architecture and service framework for spacecraft monitoring and control. It has been prepared by the Spacecraft Monitoring and Control working group of the CCSDS Mission Operations and Information Management Systems (MOIMS) area. In this context, Spacecraft Monitoring and Control (SM&C) refers to end-to-end services between on- board or remote applications and ground-based functions responsible for mission operations. The scope of SM&C includes: 1) Operational Concept: definition of an operational concept that covers a set of standard operations activities related to the monitoring and control of both ground and space segments. 2) Core Set of Services: definition of an extensible set of services to support the operational concept together with its information model and behaviours. This includes (non exhaustively) ground systems such as Automatic Command and Control, Data Archiving and Retrieval, Flight Dynamics, Mission Planning and Performance Evaluation. 3) Application-layer information: definition of the standard information set to be exchanged for SM&C purposes.

Improving Reference Service: The Case for Using a Continuous Quality Improvement Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aluri, Rao

1993-01-01

Discusses the evaluation of library reference service; examines problems with past evaluations, including the lack of long-term planning and a systems perspective; and suggests a method for continuously monitoring and improving reference service using quality improvement tools such as checklists, cause and effect diagrams, Pareto charts, and…

Discriminating ultrasonic proximity detection system

DOEpatents

Annala, Wayne C.

1989-01-01

This invention uses an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver and a microprocessor to detect the presence of an object. In the reset mode the invention uses a plurality of echoes from each ultrasonic burst to create a reference table of the echo-burst-signature of the empty monitored environment. The invention then processes the reference table so that it only uses the most reliable data. In the detection mode the invention compares the echo-burst-signature of the present environment with the reference table, detecting an object if there is a consistent difference between the echo-burst-signature of the empty monitored environment recorded in the reference table and the echo-burst-signature of the present environment.

Off-line-locked laser diode species monitor system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Jamine (Inventor); Goldstein, Neil (Inventor); Richtsmeier, Steven (Inventor); Bien, Fritz (Inventor); Gersh, Michael (Inventor)

1995-01-01

An off-line-locked laser diode species monitor system includes: reference means for including at least one known species having a first absorption wavelength; a laser source for irradiating the reference means and at least one sample species having a second absorption wavelength differing from the first absorption wavelength by a predetermined amount; means for locking the wavelength of the laser source to the first wavelength of the at least one known species in the reference means; a controller for defeating the means for locking and for displacing the laser source wavelength from said first absorption wavelength by said predetermined amount to the second absorption wavelength; and a sample detector device for determining laser radiation absorption at the second wavelength transmitted through the sample to detect the presence of the at least one sample species.

Airborne relay-based regional positioning system.

PubMed

Lee, Kyuman; Noh, Hongjun; Lim, Jaesung

2015-05-28

Ground-based pseudolite systems have some limitations, such as low vertical accuracy, multipath effects and near-far problems. These problems are not significant in airborne-based pseudolite systems. However, the monitoring of pseudolite positions is required because of the mobility of the platforms on which the pseudolites are mounted, and this causes performance degradation. To address these pseudolite system limitations, we propose an airborne relay-based regional positioning system that consists of a master station, reference stations, airborne relays and a user. In the proposed system, navigation signals are generated from the reference stations located on the ground and are relayed via the airborne relays. Unlike in conventional airborne-based systems, the user in the proposed system sequentially estimates both the locations of airborne relays and his/her own position. Therefore, a delay due to monitoring does not occur, and the accuracy is not affected by the movement of airborne relays. We conducted several simulations to evaluate the performance of the proposed system. Based on the simulation results, we demonstrated that the proposed system guarantees a higher accuracy than airborne-based pseudolite systems, and it is feasible despite the existence of clock offsets among reference stations.

Airborne Relay-Based Regional Positioning System

PubMed Central

Lee, Kyuman; Noh, Hongjun; Lim, Jaesung

2015-01-01

Ground-based pseudolite systems have some limitations, such as low vertical accuracy, multipath effects and near-far problems. These problems are not significant in airborne-based pseudolite systems. However, the monitoring of pseudolite positions is required because of the mobility of the platforms on which the pseudolites are mounted, and this causes performance degradation. To address these pseudolite system limitations, we propose an airborne relay-based regional positioning system that consists of a master station, reference stations, airborne relays and a user. In the proposed system, navigation signals are generated from the reference stations located on the ground and are relayed via the airborne relays. Unlike in conventional airborne-based systems, the user in the proposed system sequentially estimates both the locations of airborne relays and his/her own position. Therefore, a delay due to monitoring does not occur, and the accuracy is not affected by the movement of airborne relays. We conducted several simulations to evaluate the performance of the proposed system. Based on the simulation results, we demonstrated that the proposed system guarantees a higher accuracy than airborne-based pseudolite systems, and it is feasible despite the existence of clock offsets among reference stations. PMID:26029953

Arduino Based Infant Monitoring System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farhanah Mohamad Ishak, Daing Noor; Jamil, Muhammad Mahadi Abdul; Ambar, Radzi

2017-08-01

This paper proposes a system for monitoring infant in an incubator and records the relevant data into a computer. The data recorded by the system can be further referred by the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) personnel for diagnostic or research purposes. The study focuses on designing the monitoring system that consists of an incubator equipped with humidity sensor to measure the humidity level, and a pulse sensor that can be attached on an infant placed inside the incubator to monitor infant’s heart pulse. The measurement results which are the pulse rate and humidity level are sent to the PC via Arduino microcontroller. The advantage of this system will be that in the future, it may also enable doctors to closely monitor the infant condition through local area network and internet. This work is aimed as an example of an application that contributes towards remote tele-health monitoring system.

An Introduction to the Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System from a EUMETSAT Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, S. C.; Hewison, T.; Roebeling, R. A.; Koenig, M.; Schulz, J.; Miu, P.

2012-04-01

The Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System (GSICS) (Goldberg and al. 2011) is an international collaborative effort which aims to monitor, improve and harmonize the quality of observations from operational weather and environmental satellites of the Global Observing System (GOS). GSICS aims at ensuring consistent accuracy among space-based observations worldwide for climate monitoring, weather forecasting, and environmental applications. This is achieved through a comprehensive calibration strategy, which involves monitoring instrument performances, operational inter-calibration of satellite instruments, tying the measurements to absolute references and standards, and recalibration of archived data. A major part of this strategy involves direct comparison of collocated observations from pairs of satellite instruments, which are used to systematically generate calibration functions to compare and correct the calibration of monitored instruments to references. These GSICS Corrections are needed for accurately integrating data from multiple observing systems into both near real-time and re-analysis products, applications and services. This paper gives more insight into the activities carried out by EUMETSAT as a GSICS Processing and Research Centre. Currently these are closely bound to the in-house development and operational implementation of calibration methods for solar and thermal band channels of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites. They include inter-calibration corrections for Meteosat imagers using reference instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on-board the Aqua satellite for solar band channels, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on-board Metop-A and, for historic archive data, the High-resolution InfraRed Sounder (HIRS). Additionally, bias monitoring is routinely performed, allowing users to visualise the calibration accuracy of the instruments in near real-time. These activities are based on principles and protocols defined by the GSICS Research Working Group and Data Management Working Group, which require assessment of the calibration uncertainties to ensure the traceability to community references.

An Improved Calibration Method for Hydrazine Monitors for the United States Air Force

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

Korsah, K

2003-07-07

This report documents the results of Phase 1 of the ''Air Force Hydrazine Detector Characterization and Calibration Project''. A method for calibrating model MDA 7100 hydrazine detectors in the United States Air Force (AF) inventory has been developed. The calibration system consists of a Kintek 491 reference gas generation system, a humidifier/mixer system which combines the dry reference hydrazine gas with humidified diluent or carrier gas to generate the required humidified reference for calibrations, and a gas sampling interface. The Kintek reference gas generation system itself is periodically calibrated using an ORNL-constructed coulometric titration system to verify the hydrazine concentrationmore » of the sample atmosphere in the interface module. The Kintek reference gas is then used to calibrate the hydrazine monitors. Thus, coulometric titration is only used to periodically assess the performance of the Kintek reference gas generation system, and is not required for hydrazine monitor calibrations. One advantage of using coulometric titration for verifying the concentration of the reference gas is that it is a primary standard (if used for simple solutions), thereby guaranteeing, in principle, that measurements will be traceable to SI units (i.e., to the mole). The effect of humidity of the reference gas was characterized by using the results of concentrations determined by coulometric titration to develop a humidity correction graph for the Kintek 491 reference gas generation system. Using this calibration method, calibration uncertainty has been reduced by 50% compared to the current method used to calibrate hydrazine monitors in the Air Force inventory and calibration time has also been reduced by more than 20%. Significant findings from studies documented in this report are the following: (1) The Kintek 491 reference gas generation system (generator, humidifier and interface module) can be used to calibrate hydrazine detectors. (2) The Kintek system output concentration is less than the calculated output of the generator alone but can be calibrated as a system by using coulometric titration of gas samples collected with impingers. (3) The calibrated Kintek system output concentration is reproducible even after having been disassembled and moved and reassembled. (4) The uncertainty of the reference gas concentration generated by the Kintek system is less than half the uncertainty of the Zellweger Analytics' (ZA) reference gas concentration and can be easily lowered to one third or less of the ZA method by using lower-uncertainty flow rate or total flow measuring instruments. (5) The largest sources of uncertainty in the current ORNL calibration system are the permeation rate of the permeation tubes and the flow rate of the impinger sampling pump used to collect gas samples for calibrating the Kintek system. Upgrading the measurement equipment, as stated in (4), can reduce both of these. (6) The coulometric titration technique can be used to periodically assess the performance of the Kintek system and determine a suitable recalibration interval. (7) The Kintek system has been used to calibrate two MDA 7100s and an Interscan 4187 in less than one workday. The system can be upgraded (e.g., by automating it) to provide more calibrations per day. (8) The humidity of both the reference gas and the environment of the Chemcassette affect the MDA 7100 hydrazine detector's readings. However, ORNL believes that the environmental effect is less significant than the effect of the reference gas humidity. (9) The ORNL calibration method based on the Kintek 491 M-B gas standard can correct for the effect of the humidity of the reference gas to produce the same calibration as that of ZA's. Zellweger Analytics calibrations are typically performed at 45%-55% relative humidity. (10) Tests using the Interscan 4187 showed that the instrument was not accurate in its lower (0-100 ppb) range. Subsequent discussions with Kennedy Space Center (KSC) personnel also indicated that the Interscan units were not reproducible when new sensors were used. KSC had discovered that the Interscan units read incorrectly on the low range because of the presence of carbon dioxide. ORNL did not test the carbon dioxide effect, but it was found that the units did not read zero when a test gas containing no hydrazine was sampled. According to the KSC personnel that ORNL had these discussions with, NASA is phasing out the use of these Interscan detectors.« less

Development of an embeddable reference electrode for reinforced concrete structures.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

There is a concern that none of the existing concrete-embeddable reference electrodes that are being used as a convenient means for monitoring the condition of the reinforcing steel in concrete bridges or the operation of cathodic protection systems ...

Passive serialization in a multitasking environment

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

Hennessey, J.P.; Osisek, D.L.; Seigh, J.W. II

1989-02-28

In a multiprocessing system having a control program in which data objects are shared among processes, this patent describes a method for serializing references to a data object by the processes so as to prevent invalid references to the data object by any process when an operation requiring exclusive access is performed by another process, comprising the steps of: permitting the processes to reference data objects on a shared access basis without obtaining a shared lock; monitoring a point of execution of the control program which is common to all processes in the system, which occurs regularly in the process'more » execution and across which no references to any data object can be maintained by any process, except references using locks; establishing a system reference point which occurs after each process in the system has passed the point of execution at least once since the last such system reference point; requesting an operation requiring exclusive access on a selected data object; preventing subsequent references by other processes to the selected data object; waiting until two of the system references points have occurred; and then performing the requested operation.« less

An integrated monitoring approach using multiple reference sites to assess sustainable restoration in coastal Louisiana

Treesearch

Gregory D. Steyer; Robert R. Twilley; Richard C. Raynie

2006-01-01

Achieving sustainable resource management in coastal Louisiana requires establishing reference conditions that incorporate the goals and objectives of restoration efforts. Since the reference condition is usually considered sustainable, it can be a gauge to assess the present condition of a (degraded) system or to evaluate progress of management actions toward some...

A novel ultra-wideband 80 GHz FMCW radar system for contactless monitoring of vital signs.

PubMed

Wang, Siying; Pohl, Antje; Jaeschke, Timo; Czaplik, Michael; Köny, Marcus; Leonhardt, Steffen; Pohl, Nils

2015-01-01

In this paper an ultra-wideband 80 GHz FMCW-radar system for contactless monitoring of respiration and heart rate is investigated and compared to a standard monitoring system with ECG and CO(2) measurements as reference. The novel FMCW-radar enables the detection of the physiological displacement of the skin surface with submillimeter accuracy. This high accuracy is achieved with a large bandwidth of 10 GHz and the combination of intermediate frequency and phase evaluation. This concept is validated with a radar system simulation and experimental measurements are performed with different radar sensor positions and orientations.

Monitoring of Waves and Currents Near the Alabama Dredged Materials Mounds

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-09-01

34 Coniclusions. .. .. .. .. .. .... .... .... .... .. .... ........ 35 V References...System Design 17 Alm zSm ! , ,- Mi’ 2< 7 _ _ Ii~ ... . . .. I 18 Chapter 5 System Doaign repeated impacts by trawlers. A brief description of the...less than 4 dcg. Chaptor 6 Fioeuits 35 rii ReferencesII Bradley, K. P., and Hands, E. B. (1989). "Dredged material underwater berms." Proceedings of

75 FR 33391 - Amendments to the Protocol Gas Verification Program and Minimum Competency Requirements for Air...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-11

...Recent EPA gas audit results indicate that some gas cylinders used to calibrate continuous emission monitoring systems on stationary sources do not meet EPA's performance specification. Reviews of stack test reports in recent years indicate that some stack testers do not properly follow EPA test methods or do not correctly calculate test method results. Therefore, EPA is proposing to amend its Protocol Gas Verification Program (PGVP) and the minimum competency requirements for air emission testing (formerly air emission testing body requirements) to improve the accuracy of emissions data. EPA is also proposing to amend other sections of the Acid Rain Program continuous emission monitoring system regulations by adding and clarifying certain recordkeeping and reporting requirements, removing the provisions pertaining to mercury monitoring and reporting, removing certain requirements associated with a class-approved alternative monitoring system, disallowing the use of a particular quality assurance option in EPA Reference Method 7E, adding an incorporation by reference that was inadvertently left out of the January 24, 2008 final rule, and clarifying the language and applicability of certain provisions.

Study on the position accuracy of a mechanical alignment system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Yimin

In this thesis, we investigated the precision level and established the baseline achieved by a mechanical alignment system using datums and reference surfaces. The factors which affect the accuracy of mechanical alignment system were studied and methodology was developed to suppress these factors so as to reach its full potential precision. In order to characterize the mechanical alignment system quantitatively, a new optical position monitoring system by using quadrant detectors has been developed in this thesis, it can monitor multi-dimensional degrees of mechanical workpieces in real time with high precision. We studied the noise factors inside the system and optimized the optical system. Based on the fact that one of the major limiting noise factors is the shifting of the laser beam, a noise cancellation technique has been developed successfully to suppress this noise, the feasibility of an ultra high resolution (<20 A) for displacement monitoring has been demonstrated. Using the optical position monitoring system, repeatability experiment of the mechanical alignment system has been conducted on different kinds of samples including steel, aluminum, glass and plastics with the same size 100mm x 130mm. The alignment accuracy was studied quantitatively rather than qualitatively before. In a controlled environment, the alignment precision can be improved 5 folds by securing the datum without other means of help. The alignment accuracy of an aluminum workpiece having reference surface by milling is about 3 times better than by shearing. Also we have found that sample material can have fairly significant effect on the alignment precision of the system. Contamination trapped between the datum and reference surfaces in mechanical alignment system can cause errors of registration or reduce the level of manufacturing precision. In the thesis, artificial and natural dust particles were used to simulate the real situations and their effects on system precision have been investigated. In this experiment, we discovered two effective cleaning processes.

Vehicle Dynamics Monitoring and Tracking System (VDMTS): Monitoring Mission Impacts in Support of Installation Land Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

transfer This report will be made accessible through the World Wide Web (WWW) at URLs: http://www.cecer.army.mil http://libweb.erdc.usace.army.mil...conditions (e.g., wetter or dryer conditions). Using the same live event tracking data, predictions can be made for vegetation loss in wet soils, even...WWW World Wide Web ERDC/CERL TR-12-11 107 References Ahlvin, R. B., and P. W. Haley. 1992. NATO reference mobility model edition II, NRMM II

The construction of control chart for PM10 functional data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaadan, Norshahida; Jemain, Abdul Aziz; Deni, Sayang Mohd

2014-06-01

In this paper, a statistical procedure to construct a control chart for monitoring air quality (PM10) using functional data is proposed. A set of daily indices that represent the daily PM10 curves were obtained using Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA). By means of an iterative charting procedure, a reference data set that represented a stable PM10 process was obtained. The data were then used as a reference for monitoring future data. The application of the procedure was conducted using seven-year (2004-2010) period of recorded data from the Klang air quality monitoring station located in the Klang Valley region of Peninsular Malaysia. The study showed that the control chart provided a useful visualization tool for monitoring air quality and was capable in detecting abnormality in the process system. As in the case of Klang station, the results showed that with reference to 2004-2008, the air quality (PM10) in 2010 was better than that in 2009.

A new venous infusion path monitoring system utilizing electrostatic induced potential.

PubMed

Ogawa, Hidekuni; Yonezawa, Yoshiharu; Maki, Hiromichi; Caldwell, W Morton

2008-01-01

A new venous infusion pathway monitoring system has been developed for hospital and home use. The system consists of linear and digital integrated circuits and a low-power 8-bit single chip microcomputer which constantly monitors the infusion pathway intactness. A 330 kHz AC voltage, which is induced on the patient's body by electrostatic coupling from a 330 kHz pulse oscillator, can be recorded by main and reference electrodes wrapped around the infusion polyvinyl chloride tube. If the injection needle or infusion tube becomes detached, then the system detects changes in the induced AC voltages and alerts the nursing station, via the nurse call system or PHS (personal handy phone system).

Characteristics of Hydrogen Monitoring Systems for Severe Accident Management at a Nuclear Power Plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrosyan, V. G.; Yeghoyan, E. A.; Grigoryan, A. D.; Petrosyan, A. P.; Movsisyan, M. R.

2018-02-01

One of the main objectives of severe accident management at a nuclear power plant is to protect the integrity of the containment, for which the most serious threat is possible ignition of the generated hydrogen. There should be a monitoring system providing information support of NPP personnel, ensuring data on the current state of a containment gaseous environment and trends in its composition changes. Monitoring systems' requisite characteristics definition issues are considered by the example of a particular power unit. Major characteristics important for proper information support are discussed. Some features of progression of severe accident scenarios at considered power unit are described and a possible influence of the hydrogen concentration monitoring system performance on the information support reliability in a severe accident is analyzed. The analysis results show that the following technical characteristics of the combustible gas monitoring systems are important for the proper information support of NPP personnel in the event of a severe accident at a nuclear power plant: measured parameters, measuring ranges and errors, update rate, minimum detectable concentration of combustible gas, monitoring reference points, environmental qualification parameters of the system components. For NPP power units with WWER-440/270 (230) type reactors, which have a relatively small containment volume, the update period for measurement results is a critical characteristic of the containment combustible gas monitoring system, and the choice of monitoring reference points should be focused not so much on the definition of places of possible hydrogen pockets but rather on the definition of places of a possible combustible mixture formation. It may be necessary for the above-mentioned power units to include in the emergency operating procedures measures aimed at a timely heat removal reduction from the containment environment if there are signs of a severe accident phase approaching to prevent a combustible mixture formation in the containment.

Automated iodine monitor system. [for aqueous solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The feasibility of a direct spectrophotometric measurement of iodine in water was established. An iodine colorimeter, was built to demonstrate the practicality of this technique. The specificity of this method was verified when applied to an on-line system where a reference solution cannot be used, and a preliminary design is presented for an automated iodine measuring and controlling system meeting the desired specifications. An Automated iodine monitor/controller system based on this preliminary design was built, tested, and delivered to the Johnson Space Center.

Collaborative Systems and Multi-user Interfaces: Computer-based Tools for Cooperative Problem Solving

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-10-31

Reference Card Given to Participants) Cognoter Reference Select = LeftButton Menu = MiddleButton TitleBar menu for tool operations Item menu for item...collaborative tools and their uses, the Colab system and the Cognoter presentation tool were implemented and used for both real and posed idea organization...tasks. To test the system design and its effect on structured problem-solving, many early Colab/ Cognoter meetings were monitored and a series of

An ultra-high input impedance ECG amplifier for long-term monitoring of athletes.

PubMed

Gargiulo, Gaetano; Bifulco, Paolo; Cesarelli, Mario; Ruffo, Mariano; Romano, Maria; Calvo, Rafael A; Jin, Craig; van Schaik, André

2010-01-01

We present a new, low-power electrocardiogram (ECG) recording system with an ultra-high input impedance that enables the use of long-lasting, dry electrodes. The system incorporates a low-power Bluetooth module for wireless connectivity and is designed to be suitable for long-term monitoring during daily activities. The new system using dry electrodes was compared with a clinically approved ECG reference system using gelled Ag/AgCl electrodes and performance was found to be equivalent. In addition, the system was used to monitor an athlete during several physical tasks, and a good quality ECG was obtained in all cases, including when the athlete was totally submerged in fresh water.

A new infusion pathway intactness monitoring system.

PubMed

Ogawa, Hidekuni; Yonezawa, Yoshiharu; Maki, Hiromichi; Ninomiya, Ishio; Sata, Koji; Hamada, Shingo; Caldwell, W Morton

2006-01-01

A new infusion pathway monitoring system has been developed for hospital and home use. The system consists of linear integrated circuits and a low-power 8-bit single chip microcomputer which constantly monitors the infusion pathway intactness. An AC (alternating current) voltage is induced on the patient's body by electrostatic coupling from the normal 100 volt, 60 Hz AC power line wiring field in the patient's room. The induced AC voltage can be recorded by a main electrode wrapped around the infusion polyvinyl chloride tube. A reference electrode is wrapped on the electrode to monitor the AC voltage around the main electrode. If the injection needle or infusion tube becomes detached, then the system detects changes in the induced AC voltages and alerts the nursing station, via the nurse call system or PHS (personal handy phone system).

Reference coordinate systems: An update. Supplement 11

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mueller, Ivan I.

1988-01-01

A common requirement for all geodetic investigations is a well-defined coordinate system attached to the earth in some prescribed way, as well as a well-defined inertial coordinate system in which the motions of the terrestrial frame can be monitored. The paper deals with the problems encountered when establishing such coordinate systems and the transformations between them. In addition, problems related to the modeling of the deformable earth are discussed. This paper is an updated version of the earlier work, Reference Coordinate Systems for Earth Dynamics: A Preview, by the author.

INITIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FINE PARTICULATE MATTER (PM2.5) COLLECTED BY THE NATIONAL FEDERAL REFERENCE MONITOR NETWORK

EPA Science Inventory

Data collected between January to December, 1999 were polled from the USEPA Aerometric Information Retrieval System. For the purpose of this analysis, data which were flagged with qualifiers related to laboratory and monitor malfunctions were removed from the data set. Analys...

Building software tools to help contextualize and interpret monitoring data

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Even modest monitoring efforts at landscape scales produce large volumes of data.These are most useful if they can be interpreted relative to land potential or other similar sites. However, for many ecological systems reference conditions may not be defined or are poorly described, which hinders und...

Performance Evaluation of the United Nations Environment Programme Air Quality Monitoring Unit

EPA Science Inventory

A request for technical collaboration between the UNEP and the US EPA resulted in the establishment of a MCRADA. The purpose of this agreement was to evaluate an air quality monitoring system (referred to as the UNEP pod) developed by the UNEP for use in environmental situations ...

Hg0 and HgCl2 Reference Gas Standards: ?NIST Traceability ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA and NIST have collaborated to establish the necessary procedures for establishing the required NIST traceability of commercially-provided Hg0 and HgCl2 reference generators. This presentation will discuss the approach of a joint EPA/NIST study to accurately quantify the true concentrations of Hg0 and HgCl2 reference gases produced from high quality, NIST-traceable, commercial Hg0 and HgCl2 generators. This presentation will also discuss the availability of HCl and Hg0 compressed reference gas standards as a result of EPA's recently approved Alternative Methods 114 and 118. Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) and oxidized mercury (HgCl2) reference standards are integral to the use of mercury continuous emissions monitoring systems (Hg CEMS) for regulatory compliance emissions monitoring. However, a quantitative disparity of approximately 7-10% has been observed between commercial Hg0 and HgCl2 reference gases which currently limits the use of (HgCl2) reference gas standards. Resolving this disparity would enable the expanded use of (HgCl2) reference gas standards for regulatory compliance purposes.

A reference architecture for telemonitoring.

PubMed

Clarke, Malcolm

2004-01-01

The Telecare Interactive Continuous Monitoring System exploits GPRS to provide an ambulatory device that monitors selected vital signs on a continuous basis. Alarms are sent when parameters fall outside preset limits, and accompanying physiological data may also be transmitted. The always-connected property of GPRS allows continuous interactive control of the device and its sensors, permitting changes to monitoring parameters or even enabling continuous monitoring of a sensor in emergency. A new personal area network (PAN) has been developed to support short-range wireless connection to sensors worn on the body including ECG and finger worn SpO2. Most notable is use of ultra low radio frequency to reduce power to minimum. The system has been designed to use a hierarchical architecture for sensors and "derived" signals, such as HR from ECG, so that each can be independently controlled and managed. Sensors are treated as objects, and functions are defined to control aspects of behaviour. These are refined in order to define a generic set of abstract functions to handle the majority of functions, leaving a minimum of sensor specific commands. The intention is to define a reference architecture in order to research the functionality and system architecture of a telemonitoring system. The Telecare project is funded through a grant from the European Commission (IST programme).

Monitoring and analysis of liquid storage in LNG tank based on different support springs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Hua; Sun, Jianping; Li, Ke; Wu, Zheng; Chen, Qidong; Chen, Guodong; Cao, Can

2018-04-01

With the rapid development of social modernization, LNG vehicles are springing up in daily life. However, it is difficult to monitor and judge the liquid storage tanks accurately and quickly. Based on this, this paper presents a new method of liquid storage monitoring, LNG tank on-line vibration monitoring system. By collecting the vibration frequency of LNG tank and tank liquid and supporting spring system, the liquid storage quality in the tank can be calculated. In this experiment, various vibration modes of the tank spring system are fully taken into account. The vibration effects of different types of support springs on the LNG tank system were investigated. The results show that the spring model has a great influence on the test results. This study provides a technical reference for the selection of suitable support springs for liquid storage monitoring.

Glucose Monitoring in Individuals With Diabetes Using a Long-Term Implanted Sensor/Telemetry System and Model.

PubMed

Lucisano, Joseph Y; Routh, Timothy L; Lin, Joe T; Gough, David A

2017-09-01

The use of a fully implanted first-generation prototype sensor/telemetry system is described for long-term monitoring of subcutaneous tissue glucose in a small cohort of people with diabetes. Sensors are based on a membrane containing immobilized glucose oxidase and catalase coupled to oxygen electrodes and a telemetry system, integrated as an implant. The devices remained implanted for up to 180 days, with signals transmitted every 2 min to external receivers. The data include signal recordings from glucose clamps and spontaneous glucose excursions, matched, respectively, to reference blood glucose and finger-stick values. The sensor signals indicate dynamic tissue glucose, for which there is no independent standard, and a model describing the relationship between blood glucose and the signal is, therefore, included. The values of all model parameters have been estimated, including the permeability of adjacent tissues to glucose, and equated to conventional mass transfer parameters. As a group, the sensor calibration varied randomly at an average rate of -2.6%/week. Statistical correlation indicated strong association between the sensor signals and reference glucose values. Continuous long-term glucose monitoring in individuals with diabetes is feasible with this system. All therapies for diabetes are based on glucose control, and therefore, require glucose monitoring. This fully implanted long-term sensor/telemetry system may facilitate a new era of management of the disease.

Glucose Monitoring in Individuals with Diabetes using a Long-Term Implanted Sensor/Telemetry System and Model

PubMed Central

Lucisano, Joseph Y.; Routh, Timothy L.; Lin, Joe T.; Gough, David A.

2017-01-01

Objective The use of a fully implanted, first-generation prototype sensor/telemetry system is described for long-term monitoring of subcutaneous tissue glucose in a small cohort of people with diabetes. Methods Sensors are based on a membrane containing immobilized glucose oxidase and catalase coupled to oxygen electrodes and a telemetry system, integrated as an implant. The devices remained implanted for up to 180 days, with signals transmitted every 2 minutes to external receivers. Results The data include signal recordings from glucose clamps and spontaneous glucose excursions, matched respectively to reference blood glucose and finger-stick values. The sensor signals indicate dynamic tissue glucose, for which there is no independent standard, and a model describing the relationship between blood glucose and the signal is therefore included. The values of all model parameters have been estimated, including the permeability of adjacent tissues to glucose, and equated to conventional mass transfer parameters. As a group, the sensor calibration varied randomly at an average rate of −2.6%/week. Statistical correlation indicated strong association between the sensor signals and reference glucose values. Conclusions Continuous, long-term glucose monitoring in individuals with diabetes is feasible with this system. Significance All therapies for diabetes are based on glucose control and therefore require glucose monitoring. This fully implanted, long-term sensor/telemetry system may facilitate a new era of management of the disease. PMID:27775510

Permanent Monitoring of the Reference Point of the 20m Radio Telescope Wettzell

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neidhardt, Alexander; Losler, Michael; Eschelbach, Cornelia; Schenk, Andreas

2010-01-01

To achieve the goals of the VLBI2010 project and the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS), an automated monitoring of the reference points of the various geodetic space techniques, including Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), is desirable. The resulting permanent monitoring of the local-tie vectors at co-location stations is essential to obtain the sub-millimeter level in the combinations. For this reason a monitoring system was installed at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell by the Geodetic Institute of the University of Karlsruhe (GIK) to observe the 20m VLBI radio telescope from May to August 2009. A specially developed software from GIK collected data from automated total station measurements, meteorological sensors, and sensors in the telescope monument (e.g., Invar cable data). A real-time visualization directly offered a live view of the measurements during the regular observation operations. Additional scintillometer measurements allowed refraction corrections during the post-processing. This project is one of the first feasibility studies aimed at determining significant deformations of the VLBI antenna due to, for instance, changes in temperature.

Public health microbiology in Germany: 20 years of national reference centers and consultant laboratories.

PubMed

Beermann, Sandra; Allerberger, Franz; Wirtz, Angela; Burger, Reinhard; Hamouda, Osamah

2015-10-01

In 1995, in agreement with the German Federal Ministry of Health, the Robert Koch Institute established a public health microbiology system consisting of national reference centers (NRCs) and consultant laboratories (CLs). The goal was to improve the efficiency of infection protection by advising the authorities on possible measures and to supplement infectious disease surveillance by monitoring selected pathogens that have high public health relevance. Currently, there are 19 NRCs and 40 CLs, each appointed for three years. In 2009, an additional system of national networks of NRCs and CLs was set up in order to enhance effectiveness and cooperation within the national reference laboratory system. The aim of these networks was to advance exchange in diagnostic methods and prevention concepts among reference laboratories and to develop geographic coverage of services. In the last two decades, the German public health laboratory reference system coped with all major infectious disease challenges. The European Union and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) are considering implementing a European public health microbiology reference laboratory system. The German reference laboratory system should be well prepared to participate actively in this upcoming endeavor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Automatic control and monitoring equipment for cathodic protection of offshore structures

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

Morgan, J.H.

1979-10-01

The preferred cathodic-protection systems for offshore structures are (1) the sacrificial-anode form for areas where the anode's weight or wave resistance is not a serious handicap and (2) a combined anode/impressed-current system that reduces the anode mass. Problems associated with controlling and monitoring the equipment are related to the anode locations, suitability of the reference electrodes, instrumentation requirements, interpretation of the measured potentials, and influence of water depth.

A real-time posture monitoring method for rail vehicle bodies based on machine vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Dongrun; Lu, Zhaijun; Cao, Tianpei; Li, Tian

2017-06-01

Monitoring vehicle operation conditions has become significantly important in modern high-speed railway systems. However, the operational impact of monitoring the roll angle of vehicle bodies has principally been limited to tilting trains, while few studies have focused on monitoring the running posture of vehicle bodies during operation. We propose a real-time posture monitoring method to fulfil real-time monitoring requirements, by taking rail surfaces and centrelines as detection references. In realising the proposed method, we built a mathematical computational model based on space coordinate transformations to calculate attitude angles of vehicles in operation and vertical and lateral vibration displacements of single measuring points. Moreover, comparison and verification of reliability between system and field results were conducted. Results show that monitoring of the roll angles of car bodies obtained through the system exhibit variation trends similar to those converted from the dynamic deflection of bogie secondary air springs. The monitoring results of two identical conditions were basically the same, highlighting repeatability and good monitoring accuracy. Therefore, our monitoring results were reliable in reflecting posture changes in running railway vehicles.

Performance Evaluation of the United Nations Environment ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A request for technical collaboration between the UNEP and the US EPA resulted in the establishment of a MCRADA. The purpose of this agreement was to evaluate an air quality monitoring system (referred to as the UNEP pod) developed by the UNEP for use in environmental situations where more sophisticated monitoring instrumentation was not available. The US EPA has conducted numerous evaluations of other similar sensor pods at its Research Triangle Park, NC research campus and has trained staff as well as established research designs for such efforts. Under the terms of the MCRADA, the US EPA would operate the pod using UNEP provided operating procedures in a manner consistent with its planned intent of deployment. The US EPA would collect air quality monitoring data from the pod involving select environmental measures over a period of approximately one month. Reference monitoring data collected from collocated federal regulatory monitors would be used to establish a comparison between the two systems and thus establishment of performance characteristics. In addition, the US EPA would provide feedback information to the UNEP as to observed ease of use features of the pod that would be beneficial in its future evolution and deployment. The UNEP recently developed a multipollutant sensor pod called the UNEP Air Quality Monitoring Unit, herein simply defined as the UNEP pod (http://aqicn.org/faq/2015-10-28/unep-air-quality-monitoring-station/). First introduced in 20

Coherent Frequency Reference System for the NASA Deep Space Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, Blake C.; Lauf, John E.; Hamell, Robert L.; Gonzaler, Jorge, Jr.; Diener, William A.; Tjoelker, Robert L.

2010-01-01

The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) requires state-of-the-art frequency references that are derived and distributed from very stable atomic frequency standards. A new Frequency Reference System (FRS) and Frequency Reference Distribution System (FRD) have been developed, which together replace the previous Coherent Reference Generator System (CRG). The FRS and FRD each provide new capabilities that significantly improve operability and reliability. The FRS allows for selection and switching between frequency standards, a flywheel capability (to avoid interruptions when switching frequency standards), and a frequency synthesis system (to generate standardized 5-, 10-, and 100-MHz reference signals). The FRS is powered by redundant, specially filtered, and sustainable power systems and includes a monitor and control capability for station operations to interact and control the frequency-standard selection process. The FRD receives the standardized 5-, 10-, and 100-MHz reference signals and distributes signals to distribution amplifiers in a fan out fashion to dozens of DSN users that require the highly stable reference signals. The FRD is also powered by redundant, specially filtered, and sustainable power systems. The new DSN Frequency Distribution System, which consists of the FRS and FRD systems described here, is central to all operational activities of the NASA DSN. The frequency generation and distribution system provides ultra-stable, coherent, and very low phase-noise references at 5, l0, and 100 MHz to between 60 and 100 separate users at each Deep Space Communications Complex.

Definition and Proposed Realization of the International Height Reference System (IHRS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ihde, Johannes; Sánchez, Laura; Barzaghi, Riccardo; Drewes, Hermann; Foerste, Christoph; Gruber, Thomas; Liebsch, Gunter; Marti, Urs; Pail, Roland; Sideris, Michael

2017-05-01

Studying, understanding and modelling global change require geodetic reference frames with an order of accuracy higher than the magnitude of the effects to be actually studied and with high consistency and reliability worldwide. The International Association of Geodesy, taking care of providing a precise geodetic infrastructure for monitoring the Earth system, promotes the implementation of an integrated global geodetic reference frame that provides a reliable frame for consistent analysis and modelling of global phenomena and processes affecting the Earth's gravity field, the Earth's surface geometry and the Earth's rotation. The definition, realization, maintenance and wide utilization of the International Terrestrial Reference System guarantee a globally unified geometric reference frame with an accuracy at the millimetre level. An equivalent high-precision global physical reference frame that supports the reliable description of changes in the Earth's gravity field (such as sea level variations, mass displacements, processes associated with geophysical fluids) is missing. This paper addresses the theoretical foundations supporting the implementation of such a physical reference surface in terms of an International Height Reference System and provides guidance for the coming activities required for the practical and sustainable realization of this system. Based on conceptual approaches of physical geodesy, the requirements for a unified global height reference system are derived. In accordance with the practice, its realization as the International Height Reference Frame is designed. Further steps for the implementation are also proposed.

Avatar - a multi-sensory system for real time body position monitoring.

PubMed

Jovanov, E; Hanish, N; Courson, V; Stidham, J; Stinson, H; Webb, C; Denny, K

2009-01-01

Virtual reality and computer assisted physical rehabilitation applications require an unobtrusive and inexpensive real time monitoring systems. Existing systems are usually complex and expensive and based on infrared monitoring. In this paper we propose Avatar, a hybrid system consisting of off-the-shelf components and sensors. Absolute positioning of a few reference points is determined using infrared diode on subject's body and a set of Wii Remotes as optical sensors. Individual body segments are monitored by intelligent inertial sensor nodes iSense. A network of inertial nodes is controlled by a master node that serves as a gateway for communication with a capture device. Each sensor features a 3D accelerometer and a 2 axis gyroscope. Avatar system is used for control of avatars in Virtual Reality applications, but could be used in a variety of augmented reality, gaming, and computer assisted physical rehabilitation applications.

GPS/GLONASS RAIM augmentation to WAAS for CAT 1 precision approach

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-06-30

This paper deals with the potential use of Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring @AIM) to supplement the FAAs Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Integrity refers to the capability of a navigation or landing system to provide a timely warning...

Micro-controller based air pressure monitoring instrumentation system using optical fibers as sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hazarika, D.; Pegu, D. S.

2013-03-01

This paper describes a micro-controller based instrumentation system to monitor air pressure using optical fiber sensors. The principle of macrobending is used to develop the sensor system. The instrumentation system consists of a laser source, a beam splitter, two multi mode optical fibers, two Light Dependent Resistance (LDR) based timer circuits and a AT89S8252 micro-controller. The beam splitter is used to divide the laser beam into two parts and then these two beams are launched into two multi mode fibers. One of the multi mode fibers is used as the sensor fiber and the other one is used as the reference fiber. The use of the reference fiber is to eliminate the environmental effects while measuring the air pressure magnitude. The laser beams from the sensor and reference fibers are applied to two identical LDR based timer circuits. The LDR based timer circuits are interfaced to a micro-controller through its counter pins. The micro-controller samples the frequencies of the timer circuits using its counter-0 and counter-1 and the counter values are then processed to provide the measure of air pressure magnitude.

A Fiber Bragg Grating-Based Monitoring System for Roof Safety Control in Underground Coal Mining

PubMed Central

Zhao, Yiming; Zhang, Nong; Si, Guangyao

2016-01-01

Monitoring of roof activity is a primary measure adopted in the prevention of roof collapse accidents and functions to optimize and support the design of roadways in underground coalmines. However, traditional monitoring measures, such as using mechanical extensometers or electronic gauges, either require arduous underground labor or cannot function properly in the harsh underground environment. Therefore, in this paper, in order to break through this technological barrier, a novel monitoring system for roof safety control in underground coal mining, using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) material as a perceived element and transmission medium, has been developed. Compared with traditional monitoring equipment, the developed, novel monitoring system has the advantages of providing accurate, reliable, and continuous online monitoring of roof activities in underground coal mining. This is expected to further enable the prevention of catastrophic roof collapse accidents. The system has been successfully implemented at a deep hazardous roadway in Zhuji Coal Mine, China. Monitoring results from the study site have demonstrated the advantages of FBG-based sensors over traditional monitoring approaches. The dynamic impacts of progressive face advance on roof displacement and stress have been accurately captured by the novel roadway roof activity and safety monitoring system, which provided essential references for roadway support and design of the mine. PMID:27775657

A review on remote monitoring technology applied to implantable electronic cardiovascular devices.

PubMed

Costa, Paulo Dias; Rodrigues, Pedro Pereira; Reis, António Hipólito; Costa-Pereira, Altamiro

2010-12-01

Implantable electronic cardiovascular devices (IECD) include a broad spectrum of devices that have the ability to maintain rhythm, provide cardiac resynchronization therapy, and/or prevent sudden cardiac death. The incidence of bradyarrhythmias and other cardiac problems led to a broader use of IECD, which turned traditional follow-up into an extremely heavy burden for healthcare systems to support. Our aim was to assess the impact of remote monitoring on the follow-up of patients with IECD. We performed a review through PubMed using a specific query. The paper selection process included a three-step approach in which title, abstract, and cross-references were analyzed. Studies were then selected using previously defined inclusion criteria and analyzed according to the country of origin of the study, year, and journal of publication; type of study; and main issues covered. Twenty articles were included in this review. Eighty percent of the selected papers addressed clinical issues, from which 94% referred clinical events identification, clinical stability, time savings, or physician satisfaction as advantages, whereas 38% referred disadvantages that included both legal and technical issues. Forty-five percent of the papers referred patient issues, from which 89% presented advantages, focusing on patient acceptance/satisfaction, and patient time-savings. The main downsides were technical issues but patient privacy was also addressed. All the papers dealing with economic issues (20%) referred both advantages and disadvantages equally. Remote monitoring is presently a safe technology, widely accepted by patients and physicians, for its convenience, reassurance, and diagnostic potential. This review summarizes the principles of remote IECD monitoring presenting the current state-of-the-art. Patient safety and device interaction, applicability of current technology, and limitations of remote IECD monitoring are also addressed. The use of remote monitor should consider the selection of patients, the type of disease, and centers' availability to receive, interpret and respond to device alerts. Before remote IECD monitoring can be routinely used, technical, procedure, and ethical/legal issues should be addressed.

Reference and Equivalent Methods Used to Measure National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) Criteria Air Pollutants - Volume I

EPA Science Inventory

There are a number of Federal Reference Method (FRM) and Federal Equivalent Method (FEM) systems used to monitor the six criteria air pollutants (Lead [Pb], Carbon Monoxide [CO], Sulfur Dioxide [SO2], Nitrogen Dioxide [NO2], Ozone [O3], Particulate Matter [PM]) to determine if an...

Flight-Like Optical Reference Cavity for GRACE Follow-On Laser Frequency Stabilization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Folkner, W. M.; deVine, G.; Klipstein, W. M.; McKenzie, K.; Spero, R.; Thompson, R.; Yu, N.; Stephens, M.; Leitch, J.; Pierce, R.;

Common View Time Transfer Using Worldwide GPS and DMA Monitor Stations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reid, Wilson G.; McCaskill, Thomas B.; Oaks, Orville J.; Buisson, James A.; Warren, Hugh E.

1996-01-01

Analysis of the on-orbit Navstar clocks and the Global Positioning System (GPS) monitor station reference clocks is performed by the Naval Research Laboratory using both broadcast and postprocessed precise ephemerides. The precise ephemerides are produced by the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) for each of the GPS space vehicles from pseudo-range measurements collected at five GPS and at five DMA monitor stations spaced around the world. Recently, DMA established an additional site co-located with the US Naval Observatory precise time site. The time reference for the new DMA site is the DoD Master Clock. Now, for the first time, it is possible to transfer time every 15 minutes via common view from the DoD Master Clock to the 11 GPS and DMA monitor stations. The estimated precision of a single common-view time transfer measurement taken over a 15-minute interval was between 1.4 and 2.7 nanoseconds. Using the measurements from all Navstar space vehicles in common view during the 15-minute interval, typically 3-7 space vehicles, improved the estimate of the precision to between 0.65 and 1.13 nanoseconds. The mean phase error obtained from closure of the time transfer around the world using the 11 monitor stations and the 25 space vehicle clocks over a period of 4 months had a magnitude of 31 picoseconds. Analysis of the low noise time transfer from the DoD Master Clock to each of the monitor stations yields not only the bias in the time of the reference clock, but also focuses attention on structure in the behaviour of the reference clock not previously seen. Furthermore, the time transfer provides a a uniformly sampled database of 15-minute measurements that make possible, for the first time, the direct and exhaustive computation of the frequency stability of the monitor station reference clocks. To lend perspective to the analysis, a summary is given of the discontinuities in phase and frequency that occurred in the reference clock at the Master Control Station during the period covered by the analysis.

A component-based system for agricultural drought monitoring by remote sensing.

PubMed

Dong, Heng; Li, Jun; Yuan, Yanbin; You, Lin; Chen, Chao

2017-01-01

In recent decades, various kinds of remote sensing-based drought indexes have been proposed and widely used in the field of drought monitoring. However, the drought-related software and platform development lag behind the theoretical research. The current drought monitoring systems focus mainly on information management and publishing, and cannot implement professional drought monitoring or parameter inversion modelling, especially the models based on multi-dimensional feature space. In view of the above problems, this paper aims at fixing this gap with a component-based system named RSDMS to facilitate the application of drought monitoring by remote sensing. The system is designed and developed based on Component Object Model (COM) to ensure the flexibility and extendibility of modules. RSDMS realizes general image-related functions such as data management, image display, spatial reference management, image processing and analysis, and further provides drought monitoring and evaluation functions based on internal and external models. Finally, China's Ningxia region is selected as the study area to validate the performance of RSDMS. The experimental results show that RSDMS provide an efficient and scalable support to agricultural drought monitoring.

A component-based system for agricultural drought monitoring by remote sensing

PubMed Central

Yuan, Yanbin; You, Lin; Chen, Chao

2017-01-01

In recent decades, various kinds of remote sensing-based drought indexes have been proposed and widely used in the field of drought monitoring. However, the drought-related software and platform development lag behind the theoretical research. The current drought monitoring systems focus mainly on information management and publishing, and cannot implement professional drought monitoring or parameter inversion modelling, especially the models based on multi-dimensional feature space. In view of the above problems, this paper aims at fixing this gap with a component-based system named RSDMS to facilitate the application of drought monitoring by remote sensing. The system is designed and developed based on Component Object Model (COM) to ensure the flexibility and extendibility of modules. RSDMS realizes general image-related functions such as data management, image display, spatial reference management, image processing and analysis, and further provides drought monitoring and evaluation functions based on internal and external models. Finally, China’s Ningxia region is selected as the study area to validate the performance of RSDMS. The experimental results show that RSDMS provide an efficient and scalable support to agricultural drought monitoring. PMID:29236700

The screwworm eradication data system archives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, C. M.; Spaulding, R. R.; Giddings, L. E.

1977-01-01

The archives accumulated during 1 year of operation of the Satellite Temperature-Monitoring System during development of the Screwworm Eradication Data System are reported. Brief descriptions of all the kinds of tapes, as well as their potential uses, are presented. Reference is made to other documents that explain the generation of these data.

40 CFR Appendix E to Part 52 - Performance Specifications and, Specification Test Procedures for Monitoring Systems for Effluent...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... rate at the time of the measurements is zero. 3.4Calibration drift. The change in measurement system... reference value (paragraph 6.3.1). Zero drift (24 hours) zero drift, calibration drift, and operation period. 5.1.1System...

40 CFR Appendix E to Part 52 - Performance Specifications and, Specification Test Procedures for Monitoring Systems for Effluent...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... rate at the time of the measurements is zero. 3.4Calibration drift. The change in measurement system... reference value (paragraph 6.3.1). Zero drift (24 hours) zero drift, calibration drift, and operation period. 5.1.1System...

40 CFR Appendix E to Part 52 - Performance Specifications and, Specification Test Procedures for Monitoring Systems for Effluent...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... rate at the time of the measurements is zero. 3.4Calibration drift. The change in measurement system... reference value (paragraph 6.3.1). Zero drift (24 hours) zero drift, calibration drift, and operation period. 5.1.1System...

Novel spectrometers for environmental dose rate monitoring.

PubMed

Kessler, P; Behnke, B; Dabrowski, R; Dombrowski, H; Röttger, A; Neumaier, S

2018-07-01

A new generation of dosemeters, based on the scintillators LaBr 3 , CeBr 3 and SrI 2 , read out with conventional photomultipliers, to be used in the field of environmental gamma-radiation monitoring, was investigated. The main features of these new instruments and especially their outdoor performance, studied by long-term investigations under real weather conditions, are presented. The systems were tested at the reference sites for environmental radiation of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. The measurements are compared with that of well characterized classical dose rate reference instruments to demonstrate the suitability of new spectrometers for environmental dose rate monitoring even in adverse weather conditions. Their potential to replace the (mainly Geiger Müller based) dose rate meters operated in about 5000 European early waning network stations as well as in environmental radiation monitoring in general is shown. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Monitoring the Performance of Educational Institutions: A Spur for the Implementation of Systemic Changes in Higher Education. Part One

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karelina, Irina Georgievna; Sobolev, Alexander Borisovich; Sorokin, Sviatoslav Olegovich

2016-01-01

The article discusses the deployment of a comprehensive reporting and monitoring framework used to evaluate the performance of state and private higher education institutions in Russia. By referring to diversified indicators including organizational, financial and economic, training, research, graduate employment, and other metrics, the authors…

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 58 - Quality Assurance Requirements for SLAMS, SPMs and PSD Air Monitoring

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... monitor. 3.3.4.4Pb Performance Evaluation Program (PEP) Procedures. Each year, one performance evaluation... Information 2. Quality System Requirements 3. Measurement Quality Check Requirements 4. Calculations for Data... 10 of this appendix) and at a national level in references 1, 2, and 3 of this appendix. 1...

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 58 - Quality Assurance Requirements for SLAMS, SPMs and PSD Air Monitoring

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... monitor. 3.3.4.4Pb Performance Evaluation Program (PEP) Procedures. Each year, one performance evaluation... Information 2. Quality System Requirements 3. Measurement Quality Check Requirements 4. Calculations for Data... 10 of this appendix) and at a national level in references 1, 2, and 3 of this appendix. 1...

76 FR 17287 - Protocol Gas Verification Program and Minimum Competency Requirements for Air Emission Testing

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-28

...EPA is finalizing rule revisions that modify existing requirements for sources affected by the federally administered emission trading programs including the NOX Budget Trading Program, the Acid Rain Program, and the Clean Air Interstate Rule. EPA is amending its Protocol Gas Verification Program (PGVP) and the minimum competency requirements for air emission testing (formerly air emission testing body requirements) to improve the accuracy of emissions data. EPA is also amending other sections of the Acid Rain Program continuous emission monitoring system regulations by adding and clarifying certain recordkeeping and reporting requirements, removing the provisions pertaining to mercury monitoring and reporting, removing certain requirements associated with a class-approved alternative monitoring system, disallowing the use of a particular quality assurance option in EPA Reference Method 7E, adding two incorporation by references that were inadvertently left out of the January 24, 2008 final rule, adding two new definitions, revising certain compliance dates, and clarifying the language and applicability of certain provisions.

A comparison of the accuracy of the smart sock system to force platform and optical system for measurement of temporal parameters of locomotion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oks, A.; Katashev, A.; Bernans, E.; Abolins, V.

2017-10-01

The aim of the study was to present a new DAid®Pressure Sock System for feet locomotion monitoring and to verify it’s temporal characteristics by data comparison with the same obtained by two other widely used methods as reference. Designed system is based on sensors which can be knitted directly in the garment or hosiery items. DAid®Pressure Sock System was created for sport and medical applications. Comparison of temporal characteristics of different types of locomotion, obtained using designed system and reference devises, showed good agreement between data.

The use of baseline measurements and geophysical models for the estimation of crustal deformations and the terrestrial reference system. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bock, Y.

1982-01-01

Four possible estimators are investigated for the monitoring of crustal deformations from a combination of repeated baseline length measurements and adopted geophysical models, particularly an absolute motion plate model. The first estimator is an extension of the familiar free adjustment. The next two are Bayesian type estimators, one weak and one strong. Finally, a weighted constraint estimator is presented. The properties of these four estimators are outlined and their physical interpretations discussed. A series of simulations are performed to test the four estimators and to determine whether or not to incorporate a plate model for the monitoring of deformations. The application of these estimations to the maintenance of a new conventional terrestrial reference system is discussed.

Automated Internet-Based Control of Spacecraft Groundstations: Beacon-Based Health Monitoring Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cantwell, Brian; Twiggs, Robert; Swartwout, Michael

1997-01-01

This report serves as an update about the activities of Stanford University's Space Systems Development Laboratory (SSDL) in their beacon-based health monitoring experiment. Section 1 describes the goals of the project and the organization of the team. Section 2 provides an overview of the major components of the system, describing the general approach of automated health monitoring and the beacon signal relay. It also provides background about the SAPPHIRE spacecraft and ASSET operations system, which will be used for the experiment. Specific details about implementation and status of each element of the experiment are found in Section 3. Section 4 describes the experiment and future work, and references are contained in Section 5.

A reference web architecture and patterns for real-time visual analytics on large streaming data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kandogan, Eser; Soroker, Danny; Rohall, Steven; Bak, Peter; van Ham, Frank; Lu, Jie; Ship, Harold-Jeffrey; Wang, Chun-Fu; Lai, Jennifer

2013-12-01

Monitoring and analysis of streaming data, such as social media, sensors, and news feeds, has become increasingly important for business and government. The volume and velocity of incoming data are key challenges. To effectively support monitoring and analysis, statistical and visual analytics techniques need to be seamlessly integrated; analytic techniques for a variety of data types (e.g., text, numerical) and scope (e.g., incremental, rolling-window, global) must be properly accommodated; interaction, collaboration, and coordination among several visualizations must be supported in an efficient manner; and the system should support the use of different analytics techniques in a pluggable manner. Especially in web-based environments, these requirements pose restrictions on the basic visual analytics architecture for streaming data. In this paper we report on our experience of building a reference web architecture for real-time visual analytics of streaming data, identify and discuss architectural patterns that address these challenges, and report on applying the reference architecture for real-time Twitter monitoring and analysis.

Measuring and Modeling Cosmic Ray Showers with an MBL System: An Undergraduate Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, David P.; Welker, Matthew T.

2001-01-01

Describes a novel method for inducing and measuring cosmic ray showers using a low-cost, microcomputer-based laboratory system. Uses low counting-rate radiation monitors in the reproduction of Bruno Rossi's classic experiment. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/YDS)

System and method for charging electrochemical cells in series

DOEpatents

DeLuca, William H.; Hornstra, Jr, Fred; Gelb, George H.; Berman, Baruch; Moede, Larry W.

1980-01-01

A battery charging system capable of equalizing the charge of each individual cell at a selected full charge voltage includes means for regulating charger current to first increase current at a constant rate until a bulk charging level is achieved or until any cell reaches a safe reference voltage. A system controller then begins to decrease the charging rate as long as any cell exceeds the reference voltage until an equalization current level is reached. At this point, the system controller activates a plurality of shunt modules to permit shunting of current around any cell having a voltage exceeding the reference voltage. Leads extending between the battery of cells and shunt modules are time shared to permit alternate shunting of current and voltage monitoring without the voltage drop caused by the shunt current. After each cell has at one time exceeded the reference voltage, the charging current is terminated.

Proposed Application of Fast Fourier Transform in Near Infra Red Based Non Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenie, R. P.; Iskandar, J.; Kurniawan, A.; Rustami, E.; Syafutra, H.; Nurdin, N. M.; Handoyo, T.; Prabowo, J.; Febryarto, R.; Rahayu, M. S. K.; Damayanthi, E.; Rimbawan; Sukandar, D.; Suryana, Y.; Irzaman; Alatas, H.

2017-03-01

Worldwide emergence of glycaemic status related health disorders, such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome, is growing in alarming rate. The objective was to propose new methods for non invasive blood glucose level measurement system, based on implementation of Fast Fourier Transform methods. This was an initial-lab-scale-research. Data on non invasive blood glucose measurement are referred from Scopus, Medline, and Google Scholar, from 2011 until 2016, and was used as design references, combined with in house verification. System was developed in modular fashion, based on aforementioned compiled references. Several preliminary tests to understand relationship between LED and photo-diode responses have been done. Several references were used as non invasive blood glucose measurement tools design basis. Solution is developed in modular fashion. we have proven different sensor responses to water and glucose. Human test for non invasive blood glucose level measurement system is needed.

Results of a 2011 national questionnaire for investigation of mean glandular dose from mammography in Japan.

PubMed

Asada, Y; Suzuki, S; Minami, K; Shirakawa, S

2014-03-01

Diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for mammography have yet to be created in Japan. A national questionnaire investigation into radiographic conditions in Japan was carried out for the purpose of creating DRLs. Items investigated included the following: tube voltage; tube current; current-time product; source-image distance; craniocaudal view; automatic exposure control (AEC) settings; name of mammography unit; image receptor system (computed radiography (CR), flat panel detector (FPD), or film/screen (F/S)); and supported or unsupported monitor diagnosis (including monitor resolution). Estimation of the mean glandular dose (MGD) for mammography was performed and compared with previous investigations. The MGD was 1.58(0.48) mGy, which did not significantly differ from a 2007 investigation. In relation to image receptors, although no difference in average MGD values was observed between CR and FPD systems, F/S systems had a significantly decreased value compared to both CR and FPDs. Concerning digital systems (FPDs), the MGD value of the direct conversion system was significantly higher than the indirect conversion system. No significant difference in MGD value was evident concerning type of monitor diagnosis for either the CR or the FPD digital systems; however, hard copies were used more often in CR. No significant difference in the MGD value was found in relation to monitor resolution. This report suggests ways to lower the doses patients undergoing mammography receive in Japan, and serves as reference data for 4.2 cm compressed breast tissue of 50% composition DRLs. Furthermore, our findings suggest that further optimisation of FPD settings can promote a reduction in the MGD value.

WFC3/UVIS Dark Calibration: Monitoring Results and Improvements to Dark Reference Files

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourque, M.; Baggett, S.

2016-04-01

The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) UVIS detector possesses an intrinsic signal during exposures, even in the absence of light, known as dark current. A daily monitor program is employed every HST cycle to characterize and measure this current as well as to create calibration files which serve to subtract the dark current from science data. We summarize the results of the daily monitor program for all on-orbit data. We also introduce a new algorithm for generating the dark reference files that provides several improvements to their overall quality. Key features to the new algorithm include correcting the dark frames for Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) losses, using an anneal-cycle average value to measure the dark current, and generating reference files on a daily basis. This new algorithm is part of the release of the CALWF3 v3.3 calibration pipeline on February 23, 2016 (also known as "UVIS 2.0"). Improved dark reference files have been regenerated and re-delivered to the Calibration Reference Data System (CRDS) for all on-orbit data. Observers with science data taken prior to the release of CALWF3 v3.3 may request their data through the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) to obtain the improved products.

Tank Monitoring and Document control System (TMACS) As Built Software Design Document

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

GLASSCOCK, J.A.

This document describes the software design for the Tank Monitor and Control System (TMACS). This document captures the existing as-built design of TMACS as of November 1999. It will be used as a reference document to the system maintainers who will be maintaining and modifying the TMACS functions as necessary. The heart of the TMACS system is the ''point-processing'' functionality where a sample value is received from the field sensors and the value is analyzed, logged, or alarmed as required. This Software Design Document focuses on the point-processing functions.

Monitoring iCCM referral systems: Bugoye Integrated Community Case Management Initiative (BIMI) in Uganda.

PubMed

English, Lacey; Miller, James S; Mbusa, Rapheal; Matte, Michael; Kenney, Jessica; Bwambale, Shem; Ntaro, Moses; Patel, Palka; Mulogo, Edgar; Stone, Geren S

2016-04-29

In Uganda, over half of under-five child mortality is attributed to three infectious diseases: malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea. Integrated community case management (iCCM) trains village health workers (VHWs) to provide in-home diagnosis and treatment of these common childhood illnesses. For severely ill children, iCCM relies on a functioning referral system to ensure timely treatment at a health facility. However, referral completion rates vary widely among iCCM programmes and are difficult to monitor. The Bugoye Integrated Community Case Management Initiative (BIMI) is an iCCM programme operating in Bugoye sub-county, Uganda. This case study describes BIMI's experience with monitoring referral completion at Bugoye Health Centre III (BHC), and outlines improvements to be made within iCCM referral systems. This study triangulated multiple data sources to evaluate the strengths and gaps in the BIMI referral system. Three quantitative data sources were reviewed: (1) VHW report of referred patients, (2) referral forms found at BHC, and (3) BHC patient records. These data sources were collated and triangulated from January-December 2014. The goal was to determine if patients were completing their referrals and if referrals were adequately documented using routine data sources. From January-December 2014, there were 268 patients referred to BHC, as documented by VHWs. However, only 52 of these patients had referral forms stored at BHC. Of the 52 referral forms found, 22 of these patients were also found in BHC register books recorded by clinic staff. Thus, the study found a mismatch between VHW reports of patient referrals and the referral visits documented at BHC. This discrepancy may indicate several gaps: (1) referred patients may not be completing their referral, (2) referral forms may be getting lost at BHC, and, (3) referred patients may be going to other health facilities or drug shops, rather than BHC, for their referral. This study demonstrates the challenges of effectively monitoring iCCM referral completion, given identified limitations such as discordant data sources, incomplete record keeping and lack of unique identifiers. There is a need to innovate and improve the ways by which referral compliance is monitored using routine data, in order to improve the percentage of referrals completed. Through research and field experience, this study proposes programmatic and technological solutions to rectify these gaps within iCCM programmes facing similar challenges. With improved monitoring, VHWs will be empowered to increase referral completion, allowing critically ill children to access needed health services.

UV disinfection in drinking water supplies.

PubMed

Hoyer, O

2000-01-01

UV disinfection has become a practical and safely validatable disinfection procedure by specifying the requirements for testing and monitoring in DVGW standard W 294. A standardized biodosimetric testing procedure and monitoring with standardized UV sensors is introduced and successfully applied. On-line monitoring of irradiance can be counterchecked with handheld reference sensors and makes it possible that UV systems can be used for drinking water disinfection with the same level of confidence and safety as is conventional chemical disinfection.

An organic transistor-based system for reference-less electrophysiological monitoring of excitable cells

PubMed Central

Spanu, A.; Lai, S.; Cosseddu, P.; Tedesco, M.; Martinoia, S.; Bonfiglio, A.

2015-01-01

In the last four decades, substantial advances have been done in the understanding of the electrical behavior of excitable cells. From the introduction in the early 70's of the Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor (ISFET), a lot of effort has been put in the development of more and more performing transistor-based devices to reliably interface electrogenic cells such as, for example, cardiac myocytes and neurons. However, depending on the type of application, the electronic devices used to this aim face several problems like the intrinsic rigidity of the materials (associated with foreign body rejection reactions), lack of transparency and the presence of a reference electrode. Here, an innovative system based on a novel kind of organic thin film transistor (OTFT), called organic charge modulated FET (OCMFET), is proposed as a flexible, transparent, reference-less transducer of the electrical activity of electrogenic cells. The exploitation of organic electronics in interfacing the living matters will open up new perspectives in the electrophysiological field allowing us to head toward a modern era of flexible, reference-less, and low cost probes with high-spatial and high-temporal resolution for a new generation of in-vitro and in-vivo monitoring platforms. PMID:25744085

Improving Collaborative School-Agency Transition Planning: A Statewide DBMS Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Randolph L.; Roessler, Richard T.

1997-01-01

Describes the development and components of a referral database management system developed by the Arkansas Transition Project. The system enables individualized-education-plan team members to refer students with disabilities directly to adult agencies and to receive a monitoring report describing the agency response to the referral. The system is…

The development of a national surveillance system for monitoring blood use and inventory levels at sentinel hospitals in South Korea.

PubMed

Lim, Y A; Kim, H H; Joung, U S; Kim, C Y; Shin, Y H; Lee, S W; Kim, H J

2010-04-01

We developed a web-based program for a national surveillance system to determine baseline data regarding the supply and demand of blood products at sentinel hospitals in South Korea. Sentinel hospitals were invited to participate in a 1-month pilot-test. The data for receipts and exports of blood from each hospital information system were converted into comma-separated value files according to a specific conversion rule. The daily data from the sites could be transferred to the web-based program server using a semi-automated submission procedure: pressing a key allowed the program to automatically compute the blood inventory level as well as other indices including the minimal inventory ratio (MIR), ideal inventory ratio (IIR), supply index (SI) and utilisation index (UI). The national surveillance system was referred to as the Korean Blood Inventory Monitoring System (KBIMS) and the web-based program for KBIMS was referred to as the Blood Inventory Monitoring System (BMS). A total of 30 256 red blood cell (RBC) units were submitted as receipt data, however, only 83% of the receipt data were submitted to the BMS server as export data (25 093 RBC units). Median values were 2.67 for MIR, 1.08 for IIR, 1.00 for SI, 0.88 for UI and 5.33 for the ideal inventory day. The BMS program was easy to use and is expected to provide a useful tool for monitoring hospital inventory levels. This information will provide baseline data regarding the supply and demand of blood products in South Korea.

Smart sensor technology for advanced launch vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoess, Jeff

1989-07-01

Next-generation advanced launch vehicles will require improved use of sensor data and the management of multisensor resources to achieve automated preflight checkout, prelaunch readiness assessment and vehicle inflight condition monitoring. Smart sensor technology is a key component in meeting these needs. This paper describes the development of a smart sensor-based condition monitoring system concept referred to as the Distributed Sensor Architecture. A significant event and anomaly detection scheme that provides real-time condition assessment and fault diagnosis of advanced launch system rocket engines is described. The design and flight test of a smart autonomous sensor for Space Shuttle structural integrity health monitoring is presented.

Integrated cluster management at Manchester

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNab, Andrew; Forti, Alessandra

2012-12-01

We describe an integrated management system using third-party, open source components used in operating a large Tier-2 site for particle physics. This system tracks individual assets and records their attributes such as MAC and IP addresses; derives DNS and DHCP configurations from this database; creates each host's installation and re-configuration scripts; monitors the services on each host according to the records of what should be running; and cross references tickets with asset records and per-asset monitoring pages. In addition, scripts which detect problems and automatically remove hosts record these new states in the database which are available to operators immediately through the same interface as tickets and monitoring.

Physical factors that influence patients' privacy perception toward a psychiatric behavioral monitoring system: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Zakaria, Nasriah; Ramli, Rusyaizila

2018-01-01

Psychiatric patients have privacy concerns when it comes to technology intervention in the hospital setting. In this paper, we present scenarios for psychiatric behavioral monitoring systems to be placed in psychiatric wards to understand patients' perception regarding privacy. Psychiatric behavioral monitoring refers to systems that are deemed useful in measuring clinical outcomes, but little research has been done on how these systems will impact patients' privacy. We conducted a case study in one teaching hospital in Malaysia. We investigated the physical factors that influence patients' perceived privacy with respect to a psychiatric monitoring system. The eight physical factors identified from the information system development privacy model, a comprehensive model for designing a privacy-sensitive information system, were adapted in this research. Scenario-based interviews were conducted with 25 patients in a psychiatric ward for 3 months. Psychiatric patients were able to share how physical factors influence their perception of privacy. Results show how patients responded to each of these dimensions in the context of a psychiatric behavioral monitoring system. Some subfactors under physical privacy are modified to reflect the data obtained in the interviews. We were able to capture the different physical factors that influence patient privacy.

Towards generalised reference condition models for environmental assessment: a case study on rivers in Atlantic Canada.

PubMed

Armanini, D G; Monk, W A; Carter, L; Cote, D; Baird, D J

2013-08-01

Evaluation of the ecological status of river sites in Canada is supported by building models using the reference condition approach. However, geography, data scarcity and inter-operability constraints have frustrated attempts to monitor national-scale status and trends. This issue is particularly true in Atlantic Canada, where no ecological assessment system is currently available. Here, we present a reference condition model based on the River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System approach with regional-scale applicability. To achieve this, we used biological monitoring data collected from wadeable streams across Atlantic Canada together with freely available, nationally consistent geographic information system (GIS) environmental data layers. For the first time, we demonstrated that it is possible to use data generated from different studies, even when collected using different sampling methods, to generate a robust predictive model. This model was successfully generated and tested using GIS-based rather than local habitat variables and showed improved performance when compared to a null model. In addition, ecological quality ratio data derived from the model responded to observed stressors in a test dataset. Implications for future large-scale implementation of river biomonitoring using a standardised approach with global application are presented.

Managing Legal Texts in Requirements Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, Paul N.; Antón, Annie I.

Laws and regulations are playing an increasingly important role in requirements engineering and systems development. Monitoring systems for requirements and policy compliance has been recognized in the requirements engineering community as a key area for research. Similarly, legal compliance is critical in systems development, especially given that non-compliance can result in both financial and criminal penalties. Working with legal texts can be very challenging, however, because they contain numerous ambiguities, cross-references, domain-specific definitions, and acronyms, and are frequently amended via new statutes, regulations, and case law. Requirements engineers and compliance auditors must be able to identify relevant legal texts, extract requirements and other key concepts, and monitor compliance. This chapter surveys research efforts over the past 50 years in handling legal texts for systems development. This survey can aid requirements engineers and auditors to better specify, test, and monitor systems for compliance.

Monitoring of wind turbines

DOEpatents

White, Jonathan R.; Adams, Douglas E.; Paquette, Josh

2017-07-25

Method and apparatus for determining the deflection or curvature of a rotating blade, such as a wind turbine blade or a helicopter blade. Also, methods and apparatus for establishing an inertial reference system on a rotating blade.

Connections 2030 performance monitoring.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) recently updated its long-range : multimodal plan. This plan, referred to as Connections 2030, provides a policy framework for : moving towards a safer and more efficient transportation system that ...

GEOdetic Data assimilation and EStimation of references for climate change InvEstigation. An overall presentation of the French GEODESIE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coulot, David; Richard, Jean-Yves

2017-04-01

Many major indicators of climate change are monitored with space observations (sea level rise from satellite altimetry, ice melting from dedicated satellites, etc.). This monitoring is highly dependent on references (positions and velocities of ground observing instruments, orbits of satellites, etc.) that only geodesy can provide. The current accuracy of these references does not permit to fully support the challenges that the constantly evolving Earth system gives rise to, and can consequently limit the accuracy of these indicators. For this reason, in the framework of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS), stringent requirements are fixed to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) for the next decade: an accuracy at the level of 1 mm and a stability at the level of 0.1 mm/yr. This means an improvement of the current quality of ITRF by a factor of 5-10. Improving the quality of the geodetic references is an issue which requires a thorough reassessment of the methodologies involved. The most relevant and promising method to improve this quality is the direct combination (Combination at Observation Level - COL) of the space-geodetic measurements used to compute the official references of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). The GEODESIE project aims at (i) determining highly-accurate global and consistent references (time series of Terrestrial Reference Frames and Celestial Reference Frames, of Earth's Orientation Parameters, and orbits of Earth's observation satellites) and (ii) providing the geophysical and climate research communities with these references, for a better estimation of geocentric sea level rise, ice mass balance and on-going climate changes. Time series of sea levels computed from altimetric data and tide gauge records with these references (orbits of satellite altimeters, Terrestrial Reference Frames and related vertical velocities of stations) will also be provided. The geodetic references will be essential bases for Earth's observation and monitoring to support the challenges of the century. The geocentric time series of sea levels will permit to better apprehend (i) the drivers of the global mean sea level rise and of regional variations of sea level and (ii) the contribution of the global climate change induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions to these drivers. All the results and computation and quality assessment reports will be available on a Website designed and opened in the Summer of 2017. This project, supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) for the period 2017-2020, will be an unprecedented opportunity to provide the French Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS) with complete simulation and data processing capabilities to prepare the future arrival of space missions such as the European Geodetic Reference Antenna in SPace (E-GRASP) and to significantly contribute to the GGOS with accurate references.

Advanced Transport Operating System (ATOPS) color displays software description microprocessor system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slominski, Christopher J.; Plyler, Valerie E.; Dickson, Richard W.

1992-01-01

This document describes the software created for the Sperry Microprocessor Color Display System used for the Advanced Transport Operating Systems (ATOPS) project on the Transport Systems Research Vehicle (TSRV). The software delivery known as the 'baseline display system', is the one described in this document. Throughout this publication, module descriptions are presented in a standardized format which contains module purpose, calling sequence, detailed description, and global references. The global reference section includes procedures and common variables referenced by a particular module. The system described supports the Research Flight Deck (RFD) of the TSRV. The RFD contains eight cathode ray tubes (CRTs) which depict a Primary Flight Display, Navigation Display, System Warning Display, Takeoff Performance Monitoring System Display, and Engine Display.

Community Air Sensor Network (CAIRSENSE) project: evaluation of low-cost sensor performance in a suburban environment in the southeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiao, Wan; Hagler, Gayle; Williams, Ronald; Sharpe, Robert; Brown, Ryan; Garver, Daniel; Judge, Robert; Caudill, Motria; Rickard, Joshua; Davis, Michael; Weinstock, Lewis; Zimmer-Dauphinee, Susan; Buckley, Ken

2016-11-01

Advances in air pollution sensor technology have enabled the development of small and low-cost systems to measure outdoor air pollution. The deployment of a large number of sensors across a small geographic area would have potential benefits to supplement traditional monitoring networks with additional geographic and temporal measurement resolution, if the data quality were sufficient. To understand the capability of emerging air sensor technology, the Community Air Sensor Network (CAIRSENSE) project deployed low-cost, continuous, and commercially available air pollution sensors at a regulatory air monitoring site and as a local sensor network over a surrounding ˜ 2 km area in the southeastern United States. Collocation of sensors measuring oxides of nitrogen, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particles revealed highly variable performance, both in terms of comparison to a reference monitor as well as the degree to which multiple identical sensors produced the same signal. Multiple ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide sensors revealed low to very high correlation with a reference monitor, with Pearson sample correlation coefficient (r) ranging from 0.39 to 0.97, -0.25 to 0.76, and -0.40 to 0.82, respectively. The only sulfur dioxide sensor tested revealed no correlation (r < 0.5) with a reference monitor and erroneously high concentration values. A wide variety of particulate matter (PM) sensors were tested with variable results - some sensors had very high agreement (e.g., r = 0.99) between identical sensors but moderate agreement with a reference PM2.5 monitor (e.g., r = 0.65). For select sensors that had moderate to strong correlation with reference monitors (r > 0.5), step-wise multiple linear regression was performed to determine if ambient temperature, relative humidity (RH), or age of the sensor in number of sampling days could be used in a correction algorithm to improve the agreement. Maximum improvement in agreement with a reference, incorporating all factors, was observed for an NO2 sensor (multiple correlation coefficient R2adj-orig = 0.57, R2adj-final = 0.81); however, other sensors showed no apparent improvement in agreement. A four-node sensor network was successfully able to capture ozone (two nodes) and PM (four nodes) data for an 8-month period of time and show expected diurnal concentration patterns, as well as potential ozone titration due to nearby traffic emissions. Overall, this study demonstrates the performance of emerging air quality sensor technologies in a real-world setting; the variable agreement between sensors and reference monitors indicates that in situ testing of sensors against benchmark monitors should be a critical aspect of all field studies.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Environmental Monitoring with Special Reference to Heat Loss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anweiler, Stanisław; Piwowarski, Dawid; Ulbrich, Roman

2017-10-01

This paper presents the design and implementation of device for remote and automatic monitoring of temperature field of large objects. The project aimed to create a quadcopter flying platform equipped with a thermal imaging camera. The object of the research was district heating installations above ground and underground. The results of the work on the implementation of low-cost (below 750 EUR) and efficient heat loss monitoring system. The system consists of a small (<2kg) multirotor platform. To perform thermal images micro camera FlirOne with microcomputer Raspberry Pi3 was used. Exploitation of UAVs in temperature field monitoring reveals only a fraction of their capabilities. The fast-growing multirotor platform market continues to deliver new solutions and improvements. Their use in monitoring the environment is limited only by the imagination of the user.

Rotating pressure measurement system using an on board calibration standard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Senyitko, Richard G.; Blumenthal, Philip Z.; Freedman, Robert J.

1991-01-01

A computer-controlled multichannel pressure measurement system was developed to acquire detailed flow field measurements on board the Large Low Speed Centrifugal Compressor Research Facility at the NASA Lewis Research Center. A pneumatic slip ring seal assembly is used to transfer calibration pressures to a reference standard transducer on board the compressor rotor in order to measure very low differential pressures with the high accuracy required. A unique data acquisition system was designed and built to convert the analog signal from the reference transducer to the variable frequency required by the multichannel pressure measurement system and also to provide an output for temperature control of the reference transducer. The system also monitors changes in test cell barometric pressure and rotating seal leakage and provides an on screen warning to the operator if limits are exceeded. The methods used for the selection and testing of the the reference transducer are discussed, and the data acquisition system hardware and software design are described. The calculated and experimental data for the system measurement accuracy are also presented.

Toward a national early warning system for forest disturbances using remotely sensed canopy phenology

Treesearch

William W. Hargrove; Joseph P. Spruce; Gerald E. Gasser; Forrest M. Hoffman

2009-01-01

Imagine a national system with the ability to quickly identify forested areas under attack from insects or disease. Such an early warning system might minimize surprises such as the explosion of caterpillars referred to in the quotation above. Moderate resolution (ca. 500m) remote sensing repeated at frequent (ca. weekly) intervals could power such a monitoring system...

[Advances of portable electrocardiogram monitor design].

PubMed

Ding, Shenping; Wang, Yinghai; Wu, Weirong; Deng, Lingli; Lu, Jidong

2014-06-01

Portable electrocardiogram monitor is an important equipment in the clinical diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases due to its portable, real-time features. It has a broad application and development prospects in China. In the present review, previous researches on the portable electrocardiogram monitors have been arranged, analyzed and summarized. According to the characteristics of the electrocardiogram (ECG), this paper discusses the ergonomic design of the portable electrocardiogram monitor, including hardware and software. The circuit components and software modules were parsed from the ECG features and system functions. Finally, the development trend and reference are provided for the portable electrocardiogram monitors and for the subsequent research and product design.

Critical aspects of integrated monitoring systems for landslides risk management: strategies for a reliable approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castagnetti, C.; Bertacchini, E.; Capra, A.; Corsini, A.

2012-04-01

The use of advanced technologies for remotely monitor surface processes is a successful way for improving the knowledge of phenomena evolution. In addition, the integration of various techniques is becoming more and more common in order to implement early warning systems that can monitor the evolution of landslides in time and prevent emergencies. The reliability of those systems plays a key role when Public Administrations have to plan actions in case of disasters or for preventing an incoming emergency. To have confidence in the information given by the system is an essential condition for a successful policy aiming to protect the population. The research deals with the major critical aspects to be taken into account when implementing a reliable monitoring system for unstable slopes. The importance of those aspects is often neglected, unlike the effects of a not careful implementation and management of the system can lead to erroneous interpretations of the phenomenon itself. The case study which ruled the research and highlighted the actual need of guidelines for setting up a reliable monitoring system is the Valoria landslide, located in the Northern Italy. The system is based on the integration of an automatic Total Station (TS) measuring 45 reflectors and a master GPS, acting as the reference station for three rovers placed within the landslide. In order to monitor local disturbing effects, a bi-dimensional clinometer has been applied on the TS pillar. Topographic measurements have been also integrated with geotechnical sensors (inclinometers and piezometers) in a GIS for landslide risk management. At the very beginning, periodic measurements were carried out, while the system is now performing continuously since 2008. The system permitted to evaluate movements from few millimeter till some meters per day in most dangerous areas. A more spatially continuous description has been also provided by LiDAR and terrestrial SAR interferometry. Some of the most interesting and critical aspects that will be deeper described and analyzed are: - strategy for planning a successful integrated system for continuous monitoring. - Choice of the reference frame: local coordinate system or georeferenced one. - Stability of the site for the master unit positioning: GPS time series analysis for controlling the effective stability. Thanks to the GPS master station that are operating for over three years, atmospheric disturbances affecting the signal may be removed in order to carefully verify the stability of the area and to establish whether the site is geologically stable, as originally suggested, or not. In the latter case, the magnitude of movements may also be computed for providing corrections to TS observations. - Stability of the monumentation, both for reference points and TS pillar. This is an essential aspect for avoiding misinterpretations when analyzing displacements of prisms placed within the landslide. The results of experiences carried out by Authors over last years about different landslides will be presented in order to propose guidelines for a sort of procedure aiming to increase the reliability of the information provided by the system and the usefulness for local Agencies.

Protocol Gas Verification Program Audit Reports

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

View the full reports from 2010 and 2013 of the PGVP audits, which tested the EPA Protocol gases that are used to calibrate continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS), and the instruments used in EPA reference methods.

Development and Validation of a Rapid (13)C6-Glucose Isotope Dilution UPLC-MRM Mass Spectrometry Method for Use in Determining System Accuracy and Performance of Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices.

PubMed

Matsunami, Risë K; Angelides, Kimon; Engler, David A

2015-05-18

There is currently considerable discussion about the accuracy of blood glucose concentrations determined by personal blood glucose monitoring systems (BGMS). To date, the FDA has allowed new BGMS to demonstrate accuracy in reference to other glucose measurement systems that use the same or similar enzymatic-based methods to determine glucose concentration. These types of reference measurement procedures are only comparative in nature and are subject to the same potential sources of error in measurement and system perturbations as the device under evaluation. It would be ideal to have a completely orthogonal primary method that could serve as a true standard reference measurement procedure for establishing the accuracy of new BGMS. An isotope-dilution liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (ID-UPLC-MRM) assay was developed using (13)C6-glucose as a stable isotope analogue to specifically measure glucose concentration in human plasma, and validated for use against NIST standard reference materials, and against fresh isolates of whole blood and plasma into which exogenous glucose had been spiked. Assay performance was quantified to NIST-traceable dry weight measures for both glucose and (13)C6-glucose. The newly developed assay method was shown to be rapid, highly specific, sensitive, accurate, and precise for measuring plasma glucose levels. The assay displayed sufficient dynamic range and linearity to measure across the range of both normal and diabetic blood glucose levels. Assay performance was measured to within the same uncertainty levels (<1%) as the NIST definitive method for glucose measurement in human serum. The newly developed ID UPLC-MRM assay can serve as a validated reference measurement procedure to which new BGMS can be assessed for glucose measurement performance. © 2015 Diabetes Technology Society.

Development and Validation of a Rapid 13C6-Glucose Isotope Dilution UPLC-MRM Mass Spectrometry Method for Use in Determining System Accuracy and Performance of Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices

PubMed Central

Matsunami, Risë K.; Angelides, Kimon; Engler, David A.

2015-01-01

Background: There is currently considerable discussion about the accuracy of blood glucose concentrations determined by personal blood glucose monitoring systems (BGMS). To date, the FDA has allowed new BGMS to demonstrate accuracy in reference to other glucose measurement systems that use the same or similar enzymatic-based methods to determine glucose concentration. These types of reference measurement procedures are only comparative in nature and are subject to the same potential sources of error in measurement and system perturbations as the device under evaluation. It would be ideal to have a completely orthogonal primary method that could serve as a true standard reference measurement procedure for establishing the accuracy of new BGMS. Methods: An isotope-dilution liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (ID-UPLC-MRM) assay was developed using 13C6-glucose as a stable isotope analogue to specifically measure glucose concentration in human plasma, and validated for use against NIST standard reference materials, and against fresh isolates of whole blood and plasma into which exogenous glucose had been spiked. Assay performance was quantified to NIST-traceable dry weight measures for both glucose and 13C6-glucose. Results: The newly developed assay method was shown to be rapid, highly specific, sensitive, accurate, and precise for measuring plasma glucose levels. The assay displayed sufficient dynamic range and linearity to measure across the range of both normal and diabetic blood glucose levels. Assay performance was measured to within the same uncertainty levels (<1%) as the NIST definitive method for glucose measurement in human serum. Conclusions: The newly developed ID UPLC-MRM assay can serve as a validated reference measurement procedure to which new BGMS can be assessed for glucose measurement performance. PMID:25986627

SU-E-T-354: Efficient and Enhanced QA Testing of Linear Accelerators Using a Real-Time Beam Monitor

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

Jung, J; Farrokhkish, M; Norrlinger, B

2015-06-15

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of performing routine QA tests of linear accelerators (Linac) using the Integral Quality Monitoring (IQM) system. The system, consisting of a 1-D sensitivity gradient large area ion-chamber mounted at the collimator, allows automatic collection and analysis of beam data. Methods: The IQM was investigated to perform several QA constancy tests, similar to those recommended by AAPM TG142, of a Linac including: beam output, MLC calibration, beam symmetry, relative dose factor (RDF), dose linearity, output as a function of gantry angle and dose rate. All measurements by the IQM system accompanied a reference measurement using amore » conventional dosimetry system and were performed on an Elekta Infinity Linac with Agility MLC. The MLC calibration check is done using a Picket-Fence type 2×10cm{sup 2} field positioned at different off-axis locations along the chamber gradient. Beam symmetry constancy values are established by signals from an 4×4cm{sup 2} aperture located at various off-axis positions; the sensitivity of the test was determined by the changes in the signals in response to a tilt in the beam. The data for various square field sizes were used to develop a functional relationship with RDF. Results: The IQM tracked the beam output well within 1% of the reference ion-chamber readings. The Picket-Fence type field test detected a 1mm shift error of one MLC bank. The system was able to detect 2.5% or greater beam asymmetry. The IQM results for all other QA tests were found to agree with the reference values to within 0.5%. Conclusion: It was demonstrated that the IQM system can effectively monitor the Linac performance parameters for the purpose of routine QA constancy tests. With minimum user interactions a comprehensive set of tests can be performed efficiently, allowing frequent monitoring of the Linac. The presenting author’s salary is funded by the manufacturer of the QA device. All the other authors have financial interests with the commercialization of this QA device.« less

System For Surveillance Of Spectral Signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2004-10-12

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a Sequential Probability Ratio Test ("SPRT") methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

System For Surveillance Of Spectral Signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2003-04-22

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a Sequential Probability Ratio Test methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

System for surveillance of spectral signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2006-02-14

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a Sequential Probability Ratio Test ("SPRT") methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

System for surveillance of spectral signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2001-01-01

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a SPRT sequential probability ratio test methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

A sensor monitoring system for telemedicine, safety and security applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vlissidis, Nikolaos; Leonidas, Filippos; Giovanis, Christos; Marinos, Dimitrios; Aidinis, Konstantinos; Vassilopoulos, Christos; Pagiatakis, Gerasimos; Schmitt, Nikolaus; Pistner, Thomas; Klaue, Jirka

2017-02-01

A sensor system capable of medical, safety and security monitoring in avionic and other environments (e.g. homes) is examined. For application inside an aircraft cabin, the system relies on an optical cellular network that connects each seat to a server and uses a set of database applications to process data related to passengers' health, safety and security status. Health monitoring typically encompasses electrocardiogram, pulse oximetry and blood pressure, body temperature and respiration rate while safety and security monitoring is related to the standard flight attendance duties, such as cabin preparation for take-off, landing, flight in regions of turbulence, etc. In contrast to previous related works, this article focuses on the system's modules (medical and safety sensors and associated hardware), the database applications used for the overall control of the monitoring function and the potential use of the system for security applications. Further tests involving medical, safety and security sensing performed in an real A340 mock-up set-up are also described and reference is made to the possible use of the sensing system in alternative environments and applications, such as health monitoring within other means of transport (e.g. trains or small passenger sea vessels) as well as for remotely located home users, over a wired Ethernet network or the Internet.

Preliminary flight prototype silver ion monitoring system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brady, J.

1974-01-01

The design, fabrication, and testing of a preliminary flight prototype silver ion monitoring system based on potentiometric principles and utilizing a solid-state silver sulfide electrode paired with a pressurized double-junction reference electrode housing a replaceable electrolyte reservoir is described. The design provides automatic electronic calibration utilizing saturated silver bromide solution as a silver ion standard. The problem of loss of silver ion from recirculating fluid, its cause, and corrective procedures are reported. The instability of the silver sulfide electrode is discussed as well as difficulties met in implementing the autocalibration procedure.

Measurement and Control of the Variability of Scanning Pressure Transducer Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuhl, David D.; Everhart, Joel L.; Hallissy, James B.

2003-01-01

This paper describes the new wall pressure measurement system and data-quality monitoring software installed at 14x22 Ft subsonic tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center. The monitoring software was developed to enable measurement and control of the variability of the reference pressures and approximately 400 tunnel wall pressure measurements. Variability of the system, based upon data acquired over a year of wind tunnel tests and calibrations, is presented. The level of variation of the wall pressure measurements is shown to be predictable.

Reconfigurable assembly work station

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

Lin, Yhu-Tin; Abell, Jeffrey A.; Spicer, John Patrick

A reconfigurable autonomous workstation includes a multi-faced superstructure including a horizontally-arranged frame section supported on a plurality of posts. The posts form a plurality of vertical faces arranged between adjacent pairs of the posts, the faces including first and second faces and a power distribution and position reference face. A controllable robotic arm suspends from the rectangular frame section, and a work table fixedly couples to the power distribution and position reference face. A plurality of conveyor tables are fixedly coupled to the work table including a first conveyor table through the first face and a second conveyor table throughmore » the second face. A vision system monitors the work table and each of the conveyor tables. A programmable controller monitors signal inputs from the vision system to identify and determine orientation of the component on the first conveyor table and control the robotic arm to execute an assembly task.« less

Extended range radiation dose-rate monitor

DOEpatents

Valentine, Kenneth H.

1988-01-01

An extended range dose-rate monitor is provided which utilizes the pulse pileup phenomenon that occurs in conventional counting systems to alter the dynamic response of the system to extend the dose-rate counting range. The current pulses from a solid-state detector generated by radiation events are amplified and shaped prior to applying the pulses to the input of a comparator. The comparator generates one logic pulse for each input pulse which exceeds the comparator reference threshold. These pulses are integrated and applied to a meter calibrated to indicate the measured dose-rate in response to the integrator output. A portion of the output signal from the integrator is fed back to vary the comparator reference threshold in proportion to the output count rate to extend the sensitive dynamic detection range by delaying the asymptotic approach of the integrator output toward full scale as measured by the meter.

Cooperative multisensor system for real-time face detection and tracking in uncontrolled conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchesotti, Luca; Piva, Stefano; Turolla, Andrea; Minetti, Deborah; Regazzoni, Carlo S.

2005-03-01

The presented work describes an innovative architecture for multi-sensor distributed video surveillance applications. The aim of the system is to track moving objects in outdoor environments with a cooperative strategy exploiting two video cameras. The system also exhibits the capacity of focusing its attention on the faces of detected pedestrians collecting snapshot frames of face images, by segmenting and tracking them over time at different resolution. The system is designed to employ two video cameras in a cooperative client/server structure: the first camera monitors the entire area of interest and detects the moving objects using change detection techniques. The detected objects are tracked over time and their position is indicated on a map representing the monitored area. The objects" coordinates are sent to the server sensor in order to point its zooming optics towards the moving object. The second camera tracks the objects at high resolution. As well as the client camera, this sensor is calibrated and the position of the object detected on the image plane reference system is translated in its coordinates referred to the same area map. In the map common reference system, data fusion techniques are applied to achieve a more precise and robust estimation of the objects" track and to perform face detection and tracking. The work novelties and strength reside in the cooperative multi-sensor approach, in the high resolution long distance tracking and in the automatic collection of biometric data such as a person face clip for recognition purposes.

Existing Resources, Standards, and Procedures for Precise Monitoring and Analysis of Structural Deformations. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-09-01

Vsurveyors’ at the technician level or even without any formal education. In this case, even the most technologically advanced instrumentation will not... technologically advanced instrumentation system will not supply the expected information. UNB Report on Deformation Monitoring, 1992 163 The worldwide review... Technology ( CANMET ) Report 77-15. Lazzarini, T. (1975). "The identification of reference points in trigonometrical and linear networks established for

Attentional Drift: An Exploratory Study into the Development of an Attention Level Monitoring System Based on Human Eye Fixation

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

1979). As drivers’ daily commuting times increase, and as new technologies such as Blackberrys , navigation systems, DVDs, etc., become more pervasive...Thomas, L.C., & Wickens, C.D. (2001). Visual displays and cognitive tunneling : frames of reference effects on spatial judgments and change

A Navigation Reference System (NRS) Using Global Positioning System (GPS) Aiding

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

1M0 WPAFB OH 45433- 8583 AI/EEG9M0 9. SPONSORINM/MONITORING AGENCY NAMI(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/I MONITORINA AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 6585th...60 Re .100 ISO ."-150 ’ , I • . . . , 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 Time (eec) (a) 3 S.. ......................S 1

Introduction of structural health and safety monitoring warning systems for Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Corridor Shenzhen Bay Bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, N.; Zhang, X. Y.; Zhou, X. T.; Leng, J.; Liang, Z.; Zheng, C.; Sun, X. F.

2008-03-01

Though the brief introduction of the completed structural health and safety monitoring warning systems for Shenzhen-Hongkong western corridor Shenzhen bay highway bridge (SZBHMS), the self-developed system frame, hardware and software scheme of this practical research project are systematically discussed in this paper. The data acquisition and transmission hardware and the basic software based on the NI (National Instruments) Company virtual instruments technology were selected in this system, which adopted GPS time service receiver technology and so on. The objectives are to establish the structural safety monitoring and status evaluation system to monitor the structural responses and working conditions in real time and to analyze the structural working statue using information obtained from the measured data. It will be also provided the scientific decision-making bases for the bridge management and maintenance. Potential technical approaches to the structural safety warning systems, status identification and evaluation method are presented. The result indicated that the performance of the system has achieved the desired objectives, ensure the longterm high reliability, real time concurrence and advanced technology of SZBHMS. The innovate achievement which is the first time to implement in domestic, provide the reference for long-span bridge structural health and safety monitoring warning systems design.

Physical factors that influence patients’ privacy perception toward a psychiatric behavioral monitoring system: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

Zakaria, Nasriah; Ramli, Rusyaizila

2018-01-01

Background Psychiatric patients have privacy concerns when it comes to technology intervention in the hospital setting. In this paper, we present scenarios for psychiatric behavioral monitoring systems to be placed in psychiatric wards to understand patients’ perception regarding privacy. Psychiatric behavioral monitoring refers to systems that are deemed useful in measuring clinical outcomes, but little research has been done on how these systems will impact patients’ privacy. Methods We conducted a case study in one teaching hospital in Malaysia. We investigated the physical factors that influence patients’ perceived privacy with respect to a psychiatric monitoring system. The eight physical factors identified from the information system development privacy model, a comprehensive model for designing a privacy-sensitive information system, were adapted in this research. Scenario-based interviews were conducted with 25 patients in a psychiatric ward for 3 months. Results Psychiatric patients were able to share how physical factors influence their perception of privacy. Results show how patients responded to each of these dimensions in the context of a psychiatric behavioral monitoring system. Conclusion Some subfactors under physical privacy are modified to reflect the data obtained in the interviews. We were able to capture the different physical factors that influence patient privacy. PMID:29343963

Measurement of LHCD antenna position in Aditya tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambulkar, K. K.; Sharma, P. K.; Virani, C. G.; Parmar, P. R.; Thakur, A. L.; Kulkarni, S. V.

2010-02-01

To drive plasma current non-inductively in ADITYA tokamak, 120 kW pulsed Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) system at 3.7 GHz has been designed, fabricated and installed on ADITYA tokamak. In this system, the antenna consists of a grill structure, having two rows, each row comprising of four sub-waveguides. The coupling of LHCD power to the plasma strongly depends on the plasma density near the mouth of grill antenna. Thus the grill antenna has to be precisely positioned for efficient coupling. The movement of mechanical bellow, which contracts or expands up to 50mm, governs the movement of antenna. In order to monitor the position of the antenna precisely, the reference position of the antenna with respect to the machine/plasma position has to be accurately determined. Further a mechanical system or an electronic system to measure the relative movement of the antenna with respect to the reference position is also desired. Also due to poor accessibility inside the ADITYA machine, it is impossible to measure physically the reference position of the grill antenna with respect to machine wall, taken as reference position and hence an alternative method has to be adopted to establish these measurements reliably. In this paper we report the design and development of a mechanism, using which the antenna position measurements are made. It also describes a unique method employing which the measurements of the reference position of the antenna with respect to the inner edge of the tokamak wall is carried out, which otherwise was impossible due to poor accessibility and physical constraints. The position of the antenna is monitored using an electronic scale, which is developed and installed on the bellow. Once the reference position is derived, the linear potentiometer, attached to the bellow, measures the linear distance using position transmitter. The accuracy of measurement obtained in our setup is within +/- 0.5 % and the linearity, along with repeatability is excellent.

Knowledge-based geographic information systems on the Macintosh computer: a component of the GypsES project

Treesearch

Gregory Elmes; Thomas Millette; Charles B. Yuill

1991-01-01

GypsES, a decision-support and expert system for the management of Gypsy Moth addresses five related research problems in a modular, computer-based project. The modules are hazard rating, monitoring, prediction, treatment decision and treatment implementation. One common component is a geographic information system designed to function intelligently. We refer to this...

Advanced Transport Operating System (ATOPS) color displays software description: MicroVAX system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slominski, Christopher J.; Plyler, Valerie E.; Dickson, Richard W.

1992-01-01

This document describes the software created for the Display MicroVAX computer used for the Advanced Transport Operating Systems (ATOPS) project on the Transport Systems Research Vehicle (TSRV). The software delivery of February 27, 1991, known as the 'baseline display system', is the one described in this document. Throughout this publication, module descriptions are presented in a standardized format which contains module purpose, calling sequence, detailed description, and global references. The global references section includes subroutines, functions, and common variables referenced by a particular module. The system described supports the Research Flight Deck (RFD) of the TSRV. The RFD contains eight Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) which depict a Primary Flight Display, Navigation Display, System Warning Display, Takeoff Performance Monitoring System Display, and Engine Display.

Accuracy of a Factory-Calibrated, Real-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring System During 10 Days of Use in Youth and Adults with Diabetes.

PubMed

Wadwa, R Paul; Laffel, Lori M; Shah, Viral N; Garg, Satish K

2018-06-01

Frequent use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems is associated with improved glycemic outcomes in persons with diabetes, but the need for calibrations and sensor insertions are often barriers to adoption. In this study, we evaluated the performance of G6, a sixth-generation, factory-calibrated CGM system specified for 10-day wear. The study enrolled participants of ages 6 years and up with type 1 diabetes or insulin-treated type 2 diabetes at 11 sites in the United States. Participation involved one sensor wear period of up to 10 days. Adults wore the system on the abdomen; youth of ages 6-17 years could choose to wear it on the abdomen or upper buttocks. Clinic sessions for frequent comparison with reference blood glucose measurements took place on days 1, 4-5, 7, and/or 10. Participants of ages 13 years and up underwent purposeful supervised glucose manipulation during in-clinic sessions. During the study, participants calibrated the systems once daily. However, analysis was performed on glucose values that were derived from reprocessed raw sensor data, independently of self-monitored blood glucose values used for calibration. Reprocessing used assigned sensor codes and a factory-calibration algorithm. Performance evaluation included the proportion of CGM values that were within ±20% of reference glucose values >100 mg/dL or within ±20 mg/dL of reference glucose values ≤100 mg/dL (%20/20), the analogous %15/15, and the mean absolute relative difference (MARD, expressed as a percentage) between temporally matched CGM and reference values. Data from 262 study participants (21,569 matched CGM reference pairs) were analyzed. The overall %15/15, %20/20, and MARD were 82.4%, 92.3%, and 10.0%, respectively. Matched pairs from 134 adults and 128 youth of ages 6-17 years were similar with respect to %20/20 (92.4% and 91.9%) and MARD (9.9% and 10.1%). Overall %20/20 values on days 1 and 10 of sensor wear were 88.6% and 90.6%, respectively. The system's "Urgent Low Soon" (predictive of hypoglycemia within 20 min) hypoglycemia alert was correctly provided 84% of the time within 30 min before impending biochemical hypoglycemia (<70 mg/dL). The 10-day sensor survival rate was 87%. The new factory-calibrated G6 real-time CGM system provides accurate readings for 10 days and removes several clinical barriers to broader CGM adoption.

Surface Acoustic Wave Monitor for Deposition and Analysis of Ultra-Thin Films

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hines, Jacqueline H. (Inventor)

2015-01-01

A surface acoustic wave (SAW) based thin film deposition monitor device and system for monitoring the deposition of ultra-thin films and nanomaterials and the analysis thereof is characterized by acoustic wave device embodiments that include differential delay line device designs, and which can optionally have integral reference devices fabricated on the same substrate as the sensing device, or on a separate device in thermal contact with the film monitoring/analysis device, in order to provide inherently temperature compensated measurements. These deposition monitor and analysis devices can include inherent temperature compensation, higher sensitivity to surface interactions than quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) devices, and the ability to operate at extreme temperatures.

SU-E-J-194: Continuous Patient Surface Monitoring and Motion Analysis During Lung SBRT

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

Chung, E; Rioux, A; Benedict, S

2015-06-15

Purpose: Continuous monitoring of the SBRT lung patient motion during delivery is critical for ensuring adequate target volume margins in stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). This work assesses the deviation of the patient surface motion using a real-time surface tracking system throughout treatment delivery. Methods: Our SBRT protocol employs abdominal compression to reduce the diaphragm movement to within 1 cm, and this is confirmed daily with fluoroscopy. Most patients are prescribed 3–5 fractions, and on treatment day a repeat motion analysis with fluoroscopy is performed, followed by a kV CBCT is aligned with the original planning CT image for 3D setupmore » confirmation. During this entire process a patient surface data restricted to whole chest or the sternum at the middle of the breathing cycle was captured using AlignRT optical surface tracking system and defined as a reference surface. For 10 patients, the deviation of the patient position from the reference surface was recorded during the SBRT delivery in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction at 3–6 measurements per second. Results: On average, the patient position deviated from the reference surface more than 4 mm, 3 mm and 2 mm in the AP direction for 0.95%, 3.7% and 11.1% of the total treatment time, respectively. Only one of the 10 patients showed that the maximum deviation of the patient surface during the SBRT delivery was greater than 1 cm. The average deviation of the patient surface from the reference surface during the SBRT delivery was not greater than 1.6 mm for any patient. Conclusion: This investigation indicates that AP motion can be significant even though the frequency is low. Continuous monitoring during SBRT has demonstrated value in monitoring patient motion ensuring that margins selected for SBRT are appropriate, and the use of non-ionizing and high-frequency imaging can provide useful indicators of motion during treatment.« less

Potential for Expanding the Near Real Time ForWarn Regional Forest Monitoring System to Include Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spruce, Joseph P.; Gasser, Gerald; Hargrove, William; Smoot, James; Kuper, Philip D.

2014-01-01

The on-line near real time (NRT) ForWarn system is currently deployed to monitor regional forest disturbances within the conterminous United States (CONUS), using daily MODIS Aqua and Terra NDVI data to derive monitoring products. The Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 mandated such a system. Work on ForWarn began in 2006 with development and validation of retrospective MODIS NDVI-based forest monitoring products. Subsequently, NRT forest disturbance monitoring products were demonstrated, leading to the actual system deployment in 2010. ForWarn provides new CONUS forest disturbance monitoring products every 8 days, using USGS eMODIS data for current NDVI. ForWarn currently does not cover Alaska, which includes extensive forest lands at risk to multiple biotic and abiotic threats. This poster discusses a case study using Alaska eMODIS Terra data to derive ForWarn like forest change products during the 2010 growing season. The eMODIS system provides current MODIS Terra NDVI products for Alaska. Resulting forest change products were assessed with ground, aerial, and Landsat reference data. When cloud and snow free, these preliminary products appeared to capture regional forest disturbances from insect defoliation and fires; however, more work is needed to mitigate cloud and snow contamination, including integration of eMODIS Aqua data.

A Non-Invasive Multichannel Hybrid Fiber-Optic Sensor System for Vital Sign Monitoring

PubMed Central

Fajkus, Marcel; Nedoma, Jan; Martinek, Radek; Vasinek, Vladimir; Nazeran, Homer; Siska, Petr

2017-01-01

In this article, we briefly describe the design, construction, and functional verification of a hybrid multichannel fiber-optic sensor system for basic vital sign monitoring. This sensor uses a novel non-invasive measurement probe based on the fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The probe is composed of two FBGs encapsulated inside a polydimethylsiloxane polymer (PDMS). The PDMS is non-reactive to human skin and resistant to electromagnetic waves, UV absorption, and radiation. We emphasize the construction of the probe to be specifically used for basic vital sign monitoring such as body temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate. The proposed sensor system can continuously process incoming signals from up to 128 individuals. We first present the overall design of this novel multichannel sensor and then elaborate on how it has the potential to simplify vital sign monitoring and consequently improve the comfort level of patients in long-term health care facilities, hospitals and clinics. The reference ECG signal was acquired with the use of standard gel electrodes fixed to the monitored person’s chest using a real-time monitoring system for ECG signals with virtual instrumentation. The outcomes of these experiments have unambiguously proved the functionality of the sensor system and will be used to inform our future research in this fast developing and emerging field. PMID:28075341

1993 Earth Observing System reference handbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Asrar, Ghassem (Editor); Dokken, David Jon (Editor)

1993-01-01

Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) is a NASA-sponsored concept that uses space- and ground-based measurement systems to provide the scientific basis for understanding global change. The space-based components of MTPE will provide a constellation of satellites to monitor the Earth from space. Sustained observations will allow researchers to monitor climate variables overtime to determine trends; however, space-based monitoring alone is not sufficient. A comprehensive data and information system, a community of scientists performing research with the data acquired, and extensive ground campaigns are all important components. Brief descriptions of the various elements that comprise the overall mission are provided. The Earth Observing System (EOS) - a series of polar-orbiting and low-inclination satellites for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans - is the centerpiece of MTPE. The elements comprising the EOS mission are described in detail.

Building National Capacity To Implement National Forest Monitoring System In Africa By GLAD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lola Amani, P. K.

2017-12-01

Earth Observation data provide numerous information on the earth and its phenomena from space/satellite. They also offer the ability to compile and analyze information at global or local scales in a timely manner. However, to use them, it is important to develop methods that can enable the extraction of the desired information. Such methods should be robust and consistent enough to be considered for national monitoring systems. At the University of Maryland, the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) Laboratory, led by Dr. Hansen, has developed automatic methods using Landsat data that have been applied for the Global Forest Change (GFC) in collaboration with the World Resources Institute (WRI), Google and others to providing information on tree cover loss throughout the global on a yearly basis, and on a daily basis a tree cover loss alert system to improve transparency and accessible at GFW Initiative (Global Forest Watch) website. Following the increasing interest in utilizing the GFC data, the GLAD Laboratory is working closely with national governments of different countries to reinforce their capacities in using the data in the best way and implementing the methodological framework for supporting their national forest monitoring, notification, and reporting (MNV) system. More precisely, the Lab supports step by step the countries in developing their reference emission levels and/or forest reference levels based on the country-specific needs, goals, and requirements, including the definition of the forest. Once in place, the methodology can easily be extended to different applications, such as monitoring the droughts events, etc. Here, we present the work accomplished with the national agencies of some countries in Africa, like Cameroon, Republic of Congo and Madagascar with the support of the Silva-Carbon and USAID-CARPE Programs and WRI. These countries are mainly engaged at different levels of the REDD+ process. Keywords: Earth Observation, Landsat data, Global Forest Change, National Monitoring System, Capacity Building, Africa

Automation of film densitometry for application in personal monitoring.

PubMed

Taheri, M; Movafeghi, A; Rastkhah, N

2011-03-01

In this research work, a semi-automatic densitometry system has been developed for large-scale monitoring services by use of film badge dosemeters. The system consists of a charge-coupled device (CCD)-based scanner that can scan optical densities (ODs) up to 4.2, a computer vision algorithm to improve the quality of digitised films and an analyser program to calculate the necessary information, e.g. the mean OD of region of interest and radiation doses. For calibration of the system, two reference films were used. The Microtek scanner International Color Consortium (ICC) profiler is applied for determining the colour attributes of the scanner accurately and a reference of the density step tablet, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und-prüfung (BAM) is used for calibrating the automatic conversion of gray-level values to OD values in the range of 0.2-4.0 OD. The system contributes to achieve more objectives and reliable results. So by applying this system, we can digitise a set of 20 films at once and calculate their relative doses less than about 4 min, and meanwhile it causes to avoid disadvantages of manual process and to enhance the accuracy of dosimetry.

Computerized Monitoring of the Inventory and Distribution of Research Chemicals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

And Others; Frycki, Stephen J.

1973-01-01

A one-time data entry system, coupled with an efficient use of the computer, which provides inventory management, distribution, and audit reporting, the ability to answer special queries, and to produce customized reports is described. (3 references) (Author)

Watershed Education for Sustainable Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stapp, William B.

2000-01-01

Presents information on the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN), which is a global communication system for analyzing watershed usage and monitoring the quality and quantity of river water. Describes GREEN's watershed educational model and strategies and international development. (Contains 67 references.) (Author/YDS)

Design of Test Articles and Monitoring System for the Characterization of HIRF Effects on a Fault-Tolerant Computer Communication System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Torres-Pomales, Wilfredo; Malekpour, Mahyar R.; Miner, Paul S.; Koppen, Sandra V.

2008-01-01

This report describes the design of the test articles and monitoring systems developed to characterize the response of a fault-tolerant computer communication system when stressed beyond the theoretical limits for guaranteed correct performance. A high-intensity radiated electromagnetic field (HIRF) environment was selected as the means of injecting faults, as such environments are known to have the potential to cause arbitrary and coincident common-mode fault manifestations that can overwhelm redundancy management mechanisms. The monitors generate stimuli for the systems-under-test (SUTs) and collect data in real-time on the internal state and the response at the external interfaces. A real-time health assessment capability was developed to support the automation of the test. A detailed description of the nature and structure of the collected data is included. The goal of the report is to provide insight into the design and operation of these systems, and to serve as a reference document for use in post-test analyses.

Automated monitor and control for deep space network subsystems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smyth, P.

1989-01-01

The problem of automating monitor and control loops for Deep Space Network (DSN) subsystems is considered and an overview of currently available automation techniques is given. The use of standard numerical models, knowledge-based systems, and neural networks is considered. It is argued that none of these techniques alone possess sufficient generality to deal with the demands imposed by the DSN environment. However, it is shown that schemes that integrate the better aspects of each approach and are referenced to a formal system model show considerable promise, although such an integrated technology is not yet available for implementation. Frequent reference is made to the receiver subsystem since this work was largely motivated by experience in developing an automated monitor and control loop for the advanced receiver.

Development of a biosensor telemetry system for monitoring fermentation in craft breweries.

PubMed

Farina, Donatella; Zinellu, Manuel; Fanari, Mauro; Porcu, Maria Cristina; Scognamillo, Sergio; Puggioni, Giulia Maria Grazia; Rocchitta, Gaia; Serra, Pier Andrea; Pretti, Luca

2017-03-01

The development and applications of biosensors in the food industry has had a rapid grown due to their sensitivity, specificity and simplicity of use with respect to classical analytical methods. In this study, glucose and ethanol amperometric biosensors integrated with a wireless telemetry system were developed and used for the monitoring of top and bottom fermentations in beer wort samples. The collected data were in good agreement with those obtained by reference methods. The simplicity of construction, the low cost and the short time of analysis, combined with easy interpretation of the results, suggest that these devices could be a valuable alternative to conventional methods for monitoring fermentation processes in the food industry. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In-line assay monitor for uranium hexafluoride

DOEpatents

Wallace, S.A.

1980-03-21

An in-line assay monitor for determining the content of uranium-235 in a uranium hexafluoride gas isotopic separation system is provided which removes the necessity of complete access to the operating parameters of the system for determining the uranium-235 content. The method and monitor for carrying out the method involve cooling of a radiation pervious chamber connected in fluid communication with the selected point in the system to withdraw a specimen and solidify the specimen in the chamber. The specimen is irradiated by means of an ionizing radiation source of energy different from that of the 185 keV gamma emissions from uranium-235. The uranium-235 content of the specimen is determined from comparison of the accumulated 185 keV energy counts and reference energy counts. The latter is used to measure the total uranium isotopic content of the specimen.

The Performance and Usability of a Factory-Calibrated Flash Glucose Monitoring System

PubMed Central

Bailey, Timothy; Bode, Bruce W.; Christiansen, Mark P.; Klaff, Leslie J.

2015-01-01

Abstract Introduction: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance and usability of the FreeStyle® Libre™ Flash glucose monitoring system (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA) for interstitial glucose results compared with capillary blood glucose results. Materials and Methods: Seventy-two study participants with type 1 or type 2 diabetes were enrolled by four U.S. clinical sites. A sensor was inserted on the back of each upper arm for up to 14 days. Three factory-only calibrated sensor lots were used in the study. Sensor glucose measurements were compared with capillary blood glucose (BG) results (approximately eight per day) obtained using the BG meter built into the reader (BG reference) and with the YSI analyzer (Yellow Springs Instrument, Yellow Springs, OH) reference tests at three clinic visits (32 samples per visit). Sensor readings were masked to the participants. Results: The accuracy of the results was demonstrated against capillary BG reference values, with 86.7% of sensor results within Consensus Error Grid Zone A. The percentage of readings within Consensus Error Grid Zone A on Days 2, 7, and 14 was 88.4%, 89.2%, and 85.2%, respectively. The overall mean absolute relative difference was 11.4%. The mean lag time between sensor and YSI reference values was 4.5±4.8 min. Sensor accuracy was not affected by factors such as body mass index, age, type of diabetes, clinical site, insulin administration, or hemoglobin A1c. Conclusions: Interstitial glucose measurements with the FreeStyle Libre system were found to be accurate compared with capillary BG reference values, with accuracy remaining stable over 14 days of wear and unaffected by patient characteristics. PMID:26171659

The Performance and Usability of a Factory-Calibrated Flash Glucose Monitoring System.

PubMed

Bailey, Timothy; Bode, Bruce W; Christiansen, Mark P; Klaff, Leslie J; Alva, Shridhara

2015-11-01

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance and usability of the FreeStyle(®) Libre™ Flash glucose monitoring system (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA) for interstitial glucose results compared with capillary blood glucose results. Seventy-two study participants with type 1 or type 2 diabetes were enrolled by four U.S. clinical sites. A sensor was inserted on the back of each upper arm for up to 14 days. Three factory-only calibrated sensor lots were used in the study. Sensor glucose measurements were compared with capillary blood glucose (BG) results (approximately eight per day) obtained using the BG meter built into the reader (BG reference) and with the YSI analyzer (Yellow Springs Instrument, Yellow Springs, OH) reference tests at three clinic visits (32 samples per visit). Sensor readings were masked to the participants. The accuracy of the results was demonstrated against capillary BG reference values, with 86.7% of sensor results within Consensus Error Grid Zone A. The percentage of readings within Consensus Error Grid Zone A on Days 2, 7, and 14 was 88.4%, 89.2%, and 85.2%, respectively. The overall mean absolute relative difference was 11.4%. The mean lag time between sensor and YSI reference values was 4.5±4.8 min. Sensor accuracy was not affected by factors such as body mass index, age, type of diabetes, clinical site, insulin administration, or hemoglobin A1c. Interstitial glucose measurements with the FreeStyle Libre system were found to be accurate compared with capillary BG reference values, with accuracy remaining stable over 14 days of wear and unaffected by patient characteristics.

Continuous glucose monitoring: quality of hypoglycaemia detection.

PubMed

Zijlstra, E; Heise, T; Nosek, L; Heinemann, L; Heckermann, S

2013-02-01

To evaluate the accuracy of a (widely used) continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)-system and its ability to detect hypoglycaemic events. A total of 18 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus used continuous glucose monitoring (Guardian REAL-Time CGMS) during two 9-day in-house periods. A hypoglycaemic threshold alarm alerted patients to sensor readings <70 mg/dl. Continuous glucose monitoring sensor readings were compared to laboratory reference measurements taken every 4 h and in case of a hypoglycaemic alarm. A total of 2317 paired data points were evaluated. Overall, the mean absolute relative difference (MARD) was 16.7%. The percentage of data points in the clinically accurate or acceptable Clarke Error Grid zones A + B was 94.6%. In the hypoglycaemic range, accuracy worsened (MARD 38.8%) leading to a failure to detect more than half of the true hypoglycaemic events (sensitivity 37.5%). Furthermore, more than half of the alarms that warn patients for hypoglycaemia were false (false alert rate 53.3%). Above the low alert threshold, the sensor confirmed 2077 of 2182 reference values (specificity 95.2%). Patients using continuous glucose monitoring should be aware of its limitation to accurately detect hypoglycaemia. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

EC comparison on the determination of 226Ra, 228Ra, 234U and 238U in water among European monitoring laboratories.

PubMed

Wätjen, U; Benedik, L; Spasova, Y; Vasile, M; Altzitzoglou, T; Beyermann, M

2010-01-01

In anticipation of new European requirements for monitoring radioactivity concentration in drinking water, IRMM organized an interlaboratory comparison on the determination of low levels of activity concentrations (about 10-100 mBq L(-1)) of the naturally occurring radionuclides (226)Ra, (228)Ra, (234)U and (238)U in three commercially available mineral waters. Using two or three different methods with traceability to the International System of Reference (SIR), the reference values of the water samples were determined prior to the proficiency test within combined standard uncertainties of the order of 3%-10%. An overview of radiochemical separation and measurement methods used by the 45 participating laboratories are given. The results of the participants are evaluated versus the reference values. Several of the participants' results deviate by more than a factor of two from the reference values, in particular for the radium isotopes. Such erroneous analysis results may lead to a crucial omission of remedial actions on drinking water supplies or to economic loss by an unjustified action. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Smart textile for respiratory monitoring and thoraco-abdominal motion pattern evaluation.

PubMed

Massaroni, Carlo; Venanzi, Cecilia; Silvatti, Amanda P; Lo Presti, Daniela; Saccomandi, Paola; Formica, Domenico; Giurazza, Francesco; Caponero, Michele A; Schena, Emiliano

2018-05-01

The use of wearable systems for monitoring vital parameters has gained wide popularity in several medical fields. The focus of the present study is the experimental assessment of a smart textile based on 12 fiber Bragg grating sensors for breathing monitoring and thoraco-abdominal motion pattern analysis. The feasibility of the smart textile for monitoring several temporal respiratory parameters (ie, breath-by-breath respiratory period, breathing frequency, duration of inspiratory and expiratory phases), volume variations of the whole chest wall and of its compartments is performed on 8 healthy male volunteers. Values gathered by the textile are compared to the data obtained by a motion analysis system, used as the reference instrument. Good agreement between the 2 systems on both respiratory period (bias of 0.01 seconds), breathing frequency (bias of -0.02 breaths/min) and tidal volume (bias of 0.09 L) values is demonstrated. Smart textile shows good performance in the monitoring of thoraco-abdominal pattern and its variation, as well. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Environmental noise forecasting based on support vector machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Yumei; Zan, Xinwu; Chen, Tianyi; Xiang, Shihan

2018-01-01

As an important pollution source, the noise pollution is always the researcher's focus. Especially in recent years, the noise pollution is seriously harmful to the human beings' environment, so the research about the noise pollution is a very hot spot. Some noise monitoring technologies and monitoring systems are applied in the environmental noise test, measurement and evaluation. But, the research about the environmental noise forecasting is weak. In this paper, a real-time environmental noise monitoring system is introduced briefly. This monitoring system is working in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province. It is monitoring and collecting the environmental noise about more than 20 enterprises in this district. Based on the large amount of noise data, the noise forecasting by the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is studied in detail. Compared with the time series forecasting model and the artificial neural network forecasting model, the SVM forecasting model has some advantages such as the smaller data size, the higher precision and stability. The noise forecasting results based on the SVM can provide the important and accuracy reference to the prevention and control of the environmental noise.

High-Speed Monitoring of Multiple Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Array Configurations and Supplementary Weather Station.

PubMed

Boyd, Matthew T

2017-06-01

Three grid-connected monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic arrays have been instrumented with research-grade sensors on the Gaithersburg, MD campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These arrays range from 73 kW to 271 kW and have different tilts, orientations, and configurations. Irradiance, temperature, wind, and electrical measurements at the arrays are recorded, and images are taken of the arrays to monitor shading and capture any anomalies. A weather station has also been constructed that includes research-grade instrumentation to measure all standard meteorological quantities plus additional solar irradiance spectral bands, full spectrum curves, and directional components using multiple irradiance sensor technologies. Reference photovoltaic (PV) modules are also monitored to provide comprehensive baseline measurements for the PV arrays. Images of the whole sky are captured, along with images of the instrumentation and reference modules to document any obstructions or anomalies. Nearly, all measurements at the arrays and weather station are sampled and saved every 1s, with monitoring having started on Aug. 1, 2014. This report describes the instrumentation approach used to monitor the performance of these photovoltaic systems, measure the meteorological quantities, and acquire the images for use in PV performance and weather monitoring and computer model validation.

High-Speed Monitoring of Multiple Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Array Configurations and Supplementary Weather Station

PubMed Central

Boyd, Matthew T.

2017-01-01

Three grid-connected monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic arrays have been instrumented with research-grade sensors on the Gaithersburg, MD campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These arrays range from 73 kW to 271 kW and have different tilts, orientations, and configurations. Irradiance, temperature, wind, and electrical measurements at the arrays are recorded, and images are taken of the arrays to monitor shading and capture any anomalies. A weather station has also been constructed that includes research-grade instrumentation to measure all standard meteorological quantities plus additional solar irradiance spectral bands, full spectrum curves, and directional components using multiple irradiance sensor technologies. Reference photovoltaic (PV) modules are also monitored to provide comprehensive baseline measurements for the PV arrays. Images of the whole sky are captured, along with images of the instrumentation and reference modules to document any obstructions or anomalies. Nearly, all measurements at the arrays and weather station are sampled and saved every 1s, with monitoring having started on Aug. 1, 2014. This report describes the instrumentation approach used to monitor the performance of these photovoltaic systems, measure the meteorological quantities, and acquire the images for use in PV performance and weather monitoring and computer model validation. PMID:28670044

Student Reciprocal Peer Teaching as a Method for Active Learning: An Experience in an Electrotechnical Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñoz-García, Miguel A.; Moreda, Guillermo P.; Hernández-Sánchez, Natalia; Valiño, Vanesa

2013-10-01

Active learning is one of the most efficient mechanisms for learning, according to the psychology of learning. When students act as teachers for other students, the communication is more fluent and knowledge is transferred easier than in a traditional classroom. This teaching method is referred to in the literature as reciprocal peer teaching. In this study, the method is applied to laboratory sessions of a higher education institution course, and the students who act as teachers are referred to as "laboratory monitors." A particular way to select the monitors and its impact in the final marks is proposed. A total of 181 students participated in the experiment, experiences with laboratory monitors are discussed, and methods for motivating and training laboratory monitors and regular students are proposed. The types of laboratory sessions that can be led by classmates are discussed. This work is related to the changes in teaching methods in the Spanish higher education system, prompted by the Bologna Process for the construction of the European Higher Education Area

Certification of reference materials for the determination of alkylphenols.

PubMed

Hanari, Nobuyasu; Ishikawa, Keiichiro; Shimizu, Yoshitaka; Otsuka, Satoko; Iwasawa, Ryoko; Fujiki, Naomi; Numata, Masahiko; Yarita, Takashi; Kato, Kenji

2015-04-01

Certified reference materials (CRMs) are playing an increasingly important role in national and international standardizing activities. In Japan, primary standard solutions for analyses of endocrine disrupters are supplied under the national standards dissemination system named the Japan Calibration Service System (JCSS). For the traceability on reference materials used for preparation of the primary standard solutions based on the JCSS, the National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (NMIJ/AIST) has developed and certified high-purity reference materials of alkylphenols as NMIJ CRMs, such as 4-n-nonylphenol, 4-tert-octylphenol, 4-n-heptylphenol, 4-tert-butylphenol, and 2,4-dichlorophenol. Thereafter, it is essential to determine the alkylphenols by using these solutions based on the JCSS for environmental monitoring and risk assessments because analytical values obtained by using the solutions can ensure the reliability and traceability of the chemical analyses.

47 CFR Appendix 1 to Subpart E of... - Glossary of Terms

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... typically includes a frequency monitoring system that initiates a MedRadio communications session. MedRadio... Part 95 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO... station authorized in the CB. Channel frequencies. Reference frequencies from which the carrier frequency...

47 CFR Appendix 1 to Subpart E of... - Glossary of Terms

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... which also typically includes a frequency monitoring system that initiates a MedRadio communications... Part 95 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO... station authorized in the CB. Channel frequencies. Reference frequencies from which the carrier frequency...

47 CFR Appendix 1 to Subpart E of... - Glossary of Terms

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... which also typically includes a frequency monitoring system that initiates a MedRadio communications... Part 95 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO... station authorized in the CB. Channel frequencies. Reference frequencies from which the carrier frequency...

47 CFR Appendix 1 to Subpart E of... - Glossary of Terms

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... typically includes a frequency monitoring system that initiates a MedRadio communications session. MedRadio... Part 95 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO... station authorized in the CB. Channel frequencies. Reference frequencies from which the carrier frequency...

MACRO: a combined microchip-PCR and microarray system for high-throughput monitoring of genetically modified organisms.

PubMed

Shao, Ning; Jiang, Shi-Meng; Zhang, Miao; Wang, Jing; Guo, Shu-Juan; Li, Yang; Jiang, He-Wei; Liu, Cheng-Xi; Zhang, Da-Bing; Yang, Li-Tao; Tao, Sheng-Ce

2014-01-21

The monitoring of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a primary step of GMO regulation. However, there is presently a lack of effective and high-throughput methodologies for specifically and sensitively monitoring most of the commercialized GMOs. Herein, we developed a multiplex amplification on a chip with readout on an oligo microarray (MACRO) system specifically for convenient GMO monitoring. This system is composed of a microchip for multiplex amplification and an oligo microarray for the readout of multiple amplicons, containing a total of 91 targets (18 universal elements, 20 exogenous genes, 45 events, and 8 endogenous reference genes) that covers 97.1% of all GM events that have been commercialized up to 2012. We demonstrate that the specificity of MACRO is ~100%, with a limit of detection (LOD) that is suitable for real-world applications. Moreover, the results obtained of simulated complex samples and blind samples with MACRO were 100% consistent with expectations and the results of independently performed real-time PCRs, respectively. Thus, we believe MACRO is the first system that can be applied for effectively monitoring the majority of the commercialized GMOs in a single test.

Monitoring human health behaviour in one's living environment: a technological review.

PubMed

Lowe, Shane A; Ólaighin, Gearóid

2014-02-01

The electronic monitoring of human health behaviour using computer techniques has been an active research area for the past few decades. A wide array of different approaches have been investigated using various technologies including inertial sensors, Global Positioning System, smart homes, Radio Frequency IDentification and others. It is only in recent years that research has turned towards a sensor fusion approach using several different technologies in single systems or devices. These systems allow for an increased volume of data to be collected and for activity data to be better used as measures of behaviour. This change may be due to decreasing hardware costs, smaller sensors, increased power efficiency or increases in portability. This paper is intended to act as a reference for the design of multi-sensor behaviour monitoring systems. The range of technologies that have been used in isolation for behaviour monitoring both in research and commercial devices are reviewed and discussed. Filtering, range, sensitivity, usability and other considerations of different technologies are discussed. A brief overview of commercially available activity monitors and their technology is also included. Copyright © 2013 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overnight non-contact continuous vital signs monitoring using an intelligent automatic beam-steering Doppler sensor at 2.4 GHz.

PubMed

Batchu, S; Narasimhachar, H; Mayeda, J C; Hall, T; Lopez, J; Nguyen, T; Banister, R E; Lie, D Y C

2017-07-01

Doppler-based non-contact vital signs (NCVS) sensors can monitor heart rates, respiration rates, and motions of patients without physically touching them. We have developed a novel single-board Doppler-based phased-array antenna NCVS biosensor system that can perform robust overnight continuous NCVS monitoring with intelligent automatic subject tracking and optimal beam steering algorithms. Our NCVS sensor achieved overnight continuous vital signs monitoring with an impressive heart-rate monitoring accuracy of over 94% (i.e., within ±5 Beats-Per-Minute vs. a reference sensor), analyzed from over 400,000 data points collected during each overnight monitoring period of ~ 6 hours at a distance of 1.75 meters. The data suggests our intelligent phased-array NCVS sensor can be very attractive for continuous monitoring of low-acuity patients.

Co-location of space geodetic techniques carried out at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell using a closure in time and a multi-technique reference target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodet, J.; Schreiber, K. U.; Eckl, J.; Plötz, C.; Mähler, S.; Schüler, T.; Klügel, T.; Riepl, S.

2018-01-01

The quality of the links between the different space geodetic techniques (VLBI, SLR, GNSS and DORIS) is still one of the major limiting factors for the realization of a unique global terrestrial reference frame that is accurate enough to allow the monitoring of the Earth system, i.e., of processes like sea level change, postglacial rebound and silent earthquakes. According to the specifications of the global geodetic observing system of the International Association of Geodesy, such a reference frame should be accurate to 1 mm over decades, with rates of change stable at the level of 0.1 mm/year. The deficiencies arise from inaccurate or incomplete local ties at many fundamental sites as well as from systematic instrumental biases in the individual space geodetic techniques. Frequently repeated surveys, the continuous monitoring of antenna heights and the geometrical mount stability (Lösler et al. in J Geod 90:467-486, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-016-0887-8) have not provided evidence for insufficient antenna stability. Therefore, we have investigated variations in the respective system delays caused by electronic circuits, which is not adequately captured by the calibration process, either because of subtle differences in the circuitry between geodetic measurement and calibration, high temporal variability or because of lacking resolving bandwidth. The measured system delay variations in the electric chain of both VLBI- and SLR systems reach the order of 100 ps, which is equivalent to 3 cm of path length. Most of this variability is usually removed by the calibrations but by far not all. This paper focuses on the development of new technologies and procedures for co-located geodetic instrumentation in order to identify and remove systematic measurement biases within and between the individual measurement techniques. A closed-loop optical time and frequency distribution system and a common inter-technique reference target provide the possibility to remove variable system delays. The main motivation for the newly established central reference target, locked to the station clock, is the combination of all space geodetic instruments at a single reference point at the observatory. On top of that it provides the unique capability to perform a closure measurement based on the observation of time.

Calibration test of the temperature and strain sensitivity coefficient in regional reference grating method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Jing; Huang, Junbing; Wu, Hanping; Gu, Hongcan; Tang, Bo

2014-12-01

In order to verify the validity of the regional reference grating method in solve the strain/temperature cross sensitive problem in the actual ship structural health monitoring system, and to meet the requirements of engineering, for the sensitivity coefficients of regional reference grating method, national standard measurement equipment is used to calibrate the temperature sensitivity coefficient of selected FBG temperature sensor and strain sensitivity coefficient of FBG strain sensor in this modal. And the thermal expansion sensitivity coefficient of the steel for ships is calibrated with water bath method. The calibration results show that the temperature sensitivity coefficient of FBG temperature sensor is 28.16pm/°C within -10~30°C, and its linearity is greater than 0.999, the strain sensitivity coefficient of FBG strain sensor is 1.32pm/μɛ within -2900~2900μɛ whose linearity is almost to 1, the thermal expansion sensitivity coefficient of the steel for ships is 23.438pm/°C within 30~90°C, and its linearity is greater than 0.998. Finally, the calibration parameters are used in the actual ship structure health monitoring system for temperature compensation. The results show that the effect of temperature compensation is good, and the calibration parameters meet the engineering requirements, which provide an important reference for fiber Bragg grating sensor is widely used in engineering.

Reduction of streamflow monitoring networks by a reference point approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cetinkaya, Cem P.; Harmancioglu, Nilgun B.

2014-05-01

Adoption of an integrated approach to water management strongly forces policy and decision-makers to focus on hydrometric monitoring systems as well. Existing hydrometric networks need to be assessed and revised against the requirements on water quantity data to support integrated management. One of the questions that a network assessment study should resolve is whether a current monitoring system can be consolidated in view of the increased expenditures in time, money and effort imposed on the monitoring activity. Within the last decade, governmental monitoring agencies in Turkey have foreseen an audit on all their basin networks in view of prevailing economic pressures. In particular, they question how they can decide whether monitoring should be continued or terminated at a particular site in a network. The presented study is initiated to address this question by examining the applicability of a method called “reference point approach” (RPA) for network assessment and reduction purposes. The main objective of the study is to develop an easily applicable and flexible network reduction methodology, focusing mainly on the assessment of the “performance” of existing streamflow monitoring networks in view of variable operational purposes. The methodology is applied to 13 hydrometric stations in the Gediz Basin, along the Aegean coast of Turkey. The results have shown that the simplicity of the method, in contrast to more complicated computational techniques, is an asset that facilitates the involvement of decision makers in application of the methodology for a more interactive assessment procedure between the monitoring agency and the network designer. The method permits ranking of hydrometric stations with regard to multiple objectives of monitoring and the desired attributes of the basin network. Another distinctive feature of the approach is that it also assists decision making in cases with limited data and metadata. These features of the RPA approach highlight its advantages over the existing network assessment and reduction methods.

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

K. L. Davis; J. L. Rempe; D. L. Knudson

Silicon carbide (SiC) temperature monitors 05R4-02-A KG1403 (300 LO) and 05R4-01-A KG1415 (400 LO B) were evaluated at the High Temperature Test Lab (HTTL) to determine their peak irradiation temperatures. HTTL measurements indicate that the peak irradiation temperature for the 300 LO monitor was 295 {+-} 20 C and the peak irradiation temperature for the 400 LO B monitor was 294 {+-} 25 C. Two silicon carbide (SiC) temperature monitors irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) were evaluated at the High Temperature Test Lab (HTTL) to determine their peak temperature during irradiation. These monitors were irradiated as part ofmore » the University of Wisconsin Pilot Project with a target dose of 3 dpa. Temperature monitors were fabricated from high density (3.203 g/cm3) SiC manufactured by Rohm Haas with a nominal size of 12.5 mm x 1.0 mm x 0.75 mm (see Attachment A). Table 1 provides identification for each monitor with an expected peak irradiation temperature range based on preliminary thermal analysis (see Attachment B). Post irradiation calculations are planned to reduce uncertainties in these calculated temperatures. Since the early 1960s, SiC has been used as a post-irradiation temperature monitor. As noted in Reference 2, several researchers have observed that neutron irradiation induced lattice expansion of SiC annealed out when the post-irradiation annealing temperature exceeds the peak irradiation temperature. As noted in Reference 3, INL uses resistivity measurements to infer peak irradiation temperature from SiC monitors. Figure 1 depicts the equipment at the HTTL used to evaluate the SiC monitors. The SiC monitors are heated in the annealing furnace using isochronal temperature steps that, depending on customer needs, can range from 50 to 800 C. This furnace is located under a ventilation hood within the stainless steel enclosure. The ventilation system is activated during heating so that any released vapors are vented through this system. Annealing temperatures are recorded using a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable thermocouple inserted into an alumina tube in the furnace. After each isochronal annealing, the specimens are placed in a specialized fixture located in the constant temperature chamber (maintained at 30 C) for a minimum of 30 minutes. After the 30 minute wait time, each specimen's resistance is measured using the specialized fixture and a calibrated DC power analyzer. This report discusses the evaluation of the SiC monitors and presents the results. Testing was conducted in accordance with Reference 3. Sections 2 and 3 present the data collected for each monitor and provide interpretation of the data. Section 4 presents the evaluated temperature results.« less

JXTA: A Technology Facilitating Mobile P2P Health Management System

PubMed Central

Rajkumar, Rajasekaran; Nallani Chackravatula Sriman, Narayana Iyengar

2012-01-01

Objectives Mobile JXTA (Juxtapose) gaining momentum and has attracted the interest of doctors and patients through P2P service that transmits messages. Audio and video can also be transmitted through JXTA. The use of mobile streaming mechanism with the support of mobile hospital management and healthcare system would enable better interaction between doctors, nurses, and the hospital. Experimental results demonstrate good performance in comparison with conventional systems. This study evaluates P2P JXTA/JXME (JXTA functionality to MIDP devices.) which facilitates peer-to-peer application+ using mobile-constraint devices. Also a proven learning algorithm was used to automatically send and process sorted patient data to nurses. Methods From December 2010 to December 2011, a total of 500 patients were referred to our hospital due to minor health problems and were monitored. We selected all of the peer groups and the control server, which controlled the BMO (Block Medical Officer) peer groups and BMO through the doctor peer groups, and prescriptions were delivered to the patient’s mobile phones through the JXTA/ JXME network. Results All 500 patients were registered in the JXTA network. Among these, 300 patient histories were referred to the record peer group by the doctors, 100 patients were referred to the external doctor peer group, and 100 patients were registered as new users in the JXTA/JXME network. Conclusion This system was developed for mobile streaming applications and was designed to support the mobile health management system using JXTA/ JXME. The simulated results show that this system can carry out streaming audio and video applications. Controlling and monitoring by the doctor peer group makes the system more flexible and structured. Enhanced studies are needed to improve knowledge mining and cloud-based M health management technology in comparison with the traditional system. PMID:24159509

The development and validation of an activity monitoring system for use in measurement of posture of childbearing women during first stage of labor.

PubMed

Martin, Caroline J Hollins; Kenney, Laurence; Pratt, Thomas; Granat, Malcolm H

2015-01-01

There is limited understanding of the type and extent of maternal postures that midwives should encourage or support during labor. The aims of this study were to identify a set of postures and movements commonly seen during labor, to develop an activity monitoring system for use during labor, and to validate this system design. Volunteer student midwives simulated maternal activity during labor in a laboratory setting. Participants (N = 15) wore monitors adhered to the left thigh and left shank, and adopted 13 common postures of laboring women for 3 minutes each. Simulated activities were recorded using a video camera. Postures and movements were coded from the video, and statistical analysis conducted of agreement between coded video data and outputs of the activity monitoring system. Excellent agreement between the 2 raters of the video recordings was found (Cohen's κ = 0.95). Both sensitivity and specificity of the activity monitoring system were greater than 80% for standing, lying, kneeling, and sitting (legs dangling). This validated system can be used to measure elected activity of laboring women and report on effects of postures on length of first stage, pain experience, birth satisfaction, and neonatal condition. This validated maternal posture-monitoring system is available as a reference-and for use by researchers who wish to develop research in this area. © 2015 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Measurement systems and indices of miners' exposure to radon daughter products in the air of mines.

PubMed

Domański, T

1990-01-01

This paper presents the classification of measurement systems that may be used for the assessment of miners' exposure to radiation in mines. The following systems were described and characterized as the Air Sampling System (ASS), the Environmental Control System (ECS), the Individual Dosimetry System (IDS), the Stream Monitoring System (SMS) and the Exhaust Monitoring System (EMS). The indices for evaluation of miners' working environments, or for assessment of individual or collective miners' exposure, were selected and determined. These are: average expected concentration (CAE), average observed concentration (CAO), average expected rate of exposure cumulation rate (EEXP), average observed exposure cumulation rate (EOBS), average effective exposure cumulation rate (EEFF). Mathematical formulae for determining all these indicators, according to the type of measurement system used in particular mines, are presented. The reliability of assessment of miners' exposure in particular measurement systems, as well as the role of the possible reference system, are discussed.

Method for Continuous Monitoring of Electrospray Ion Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metzler, Guille; Crathern, Susan; Bachmann, Lorin; Fernández-Metzler, Carmen; King, Richard

2017-10-01

A method for continuously monitoring the performance of electrospray ionization without the addition of hardware or chemistry to the system is demonstrated. In the method, which we refer to as SprayDx, cluster ions with solvent vapor natively formed by electrospray are followed throughout the collection of liquid chromatography-selected reaction monitoring data. The cluster ion extracted ion chromatograms report on the consistency of the ion formation and detection system. The data collected by the SprayDx method resemble the data collected for postcolumn infusion of analyte. The response of the cluster ions monitored reports on changes in the physical parameters of the ion source such as voltage and gas flow. SprayDx is also observed to report on ion suppression in a fashion very similar to a postcolumn infusion of analyte. We anticipate the method finding utility as a continuous readout on the performance of electrospray and other atmospheric pressure ionization processes. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Non-contact physiological signal detection using continuous wave Doppler radar.

PubMed

Qiao, Dengyu; He, Tan; Hu, Boping; Li, Ye

2014-01-01

The aim of this work is to show non-contact physiological signal monitoring system based on continuous-wave (CW) Doppler radar, which is becoming highly attractive in the field of health care monitoring of elderly people. Two radar signal processing methods were introduced in this paper: one to extract respiration and heart rates of a single person and the other to separate mixed respiration signals. To verify the validity of the methods, physiological signal is obtained from stationary human subjects using a CW Doppler radar unit. The sensor operating at 24 GHz is located 0.5 meter away from the subject. The simulation results show that the respiration and heart rates are clearly extracted, and the mixed respiration signals are successfully separated. Finally, reference respiration and heart rate signals are measured by an ECG monitor and compared with the results tracked by the CW Doppler radar monitoring system.

Device for monitoring cell voltage

DOEpatents

Doepke, Matthias [Garbsen, DE; Eisermann, Henning [Edermissen, DE

2012-08-21

A device for monitoring a rechargeable battery having a number of electrically connected cells includes at least one current interruption switch for interrupting current flowing through at least one associated cell and a plurality of monitoring units for detecting cell voltage. Each monitoring unit is associated with a single cell and includes a reference voltage unit for producing a defined reference threshold voltage and a voltage comparison unit for comparing the reference threshold voltage with a partial cell voltage of the associated cell. The reference voltage unit is electrically supplied from the cell voltage of the associated cell. The voltage comparison unit is coupled to the at least one current interruption switch for interrupting the current of at least the current flowing through the associated cell, with a defined minimum difference between the reference threshold voltage and the partial cell voltage.

Transport infrastructure monitoring: A ground based optical displacement monitoring system, field tests on a bridge, the Musmeci's bridge in Potenza, Italy.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagene, J. K.

2012-04-01

A gound based optical displacement monitoring system, "NIODIM", is being developed by Norsk Elektro Optikk in the framework of the activities of the European project "Integrated System for Transport Infrastructure surveillance and Monitoring by Electromagnetic Sensing" (ISTIMES), funded in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). The optical displacement monitoring system has now participated in two real life field campaigns one in Switzerland and one in Italy. The latter, the tests in Potenza, Italy, will be presented in the following. The NIODIM system has undergone some development during the last year to adopt it for use in a somewhat higher frequency domain by changing the camera sensor part. This to make it more useful for monitoring of structures with oscillation frequencies tens of Hz. The original system was intended to a large extent to monitor land slides, quick clay and rock slides and similar phenomena typically having a relatively slow time response. The system has been significantly speeded up from the original 12 Hz. Current tests have been performed at a frame rate of 64 Hz i.e., the camera part and data processing unit have been running on 64Hz. In connection with the tests in Italy the data processing has been upgraded to include sub-pixel resolution i.e., the measurement results are no longer limited by pixel borders or single pixels. The main part of the NIODIM system is a camera capable of operating at a sufficiently high frame rate. This camera will typically be mounted on firm ground and will depict and monitor a reference point, typically a light emitting diode, LED, which will be mounted on the object susceptible to move. A processing unit will acquire the images from the camera part and find the position of the LED in the image and compare that to threshold values and if required raise a warning or an alarm. The NIODIM system can either be a standalone system or be an integrated part of the overall ISTIMES system, the ISTIMES system being a decision support system. Field trials as part of the ISTIMES project took place in Potenza, Italy, for a week in July 2011. The test target was Musmeci's bridge, a bridge with a design where aesthetic values have been just as important as traditional civil engineering aspects. Several technologies and techniques were tested at the same part of the bridge to allow for data correlation between different sensors. The camera and processing parts of the optical displacement monitoring system were mounted on a concrete wall at the one end of the bridge while the LED reference points were mounted on the bridge approximately 40 metres away. The tests at the Musmeci's bridge are successful and verifying some of the findings from the tests in Switzerland. However, we learned a lesson with regards to temporary mounting of the reference points using glossy stainless steel parts. A short period early in the morning, when illuminated by the sun, these stainless steel parts were just as bright as the LED reference point leading to potential noise in the measurements. Due to availability of the raw data this could be fixed later doing post processing on the stored data. One of the findings was that we have relatively large time of day variation that appear to be periodic with a cycle time of about 24 hours, at least with similar weather conditions. These displacements appear to be in the order of 10 mm and is probably due to thermal effects. Several shorter displacements have also been registered with amplitudes of a couple of mm and duration around 10 seconds. These shorter displacement peaks appear to be caused by heavy vehicles passing by on the bridge. The introduction of the processing using sub-pixel resolution looks very promising and appears to give a significant improvement of the actual resolution of the system. Even thought the measurements in the field are successfully completed we have noted larger slowly moving displacements than originally expected. This combined with shorter lasting peaks could lead to measurements above pre-set thresholds and could further on lead to a raised alarm. Such an alarm will most likely be regarded as a false alarm caused by the superposition of the long time constant thermal displacement and the short time constant peak possibly due to a vehicle. These results have made us re-think our system for handling warnings and alarms based on measurements done. There must be different thresholds for slow events and for quick event and the combination thereof. After taking into consideration the lessons learned our optical displacement monitoring system has potential of being a reliable and robust system solving the problem it was intended to solve. Acknowledgement: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement n° 225663.

Evaluation of a minimally invasive system for measuring glucose area under the curve during oral glucose tolerance tests: usefulness of sweat monitoring for precise measurement.

PubMed

Sakaguchi, Kazuhiko; Hirota, Yushi; Hashimoto, Naoko; Ogawa, Wataru; Hamaguchi, Tomoya; Matsuo, Toshihiro; Miyagawa, Jun-ichiro; Namba, Mitsuyoshi; Sato, Toshiyuki; Okada, Seiki; Tomita, Koji; Matsuhisa, Munehide; Kaneto, Hideaki; Kosugi, Keisuke; Maegawa, Hiroshi; Nakajima, Hiromu; Kashiwagi, Atsunori

2013-05-01

We developed a system for measuring glucose area under the curve (AUC) using minimally invasive interstitial fluid extraction technology (MIET). Sweat contamination during interstitial fluid glucose (IG) extraction affects the accuracy of glucose AUC measurement, because this technology uses extracted sodium ion levels as an internal standard. Therefore, we developed a sweat monitoring patch to reduce this effect and investigated its efficacy in volunteers undergoing oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs). Fifty diabetes mellitus inpatients and 10 healthy subjects undergoing the 75 g OGTT were included. Two sites on the forearm were pretreated with microneedle arrays, then hydrogels for interstitial fluid extraction were placed on the treated sites. Simultaneously, hydrogels for sweat monitoring were placed on untreated sites near the treated sites. Plasma glucose (PG) levels were measured every 30 min for 2 h to calculate reference AUC values. Using MIET, IG AUC was calculated from extracted glucose and sodium ion levels after attachment of the hydrogel for 2 h. Good correlation between IG AUC measurements using MIET and reference AUCs measured using PG levels was confirmed over a wide AUC range (202-610 mg/h/dl) after correction for the sweat-induced error detected by the hydrogel patches on the nonpretreated skin. Strong correlation between IG AUC and peak glucose levels indicates that glucose spikes can be easily detected by this system. We confirmed the effectiveness of a sweat monitoring patch for precise AUC measurement using MIET. This novel, easy-to-use system has potential for glucose excursion evaluation in daily clinical practice. © 2013 Diabetes Technology Society.

Evaluation of a Minimally Invasive System for Measuring Glucose Area under the Curve during Oral Glucose Tolerance Tests: Usefulness of Sweat Monitoring for Precise Measurement

PubMed Central

Sakaguchi, Kazuhiko; Hirota, Yushi; Hashimoto, Naoko; Ogawa, Wataru; Hamaguchi, Tomoya; Toshihiro, Matsuo; Miyagawa, Jun-ichiro; Namba, Mitsuyoshi; Sato, Toshiyuki; Okada, Seiki; Tomita, Koji; Matsuhisa, Munehide; Kaneto, Hideaki; Kosugi, Keisuke; Maegawa, Hiroshi; Nakajima, Hiromu; Kashiwagi, Atsunori

2013-01-01

Aims: We developed a system for measuring glucose area under the curve (AUC) using minimally invasive interstitial fluid extraction technology (MIET). Sweat contamination during interstitial fluid glucose (IG) extraction affects the accuracy of glucose AUC measurement, because this technology uses extracted sodium ion levels as an internal standard. Therefore, we developed a sweat monitoring patch to reduce this effect and investigated its efficacy in volunteers undergoing oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs). Materials and Methods: Fifty diabetes mellitus inpatients and 10 healthy subjects undergoing the 75 g OGTT were included. Two sites on the forearm were pretreated with microneedle arrays, then hydrogels for interstitial fluid extraction were placed on the treated sites. Simultaneously, hydrogels for sweat monitoring were placed on untreated sites near the treated sites. Plasma glucose (PG) levels were measured every 30 min for 2 h to calculate reference AUC values. Using MIET, IG AUC was calculated from extracted glucose and sodium ion levels after attachment of the hydrogel for 2 h. Results: Good correlation between IG AUC measurements using MIET and reference AUCs measured using PG levels was confirmed over a wide AUC range (202–610 mg/h/dl) after correction for the sweat-induced error detected by the hydrogel patches on the nonpretreated skin. Strong correlation between IG AUC and peak glucose levels indicates that glucose spikes can be easily detected by this system. Conclusion: We confirmed the effectiveness of a sweat monitoring patch for precise AUC measurement using MIET. This novel, easy-to-use system has potential for glucose excursion evaluation in daily clinical practice. PMID:23759401

Design and preliminary assessment of a smart textile for respiratory monitoring based on an array of Fiber Bragg Gratings.

PubMed

Massaroni, C; Ciocchetti, M; Di Tomaso, G; Saccomandi, P; Caponero, M A; Polimadei, A; Formica, D; Schena, E

2016-08-01

Comfortable and easy to wear smart textiles have gained popularity for continuous respiratory monitoring. Among different emerging technologies, smart textiles based on fiber optic sensors (FOSs) have several advantages, like Magnetic Resonance (MR)-compatibility and good metrological properties. In this paper we report on the development and assessment of an MR-compatible smart textiles based on FOSs for respiratory monitoring. The system consists of six fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors glued on the textile to monitor six compartments of the chest wall (i.e., right and left upper thorax, right and left abdominal rib cage, and right and left abdomen). This solution allows monitoring both global respiratory parameters and each compartment volume change. The system converts thoracic movements into strain measured by the FBGs. The positioning of the FBGs was optimized by experiments performed using an optoelectronic system. The feasibility of the smart textile was assessed on 6 healthy volunteers. Experimental data were compared to the ones estimated by an optoelectronic plethysmography used as reference. Promising results were obtained on both breathing period (maximum percentage error is 1.14%), inspiratory and expiratory period, as well as on total volume change (mean percentage difference between the two systems was ~14%). The Bland-Altman analysis shows a satisfactory accuracy for the parameters under investigation. The proposed system is safe and non-invasive, MR-compatible, and allows monitoring compartmental volumes.

40 CFR Table 1 to Subpart Uuuu of... - Emission Limits and Work Practice Standards

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... least once per month as specified in § 63.148(f)(2)). 12. heat exchanger system that cools process equipment or materials in the process unit each existing or new affected source monitor and repair the heat exchanger system according to § 63.104(a) through (e), except that references to “chemical manufacturing...

40 CFR Table 1 to Subpart Uuuu of... - Emission Limits and Work Practice Standards

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... least once per month as specified in § 63.148(f)(2)). 12. heat exchanger system that cools process equipment or materials in the process unit each existing or new affected source monitor and repair the heat exchanger system according to § 63.104(a) through (e), except that references to “chemical manufacturing...

40 CFR Table 1 to Subpart Uuuu of... - Emission Limits and Work Practice Standards

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... least once per month as specified in § 63.148(f)(2)). 12. heat exchanger system that cools process equipment or materials in the process unit each existing or new affected source monitor and repair the heat exchanger system according to § 63.104(a) through (e), except that references to “chemical manufacturing...

Just in Time Assurance

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

constrained to the objects it manages A local reference monitor can be maintained, updated, and replaced with minimal effect on the rest of the system...Compositional assurance is the path towards the goal of JIT Assurance Construct individual assurance case for each trusted tcomponen Provide argument that...local policies combine to enforce the overall system policy Composability enables JIT Assurance A component can be patched, upgraded, refreshed

Human Factors Feedback: Brain Acoustic Monitor

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

Microsoft Office Excel .................................................................12  iv 4.  Conclusions 13  5.  References 15  Appendix A...Panasonic Toughbook system. †Toughbook is registered trademark of Panasonic Corporation. ‡Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. 4...was preloaded with Microsoft Windows XP service pack 2 OS. This OS is widely used on IBM-style personal computers, and the BAM system did not

40 CFR Table 1 to Subpart Uuuu of... - Emission Limits and Work Practice Standards

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... least once per month as specified in § 63.148(f)(2)). 12. heat exchanger system that cools process equipment or materials in the process unit each existing or new affected source monitor and repair the heat exchanger system according to § 63.104(a) through (e), except that references to “chemical manufacturing...

Test, Control and Monitor System maintenance plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buehler, David P.; Lougheed, M. J.

1993-01-01

The maintenance requirements for Test, Control, and Monitor System (TCMS) and the method for satisfying these requirements prior to First Need Date (FND) of the last TCMS set are described. The method for satisfying maintenance requirements following FND of the last TCMS set will be addressed by a revision to this plan. This maintenance plan serves as the basic planning document for maintenance of this equipment by the NASA Payloads Directorate (CM) and the Payload Ground Operations Contractor (PGOC) at KSC. The terms TCMS Operations and Maintenance (O&M), Payloads Logistics, TCMS Sustaining Engineering, Payload Communications, and Integrated Network Services refer to the appropriate NASA and PGOC organization. For the duration of their contract, the Core Electronic Contractor (CEC) will provide a Set Support Team (SST). One of the primary purposes of this team is to help NASA and PGOC operate and maintain TCMS. It is assumed that SST is an integral part of TCMS O&M. The purpose of this plan is to describe the maintenance concept for TCMS hardware and system software in order to facilitate activation, transition planning, and continuing operation. When software maintenance is mentioned in this plan, it refers to maintenance of TCMS system software.

Instructor Data Reporting Procedures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mountain-Plains Education and Economic Development Program, Inc., Glasgow AFB, MT.

The document has been compiled for reference use by instructors and others in need of information necessary to understand and implement the Mountain-Plains instructional and evaluation system. Included in detail are: (1) descriptions of the several forms used for student accounting, student progress monitoring, program evaluation, and ancillary…

40 CFR 75.41 - Precision criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... for the entire 30- to 90-day period. (9) The owner or operator shall provide two separate time series... time where the vertical axis represents the percentage difference between each paired hourly reading... monitoring system (or reference method) readings versus time where the vertical axis represents hourly...

40 CFR 75.41 - Precision criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... for the entire 30- to 90-day period. (9) The owner or operator shall provide two separate time series... time where the vertical axis represents the percentage difference between each paired hourly reading... monitoring system (or reference method) readings versus time where the vertical axis represents hourly...

40 CFR 75.41 - Precision criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... for the entire 30- to 90-day period. (9) The owner or operator shall provide two separate time series... time where the vertical axis represents the percentage difference between each paired hourly reading... monitoring system (or reference method) readings versus time where the vertical axis represents hourly...

40 CFR 75.41 - Precision criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... for the entire 30- to 90-day period. (9) The owner or operator shall provide two separate time series... time where the vertical axis represents the percentage difference between each paired hourly reading... monitoring system (or reference method) readings versus time where the vertical axis represents hourly...

40 CFR 75.41 - Precision criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... for the entire 30- to 90-day period. (9) The owner or operator shall provide two separate time series... time where the vertical axis represents the percentage difference between each paired hourly reading... monitoring system (or reference method) readings versus time where the vertical axis represents hourly...

Attitude ground support system for the solar maximum mission spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nair, G.

1980-01-01

The SMM attitude ground support system (AGSS) supports the acquisition of spacecraft roll attitude reference, performs the in-flight calibration of the attitude sensor complement, supports onboard control autonomy via onboard computer data base updates, and monitors onboard computer (OBC) performance. Initial roll attitude acquisition is accomplished by obtaining a coarse 3 axis attitude estimate from magnetometer and Sun sensor data and subsequently refining it by processing data from the fixed head star trackers. In-flight calibration of the attitude sensor complement is achieved by processing data from a series of slew maneuvers designed to maximize the observability and accuracy of the appropriate alignments and biases. To ensure autonomy of spacecraft operation, the AGSS selects guide stars and computes sensor occultation information for uplink to the OBC. The onboard attitude control performance is monitored on the ground through periodic attitude determination and processing of OBC data in downlink telemetry. In general, the control performance has met mission requirements. However, software and hardware problems have resulted in sporadic attitude reference losses.

GTSO: Global Trace Synchronization and Ordering Mechanism for Wireless Sensor Network Monitoring Platforms.

PubMed

Navia, Marlon; Campelo, José Carlos; Bonastre, Alberto; Ors, Rafael

2017-12-23

Monitoring is one of the best ways to evaluate the behavior of computer systems. When the monitored system is a distributed system-such as a wireless sensor network (WSN)-the monitoring operation must also be distributed, providing a distributed trace for further analysis. The temporal sequence of occurrence of the events registered by the distributed monitoring platform (DMP) must be correctly established to provide cause-effect relationships between them, so the logs obtained in different monitor nodes must be synchronized. Many of synchronization mechanisms applied to DMPs consist in adjusting the internal clocks of the nodes to the same value as a reference time. However, these mechanisms can create an incoherent event sequence. This article presents a new method to achieve global synchronization of the traces obtained in a DMP. It is based on periodic synchronization signals that are received by the monitor nodes and logged along with the recorded events. This mechanism processes all traces and generates a global post-synchronized trace by scaling all times registered proportionally according with the synchronization signals. It is intended to be a simple but efficient offline mechanism. Its application in a WSN-DMP demonstrates that it guarantees a correct ordering of the events, avoiding the aforementioned issues.

Pediatric reference value distributions and covariate-stratified reference intervals for 29 endocrine and special chemistry biomarkers on the Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems: a CALIPER study of healthy community children.

PubMed

Karbasy, Kimiya; Lin, Danny C C; Stoianov, Alexandra; Chan, Man Khun; Bevilacqua, Victoria; Chen, Yunqi; Adeli, Khosrow

2016-04-01

The CALIPER program is a national research initiative aimed at closing the gaps in pediatric reference intervals. CALIPER previously reported reference intervals for endocrine and special chemistry markers on Abbott immunoassays. We now report new pediatric reference intervals for immunoassays on the Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems and assess platform-specific differences in reference values. A total of 711 healthy children and adolescents from birth to <19 years of age were recruited from the community. Serum samples were collected for measurement of 29 biomarkers on the Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems. Statistically relevant age and/or gender-based partitions were determined, outliers removed, and reference intervals calculated in accordance with Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) EP28-A3c guidelines. Complex profiles were observed for all 29 analytes, necessitating unique age and/or sex-specific partitions. Overall, changes in analyte concentrations observed over the course of development were similar to trends previously reported, and are consistent with biochemical and physiological changes that occur during childhood. Marked differences were observed for some assays including progesterone, luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone where reference intervals were higher than those reported on Abbott immunoassays and parathyroid hormone where intervals were lower. This study highlights the importance of determining reference intervals specific for each analytical platform. The CALIPER Pediatric Reference Interval database will enable accurate diagnosis and laboratory assessment of children monitored by Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems in health care institutions worldwide. These reference intervals must however be validated by individual labs for the local pediatric population as recommended by CLSI.

Global AIDS Reporting-2001 to 2015: Lessons for Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals.

PubMed

Alfvén, T; Erkkola, T; Ghys, P D; Padayachy, J; Warner-Smith, M; Rugg, D; de Lay, P

2017-07-01

Since 2001 the UNAIDS Secretariat has retained the responsibility for monitoring progress towards global commitments on HIV/AIDS. Key critical characteristics of the reporting system were assessed for the reporting period from 2004 to 2014 and analyses were undertaken of response rates and core indicator performance. Country submission rates ranged from 102 (53%) Member States in 2004 to 186 (96%) in 2012. There was great variance in response rates for specific indicators, with the highest response rates for treatment-related indicators. The Global AIDS reporting system has improved substantially over time and has provided key trend data on responses to the HIV epidemic, serving as the global accountability mechanism and providing reference data on the global AIDS response. It will be critical that reporting systems continue to evolve to support the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals, in view of ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

[Monitoring evaluation system for high-specialty hospitals].

PubMed

Fajardo Dolci, Germán; Aguirre Gas, Héctor G; Robledo Galván, Héctor

2011-01-01

Hospital evaluation is a fundamental process to identify medical units' objective compliance, to analyze efficiency of resource use and allocation, institutional values and mission alignment, patient safety and quality standards, contributions to research and medical education, and the degree of coordination among medical units and the health system as a whole. We propose an evaluation system for highly specialized regional hospitals through the monitoring of performance indicators. The following are established as base thematic elements in the construction of indicators: safe facilities and equipment, financial situation, human resources management, policy management, organizational climate, clinical activity, quality and patient safety, continuity of care, patients' and providers' rights and obligations, teaching, research, social responsibility, coordination mechanisms. Monitoring refers to the planned and systematic evaluation of valid and reliable indicators, aimed at identifying problems and opportunity areas. Moreover, evaluation is a powerful tool to strengthen decision-making and accountability in medical units.

Evaluation of postprandial glucose excursion using a novel minimally invasive glucose area-under-the-curve monitoring system.

PubMed

Kuranuki, Sachi; Sato, Toshiyuki; Okada, Seiki; Hosoya, Samiko; Seko, Akinobu; Sugihara, Kaya; Nakamura, Teiji

2013-01-01

To develop a minimally invasive interstitial fluid extraction technology (MIET) to monitor postprandial glucose area under the curve (AUC) without blood sampling, we evaluated the accuracy of glucose AUC measured by MIET and compared with that by blood sampling after food intake. Interstitial fluid glucose AUC (IG-AUC) following consumption of 6 different types of foods was measured by MIET. MIET consisted of stamping microneedle arrays, placing hydrogel patches on the areas, and calculating IG-AUC based on glucose levels in the hydrogels. Glycemic index (GI) was determined using IG-AUC and reference AUC measured by blood sampling. IG-AUC strongly correlated with reference AUC (R = 0.91), and GI determined using IG-AUC showed good correlation with that determined by reference AUC (R = 0.88). IG-AUC obtained by MIET can accurately predict the postprandial glucose excursion without blood sampling. In addition, feasibility of GI measurement by MIET was confirmed.

Development of an integrated electrochemical system for in vitro yeast viability testing.

PubMed

Adami, Andrea; Ress, Cristina; Collini, Cristian; Pedrotti, Severino; Lorenzelli, Leandro

2013-02-15

This work describes the development and testing of a microfabricated sensor for rapid cell growth monitoring, especially focused on yeast quality assessment for wine applications. The device consists of a NMOS ISFET sensor with Si(3)N(4) gate, able to indirectly monitor extracellular metabolism through pH variation of the medium, and a solid-state reference electrode implemented with PVC membranes doped with lipophilic salts (tetrabutylammonium-tetrabutylborate (TBA-TBB) and Potassium tetrakis(4-chlorphenyl)borate (KTClpB)). The use of a solid state reference electrode enables the implementation of a large number of cell assays in parallel, without the need of external conventional reference electrodes. Microbial growth testing has been performed both in standard culture conditions and on chip at different concentrations of ethanol in order to carry out a commonly used screening of wine yeast strains. Cell growth tests can be performed in few hours, providing a fast, sensitive and low cost analysis with respect to the conventional procedures. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesized view comparison method for no-reference 3D image quality assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Fangzhou; Lin, Chaoyi; Gu, Xiaodong; Ma, Xiaojun

2018-04-01

We develop a no-reference image quality assessment metric to evaluate the quality of synthesized view rendered from the Multi-view Video plus Depth (MVD) format. Our metric is named Synthesized View Comparison (SVC), which is designed for real-time quality monitoring at the receiver side in a 3D-TV system. The metric utilizes the virtual views in the middle which are warped from left and right views by Depth-image-based rendering algorithm (DIBR), and compares the difference between the virtual views rendered from different cameras by Structural SIMilarity (SSIM), a popular 2D full-reference image quality assessment metric. The experimental results indicate that our no-reference quality assessment metric for the synthesized images has competitive prediction performance compared with some classic full-reference image quality assessment metrics.

In situ monitoring of intracellular controlled drug release from mesoporous silica nanoparticles coated with pH-responsive charge-reversal polymer.

PubMed

Zhang, Peng; Wu, Tong; Kong, Ji-Lie

2014-10-22

Therapeutic platforms such as chemotherapy that respond to physical and biological stimuli are highly desirable for effective cancer therapy. In this study, pH-responsive charge-reversal, polymer-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles [PAH-cit/APTES-MSNs; PAH-cit refers to poly(allylamine)-citraconic anhydride; APTES refers to (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane] were synthesized for application as drug-delivery systems for the treatment of malignant cells. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) revealed that the PAH-cit/APTES-MSNs nanocomposite effectively delivered and released doxorubicin hydrochloride to the nucleus of HeLa (human cervical carcinoma) cells. Additionally, the real-time dynamic drug-release process was monitored by CLSM. The current pH-controlled-smart-release platform holds promise in drug-delivery and cancer therapy-related applications.

Monitoring that matters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Douglas H.; Gitzen, Robert A.; Millspaugh, Joshua J.; Cooper, Andrew B.; Licht, Daniel S.

2012-01-01

Monitoring is a critically important activity for assessing the status of a system, such as the health of an individual, the balance in one's checking account, profits and losses of a business, the economic activity of a nation, or the size of an animal population. Monitoring is especially vital for evaluating changes in the system associated with specific known impacts occurring to the system. It is also valuable for detecting unanticipated changes in the system and identifying plausible causes of such changes, all in time to take corrective action. Before proceeding, we should define "monitoring." One definition of "monitor" (Microsoft Corporation 2009) is "to check something at regular intervals in order to find out how it is progressing or developing." The key point here is "at regular intervals," suggesting a continuing process. Some definitions do not indicate the repetitive nature of monitoring and are basically synonymous with "observing." Most monitoring, in the strict sense of the word, is intended to persist for long periods of time, perhaps indefinitely or permanently. Similarly, Thompson et al. (1998: 3) referred to the "repeated assessment of status" of something, but noted that the term "monitor" is sometimes used for analogous activities such as collecting baseline information or evaluating projects for either implementation or effectiveness. For their purposes, they restricted the term to involve repeated measurements collected at a specified frequency of time units. Let us adopt that definition, recognizing that repeated measurements imply collecting comparable information on each occasion.

A Marine Aerosol Reference Tank system as a breaking wave analogue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stokes, M. D.; Deane, G. B.; Prather, K.; Bertram, T. H.; Ruppel, M. J.; Ryder, O. S.; Brady, J. M.; Zhao, D.

2012-12-01

In order to better understand the processes governing the production of marine aerosols a repeatable, controlled method for their generation is required. The Marine Aerosol Reference Tank (MART) has been designed to closely approximate oceanic conditions by producing an evolving bubble plume and surface foam patch. The tank utilizes an intermittently plunging sheet of water and large volume tank reservoir to simulate turbulence, plume and foam formation, and is monitored volumetrically and acoustically to ensure the repeatability of conditions.

Sampling results, DNAPL monitoring well GW-729, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Annual report

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

Drier, R.B.; Caldanaro, A.J.

1996-12-01

This document, Sampling Results, DNAPL Monitoring Well G W-729, Third Quarter FY 1995 through Third Quarter FY 1996, was performed under Work Breakdown Structure 1.4.12.1.1.02 (Activity Data Sheet 2312, `Bear Creek Valley`). This document provides the Environmental Restoration Program with groundwater concentrations for nonradionuclides in the vicinity of the Y-12 Burial Grounds. These data can be used to determine reference concentrations for intermediate and deep groundwater systems.

Dynamics of actual aggregation of petroleum products in snow cover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Begunova, L. A.; Kuznetsova, O. V.; Begunov, D. A.; Kuznetsova, A. N.

2017-11-01

The paper presents issues of snow cover pollution by petroleum products. Petroleum products content was determined using the fluorimetric method of analysis. The samples of snow were selected on the territory of Angarsk and Irkutsk cities. According to the obtained data, the content of petroleum products in the analyzed samples exceeds the background value up to 6 times. Analysis of the reference data for similar research confirms need for creation of an environmental monitoring centralized system to monitor atmospheric precipitation and, particularly, snow cover.

Performance Indicators (for Kindergartens). (First Edition).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong Kong Education Dept.

As part of the 1999 comprehensive review of the education system in Hong Kong, the Education Department introduced a quality assurance framework in local kindergartens. The framework comprises two components: self-evaluation and external monitoring. This guide presents performance indicators for use as evaluation criteria with reference to the…

Equivalency Programmes (EPs) for Promoting Lifelong Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haddad, Caroline, Ed.

2006-01-01

Equivalency programmes (EPs) refers to alternative education programmes that are equivalent to the formal education system in terms of curriculum and certification, policy support mechanisms, mode of delivery, staff training, and other support activities such as monitoring, evaluation and assessment. The development of EPs is potentially an…

On-line Data Transmission, as Part of the Seismic Evaluation Process in the Buildings Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorin Dragomir, Claudiu; Dobre, Daniela; Craifaleanu, Iolanda; Georgescu, Emil-Sever

2017-12-01

The thorough analytical modelling of seismic actions, of the structural system and of the foundation soil is essential for a proper dynamic analysis of a building. However, the validation of the used models should be made, whenever possible, with reference to results obtained from experimental investigations, building instrumentation and monitoring of vibrations generated by various seismic or non-seismic sources. In Romania, the permanent seismic instrumentation/monitoring of buildings is part of a special follow-up activity, performed in accordance with the P130/1999 code for the time monitoring of building behaviour and with the seismic design code, P100-2013. By using the state-of-the-art modern equipment (GeoSIG and Kinemetrics digital accelerographs) in the seismic network of the National Institute for Research and Development URBAN-INCERC, the instrumented buildings can be monitored remotely, with recorded data being sent to authorities or to research institutes in the field by a real-time data transmission system. The obtained records are processed, computing the Fourier amplitude spectra and the response spectra, and the modal parameters of buildings are determined. The paper presents some of the most important results of the institute in the field of building monitoring, focusing on the situation of some significant instrumented buildings located in different parts of the country. In addition, maps with data received from seismic stations after the occurrence of two recent Vrancea (Romania) earthquakes, showing the spatial distribution of ground accelerations, are presented, together with a comparative analysis, performed with reference to previous studies in the literature.

System Integration and In Vivo Testing of a Robot for Ultrasound Guidance and Monitoring During Radiotherapy.

PubMed

Sen, Hasan Tutkun; Bell, Muyinatu A Lediju; Zhang, Yin; Ding, Kai; Boctor, Emad; Wong, John; Iordachita, Iulian; Kazanzides, Peter

2017-07-01

We are developing a cooperatively controlled robot system for image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) in which a clinician and robot share control of a 3-D ultrasound (US) probe. IGRT involves two main steps: 1) planning/simulation and 2) treatment delivery. The goals of the system are to provide guidance for patient setup and real-time target monitoring during fractionated radiotherapy of soft tissue targets, especially in the upper abdomen. To compensate for soft tissue deformations created by the probe, we present a novel workflow where the robot holds the US probe on the patient during acquisition of the planning computerized tomography image, thereby ensuring that planning is performed on the deformed tissue. The robot system introduces constraints (virtual fixtures) to help to produce consistent soft tissue deformation between simulation and treatment days, based on the robot position, contact force, and reference US image recorded during simulation. This paper presents the system integration and the proposed clinical workflow, validated by an in vivo canine study. The results show that the virtual fixtures enable the clinician to deviate from the recorded position to better reproduce the reference US image, which correlates with more consistent soft tissue deformation and the possibility for more accurate patient setup and radiation delivery.

Method and apparatus for the simultaneous display and correlation of independently generated images

DOEpatents

Vaitekunas, Jeffrey J.; Roberts, Ronald A.

1991-01-01

An apparatus and method for location by location correlation of multiple images from Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and other sources. Multiple images of a material specimen are displayed on one or more monitors of an interactive graphics system. Specimen landmarks are located in each image and mapping functions from a reference image to each other image are calcuated using the landmark locations. A location selected by positioning a cursor in the reference image is mapped to the other images and location identifiers are simultaneously displayed in those images. Movement of the cursor in the reference image causes simultaneous movement of the location identifiers in the other images to positions corresponding to the location of the reference image cursor.

[Study for portable dynamic ECG monitor and recorder].

PubMed

Yang, Pengcheng; Li, Yongqin; Chen, Bihua

2012-09-01

This Paper presents a portable dynamic ECG monitor system based on MSP430F149 microcontroller. The electrocardiogram detecting system consists of ECG detecting circuit, man-machine interaction module, MSP430F149 and upper computer software. The ECG detecting circuit including a preamplifier, second-order Butterworth low-pass filter, high-pass filter, and 50Hz trap circuit to detects electrocardiogram and depresses various kinds of interference effectively. A microcontroller is used to collect three channel analog signals which can be displayed on TFT LCD. A SD card is used to record real-time data continuously and implement the FTA16 file system. In the end, a host computer system interface is also designed to analyze the ECG signal and the analysis results can provide diagnosis references to clinical doctors.

Video-based respiration monitoring with automatic region of interest detection.

PubMed

Janssen, Rik; Wang, Wenjin; Moço, Andreia; de Haan, Gerard

2016-01-01

Vital signs monitoring is ubiquitous in clinical environments and emerging in home-based healthcare applications. Still, since current monitoring methods require uncomfortable sensors, respiration rate remains the least measured vital sign. In this paper, we propose a video-based respiration monitoring method that automatically detects a respiratory region of interest (RoI) and signal using a camera. Based on the observation that respiration induced chest/abdomen motion is an independent motion system in a video, our basic idea is to exploit the intrinsic properties of respiration to find the respiratory RoI and extract the respiratory signal via motion factorization. We created a benchmark dataset containing 148 video sequences obtained on adults under challenging conditions and also neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The measurements obtained by the proposed video respiration monitoring (VRM) method are not significantly different from the reference methods (guided breathing or contact-based ECG; p-value  =  0.6), and explain more than 99% of the variance of the reference values with low limits of agreement (-2.67 to 2.81 bpm). VRM seems to provide a valid solution to ECG in confined motion scenarios, though precision may be reduced for neonates. More studies are needed to validate VRM under challenging recording conditions, including upper-body motion types.

Long life reference electrode

DOEpatents

Yonco, R.M.; Nagy, Z.

1987-07-30

An external, reference electrode is provided for long term use with a high temperature, high pressure system. The electrode is arranged in a vertical, electrically insulative tube with an upper portion serving as an electrolyte reservoir and a lower portion in electrolytic communication with the system to be monitored. The lower end portion includes a flow restriction such as a porous plug to limit the electrolyte release into the system. A piston equalized to the system pressure is fitted into the upper portion of the tube to impart a small incremental pressure to the electrolyte. The piston is selected of suitable size and weight to cause only a slight flow of electrolyte through the porous plug into the high pressure system. This prevents contamination of the electrolyte but is of such small flow rate that operating intervals of a month or more can be achieved. 2 figs.

Long life reference electrode

DOEpatents

Yonco, R.M.; Nagy, Z.

1989-04-04

An external, reference electrode is provided for long term use with a high temperature, high pressure system. The electrode is arranged in a vertical, electrically insulative tube with an upper portion serving as an electrolyte reservoir and a lower portion in electrolytic communication with the system to be monitored. The lower end portion includes a flow restriction such as a porous plug to limit the electrolyte release into the system. A piston equalized to the system pressure is fitted into the upper portion of the tube to impart a small incremental pressure to the electrolyte. The piston is selected of suitable size and weight to cause only a slight flow of electrolyte through the porous plug into the high pressure system. This prevents contamination of the electrolyte but is of such small flow rate that operating intervals of a month or more can be achieved. 2 figs.

Long life reference electrode

DOEpatents

Yonco, Robert M.; Nagy, Zoltan

1989-01-01

An external, reference electrode is provided for long term use with a high temperature, high pressure system. The electrode is arranged in a vertical, electrically insulative tube with an upper portion serving as an electrolyte reservior and a lower portion in electrolytic communication with the system to be monitored. The lower end portion includes a flow restriction such as a porous plug to limit the electrolyte release into the system. A piston equalized to the system pressure is fitted into the upper portion of the tube to impart a small incremental pressure to the electrolyte. The piston is selected of suitable size and weight to cause only a slight flow of electrolyte through the porous plug into the high pressure system. This prevents contamination of the electrolyte but is of such small flow rate that operating intervals of a month or more can be achieved.

Remote reset circuit

DOEpatents

Gritzo, R.E.

1985-09-12

A remote reset circuit acts as a stand-along monitor and controller by clocking in each character sent by a terminal to a computer and comparing it to a given reference character. When a match occurs, the remote reset circuit activates the system's hardware reset line. The remote reset circuit is hardware based centered around monostable multivibrators and is unaffected by system crashes, partial serial transmissions, or power supply transients. 4 figs.

Remote reset circuit

DOEpatents

Gritzo, Russell E.

1987-01-01

A remote reset circuit acts as a stand-alone monitor and controller by clocking in each character sent by a terminal to a computer and comparing it to a given reference character. When a match occurs, the remote reset circuit activates the system's hardware reset line. The remote reset circuit is hardware based centered around monostable multivibrators and is unaffected by system crashes, partial serial transmissions, or power supply transients.

GEOdetic Data assimilation and EStimation of references for climate change InvEstigation. An overall presentation of the French GEODESIE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nahmani, S.; Coulot, D.; Biancale, R.; Bizouard, C.; Bonnefond, P.; Bouquillon, S.; Collilieux, X.; Deleflie, F.; Garayt, B.; Lambert, S. B.; Laurent-Varin, S.; Marty, J. C.; Mercier, F.; Metivier, L.; Meyssignac, B.; Pollet, A.; Rebischung, P.; Reinquin, F.; Richard, J. Y.; Tertre, F.; Woppelmann, G.

2017-12-01

Many major indicators of climate change are monitored with space observations. This monitoring is highly dependent on references that only geodesy can provide. The current accuracy of these references does not permit to fully support the challenges that the constantly evolving Earth system gives rise to, and can consequently limit the accuracy of these indicators. Thus, in the framework of the GGOS, stringent requirements are fixed to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) for the next decade: an accuracy at the level of 1 mm and a stability at the level of 0.1 mm/yr. This means an improvement of the current quality of ITRF by a factor of 5-10. Improving the quality of the geodetic references is an issue which requires a thorough reassessment of the methodologies involved. The most relevant and promising method to improve this quality is the direct combination of the space-geodetic measurements used to compute the official references of the IERS. The GEODESIE project aims at (i) determining highly-accurate global and consistent references and (ii) providing the geophysical and climate research communities with these references, for a better estimation of geocentric sea level rise, ice mass balance and on-going climate changes. Time series of sea levels computed from altimetric data and tide gauge records with these references will also be provided. The geodetic references will be essential bases for Earth's observation and monitoring to support the challenges of the century. The geocentric time series of sea levels will permit to better apprehend (i) the drivers of the global mean sea level rise and of regional variations of sea level and (ii) the contribution of the global climate change induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions to these drivers. All the results and computation and quality assessment reports will be available at geodesie_anr.ign.fr.This project, supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) for the period 2017-2020, will be an unprecedented opportunity to provide the French Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS) with complete simulation and data processing capabilities to prepare the future arrival of space missions such as the European Geodetic Reference Antenna in SPace (E-GRASP) and to significantly contribute to the GGOS with accurate references.

Experimental results from the VENUS-F critical reference state for the GUINEVERE accelerator driven system project

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

Uyttenhove, W.; Baeten, P.; Ban, G.

The GUINEVERE (Generation of Uninterrupted Intense Neutron pulses at the lead Venus Reactor) project was launched in 2006 within the framework of FP6 EUROTRANS in order to validate on-line reactivity monitoring and subcriticality level determination in Accelerator Driven Systems. Therefore the VENUS reactor at SCK.CEN in Mol (Belgium) was modified towards a fast core (VENUS-F) and coupled to the GENEPI-3C accelerator built by CNRS The accelerator can operate in both continuous and pulsed mode. The VENUS-F core is loaded with enriched Uranium and reflected with solid lead. A well-chosen critical reference state is indispensable for the validation of the on-linemore » subcriticality monitoring methodology. Moreover a benchmarking tool is required for nuclear data research and code validation. In this paper the design and the importance of the critical reference state for the GUINEVERE project are motivated. The results of the first experimental phase on the critical core are presented. The control rods worth is determined by the rod drop technique and the application of the Modified Source Multiplication (MSM) method allows the determination of the worth of the safety rods. The results are implemented in the VENUS-F core certificate for full exploitation of the critical core. (authors)« less

Experimental results from the VENUS-F critical reference state for the GUINEVERE accelerator driven system project

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

Uyttenhove, W.; Baeten, P.; Kochetkov, A.

The GUINEVERE (Generation of Uninterrupted Intense Neutron pulses at the lead Venus Reactor) project was launched in 2006 within the framework of FP6 EUROTRANS in order to validate online reactivity monitoring and subcriticality level determination in accelerator driven systems (ADS). Therefore, the VENUS reactor at SCK.CEN in Mol, Belgium, was modified towards a fast core (VENUS-F) and coupled to the GENEPI-3C accelerator built by CNRS. The accelerator can operate in both continuous and pulsed mode. The VENUS-F core is loaded with enriched Uranium and reflected with solid lead. A well-chosen critical reference state is indispensable for the validation of themore » online subcriticality monitoring methodology. Moreover, a benchmarking tool is required for nuclear data research and code validation. In this paper, the design and the importance of the critical reference state for the GUINEVERE project are motivated. The results of the first experimental phase on the critical core are presented. The control rods worth is determined by the positive period method and the application of the Modified Source Multiplication (MSM) method allows the determination of the worth of the safety rods. The results are implemented in the VENUS-F core certificate for full exploitation of the critical core. (authors)« less

Positioning navigation and timing service applications in cyber physical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Yi; Wu, Xiaojing; Zeng, Lingchuan

2017-10-01

The positioning navigation and timing (PNT) architecture was discussed in detail, whose history, evolvement, current status and future plan were presented, main technologies were listed, advantages and limitations of most technologies were compared, novel approaches were introduced, and future capacities were sketched. The concept of cyber-physical system (CPS) was described and their primary features were interpreted. Then the three-layer architecture of CPS was illustrated. Next CPS requirements on PNT services were analyzed, including requirements on position reference and time reference, requirements on temporal-spatial error monitor, requirements on dynamic services, real-time services, autonomous services, security services and standard services. Finally challenges faced by PNT applications in CPS were concluded. The conclusion was expected to facilitate PNT applications in CPS, and furthermore to provide references to the design and implementation of both architectures.

System theory in industrial patient monitoring: an overview.

PubMed

Baura, G D

2004-01-01

Patient monitoring refers to the continuous observation of repeating events of physiologic function to guide therapy or to monitor the effectiveness of interventions, and is used primarily in the intensive care unit and operating room. Commonly processed signals are the electrocardiogram, intraarterial blood pressure, arterial saturation of oxygen, and cardiac output. To this day, the majority of physiologic waveform processing in patient monitors is conducted using heuristic curve fitting. However in the early 1990s, a few enterprising engineers and physicians began using system theory to improve their core processing. Applications included improvement of signal-to-noise ratio, either due to low signal levels or motion artifact, and improvement in feature detection. The goal of this mini-symposium is to review the early work in this emerging field, which has led to technologic breakthroughs. In this overview talk, the process of system theory algorithm research and development is discussed. Research for industrial monitors involves substantial data collection, with some data used for algorithm training and the remainder used for validation. Once the algorithms are validated, they are translated into detailed specifications. Development then translates these specifications into DSP code. The DSP code is verified and validated per the Good Manufacturing Practices mandated by FDA.

Measurement guidelines for the sequestration of forest carbon

Treesearch

Timothy R.H. Pearson; Sandra L. Brown; Richard A. Birdsey

2007-01-01

Measurement guidelines for forest carbon sequestration were developed to support reporting by public and private entities to greenhouse gas registries. These guidelines are intended to be a reference for designing a forest carbon inventory and monitoring system by professionals with a knowledge of sampling, statistical estimation, and forest measurements. This report...

Nuclear Powerplant Safety: Operations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Energy, Washington, DC. Nuclear Energy Office.

Powerplant systems and procedures that ensure the day-to-day health and safety of people in and around the plant is referred to as operational safety. This safety is the result of careful planning, good engineering and design, strict licensing and regulation, and environmental monitoring. Procedures that assure operational safety at nuclear…

Localization Strategies in WSNs as applied to Landslide Monitoring (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massa, A.; Robol, F.; Polo, A.; Giarola, E.; Viani, F.

2013-12-01

In the last years, heterogeneous integrated smart systems based on wireless sensor network (WSN) technology have been developed at the ELEDIA Research Center of the University of Trento [1]. One of the key features of WSNs as applied to distributed monitoring is that, while the capabilities of each single sensor node is limited, the implementation of cooperative schemes throughout the whole network enables the solution of even complex tasks, as the landslide monitoring. The capability of localizing targets respect to the position of the sensor nodes turns out to be fundamental in those application fields where relative movements arise. The main properties like the target typology, the movement characteristics, and the required localization resolution are different changing the reference scenario. However, the common key issue is still the localization of moving targets within the area covered by the sensor network. Many experiences were preparatory for the challenging activities in the field of landslide monitoring where the basic idea is mostly that of detecting slight soil movements. Among them, some examples of WSN-based systems experimentally applied to the localization of people [2] and wildlife [3] have been proposed. More recently, the WSN backbone as well as the investigated sensing technologies have been customized for monitoring superficial movements of the soil. The relative positions of wireless sensor nodes deployed where high probability of landslide exists is carefully monitored to forecast dangerous events. Multiple sensors like ultrasound, laser, high precision GPS, for the precise measurement of relative distances between the nodes of the network and the absolute positions respect to reference targets have been integrated in a prototype system. The millimeter accuracy in the position estimation enables the detection of small soil modifications and to infer the superficial evolution profile of the landslide. This information locally acquired also represent a fine tuning of large scale satellite acquisitions, usually adopted for remote sensing of landslides. The integration of dense and frequent WSN data within satellite image analysis will enhance the sensing capabilities leading to a multi-resolution and an highly space-time calibrated system. The WSN-based system has been preliminary tested in controlled environments in the ELEDIA laboratories and is now installed in a real test site where an active landslide is evolving. Preliminary data are here presented to assess the feasibility of the investigated solution in landslide monitoring and event forecasting. REFERENCES [1] M. Benedetti, L. Ioriatti, M. Martinelli, and F. Viani, 'Wireless sensor network: a pervasive technology for earth observation,' in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in App. Earth Obs. And Remote Sens., vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 488-497, 2010. [2] F. Viani, M. Donelli, P. Rocca, G. Oliveri, D. Trinchero, and A. Massa, 'Localization, tracking and imaging of targets in wireless sensor networks,' Radio Science, vol. 46, no. 5, 2011. [3] F. Viani, F. Robol, M. Salucci, E. Giarola, S. De Vigili, M. Rocca, F. Boldrini, G. Benedetti, and A. Massa, 'WSN-based early alert system for preventing wildlife-vehicle collisions in Alps regions - From the laboratory test to the real-world implementation,' 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation 2013 (EUCAP2013), Gothenburg, Sweden, April 8-12, 2013.

Direct and Absolute Quantification of over 1800 Yeast Proteins via Selected Reaction Monitoring*

PubMed Central

Lawless, Craig; Holman, Stephen W.; Brownridge, Philip; Lanthaler, Karin; Harman, Victoria M.; Watkins, Rachel; Hammond, Dean E.; Miller, Rebecca L.; Sims, Paul F. G.; Grant, Christopher M.; Eyers, Claire E.; Beynon, Robert J.

2016-01-01

Defining intracellular protein concentration is critical in molecular systems biology. Although strategies for determining relative protein changes are available, defining robust absolute values in copies per cell has proven significantly more challenging. Here we present a reference data set quantifying over 1800 Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteins by direct means using protein-specific stable-isotope labeled internal standards and selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mass spectrometry, far exceeding any previous study. This was achieved by careful design of over 100 QconCAT recombinant proteins as standards, defining 1167 proteins in terms of copies per cell and upper limits on a further 668, with robust CVs routinely less than 20%. The selected reaction monitoring-derived proteome is compared with existing quantitative data sets, highlighting the disparities between methodologies. Coupled with a quantification of the transcriptome by RNA-seq taken from the same cells, these data support revised estimates of several fundamental molecular parameters: a total protein count of ∼100 million molecules-per-cell, a median of ∼1000 proteins-per-transcript, and a linear model of protein translation explaining 70% of the variance in translation rate. This work contributes a “gold-standard” reference yeast proteome (including 532 values based on high quality, dual peptide quantification) that can be widely used in systems models and for other comparative studies. PMID:26750110

Telemetric implantable pressure sensor for short- and long-term monitoring of intracranial pressure.

PubMed

Frischholz, M; Sarmento, L; Wenzel, M; Aquilina, K; Edwards, R; Coakham, H B

2007-01-01

Patients with hydrocephalus, idiopathic intracranial hypertension and head injury frequently require monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) and may need repeated episodes of monitoring months or years apart. The gold standard for measurement of ICP remains the external ventricular catheter. This is a fluid-filled catheter transducer system that allows regular recalibration and correction of zero drift by its position relative to a fixed anatomical reference. It also allows drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), providing a means of lowering the ICP. Several catheter tip transducer systems are currently in clinical use, including using strain gauges or fiber-optical pressure sensing techniques. In these devices, zero drift and calibration cannot be checked in vivo. All the ICP monitoring devices in current clinical use require a physical connection between the brain and the external environment. This is a source of infection and limits the duration of monitoring. A number of telemetric monitoring devices, in which data is in some way transmitted transcutaneously, have been developed over the last twenty years, but significant technical problems have precluded their use in routine clinical practice. All current ICP monitors are temporary percutaneous implanted devices. Placement of these devices carries significant morbidity, particularly infection. Patients undergoing repeated monitoring require multiple surgical procedures. Apart from decreasing the risk of infection in patients with severe head injury, the clinical value of an accurate telemetric ICP monitoring system which maintains its reliability over a long period of implantation is high.

Fluorine disposal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rakow, A.

1983-01-01

A preliminary design of an F2 dispoal system for HELSTF is presented along with recommendations on operational policy and identification of potential operational problems. The analysis is based on sizing a system to handle two different modes of the HELSTF Fluorine Flow System (one operational and one catastrophic). This information should serve both as a guide to a final detailed design for HELSTF as well as a reference for subsequent monitoring and/or modification of the system which consists of a charcoal reactor followed by a dry soda lime scrubber.

Surveillance of congenital rubella and rubella infections in pregnancy in EU/EEA countries, 2012: Current status and future perspective to monitor elimination.

PubMed

Giambi, C; Montaño-Remacha, C; Celentano, L Pastore; Derrough, T

2015-09-11

Rubella elimination and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) prevention are targets for achievement by 2015 in the WHO-EURO Region. This paper describes the existing surveillance systems for CRS and rubella in pregnancy in order to critically interpret the findings in relation to the 2012 WHO-EURO surveillance guidelines. In 2012 we conducted a survey to collect information on surveillance of CRS and rubella in pregnancy in 29 EU/EEA countries. Questionnaires explored the characteristics of the surveillance systems, case definition, epidemiological investigation and follow-up of cases, reference laboratories and types of tests performed. Twenty-eight countries had surveillance systems for CRS, mostly nationwide, mandatory, passive and case-based; 23 collected information on the origin of the infection; 11 reported asymptomatic infections; 6 required zero-reporting. Case definitions varied among countries, although 24 used the EU definition. Laboratories reported cases in 18 countries. Twenty countries collected information on pregnancy within the rubella surveillance system and 5 had specific surveillance for rubella in pregnancy. Two countries did not monitor outcomes of suspected infections in pregnancy; infants with CRS were monitored in all the remaining countries; asymptomatic infected infants in 15; stillbirths and fetal deaths in 13; therapeutic and spontaneous abortions in 8 and 7. Twenty-seven countries had a national reference laboratory for CRS and rubella in pregnancy; genotyping was performed in 15. The current surveillance systems allow adequate CRS monitoring in EU. Further efforts are needed to improve their quality, including uniform case definitions, collection of information on the origin of infection, and promotion of reporting from laboratories. Follow-up of pregnant women with suspected infection should be strengthened because it is an entry point for CRS, including detection of fetal deaths, stillbirths and abortions. Laboratory capacity for confirming congenital rubella infections and infections in pregnancy is good in EU, however the use of genotyping should be encouraged. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Process-based reference conditions: An alternative approach for managed river systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grams, P.; Melis, T.; Wright, S.; Schmidt, J.; Topping, D.

2008-12-01

Physical reference conditions, whether based on historic information or the condition of nearby less impaired systems, provide necessary information that contributes to an assessment of stream condition and the nature of channel transformation. In many cases, however, the utility of this traditional 'reference' approach may end at the assessment stage and not be applicable to establishing and implementing restoration goals. Ongoing impacts such as continued existence of an upstream dam or the persistence of invasive vegetation may render restoration based on a physical reference infeasible. In these circumstances, an alternative approach is to identify and describe reference processes in place of physical reference conditions. This is the case for the Colorado River where large dams, a commitment to hydropower production, and legal mandates for regional distribution and off- channel consumption of water greatly reduce the relevance of historical conditions in setting goals for rehabilitation. In this setting, two strategies are available for setting reference conditions. One is maintenance of post-dam sediment mass balance, which attempts to ensure that the channel does not continue to degrade or aggrade and that riverine habitats do not continue to diverge from their historical condition. Post- dam sediment mass balance can be quantified at a reconnaissance or project scale. The second strategy is to define key processes that maintain the native ecosystem. These processes may, or may not, be consistent with maintenance of sediment mass balance, but they may be key to rejuvenation of spawning and rearing habitats, maintenance of historical ranges of temperature and turbidity, maintenance of a sustainable food base for the native aquatic community, or maintaining other riverine resources. Both strategies require careful monitoring of processes (e.g. sediment flux), which may add considerably to the cost and complexity of a monitoring program. An additional challenge in adopting the second strategy is that it is difficult to define when a process is adequately restored, since many ecosystem processes collectively limit recovery of populations of native communities.

Monitoring the Sodium Content of Restaurant Foods: Public Health Challenges and Opportunities

PubMed Central

Cogswell, Mary E.; Gunn, Janelle P.; Curtis, Christine J.; Rhodes, Donna; Hoy, Kathy; Pehrsson, Pamela; Nickle, Melissa; Merritt, Robert

2013-01-01

We reviewed methods of studies assessing restaurant foods’ sodium content and nutrition databases. We systematically searched the 1964–2012 literature and manually examined references in selected articles and studies. Twenty-six (5.2%) of the 499 articles we found met the inclusion criteria and were abstracted. Five were conducted nationally. Sodium content determination methods included laboratory analysis (n = 15), point-of-purchase nutrition information or restaurants’ Web sites (n = 8), and menu analysis with a nutrient database (n = 3). There is no comprehensive data system that provides all information needed to monitor changes in sodium or other nutrients among restaurant foods. Combining information from different sources and methods may help inform a comprehensive system to monitor sodium content reduction efforts in the US food supply and to develop future strategies. PMID:23865701

Unification of height systems in the frame of GGOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, Laura

2015-04-01

Most of the existing vertical reference systems do not fulfil the accuracy requirements of modern Geodesy. They refer to local sea surface levels, are stationary (do not consider variations in time), realize different physical height types (orthometric, normal, normal-orthometric, etc.), and their combination in a global frame presents uncertainties at the metre level. To provide a precise geodetic infrastructure for monitoring the Earth system, the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), promotes the standardization of the height systems worldwide. The main purpose is to establish a global gravity field-related vertical reference system that (1) supports a highly-precise (at cm-level) combination of physical and geometric heights worldwide, (2) allows the unification of all existing local height datums, and (3) guarantees vertical coordinates with global consistency (the same accuracy everywhere) and long-term stability (the same order of accuracy at any time). Under this umbrella, the present contribution concentrates on the definition and realization of a conventional global vertical reference system; the standardization of the geodetic data referring to the existing height systems; and the formulation of appropriate strategies for the precise transformation of the local height datums into the global vertical reference system. The proposed vertical reference system is based on two components: a geometric component consisting of ellipsoidal heights as coordinates and a level ellipsoid as the reference surface, and a physical component comprising geopotential numbers as coordinates and an equipotential surface defined by a conventional W0 value as the reference surface. The definition of the physical component is based on potential parameters in order to provide reference to any type of physical heights (normal, orthometric, etc.). The conversion of geopotential numbers into metric heights and the modelling of the reference surface (geoid or quasigeoid determination) are considered as steps of the realization. The vertical datum unification strategy is based on (1) the physical connection of height datums to determine their discrepancies, (2) joint analysis of satellite altimetry and tide gauge records to determine time variations of sea level at reference tide gauges, (3) combination of geometrical and physical heights in a well-distributed and high-precise reference frame to estimate the relationship between the individual vertical levels and the global one, and (4) analysis of GNSS time series at reference tide gauges to separate crustal movements from sea level changes. The final vertical transformation parameters are provided by the common adjustment of the observation equations derived from these methods.

75 FR 45627 - Office of Research and Development; Ambient Air Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-03

... Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods: Designation of One New Equivalent Method AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of the designation of one new equivalent method for monitoring ambient air... accordance with 40 CFR part 53, one new equivalent method for measuring concentrations of lead (Pb) in total...

76 FR 62402 - Office of Research and Development; Ambient Air Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-07

... Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods; Designation of One New Equivalent Method AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of the designation of one new equivalent method for monitoring ambient air... accordance with 40 CFR Part 53, one new equivalent method for measuring concentrations of ozone (O 3 ) in the...

75 FR 51039 - Office of Research and Development; Ambient Air Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-18

... Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods: Designation of Two New Equivalent Methods AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of the designation of two new equivalent methods for monitoring ambient air... accordance with 40 CFR Part 53, two new equivalent methods for measuring concentrations of PM 10 and sulfur...

75 FR 22126 - Office of Research and Development; Ambient Air Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-27

... Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods: Designation of One New Equivalent Method AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of the designation of one new equivalent method for monitoring ambient air... accordance with 40 CFR Part 53, one new equivalent method for measuring concentrations of ozone (O 3 ) in the...

75 FR 30022 - Office of Research and Development; Ambient Air Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-28

... Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods: Designation of One New Equivalent Method AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of the designation of one new equivalent method for monitoring ambient air... accordance with 40 CFR Part 53, one new equivalent method for measuring concentrations of lead (Pb) in total...

75 FR 9894 - Office of Research and Development; Ambient Air Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-04

... Monitoring Reference and Equivalent Methods: Designation of One New Equivalent Method AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of the designation of one new equivalent method for monitoring ambient air... accordance with 40 CFR part 53, one new equivalent method for measuring concentrations of lead (Pb) in total...

User Manual for the AZ-101 Data Acquisition System (AS-101 DAS)

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

BRAYTON, D.D.

2000-02-17

User manual for the TK AZ-101 Waste Retrieval System Data Acquisition System. The purpose of this document is to describe use of the AZ-101 Data Acquisition System (AZ-101 DAS). The AZ-101 DAS is provided to fulfill the requirements for data collection and monitoring as defined in Letters of Instruction (LOI) from Numatec Hanford Corporation (NHC) to Fluor Federal Services (FFS). For a complete description of the system, including design, please refer to the AZ-101 DAS System Description document, RPP-5572.

Electric terminal performance and characterization of solid oxide fuel cells and systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindahl, Peter Allan

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are electrochemical devices which can effect efficient, clean, and quiet conversion of chemical to electrical energy. In contrast to conventional electricity generation systems which feature multiple discrete energy conversion processes, SOFCs are direct energy conversion devices. That is, they feature a fully integrated chemical to electrical energy conversion process where the electric load demanded of the cell intrinsically drives the electrochemical reactions and associated processes internal to the cell. As a result, the cell's electric terminals provide a path for interaction between load side electric demand and the conversion side processes. The implication of this is twofold. First, the magnitude and dynamic characteristics of the electric load demanded of the cell can directly impact the long-term efficacy of the cell's chemical to electrical energy conversion. Second, the electric terminal response to dynamic loads can be exploited for monitoring the cell's conversion side processes and used in diagnostic analysis and degradation-mitigating control schemes. This dissertation presents a multi-tier investigation into this electric terminal based performance characterization of SOFCs through the development of novel test systems, analysis techniques and control schemes. First, a reference-based simulation system is introduced. This system scales up the electric terminal performance of a prototype SOFC system, e.g. a single fuel cell, to that of a full power-level stack. This allows realistic stack/load interaction studies while maintaining explicit ability for post-test analysis of the prototype system. Next, a time-domain least squares fitting method for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is developed for reduced-time monitoring of the electrochemical and physicochemical mechanics of the fuel cell through its electric terminals. The utility of the reference-based simulator and the EIS technique are demonstrated through their combined use in the performance testing of a hybrid-source power management (HSPM) system designed to allow in-situ EIS monitoring of a stack under dynamic loading conditions. The results from the latter study suggest that an HSPM controller allows an opportunity for in-situ electric terminal monitoring and control-based mitigation of SOFC degradation. As such, an exploration of control-based SOFC degradation mitigation is presented and ideas for further work are suggested.

Online Monitoring System of Air Distribution in Pulverized Coal-Fired Boiler Based on Numerical Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Żymełka, Piotr; Nabagło, Daniel; Janda, Tomasz; Madejski, Paweł

2017-12-01

Balanced distribution of air in coal-fired boiler is one of the most important factors in the combustion process and is strongly connected to the overall system efficiency. Reliable and continuous information about combustion airflow and fuel rate is essential for achieving optimal stoichiometric ratio as well as efficient and safe operation of a boiler. Imbalances in air distribution result in reduced boiler efficiency, increased gas pollutant emission and operating problems, such as corrosion, slagging or fouling. Monitoring of air flow trends in boiler is an effective method for further analysis and can help to appoint important dependences and start optimization actions. Accurate real-time monitoring of the air distribution in boiler can bring economical, environmental and operational benefits. The paper presents a novel concept for online monitoring system of air distribution in coal-fired boiler based on real-time numerical calculations. The proposed mathematical model allows for identification of mass flow rates of secondary air to individual burners and to overfire air (OFA) nozzles. Numerical models of air and flue gas system were developed using software for power plant simulation. The correctness of the developed model was verified and validated with the reference measurement values. The presented numerical model for real-time monitoring of air distribution is capable of giving continuous determination of the complete air flows based on available digital communication system (DCS) data.

An efficient recursive least square-based condition monitoring approach for a rail vehicle suspension system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X. Y.; Alfi, S.; Bruni, S.

2016-06-01

A model-based condition monitoring strategy for the railway vehicle suspension is proposed in this paper. This approach is based on recursive least square (RLS) algorithm focusing on the deterministic 'input-output' model. RLS has Kalman filtering feature and is able to identify the unknown parameters from a noisy dynamic system by memorising the correlation properties of variables. The identification of suspension parameter is achieved by machine learning of the relationship between excitation and response in a vehicle dynamic system. A fault detection method for the vertical primary suspension is illustrated as an instance of this condition monitoring scheme. Simulation results from the rail vehicle dynamics software 'ADTreS' are utilised as 'virtual measurements' considering a trailer car of Italian ETR500 high-speed train. The field test data from an E464 locomotive are also employed to validate the feasibility of this strategy for the real application. Results of the parameter identification performed indicate that estimated suspension parameters are consistent or approximate with the reference values. These results provide the supporting evidence that this fault diagnosis technique is capable of paving the way for the future vehicle condition monitoring system.

Network-based production quality control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Yongjin; Tseng, Bill; Chiou, Richard

2007-09-01

This study investigates the feasibility of remote quality control using a host of advanced automation equipment with Internet accessibility. Recent emphasis on product quality and reduction of waste stems from the dynamic, globalized and customer-driven market, which brings opportunities and threats to companies, depending on the response speed and production strategies. The current trends in industry also include a wide spread of distributed manufacturing systems, where design, production, and management facilities are geographically dispersed. This situation mandates not only the accessibility to remotely located production equipment for monitoring and control, but efficient means of responding to changing environment to counter process variations and diverse customer demands. To compete under such an environment, companies are striving to achieve 100%, sensor-based, automated inspection for zero-defect manufacturing. In this study, the Internet-based quality control scheme is referred to as "E-Quality for Manufacturing" or "EQM" for short. By its definition, EQM refers to a holistic approach to design and to embed efficient quality control functions in the context of network integrated manufacturing systems. Such system let designers located far away from the production facility to monitor, control and adjust the quality inspection processes as production design evolves.

A telemetry system embedded in clothes for indoor localization and elderly health monitoring.

PubMed

Charlon, Yoann; Fourty, Nicolas; Campo, Eric

2013-09-04

This paper presents a telemetry system used in a combined trilateration method for the precise indoor localization of the elderly who need health monitoring. The system is based on the association of two wireless technologies: ultrasonic and 802.15.4. The use of the 802.15.4 RF signal gives the reference starting time of the ultrasonic emission (time difference of arrival method). A time of flight measurement of the ultrasonic pulses provides the distances between the mobile node and three anchor points. These distance measurements are then used to locate the mobile node using the trilateration method with an accuracy of a few centimetres. The originality of our work lies in embedding the mobile node in clothes. The system is embedded in clothes in two ways: on a shoe in order to form a "smart" shoe and in a hat in order to form a "smart" hat. Both accessories allow movements, gait speed and distance covered to be monitored for health applications. Experiments in a test room are presented to show the effectiveness of our system.

Coupling GIS and multivariate approaches to reference site selection for wadeable stream monitoring.

PubMed

Collier, Kevin J; Haigh, Andy; Kelly, Johlene

2007-04-01

Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to identify potential reference sites for wadeable stream monitoring, and multivariate analyses were applied to test whether invertebrate communities reflected a priori spatial and stream type classifications. We identified potential reference sites in segments with unmodified vegetation cover adjacent to the stream and in >85% of the upstream catchment. We then used various landcover, amenity and environmental impact databases to eliminate sites that had potential anthropogenic influences upstream and that fell into a range of access classes. Each site identified by this process was coded by four dominant stream classes and seven zones, and 119 candidate sites were randomly selected for follow-up assessment. This process yielded 16 sites conforming to reference site criteria using a conditional-probabilistic design, and these were augmented by an additional 14 existing or special interest reference sites. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) analysis of percent abundance invertebrate data indicated significant differences in community composition among some of the zones and stream classes identified a priori providing qualified support for this framework in reference site selection. NMS analysis of a range standardised condition and diversity metrics derived from the invertebrate data indicated a core set of 26 closely related sites, and four outliers that were considered atypical of reference site conditions and subsequently dropped from the network. Use of GIS linked to stream typology, available spatial databases and aerial photography greatly enhanced the objectivity and efficiency of reference site selection. The multi-metric ordination approach reduced variability among stream types and bias associated with non-random site selection, and provided an effective way to identify representative reference sites.

Performance and System Validation of a New Cellular-Enabled Blood Glucose Monitoring System Using a New Standard Reference Measurement Procedure of Isotope Dilution UPLC-MRM Mass Spectrometry

PubMed Central

Angelides, Kimon; Matsunami, Risë K.; Engler, David A.

2015-01-01

Background: We evaluated the accuracy, precision, and linearity of the In Touch® blood glucose monitoring system (BGMS), a new color touch screen and cellular-enabled blood glucose meter, using a new rapid, highly precise and accurate 13C6 isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method (IDLC-MS). Methods: Blood glucose measurements from the In Touch® BGMS were referenced to a validated UPLC-MRM standard reference measurement procedure previously shown to be highly accurate and precise. Readings from the In Touch® BGMS were taken over the blood glucose range of 24-640 mg/dL using 12 concentrations of blood glucose. Ten In Touch® BGMS and 3 lots of test strips were used with 10 replicates at each concentration. A lay user study was also performed to assess the ease of use. Results: At blood glucose concentrations <75 mg/dL 100% of the measurements are within ±8 mg/dL from the true reference standard; at blood glucose levels >75 mg/dL 100% of the measurements are within ±15% of the true reference standard. 100% of the results are within category A of the consensus grid. Within-run precision show CV < 3.72% between 24-50 mg/dL and CV<2.22% between 500 and 600 mg/dL. The results show that the In Touch® meter exceeds the minimum criteria of both the ISO 15197:2003 and ISO 15197:2013 standards. The results from a user panel show that 100% of the respondents reported that the color touch screen, with its graphic user interface (GUI), is well labeled and easy to navigate. Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the first touch screen glucose meter and the first study where accuracy of a new BGMS has been measured against a true primary reference standard, namely IDLC-MS. PMID:26002836

M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) Media Day

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-04

Distribution is unlimited. Other requests shall be referred to the Office of the Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems, ATTN: SFAE-AMO-MAS- SETI ... SETI ,Picatinny,NJ,07806-5000 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S...the Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems, ATTN: SFAE- AMO-MAS- SETI , Picatinny, NJ Distribution Statement A: Approved for Public Release

Mobile devices for community-based REDD+ monitoring: a case study for Central Vietnam.

PubMed

Pratihast, Arun Kumar; Herold, Martin; Avitabile, Valerio; de Bruin, Sytze; Bartholomeus, Harm; Souza, Carlos M; Ribbe, Lars

2012-12-20

Monitoring tropical deforestation and forest degradation is one of the central elements for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) scheme. Current arrangements for monitoring are based on remote sensing and field measurements. Since monitoring is the periodic process of assessing forest stands properties with respect to reference data, adopting the current REDD+ requirements for implementing monitoring at national levels is a challenging task. Recently, the advancement in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and mobile devices has enabled local communities to monitor their forest in a basic resource setting such as no or slow internet connection link, limited power supply, etc. Despite the potential, the use of mobile device system for community based monitoring (CBM) is still exceptional and faces implementation challenges. This paper presents an integrated data collection system based on mobile devices that streamlines the community-based forest monitoring data collection, transmission and visualization process. This paper also assesses the accuracy and reliability of CBM data and proposes a way to fit them into national REDD+ Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) scheme. The system performance is evaluated at Tra Bui commune, Quang Nam province, Central Vietnam, where forest carbon and change activities were tracked. The results show that the local community is able to provide data with accuracy comparable to expert measurements (index of agreement greater than 0.88), but against lower costs. Furthermore, the results confirm that communities are more effective to monitor small scale forest degradation due to subsistence fuel wood collection and selective logging, than high resolution remote sensing SPOT imagery.

Mobile Devices for Community-Based REDD+ Monitoring: A Case Study for Central Vietnam

PubMed Central

Pratihast, Arun Kumar; Herold, Martin; Avitabile, Valerio; de Bruin, Sytze; Bartholomeus, Harm; Souza, Carlos M.; Ribbe, Lars

2013-01-01

Monitoring tropical deforestation and forest degradation is one of the central elements for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) scheme. Current arrangements for monitoring are based on remote sensing and field measurements. Since monitoring is the periodic process of assessing forest stands properties with respect to reference data, adopting the current REDD+ requirements for implementing monitoring at national levels is a challenging task. Recently, the advancement in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and mobile devices has enabled local communities to monitor their forest in a basic resource setting such as no or slow internet connection link, limited power supply, etc. Despite the potential, the use of mobile device system for community based monitoring (CBM) is still exceptional and faces implementation challenges. This paper presents an integrated data collection system based on mobile devices that streamlines the community-based forest monitoring data collection, transmission and visualization process. This paper also assesses the accuracy and reliability of CBM data and proposes a way to fit them into national REDD+ Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) scheme. The system performance is evaluated at Tra Bui commune, Quang Nam province, Central Vietnam, where forest carbon and change activities were tracked. The results show that the local community is able to provide data with accuracy comparable to expert measurements (index of agreement greater than 0.88), but against lower costs. Furthermore, the results confirm that communities are more effective to monitor small scale forest degradation due to subsistence fuel wood collection and selective logging, than high resolution remote sensing SPOT imagery. PMID:23344371

Accuracy of an infrared marker-based patient positioning system (ExacTrac®) for stereotactic body radiotherapy in localizing the planned isocenter using fiducial markers

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

Montes-Rodríguez, María de los Ángeles, E-mail: angy24538@yahoo.com; Mitsoura, Eleni; Hernández-Bojórquez, Mariana

2014-11-07

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) requires a controlled immobilization and position monitoring of patient and target. The purpose of this work is to analyze the performance of the imaging system ExacTrac® (ETX) using infrared and fiducial markers. Materials and methods: In order to assure the accuracy of isocenter localization, a Quality Assurance procedure was applied using an infrared marker-based positioning system. Scans were acquired of an inhouse-agar gel and solid water phantom with infrared spheres. In the inner part of the phantom, three reference markers were delineated as reference and one pellet was place internally; which was assigned as themore » isocenter. The iPlan® RT Dose treatment planning system. Images were exported to the ETX console. Images were acquired with the ETX to check the correctness of the isocenter placement. Adjustments were made in 6D the reference markers were used to fuse the images. Couch shifts were registered. The procedure was repeated for verification purposes. Results: The data recorded of the verifications in translational and rotational movements showed averaged 3D spatial uncertainties of 0.31 ± 0.42 mm respectively 0.82° ± 0.46° in the phantom and the first correction of these uncertainties were of 1.51 ± 1.14 mm respectively and 1.37° ± 0.61°. Conclusions: This study shows a high accuracy and repeatability in positioning the selected isocenter. The ETX-system for verifying the treatment isocenter position has the ability to monitor the tracing position of interest, making it possible to be used for SBRT positioning within uncertainty ≤1mm.« less

Seasonal changes in stress biomarkers of an exotic coastal species - Chaetopleura angulata (Polyplacophora) - Implications for biomonitoring.

PubMed

Madeira, Diana; Vinagre, Catarina; Mendonça, Vanessa; Diniz, Mário Sousa

2017-07-15

Knowledge on baseline values of stress biomarkers in natural conditions is urgent due to the need of reference values for monitoring purposes. Here we assessed the cellular stress response of the chiton Chaetopleura angulata in situ. Biomarkers commonly used in environmental monitoring (heat shock protein 70kDa, total ubiquitin, catalase, glutathione-S-transferase, superoxide-dismutase, lipid peroxidation) were analyzed in the digestive system, gills and muscle of C. angulata, under spring and summer conditions in order to assess seasonal tissue-specific responses. Season had an effect on all targeted organs, especially affecting the digestive system which displayed clear seasonal clusters. The respective Integrated Biomarker Response (IBR) showed a 7.2-fold seasonal difference. Muscle and gills showed similar IBRs between seasons making them appropriate organs to monitor chemical pollution as they were less responsive to seasonal variation. The most stable biomarkers in these organs were ubiquitin and superoxide-dismutase thus being reliable for monitoring purposes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Fuzzy-Based Approach for Sensing, Coding and Transmission Configuration of Visual Sensors in Smart City Applications

PubMed Central

Costa, Daniel G.; Collotta, Mario; Pau, Giovanni; Duran-Faundez, Cristian

2017-01-01

The advance of technologies in several areas has allowed the development of smart city applications, which can improve the way of life in modern cities. When employing visual sensors in that scenario, still images and video streams may be retrieved from monitored areas, potentially providing valuable data for many applications. Actually, visual sensor networks may need to be highly dynamic, reflecting the changing of parameters in smart cities. In this context, characteristics of visual sensors and conditions of the monitored environment, as well as the status of other concurrent monitoring systems, may affect how visual sensors collect, encode and transmit information. This paper proposes a fuzzy-based approach to dynamically configure the way visual sensors will operate concerning sensing, coding and transmission patterns, exploiting different types of reference parameters. This innovative approach can be considered as the basis for multi-systems smart city applications based on visual monitoring, potentially bringing significant results for this research field. PMID:28067777

A Fuzzy-Based Approach for Sensing, Coding and Transmission Configuration of Visual Sensors in Smart City Applications.

PubMed

Costa, Daniel G; Collotta, Mario; Pau, Giovanni; Duran-Faundez, Cristian

2017-01-05

The advance of technologies in several areas has allowed the development of smart city applications, which can improve the way of life in modern cities. When employing visual sensors in that scenario, still images and video streams may be retrieved from monitored areas, potentially providing valuable data for many applications. Actually, visual sensor networks may need to be highly dynamic, reflecting the changing of parameters in smart cities. In this context, characteristics of visual sensors and conditions of the monitored environment, as well as the status of other concurrent monitoring systems, may affect how visual sensors collect, encode and transmit information. This paper proposes a fuzzy-based approach to dynamically configure the way visual sensors will operate concerning sensing, coding and transmission patterns, exploiting different types of reference parameters. This innovative approach can be considered as the basis for multi-systems smart city applications based on visual monitoring, potentially bringing significant results for this research field.

Novel Software for Performing Leksell Stereotactic Surgery without the Use of Printing Films: Technical Note.

PubMed

Hashizume, Akira; Akimitsu, Tomohide; Iida, Koji; Kagawa, Kota; Katagiri, Masaya; Hanaya, Ryosuke; Arita, Kazunori; Kurisu, Kaoru

2016-01-01

Hospitals in Japan have recently begun to employ the DICOM viewer system on desktop or laptop monitors. However, conventional embedding surgery for deep-brain stimulation with the Leksell stereotactic system (LSS) requires printed X-ray films for defining the coordination, coregistration of actual surgical films with the reference coordinates, and validation of the needle trajectories. While just performing these procedures on desktop or laptop monitors, the authors were able to develop novel software to facilitate complete digital manipulation with the Leksell frame without printing films. In this study, we validated the practical use of LSS, and benefit of this software in the Takanobashi Central Hospital and Kagoshima University Hospital.

A Marine Aerosol Reference Tank system as a breaking wave analogue for the production of foam and sea-spray aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stokes, M. D.; Deane, G. B.; Prather, K.; Bertram, T. H.; Ruppel, M. J.; Ryder, O. S.; Brady, J. M.; Zhao, D.

2013-04-01

In order to better understand the processes governing the production of marine aerosols a repeatable, controlled method for their generation is required. The Marine Aerosol Reference Tank (MART) has been designed to closely approximate oceanic conditions by producing an evolving bubble plume and surface foam patch. The tank utilizes an intermittently plunging sheet of water and large volume tank reservoir to simulate turbulence, plume and foam formation, and the water flow is monitored volumetrically and acoustically to ensure the repeatability of conditions.

Seven-Year Clinical Surveillance Program Demonstrates Consistent MARD Accuracy Performance of a Blood Glucose Test Strip.

PubMed

Setford, Steven; Grady, Mike; Mackintosh, Stephen; Donald, Robert; Levy, Brian

2018-05-01

MARD (mean absolute relative difference) is increasingly used to describe performance of glucose monitoring systems, providing a single-value quantitative measure of accuracy and allowing comparisons between different monitoring systems. This study reports MARDs for the OneTouch Verio® glucose meter clinical data set of 80 258 data points (671 individual batches) gathered as part of a 7.5-year self-surveillance program Methods: Test strips were routinely sampled from randomly selected manufacturer's production batches and sent to one of 3 clinic sites for clinical accuracy assessment using fresh capillary blood from patients with diabetes, using both the meter system and standard laboratory reference instrument. Evaluation of the distribution of strip batch MARD yielded a mean value of 5.05% (range: 3.68-6.43% at ±1.96 standard deviations from mean). The overall MARD for all clinic data points (N = 80 258) was also 5.05%, while a mean bias of 1.28 was recorded. MARD by glucose level was found to be consistent, yielding a maximum value of 4.81% at higher glucose (≥100 mg/dL) and a mean absolute difference (MAD) of 5.60 mg/dL at low glucose (<100 mg/dL). MARD by year of manufacture varied from 4.67-5.42% indicating consistent accuracy performance over the surveillance period. This 7.5-year surveillance program showed that this meter system exhibits consistently low MARD by batch, glucose level and year, indicating close agreement with established reference methods whilste exhibiting lower MARD values than continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems and providing users with confidence in the performance when transitioning to each new strip batch.

[Progressive damage monitoring of corrugated composite skins by the FBG spectral characteristics].

PubMed

Zhang, Yong; Wang, Bang-Feng; Lu, Ji-Yun; Gu, Li-Li; Su, Yong-Gang

2014-03-01

In the present paper, a method of monitoring progressive damage of composite structures by non-uniform fiber Bragg grating (FBG) reflection spectrum is proposed. Due to the finite element analysis of corrugated composite skins specimens, the failure process under tensile load and corresponding critical failure loads of corrugated composite skin was predicated. Then, the non-uniform reflection spectrum of FBG sensor could be reconstructed and the corresponding relationship between layer failure order sequence of corrugated composite skin and FBG sensor reflection spectrums was acquired. A monitoring system based on FBG non-uniform reflection spectrum, which can be used to monitor progressive damage of corrugated composite skins, was built. The corrugated composite skins were stretched under this FBG non-uniform reflection spectrum monitoring system. The results indicate that real-time spectrums acquired by FBG non-uniform reflection spectrum monitoring system show the same trend with the reconstruction reflection spectrums. The maximum error between the corresponding failure and the predictive value is 8.6%, which proves the feasibility of using FBG sensor to monitor progressive damage of corrugated composite skin. In this method, the real-time changes in the FBG non-uniform reflection spectrum within the scope of failure were acquired through the way of monitoring and predicating, and at the same time, the progressive damage extent and layer failure sequence of corru- gated composite skin was estimated, and without destroying the structure of the specimen, the method is easy and simple to operate. The measurement and transmission section of the system are completely composed of optical fiber, which provides new ideas and experimental reference for the field of dynamic monitoring of smart skin.

KATERINA: An in situ spectrometer for continuous monitoring of radon daughters in aquatic environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsabaris, C.; Patiris, D. L.; Lykousis, V.

2011-01-01

The detection system KATERINA has been used in the National Laboratory of Gran Sasso (close to L’ Aquila) in Italy for short term continuous monitoring of radon daughter concentrations in a groundwater path. The system was immersed in an water tank which was supplied with groundwater discharged from the mountain of Gran Sasso. The system offers quantitative results using calibration parameters obtained by reference sources and appropriate system efficiency simulation. Measurements were performed in two periods (December 2005 and November 2007) exhibiting almost constant radon level 2.8 Bq/l in the first period, while in the second period it increased up to 6.8 Bq/l. This gradual enhancement of radon background level could be attributed to the increase of microseismicity that occurred from late of 2007 till April 2009.

A New Real - Time Fault Detection Methodology for Systems Under Test. Phase 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Roger W.; Jayaram, Sanjay; Hull, Richard A.

1998-01-01

The purpose of this research is focussed on the identification/demonstration of critical technology innovations that will be applied to various applications viz. Detection of automated machine Health Monitoring (BM, real-time data analysis and control of Systems Under Test (SUT). This new innovation using a High Fidelity Dynamic Model-based Simulation (BFDMS) approach will be used to implement a real-time monitoring, Test and Evaluation (T&E) methodology including the transient behavior of the system under test. The unique element of this process control technique is the use of high fidelity, computer generated dynamic models to replicate the behavior of actual Systems Under Test (SUT). It will provide a dynamic simulation capability that becomes the reference truth model, from which comparisons are made with the actual raw/conditioned data from the test elements.

Measurement of an image jitter of an extended incoherent radiation source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukin, V. P.; Nosov, V. V.

2017-06-01

A scheme of an image jitter measuring device, which uses an extended incoherent source as a radiation source, is presented. The efficiency of the measuring device is analysed analytically and numerically in order to justify the operation of the adaptive optical system that does not require special creation or formation of a reference source. The features of the formed image of incoherent radiation are considered, in particular from the point of view of its possible application for measuring the phase fluctuations of optical waves propagating in a turbulent atmosphere (the adaptive system monitors the image of a self-luminous object illuminated by extraneous sources). The possibility of utilising a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor in adaptive systems using the image of an arbitrary object (or its fragment) as a reference source is shown.

In vitro vaccine potency testing: a proposal for reducing animal use for requalification testing.

PubMed

Brown, K; Stokes, W

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a program under which the use of animals for requalification of in vitro potency tests could be eliminated. Standard References (USDA/CVB nomenclature) would be developed, characterized, stored and monitored by selected reference laboratories worldwide. These laboratories would employ scientists skilled in protein and glycoprotein chemistry and equipped with state-of-the-art instruments for required analyses. After Standard References are established, the reference laboratories would provide them to the animal health industry as "gold standards". Companies would then establish and validate a correlation between the Standard Reference and the company Master Reference (USDA/CVB nomenclature) using an internal in vitro assay. After this correlation is established, the company could use the Standard References for qualifying, monitoring and requalifying company Master References without the use of animals. Such a program would eliminate the need for animals for requalification of Master References and the need for each company to develop and validate a battery of Master Reference Monitoring assays. It would also provide advantages in terms of reduced costs and reduced time for requalification testing. As such it would provide a strong incentive for companies to develop and use in vitro assays for potency testing.

Detection of hypoglycemia with continuous interstitial and traditional blood glucose monitoring using the FreeStyle Navigator Continuous Glucose Monitoring System.

PubMed

McGarraugh, Geoffrey; Bergenstal, Richard

2009-03-01

The objective of the analysis was to compare detection of hypoglycemic episodes (glucose <70 mg/dL lasting >15 min) with the FreeStyle Navigator Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (FSN-CGM) (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA) alarms to detection with traditional finger stick testing at an average frequency of eight tests per day. The performance of FSN-CGM alarms was evaluated in a clinic setting using 58 subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) monitoring interstitial glucose concentration over a 5-day period compared to reference YSI measurements (instrument manufactured by YSI, Yellow Springs, OH) at 15-min intervals. Finger stick glucose testing was evaluated in the home environment with 91 subjects with TIDM monitoring with the blood glucose meter integrated into the FreeStyle Navigator (FSN-BG) over a 20-day period. The reference was FSN-CGM with results masked from the subjects. Blood glucose values <=85 mg/dL were considered the optimal treatment level to avoid or reverse hypoglycemia. With a threshold alarm setting of 85 mg/dL, 90.6% of hypoglycemic episodes were detected within +/- 30 min by FSN-CGM in the clinic study. When the alarm was activated, YSI glucose was <= 85 mg/dL 77.2% of the time. In the home environment, the average FSN-BG testing frequency was 7.9 tests per day. Hypoglycemia was verified within +/- 30 min by FSN-BG measurements <= 85 mg/dL at a rate of 27.5%. Even with a high rate of FSN-BG testing, hypoglycemia detected by FSN-CGM was verified by patients with T1DM very infrequently. A high rate of hypoglycemia detection with a moderate rate of unnecessary alarms can be attained using FSN-CGM.

[Meta-analyses on measurement precision of non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring technologies in adults].

PubMed

Pestel, G; Fukui, K; Higashi, M; Schmidtmann, I; Werner, C

2018-06-01

An ideal non-invasive monitoring system should provide accurate and reproducible measurements of clinically relevant variables that enables clinicians to guide therapy accordingly. The monitor should be rapid, easy to use, readily available at the bedside, operator-independent, cost-effective and should have a minimal risk and side effect profile for patients. An example is the introduction of pulse oximetry, which has become established for non-invasive monitoring of oxygenation worldwide. A corresponding non-invasive monitoring of hemodynamics and perfusion could optimize the anesthesiological treatment to the needs in individual cases. In recent years several non-invasive technologies to monitor hemodynamics in the perioperative setting have been introduced: suprasternal Doppler ultrasound, modified windkessel function, pulse wave transit time, radial artery tonometry, thoracic bioimpedance, endotracheal bioimpedance, bioreactance, and partial CO 2 rebreathing have been tested for monitoring cardiac output or stroke volume. The photoelectric finger blood volume clamp technique and respiratory variation of the plethysmography curve have been assessed for monitoring fluid responsiveness. In this manuscript meta-analyses of non-invasive monitoring technologies were performed when non-invasive monitoring technology and reference technology were comparable. The primary evaluation criterion for all studies screened was a Bland-Altman analysis. Experimental and pediatric studies were excluded, as were all studies without a non-invasive monitoring technique or studies without evaluation of cardiac output/stroke volume or fluid responsiveness. Most studies found an acceptable bias with wide limits of agreement. Thus, most non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring technologies cannot be considered to be equivalent to the respective reference method. Studies testing the impact of non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring technologies as a trend evaluation on outcome, as well as studies evaluating alternatives to the finger for capturing the raw signals for hemodynamic assessment, and, finally, studies evaluating technologies based on a flow time measurement are current topics of clinical research.

40 CFR 63.653 - Monitoring, recordkeeping, and implementation plan for emissions averaging.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... § 63.120 of subpart G; and (ii) For closed vent systems with control devices, conduct an initial design... different times, and/or in different submittals, later submittals may refer to earlier submittals instead of... controlled using a treatment process or series of treatment processes that achieves an emission reduction...

33 CFR 154.2181 - Alternative testing program-Test requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... CE test must check the calibrated range of each analyzer using a lower (zero) and upper (span... instrument, R = reference value of zero or high-level calibration gas introduced into the monitoring system... Difference Zero Span 1-Zero 1-Span 2-Zero 2-Span 3-Zero 3-Span Mean Difference = Calibration Error = % % (3...

Use of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Technology for Long Term High Precision Deformation Monitoring

PubMed Central

Vezočnik, Rok; Ambrožič, Tomaž; Sterle, Oskar; Bilban, Gregor; Pfeifer, Norbert; Stopar, Bojan

2009-01-01

The paper presents a new methodology for high precision monitoring of deformations with a long term perspective using terrestrial laser scanning technology. In order to solve the problem of a stable reference system and to assure the high quality of possible position changes of point clouds, scanning is integrated with two complementary surveying techniques, i.e., high quality static GNSS positioning and precise tacheometry. The case study object where the proposed methodology was tested is a high pressure underground pipeline situated in an area which is geologically unstable. PMID:22303152

Reference Network Real-Time Services Control Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nykiel, Grzegorz; Szolucha, Marcin

2013-04-01

Differential corrections and services for real-time kinematic method (RTK) in many cases are used to support survey being base for administration decision. For that reason, services which allow to perform GNSS measurements should be constantly monitored to minimize the risk of any errors or unexpected gap in observation. System providing such control is the subject of the work carried out under a grant NR09-0010-10/2010 conducted by the Military University of Technology. This study was made to develop the concept of monitoring real-time services of Polish reference network ASG-EUPOS and the implementation of software providing users information on system accuracy. The main objectives of all concepts were: maximum use of existing infrastructure while minimizing the cost of installation of new elements, providing users calculation results via the ASG-EUPOS website. In the same time concept assume openness of the module that allow the successive development of applications and integration with existing solutions. This paper present several solutions and algorithms which have been implemented and tested. It also consist some examples of data visualization methods.

Orbital Signature Analyzer (OSA): A spacecraft health/safety monitoring and analysis tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weaver, Steven; Degeorges, Charles; Bush, Joy; Shendock, Robert; Mandl, Daniel

1993-01-01

Fixed or static limit sensing is employed in control centers to ensure that spacecraft parameters remain within a nominal range. However, many critical parameters, such as power system telemetry, are time-varying and, as such, their 'nominal' range is necessarily time-varying as well. Predicted data, manual limits checking, and widened limit-checking ranges are often employed in an attempt to monitor these parameters without generating excessive limits violations. Generating predicted data and manual limits checking are both resource intensive, while broadening limit ranges for time-varying parameters is clearly inadequate to detect all but catastrophic problems. OSA provides a low-cost solution by using analytically selected data as a reference upon which to base its limits. These limits are always defined relative to the time-varying reference data, rather than as fixed upper and lower limits. In effect, OSA provides individual limits tailored to each value throughout all the data. A side benefit of using relative limits is that they automatically adjust to new reference data. In addition, OSA provides a wealth of analytical by-products in its execution.

GB-InSAR monitoring and observational method for landslide emergency management: the Montaguto earthflow (AV, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrigno, Federica; Gigli, Giovanni; Fanti, Riccardo; Intrieri, Emanuele; Casagli, Nicola

2017-06-01

On 10 March 2010, because of the heavy rainfall in the preceding days, the Montaguto landslide (Southern Italy) reactivated, affecting both state road 90 Delle Puglie and the Rome-Bari railway. A similar event occurred on May 2005 and on September 2009. As a result, the National Civil Protection Department (DPC) started an accurate monitoring and analysis program. A monitoring project using the GB-InSAR (ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar) system was emplaced to investigate the landslide kinematics, plan urgent safety measures for risk mitigation and design long-term stabilization work.Here, we present the GB-InSAR monitoring system results and its applications in the observational method (OM) approach. GB-InSAR is an established instrument for long-term campaigns aimed at early warning and monitoring during construction works. Our paper further develops these aspects in that it highlights how the OM based on the GB-InSAR technique can produce savings in terms of cost and time in engineering projects without compromising safety. This study focuses on the key role played by the monitoring activities during the design and planning activities, with special reference to the emergency phase.

[Risk management of soybean-related asthma: monitoring and surveillance].

PubMed

Villalbí, Joan R; Carrascal, Dolors; Caylà, Joan A; Rodríguez, Pau; Cruz, M A Jesús; Pintó, Josep M

2011-01-01

Allergen emissions during soybean unloading operations in the Barcelona harbor have caused asthma epidemics. The present article aimed to describe the surveillance and control measures carried out by the public health services. Data were extracted from control systems from 1999 to 2009, with description of the surveillance schemes for allergen emissions, environmental concentrations (with defined reference levels) and for health. Of 95 studies of plant emission, four were above the reference levels, and filters were found to be the most likely cause. Mean environmental concentrations were low but were above the reference levels on 13 days; these levels were related to adverse meteorological conditions and incidents in the plants. No health effects were detected in the panel of patients nor epidemic asthma days. The system detects incidents and has shown its usefulness in protecting public health. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Task-level control for autonomous robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simmons, Reid

1994-01-01

Task-level control refers to the integration and coordination of planning, perception, and real-time control to achieve given high-level goals. Autonomous mobile robots need task-level control to effectively achieve complex tasks in uncertain, dynamic environments. This paper describes the Task Control Architecture (TCA), an implemented system that provides commonly needed constructs for task-level control. Facilities provided by TCA include distributed communication, task decomposition and sequencing, resource management, monitoring and exception handling. TCA supports a design methodology in which robot systems are developed incrementally, starting first with deliberative plans that work in nominal situations, and then layering them with reactive behaviors that monitor plan execution and handle exceptions. To further support this approach, design and analysis tools are under development to provide ways of graphically viewing the system and validating its behavior.

The newborn oxygram: automated processing of transcutaneous oxygen data.

PubMed

Horbar, J D; Clark, J T; Lucey, J F

1980-12-01

Hypoxemic and hyperoxemic episodes are common in newborns with respiratory disorders. We have developed a microprocessor-based data system for use with transcutaneous oxygen (TcPO2) monitors in an attempt to quantitate these episodes. The amount of time spent by an infant in each of ten preset TcPO2 ranges can be automatically recorded. These data are referred to as the oxygram. Fourteen newborn infants were monitored for a total of 552 hours using this system. They spent a mean of 2.96% of the time with a TcPO2 less than or equal to 40 torr and 0.26% of the time with a TcPO2 greater than 100 torr. Representative oxygrams are presented. Clinical and research applications of the data system are discussed.

On-line process control monitoring system

DOEpatents

O'Rourke, Patrick E.; Van Hare, David R.; Prather, William S.

1992-01-01

An on-line, fiber-optic based apparatus for monitoring the concentration of a chemical substance at a plurality of locations in a chemical processing system comprises a plurality of probes, each of which is at a different location in the system, a light source, optic fibers for carrying light to and from the probes, a multiplexer for switching light from the source from one probe to the next in series, a diode array spectrophotometer for producing a spectrum from the light received from the probes, and a computer programmed to analyze the spectra so produced. The probes allow the light to pass through the chemical substance so that a portion of the light is absorbed before being returned to the multiplexer. A standard and a reference cell are included for data validation and error checking.

Intelligent data reduction for autonomous power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Floyd, Stephen A.

1988-01-01

Since 1984 Marshall Space Flight Center was actively engaged in research and development concerning autonomous power systems. Much of the work in this domain has dealt with the development and application of knowledge-based or expert systems to perform tasks previously accomplished only through intensive human involvement. One such task is the health status monitoring of electrical power systems. Such monitoring is a manpower intensive task which is vital to mission success. The Hubble Space Telescope testbed and its associated Nickel Cadmium Battery Expert System (NICBES) were designated as the system on which the initial proof of concept for intelligent power system monitoing will be established. The key function performed by an engineer engaged in system monitoring is to analyze the raw telemetry data and identify from the whole only those elements which can be considered significant. This function requires engineering expertise on the functionality of the system, the mode of operation and the efficient and effective reading of the telemetry data. Application of this expertise to extract the significant components of the data is referred to as data reduction. Such a function possesses characteristics which make it a prime candidate for the application of knowledge-based systems' technologies. Such applications are investigated and recommendations are offered for the development of intelligent data reduction systems.

On the ability of consumer electronics microphones for environmental noise monitoring.

PubMed

Van Renterghem, Timothy; Thomas, Pieter; Dominguez, Frederico; Dauwe, Samuel; Touhafi, Abdellah; Dhoedt, Bart; Botteldooren, Dick

2011-03-01

The massive production of microphones for consumer electronics, and the shift from dedicated processing hardware to PC-based systems, opens the way to build affordable, extensive noise measurement networks. Applications include e.g. noise limit and urban soundscape monitoring, and validation of calculated noise maps. Microphones are the critical components of such a network. Therefore, in a first step, some basic characteristics of 8 microphones, distributed over a wide range of price classes, were measured in a standardized way in an anechoic chamber. In a next step, a thorough evaluation was made of the ability of these microphones to be used for environmental noise monitoring. This was done during a continuous, half-year lasting outdoor experiment, characterized by a wide variety of meteorological conditions. While some microphones failed during the course of this test, it was shown that it is possible to identify cheap microphones that highly correlate to the reference microphone during the full test period. When the deviations are expressed in total A-weighted (road traffic) noise levels, values of less than 1 dBA are obtained, in excess to the deviation amongst reference microphones themselves.

Transference of CALIPER pediatric reference intervals to biochemical assays on the Roche cobas 6000 and the Roche Modular P.

PubMed

Higgins, Victoria; Chan, Man Khun; Nieuwesteeg, Michelle; Hoffman, Barry R; Bromberg, Irvin L; Gornall, Doug; Randell, Edward; Adeli, Khosrow

2016-01-01

The Canadian Laboratory Initiative on Pediatric Reference Intervals (CALIPER) has recently established pediatric age- and sex-specific reference intervals for over 85 biochemical markers on the Abbott Architect system. Previously, CALIPER reference intervals for several biochemical markers were successfully transferred from Abbott assays to Roche, Beckman, Ortho, and Siemens assays. This study further broadens the CALIPER database by performing transference and verification for 52 biochemical assays on the Roche cobas 6000 and the Roche Modular P. Using CLSI C28-A3 and EP9-A2 guidelines, transference of the CALIPER reference intervals was attempted for 16 assays on the Roche cobas 6000 and 36 on the Modular P. Calculated reference intervals were further verified using 100 healthy CALIPER samples. Most assays showed strong correlation between assay systems and were transferable from Abbott to the Roche cobas 6000 (81%) and the Modular P (86%). Bicarbonate and magnesium were not transferable on either system and calcium and prealbumin were not transferable to the Modular P. Of the transferable analytes, 62% and 61% were verified on the cobas 6000 and the Modular P, respectively. This study extends the utility of the CALIPER database to two additional analytical systems, which facilitates the broad application of CALIPER reference intervals at pediatric centers utilizing Roche biochemical assays. Transference studies across different analytical platforms can later be collectively analyzed in an attempt to develop common reference intervals across all clinical chemistry instruments to harmonize laboratory test interpretation in diagnosis and monitoring of pediatric disease. Copyright © 2015 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automation of Precise Time Reference Stations (PTRS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheeler, P. J.

1985-04-01

The U.S. Naval Observatory is presently engaged in a program of automating precise time stations (PTS) and precise time reference stations (PTBS) by using a versatile mini-computer controlled data acquisition system (DAS). The data acquisition system is configured to monitor locally available PTTI signals such as LORAN-C, OMEGA, and/or the Global Positioning System. In addition, the DAS performs local standard intercomparison. Computer telephone communications provide automatic data transfer to the Naval Observatory. Subsequently, after analysis of the data, results and information can be sent back to the precise time reference station to provide automatic control of remote station timing. The DAS configuration is designed around state of the art standard industrial high reliability modules. The system integration and software are standardized but allow considerable flexibility to satisfy special local requirements such as stability measurements, performance evaluation and printing of messages and certificates. The DAS operates completely independently and may be queried or controlled at any time with a computer or terminal device (control is protected for use by authorized personnel only). Such DAS equipped PTS are operational in Hawaii, California, Texas and Florida.

Transmit-reference methods in software defined radio platforms for communication in harsh propagation environments and systems thereof

DOEpatents

Dowla, Farid U; Nekoogar, Faranak

2015-03-03

A method for adaptive Radio Frequency (RF) jamming according to one embodiment includes dynamically monitoring a RF spectrum; detecting any undesired signals in real time from the RF spectrum; and sending a directional countermeasure signal to jam the undesired signals. A method for adaptive Radio Frequency (RF) communications according to another embodiment includes transmitting a data pulse in a RF spectrum; and transmitting a reference pulse separated by a predetermined period of time from the data pulse; wherein the data pulse is modulated with data, wherein the reference pulse is unmodulated. A method for adaptive Radio Frequency (RF) communications according to yet another embodiment includes receiving a data pulse in a RF spectrum; and receiving a reference pulse separated in time from the data pulse, wherein the data pulse is modulated with data, wherein the reference pulse is unmodulated; and demodulating the pulses.

Transmit-reference methods in software defined radio platforms for communication in harsh propagation environments and systems thereof

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

Dowla, Farid; Nekoogar, Faranak

A method for adaptive Radio Frequency (RF) jamming according to one embodiment includes dynamically monitoring a RF spectrum; detecting any undesired signals in real time from the RF spectrum; and sending a directional countermeasure signal to jam the undesired signals. A method for adaptive Radio Frequency (RF) communications according to another embodiment includes transmitting a data pulse in a RF spectrum; and transmitting a reference pulse separated by a predetermined period of time from the data pulse; wherein the data pulse is modulated with data, wherein the reference pulse is unmodulated. A method for adaptive Radio Frequency (RF) communications accordingmore » to yet another embodiment includes receiving a data pulse in a RF spectrum; and receiving a reference pulse separated in time from the data pulse, wherein the data pulse is modulated with data, wherein the reference pulse is unmodulated; and demodulating the pulses.« less

A Needs Assessment of Air Force Systems Command Buying Activity Acquisition Management Information System (AMIS) Users

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-01

Guidelines Generation #2 b. Electronic Submission of Commerce Business Daily ( CBD ) Notices #6 c. On-line Debarred/Suspended List #5 d. On-Line Contract...a number of years. Reality of system differs from manual. One reference - easy to follow, block by block - is needed. -Imaging and CBD electronic...milestones are tracked - and those milestones should be monitored as a natural outcome of thc process - e.g. A milestone is noted when the RFP is

Structural Monitoring of Metro Infrastructure during Shield Tunneling Construction

PubMed Central

Ran, L.; Ye, X. W.; Ming, G.; Dong, X. B.

2014-01-01

Shield tunneling construction of metro infrastructure will continuously disturb the soils. The ground surface will be subjected to uplift or subsidence due to the deep excavation and the extrusion and consolidation of the soils. Implementation of the simultaneous monitoring with the shield tunnel construction will provide an effective reference in controlling the shield driving, while how to design and implement a safe, economic, and effective structural monitoring system for metro infrastructure is of great importance and necessity. This paper presents the general architecture of the shield construction of metro tunnels as well as the procedure of the artificial ground freezing construction of the metro-tunnel cross-passages. The design principles for metro infrastructure monitoring of the shield tunnel intervals in the Hangzhou Metro Line 1 are introduced. The detailed monitoring items and the specified alarming indices for construction monitoring of the shield tunneling are addressed, and the measured settlement variations at different monitoring locations are also presented. PMID:25032238

Combining Modeling and Monitoring to Produce a New Paradigm of an Integrated Approach to Providing Long-Term Control of Contaminants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogwell, T. W.

2009-12-01

Sir David King, Chief Science Advisor to the British government and Cambridge University Professor, stated in October 2005, "The scientific community is considerably more capable than it has been in the past to assist governments to avoid and reduce risk to their own populations. Prime ministers and presidents ignore the advice from the science community at the peril of their own populations." Some of these greater capabilities can be found in better monitoring techniques applied to better modeling methods. These modeling methods can be combined with the information derived from monitoring data in order to decrease the risk of population exposure to dangerous substances and to promote efficient control or cleanup of the contaminants. An introduction is presented of the types of problems that exist for long-term control of radionuclides at DOE sites. A breakdown of the distributions at specific sites is given, together with the associated difficulties. A paradigm for remediation showing the integration of monitoring with modeling is presented. It is based on a feedback system that allows for the monitoring to act as principal sensors in a control system. The resulting system can be optimized to improve performance. Optimizing monitoring automatically entails linking the monitoring with modeling. If monitoring designs were required to be more efficient, thus requiring optimization, then the monitoring automatically becomes linked to modeling. Records of decision could be written to accommodate revisions in monitoring as better modeling evolves. Currently the establishment of a very prescriptive monitoring program fails to have a mechanism for improving models and improving control of the contaminants. The technical pieces of the required paradigm are already available; they just need to be implemented and applied to solve the long-term control of the contaminants. An integration of the various parts of the system is presented. Each part is described, and examples are given. References are given to other projects which bring together similar elements in systems for the control of contaminants. Trends are given for the development of the technical features of a robust system. Examples of monitoring methods for specific sites are given. The examples are used to illustrate how such a system would work. Examples of technology needs are presented. Finally, other examples of integrated modeling-monitoring approaches are presented.

Recent trends in SELEX technique and its application to food safety monitoring

PubMed Central

Mei, Zhanlong; Yao, Li; Wang, Xin; Zheng, Lei; Liu, Jian; Liu, Guodong; Peng, Chifang; Chen, Wei

2014-01-01

The method referred to as “systemic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment” (SELEX) was introduced in 1990 and ever since has become an important tool for the identification and screening of aptamers. Such nucleic acids can recognize and bind to their corresponding targets (analytes) with high selectivity and affinity, and aptamers therefore have become attractive alternatives to traditional antibodies not the least because they are much more stable. Meanwhile, they have found numerous applications in different fields including food quality and safety monitoring. This review first gives an introduction into the selection process and to the evolution of SELEX, then covers applications of aptamers in the surveillance of food safety (with subsections on absorptiometric, electrochemical, fluorescent and other methods), and then gives conclusions and perspectives. The SELEX method excels by its features of in vitro, high throughput and ease of operation. This review contains 86 references. PMID:25419005

Development of an On-animal Separation-based Sensor for Monitoring Drug Metabolism in Freely Roaming Sheep

PubMed Central

Scott, David E.; Willis, Sean D.; Gabbert, Seth; Johnson, Dave A.; Naylor, Erik; Janle, Elsa M.; Krichevsky, Janice E.; Lunte, Craig E.; Lunte, Susan M.

2015-01-01

The development of an on-animal separation-based sensor that can be employed for monitoring drug metabolism in a freely roaming sheep is described. The system consists of microdialysis sampling coupled directly to microchip electrophoresis with electrochemical detection (MD-ME-EC). Separations were accomplished using an all-glass chip with integrated platinum working and reference electrodes. Discrete samples from the microdialysis flow were introduced into the electrophoresis chip using a flow-gated injection approach. Electrochemical detection was accomplished in-channel using a two-electrode isolated potentiostat. Nitrite was separated by microchip electrophoresis using reverse polarity and a run buffer consisting of 50 mM phosphate at pH 7.4. The entire system was under telemetry control. The system was first tested with rats to monitor the production of nitrite following introduction of nitroglycerin into the subdermal tissue using a linear probe. The data acquired using the on-line MD-ME-EC system was compared to that obtained off-line analysis by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (LC-EC), using a second microdialysis probe implanted parallel to the first probe in the same animal. The MD-ME-EC device was then used on-animal to monitor the subdermal metabolism of nitroglycerin in sheep. The ultimate goal is to use this device to simultaneously monitor drug metabolism and behavior in a freely roaming animal. PMID:25697221

ANMCO/AIIC/SIT Consensus Information Document: definition, precision, and suitability of electrocardiographic signals of electrocardiographs, ergometry, Holter electrocardiogram, telemetry, and bedside monitoring systems.

PubMed

Gulizia, Michele Massimo; Casolo, Giancarlo; Zuin, Guerrino; Morichelli, Loredana; Calcagnini, Giovanni; Ventimiglia, Vincenzo; Censi, Federica; Caldarola, Pasquale; Russo, Giancarmine; Leogrande, Lorenzo; Franco Gensini, Gian

2017-05-01

The electrocardiogram (ECG) signal can be derived from different sources. These include systems for surface ECG, Holter monitoring, ergometric stress tests, and telemetry systems and bedside monitoring of vital parameters, which are useful for rhythm and ST-segment analysis and ECG screening of electrical sudden cardiac death predictors. A precise ECG diagnosis is based upon correct recording, elaboration, and presentation of the signal. Several sources of artefacts and potential external causes may influence the quality of the original ECG waveforms. Other factors that may affect the quality of the information presented depend upon the technical solutions employed to improve the signal. The choice of the instrumentations and solutions used to offer a high-quality ECG signal are, therefore, of paramount importance. Some requirements are reported in detail in scientific statements and recommendations. The aim of this consensus document is to give scientific reference for the choice of systems able to offer high quality ECG signal acquisition, processing, and presentation suitable for clinical use.

ANMCO/AIIC/SIT Consensus Information Document: definition, precision, and suitability of electrocardiographic signals of electrocardiographs, ergometry, Holter electrocardiogram, telemetry, and bedside monitoring systems

PubMed Central

Casolo, Giancarlo; Zuin, Guerrino; Morichelli, Loredana; Calcagnini, Giovanni; Ventimiglia, Vincenzo; Censi, Federica; Caldarola, Pasquale; Russo, Giancarmine; Leogrande, Lorenzo; Franco Gensini, Gian

2017-01-01

Abstract The electrocardiogram (ECG) signal can be derived from different sources. These include systems for surface ECG, Holter monitoring, ergometric stress tests, and telemetry systems and bedside monitoring of vital parameters, which are useful for rhythm and ST-segment analysis and ECG screening of electrical sudden cardiac death predictors. A precise ECG diagnosis is based upon correct recording, elaboration, and presentation of the signal. Several sources of artefacts and potential external causes may influence the quality of the original ECG waveforms. Other factors that may affect the quality of the information presented depend upon the technical solutions employed to improve the signal. The choice of the instrumentations and solutions used to offer a high-quality ECG signal are, therefore, of paramount importance. Some requirements are reported in detail in scientific statements and recommendations. The aim of this consensus document is to give scientific reference for the choice of systems able to offer high quality ECG signal acquisition, processing, and presentation suitable for clinical use. PMID:28751842

Monitoring Digital Closed-Loop Feedback Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Katz, Richard; Kleyner, Igor

2011-01-01

A technique of monitoring digital closed-loop feedback systems has been conceived. The basic idea is to obtain information on the performances of closed-loop feedback circuits in such systems to aid in the determination of the functionality and integrity of the circuits and of performance margins. The need for this technique arises as follows: Some modern digital systems include feedback circuits that enable other circuits to perform with precision and are tolerant of changes in environment and the device s parameters. For example, in a precision timing circuit, it is desirable to make the circuit insensitive to variability as a result of the manufacture of circuit components and to the effects of temperature, voltage, radiation, and aging. However, such a design can also result in masking the indications of damaged and/or deteriorating components. The present technique incorporates test circuitry and associated engineering-telemetry circuitry into an embedded system to monitor the closed-loop feedback circuits, using spare gates that are often available in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). This technique enables a test engineer to determine the amount of performance margin in the system, detect out of family circuit performance, and determine one or more trend(s) in the performance of the system. In one system to which the technique has been applied, an ultra-stable oscillator is used as a reference for internal adjustment of 12 time-to-digital converters (TDCs). The feedback circuit produces a pulse-width-modulated signal that is fed as a control input into an amplifier, which controls the circuit s operating voltage. If the circuit s gates are determined to be operating too slowly or rapidly when their timing is compared with that of the reference signal, then the pulse width increases or decreases, respectively, thereby commanding the amplifier to increase or reduce, respectively, its output level, and "adjust" the speed of the circuits. The nominal frequency of the TDC s pulse width modulated outputs is approximately 40 kHz. In this system, the technique is implemented by means of a monitoring circuit that includes a 20-MHz sampling circuit and a 24-bit accumulator with a gate time of 10 ms. The monitoring circuit measures the duty cycle of each of the 12 TDCs at a repetition rate of 28 Hz. The accumulator content is reset to all zeroes at the beginning of each measurement period and is then incremented or decremented based of the value of the state of the pulse width modulated signal. Positive or negative values in the accumulator correspond to duty cycles greater or less, respectively, than 50 percent.

GTSO: Global Trace Synchronization and Ordering Mechanism for Wireless Sensor Network Monitoring Platforms

PubMed Central

Bonastre, Alberto; Ors, Rafael

2017-01-01

Monitoring is one of the best ways to evaluate the behavior of computer systems. When the monitored system is a distributed system—such as a wireless sensor network (WSN)—the monitoring operation must also be distributed, providing a distributed trace for further analysis. The temporal sequence of occurrence of the events registered by the distributed monitoring platform (DMP) must be correctly established to provide cause-effect relationships between them, so the logs obtained in different monitor nodes must be synchronized. Many of synchronization mechanisms applied to DMPs consist in adjusting the internal clocks of the nodes to the same value as a reference time. However, these mechanisms can create an incoherent event sequence. This article presents a new method to achieve global synchronization of the traces obtained in a DMP. It is based on periodic synchronization signals that are received by the monitor nodes and logged along with the recorded events. This mechanism processes all traces and generates a global post-synchronized trace by scaling all times registered proportionally according with the synchronization signals. It is intended to be a simple but efficient offline mechanism. Its application in a WSN-DMP demonstrates that it guarantees a correct ordering of the events, avoiding the aforementioned issues. PMID:29295494

GNSS RTK-networks: The significance and issues to realize a recent reference coordinate system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umnig, Elke; Möller, Gregor; Weber, Robert

2014-05-01

The upcoming release of the new global reference frame ITRF2013 will provide high accurate reference station positions and station velocities at the mm- and mm/year level, respectively. ITRF users benefit from this development in various ways. For example, this new frame allows for embedding high accurate GNSS baseline observations to an underlying reference of at least the same accuracy. Another advantage is that the IGS products are fully consistent with this frame and therefore all GNSS based zero-difference positioning results (Precise Point Positioning (PPP)) will be aligned to the ITRF2013. Unfortunately the transistion to a new frame (or just to a new epoch) implies also issues in particular for providers and users of real time positioning services. Thus providers have to perform arrangements, such as the readjustment of the reference station coordinates and the update of the transformation parameters from the homogenous GNSS coordinate frame into the national datum. Finally providers have to inform their clients appropriately about these changes and significant adjustments. Furthermore the aspect of the continental reference frame has to be considered: In Europe the use of the continental reference system/reference frame ETRS89/ETRF2000 is, due to cross-national guidelines, recommend by most national mapping authorities. Subsequently GNSS post-processing applications are degraded by the concurrent use of the reference systems and reference frames, to which terrestrial site coordinates and satellite coordinates are aligned. In this presentation we highlight all significant steps and hurdles which have to be jumped over when introducing a new reference frame from point of view of a typical regional RTK-reference station network provider. This network is located in Austria and parts of the neighbouring countries and consists of about 40 reference stations. Moreover, we discuss the significance of permanently monitoring the stability of the reference network sites and the determination of station velocities/rates for geodynamical investigations.

Monitoring of wind load and response for cable-supported bridges in Hong Kong

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Kai-yuen; Chan, Wai-Yee K.; Man, King-Leung

2001-08-01

Structural health monitoring for the three cable-supported bridges located in the West of Hong Kong or the Tsing Ma Control Area has been carried out since the opening of these bridges to public traffic. The three cable-supported bridges are referred to as the Tsing Ma (suspension) Bridge, the Kap Shui Mun (cable-stayed) Bridge and the Ting Kau (cable-stayed) Bridge. The structural health monitoring works involved are classified as six monitoring categories, namely, wind load and response, temperature load and response, traffic load and response, geometrical configuration monitoring, strains and stresses/forces monitoring and global dynamic characteristics monitoring. As wind loads and responses had been a major concern in the design and construction stages, this paper therefore outlines the work of wind load and response monitoring on Tsing Ma, Kap Shui Mun and Ting Kau Bridges. The paper starts with a brief description of the sensory systems. The description includes the layout and performance requirements of sensory systems for wind load and responses monitoring. Typical results of wind load and response monitoring in graphical forms are then presented. These graphical forms include the plots of wind rose diagrams, wind incidences vs wind speeds, wind turbulence intensities, wind power spectra, gust wind factors, coefficient of terrain roughness, extreme wind analyses, deck deflections/rotations vs wind speeds, acceleration spectra, acceleration/displacement contours, and stress demand ratios. Finally conclusions on wind load and response monitoring on the three cable-supported bridges are drawn.

Data Automata in Scala

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Havelund, Klaus

2014-01-01

The field of runtime verification has during the last decade seen a multitude of systems for monitoring event sequences (traces) emitted by a running system. The objective is to ensure correctness of a system by checking its execution traces against formal specifications representing requirements. A special challenge is data parameterized events, where monitors have to keep track of the combination of control states as well as data constraints, relating events and the data they carry across time points. This poses a challenge wrt. efficiency of monitors, as well as expressiveness of logics. Data automata is a form of automata where states are parameterized with data, supporting monitoring of data parameterized events. We describe the full details of a very simple API in the Scala programming language, an internal DSL (Domain-Specific Language), implementing data automata. The small implementation suggests a design pattern. Data automata allow transition conditions to refer to other states than the source state, and allow target states of transitions to be inlined, offering a temporal logic flavored notation. An embedding of a logic in a high-level language like Scala in addition allows monitors to be programmed using all of Scala's language constructs, offering the full flexibility of a programming language. The framework is demonstrated on an XML processing scenario previously addressed in related work.

ECG Holter monitor with alert system and mobile application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teron, Abigail C.; Rivera, Pedro A.; Goenaga, Miguel A.

2016-05-01

This paper proposes a new approach on the Holter monitor by creating a portable Electrocardiogram (ECG) Holter monitor that will alert the user by detecting abnormal heart beats using a digital signal processing software. The alarm will be triggered when the patient experiences arrhythmias such as bradycardia and tachycardia. The equipment is simple, comfortable and small in size that fit in the hand. It can be used at any time and any moment by placing three leads to the person's chest which is connected to an electronic circuit. The ECG data will be transmitted via Bluetooth to the memory of a selected mobile phone using an application that will store the collected data for up to 24 hrs. The arrhythmia is identified by comparing the reference signals with the user's signal. The diagnostic results demonstrate that the ECG Holter monitor alerts the user when an arrhythmia is detected thru the Holter monitor and mobile application.

Multiple products monitoring as a robust approach for peptide quantification.

PubMed

Baek, Je-Hyun; Kim, Hokeun; Shin, Byunghee; Yu, Myeong-Hee

2009-07-01

Quantification of target peptides and proteins is crucial for biomarker discovery. Approaches such as selected reaction monitoring (SRM) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) rely on liquid chromatography and mass spectrometric analysis of defined peptide product ions. These methods are not very widespread because the determination of quantifiable product ion using either SRM or MRM is a very time-consuming process. We developed a novel approach for quantifying target peptides without such an arduous process of ion selection. This method is based on monitoring multiple product ions (multiple products monitoring: MpM) from full-range MS2 spectra of a target precursor. The MpM method uses a scoring system that considers both the absolute intensities of product ions and the similarities between the query MS2 spectrum and the reference MS2 spectrum of the target peptide. Compared with conventional approaches, MpM greatly improves sensitivity and selectivity of peptide quantification using an ion-trap mass spectrometer.

Remote monitoring of a Fire Protection System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauman, Steven; Vermeulen, Tom; Roberts, Larry; Matsushige, Grant; Gajadhar, Sarah; Taroma, Ralph; Elizares, Casey; Arruda, Tyson; Potter, Sharon; Hoffman, James

2011-03-01

Some years ago CFHT proposed developing a Remote Observing Environment aimed at producing Science Observations at their Observatory Facility on Mauna Kea from their Headquarters facility in Waimea, HI. This Remote Observing Project commonly referred to as OAP (Observatory Automation Project) was completed at the end of January 2011 and has been providing the majority of Science Data since. My poster will discuss the upgrades to the existing fire alarm protection system. With no one at the summit during nightly operations, the observatory facility required automated monitoring of the facility for safety to personnel and equipment in the case of a fire. An addressable analog fire panel was installed which utilizes digital communication protocol (DCP), intelligent communication with other devices, and an RS-232 interface which provides feedback and real-time monitoring of the system. Using the interface capabilities of the panel, it provides notifications when heat detectors, smoke sensors, manual pull stations, or the main observatory computer room fire suppression system has been activated. The notifications are sent out as alerts to staff in the form of test massages and emails and the observing control GUI interface alerts the remote telescope operator with a map showing the location of the fire occurrence and type of device that has been triggered. And all of this was accomplished without the need for an outside vendor to monitor the system and facilitate warnings or notifications regarding the system.

The design of a mechanical referencing system for the rear drum of the Longwall Shearer Coal Miner

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, E. W.; Yang, T. C. H.

1981-01-01

The design of two systems which reference the position of a longwall shearer coal miner to the mine roof of the present cut and of the last cut are presented. This system is part of an automation system that will guide the rear cutting drum in such a manner that the total depth of cut remains constant even though the front drum may be following an undulating roof profile. The rear drum referencing mechanism continually monitors the distance from the mine roof to the floor for the present cut. This system provides a signal to control a constant depth of cut. The last cut follower mechanism continually monitors the distance from the mine roof of the prior cut to the cutting drum. This latter system provides a signal to minimize the step height in the roof between cuts. The dynamic response of this hydraulic-pneumatic and mechanical system is analyzed to determine accumulator size and precharge pressure.

On the feasibility to integrate low-cost MEMS accelerometers and GNSS receivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedetti, Elisa; Dermanis, Athanasios; Crespi, Mattia

2017-06-01

The aim of this research was to investigate the feasibility of merging the benefits offered by low-cost GNSS and MEMS accelerometers technology, in order to promote the diffusion of low-cost monitoring solutions. A merging approach was set up at the level of the combination of kinematic results (velocities and displacements) coming from the two kinds of sensors, whose observations were separately processed, following to the so called loose integration, which sounds much more simple and flexible thinking about the possibility of an easy change of the combined sensors. At first, the issues related to the difference in reference systems, time systems and measurement rate and epochs for the two sensors were faced with. An approach was designed and tested to transform into unique reference and time systems the outcomes from GPS and MEMS and to interpolate the usually (much) more dense MEMS observation to common (GPS) epochs. The proposed approach was limited to time-independent (constant) orientation of the MEMS reference system with respect to the GPS one. Then, a data fusion approach based on the use of Discrete Fourier Transform and cubic splines interpolation was proposed both for velocities and displacements: MEMS and GPS derived solutions are firstly separated by a rectangular filter in spectral domain, and secondly back-transformed and combined through a cubic spline interpolation. Accuracies around 5 mm for slow and fast displacements and better than 2 mm/s for velocities were assessed. The obtained solution paves the way to a powerful and appealing use of low-cost single frequency GNSS receivers and MEMS accelerometers for structural and ground monitoring applications. Some additional remarks and prospects for future investigations complete the paper.

New data acquisition system for beam loss monitor used in J-PARC main ring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satou, K.; Toyama, T.; Kamikubota, N.; Yoshida, S.; Matsushita, J.; Wakita, T.; Sugiyama, M.; Morino, T.

2018-04-01

A new data acquisition system has been developed continually as a part of the development of a new beam loss monitor (BLM) system for the J-PARC main ring. This development includes a newly designed front-end isolation amp that uses photo-couplers and a VME-based new analog-to-digital converter (ADC) system. Compared to the old amp, the new amp has a 10 times higher conversion impedance for the input current to the output voltage; this value is 1 M Ω. Moreover, the bandwidth was improved to from DC to 50 kHz, which is about two orders of magnitude greater than the previously used bandwidth. The theoretical estimations made in this study roughly agree with the frequency response obtained for the new system. The new ADC system uses an on-board field-programmable gate array chip for signal processing. By replacing the firmware of this chip, changes pertaining to future accelerator upgrade plans may be introduced into the new ADC system; in addition, the ADC system can be used in other applications. The sampling speed of the system is 1 MS/s, and it exhibits a 95 dBc spurious-free dynamic range and 16.5 effective number of bits. The obtained waveform and integrated charge data are compared with two reference levels in the ADC system. If the data exceeds the reference level, the system generates an alarm to dump the beams. By using the new data acquisition system, it was proved that the new BLM system shows a wide dynamic range of 160 dB. In this study, the details of the new data acquisition system are described.

40 CFR 98.324 - Monitoring and QA/QC requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Tracking System Handbook Number: PH-08-V-1, January 1, 2008 (incorporated by reference, see § 98.7). You... paragraphs (d)(1) through (d)(2) of this section. (1) ASTM D1945-03, Standard Test Method for Analysis of... Reformed Gas by Gas Chromatography; ASTM D4891-89 (Reapproved 2006), Standard Test Method for Heating Value...

Feline arrhythmias: an update.

PubMed

Côté, Etienne

2010-07-01

In the cat, electrocardiography is indicated for assessing the rhythm of the heartbeat and identifying and monitoring the effect of certain systemic disorders on the heart. Basic information regarding feline electrocardiography is contained in several textbooks, and the reader is referred to these sources for background reading. This article describes selected clinical advances in feline cardiac arrhythmias and electrocardiography from the past decade.

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

CATO DM; DAHL MM; PHILO GL

This report documents the results of tests designed to characterize the relationship between temperature and the measured potential of electrodes installed on multi-probe corrosion monitoring systems in waste tanks. This report also documents the results of tests designed to demonstrate the impact of liquid in-leakage into electrode bodies as well as the contamination of primary reference electrodes by diffusion through the electrode tip.

Monitoring of Qualifications and Employment in Austria: An Empirical Approach Based on the Labour Force Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lassnigg, Lorenz; Vogtenhuber, Stefan

2011-01-01

The empirical approach referred to in this article describes the relationship between education and training (ET) supply and employment in Austria; the use of the new ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) fields of study variable makes this approach applicable abroad. The purpose is to explore a system that produces timely…

Abstraction Techniques for Parameterized Verification

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-11-01

approach for applying model checking to unbounded systems is to extract finite state models from them using conservative abstraction techniques. Prop...36 2.5.1 Multiple Reference Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2.5.2 Adding Monitor Processes...model checking to complex pieces of code like device drivers depends on the use of abstraction methods. An abstraction method extracts a small finite

Fiber optic sensor system for entrance areas monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fajkus, Marcel; Nedoma, Jan; Kepak, Stanislav; Cubik, Jakub; Jargus, Jan; Zboril, Ondřej; Martinek, Radek; Vasinek, Vladimir

2017-10-01

Authors of this article present the fiber-optic system based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) which are used to secure the entrance areas such as buildings, halls, warehouses, etc. The system uses the specially encapsulated sensory array of fiber Bragg gratings which are implemented into the floor or on the floor and allows for monitoring the area of 1 m2 up to 100 m2 depending on the number of FBG sensors. The sensory array is characterized by immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI), passivity regarding electrical power supply, the possibility of remote evaluation (up to units of km) and high sensitivity. Proposed sensor system has detection capability greater than 99 % and furthermore, provides information about the weight load to an accuracy of +/- 5 kg. The concept has been tested in a real environment within the test polygon for several weeks. As the reference devices, we used the CCTV (Closed Circuit Television).

Performance evaluation of a LYSO-based PET scanner for monitoring of dose delivery in hadrontherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fabbiani, E.; Belcari, N.; Camarlinghi, N.; Del Guerra, A.; Ferretti, S.; Kraan, A.; Panetta, D.; Sportelli, G.; Rosso, V.

2015-12-01

The DoPET scanner is a compact positron emission tomography (PET) device. It has been developed for monitoring the range of charged particles during therapy with hadron beams. Previous works have focused on the development and upgrade of the device and on data analysis. In this paper, a full performance characterization of the DoPET system in terms of the energy resolution, spatial resolution, sensitivity, uniformity, and noise equivalent count rate is reported. All measurements refer to an adapted version of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 4 - 2008 protocol, which was written originally for small animal PET systems. Since DoPET is a dual head planar system, it requires a modified characterisation procedure with respect to those described for ring geometries as in the NEMA NU 4 - 2008 protocol. The presented procedure may be of interest for any other PET system with a similar geometry as DoPET.

Airborne SAR systems for infrastructures monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perna, Stefano; Berardino, Paolo; Esposito, Carmen; Natale, Antonio

2017-04-01

The present contribution is aimed at showing the capabilities of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems mounted onboard airborne platforms for the monitoring of infrastructures. As well known, airborne SAR systems guarantee narrower spatial coverage than satellite sensors [1]. On the other side, airborne SAR products are characterized by geometric resolution typically higher than that achievable in the satellite case, where larger antennas must be necessarily exploited. More important, airborne SAR platforms guarantee operational flexibility significantly higher than that achievable with satellite systems. Indeed, the revisit time between repeated SAR acquisitions in the satellite case cannot be freely decided, whereas in the airborne case it can be kept very short. This renders the airborne platforms of key interest for the monitoring of infrastructures, especially in case of emergencies. However, due to the platform deviations from a rectilinear, reference flight track, the generation of airborne SAR products is not a turn of the crank procedure as in the satellite case. Notwithstanding proper algorithms exist in order to circumvent this kind of limitations. In this work, we show how the exploitation of airborne SAR sensors, coupled to the use of such algorithms, allows obtaining high resolution monitoring of infrastructures in urban areas. [1] G. Franceschetti, and R.Lanari, Synthetic Aperture Radar Processing, CRC PRESS, New York, 1999.

Long-term monitoring on environmental disasters using multi-source remote sensing technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuo, Y. C.; Chen, C. F.

2017-12-01

Environmental disasters are extreme events within the earth's system that cause deaths and injuries to humans, as well as causing damages and losses of valuable assets, such as buildings, communication systems, farmlands, forest and etc. In disaster management, a large amount of multi-temporal spatial data is required. Multi-source remote sensing data with different spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions is widely applied on environmental disaster monitoring. With multi-source and multi-temporal high resolution images, we conduct rapid, systematic and seriate observations regarding to economic damages and environmental disasters on earth. It is based on three monitoring platforms: remote sensing, UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) and ground investigation. The advantages of using UAS technology include great mobility and availability in real-time rapid and more flexible weather conditions. The system can produce long-term spatial distribution information from environmental disasters, obtaining high-resolution remote sensing data and field verification data in key monitoring areas. It also supports the prevention and control on ocean pollutions, illegally disposed wastes and pine pests in different scales. Meanwhile, digital photogrammetry can be applied on the camera inside and outside the position parameters to produce Digital Surface Model (DSM) data. The latest terrain environment information is simulated by using DSM data, and can be used as references in disaster recovery in the future.

Systemic Case Formulation, Individualized Process Monitoring, and State Dynamics in a Case of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

PubMed

Schiepek, Günter K; Stöger-Schmidinger, Barbara; Aichhorn, Wolfgang; Schöller, Helmut; Aas, Benjamin

2016-01-01

Objective: The aim of this case report is to demonstrate the feasibility of a systemic procedure (synergetic process management) including modeling of the idiographic psychological system and continuous high-frequency monitoring of change dynamics in a case of dissociative identity disorder. The psychotherapy was realized in a day treatment center with a female client diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and dissociative identity disorder. Methods: A three hour long co-creative session at the beginning of the treatment period allowed for modeling the systemic network of the client's dynamics of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. The components (variables) of this idiographic system model (ISM) were used to create items for an individualized process questionnaire for the client. The questionnaire was administered daily through an internet-based monitoring tool (Synergetic Navigation System, SNS), to capture the client's individual change process continuously throughout the therapy and after-care period. The resulting time series were reflected by therapist and client in therapeutic feedback sessions. Results: For the client it was important to see how the personality states dominating her daily life were represented by her idiographic system model and how the transitions between each state could be explained and understood by the activating and inhibiting relations between the cognitive-emotional components of that system. Continuous monitoring of her cognitions, emotions, and behavior via SNS allowed for identification of important triggers, dynamic patterns, and psychological mechanisms behind seemingly erratic state fluctuations. These insights enabled a change in management of the dynamics and an intensified trauma-focused therapy. Conclusion: By making use of the systemic case formulation technique and subsequent daily online monitoring, client and therapist continuously refer to detailed visualizations of the mental and behavioral network and its dynamics (e.g., order transitions). Effects on self-related information processing, on identity development, and toward a more pronounced autonomy in life (instead of feeling helpless against the chaoticity of state dynamics) were evident in the presented case and documented by the monitoring system.

CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) for weather impact assessment on global agriculture.

PubMed

Gommes, René; Wu, Bingfang; Zhang, Ning; Feng, Xueliang; Zeng, Hongwei; Li, Zhongyuan; Chen, Bo

2017-02-01

CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) are a monitoring tool developed by the CropWatch global crop monitoring system in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; www.cropwatch.com.cn , Wu et al Int J Digital Earth 7(2):113-137, 2014, Wu et al Remote Sens 7:3907-3933, 2015). Contrary to most other environmental and agroclimatic indicators, they are "agronomic value-added", i.e. they are spatial values averaged over agricultural areas only and they include a weighting that enhances the contribution of the areas with the largest production potential. CWAIs can be computed for any time interval (starting from dekads) and yield one synthetic value per variable over a specific area and time interval, for instance a national annual value. Therefore, they are very compatible with socio-economic and other variables that are usually reported at regular time intervals over administrative units, such as national environmental or agricultural statistics. Two of the CWAIs are satellite-based (RAIN and Photosynthetically Active radiation, PAR) while the third is ground based (TEMP, air temperature); capitals are used when specifically referring to CWAIs rather than the climate variables in general. The paper first provides an overview of some common agroclimatic indicators, describing their procedural, systemic and normative features in subsequent sections, following the terminology of Binder et al Environ Impact Assess Rev 30:71-81 (2010). The discussion focuses on the systemic and normative aspects: the CWAIs are assessed in terms of their coherent description of the agroclimatic crop environment, at different spatial scales (systemic). The final section shows that the CWAIs retain key statistical properties of the underlying climate variables and that they can be compared to a reference value and used as monitoring and early warning variables (normative).

CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) for weather impact assessment on global agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gommes, René; Wu, Bingfang; Zhang, Ning; Feng, Xueliang; Zeng, Hongwei; Li, Zhongyuan; Chen, Bo

2017-02-01

CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) are a monitoring tool developed by the CropWatch global crop monitoring system in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; http://www.cropwatch.com.cn, Wu et al Int J Digital Earth 7(2):113-137, 2014, Wu et al Remote Sens 7:3907-3933, 2015). Contrary to most other environmental and agroclimatic indicators, they are "agronomic value-added", i.e. they are spatial values averaged over agricultural areas only and they include a weighting that enhances the contribution of the areas with the largest production potential. CWAIs can be computed for any time interval (starting from dekads) and yield one synthetic value per variable over a specific area and time interval, for instance a national annual value. Therefore, they are very compatible with socio-economic and other variables that are usually reported at regular time intervals over administrative units, such as national environmental or agricultural statistics. Two of the CWAIs are satellite-based (RAIN and Photosynthetically Active radiation, PAR) while the third is ground based (TEMP, air temperature); capitals are used when specifically referring to CWAIs rather than the climate variables in general. The paper first provides an overview of some common agroclimatic indicators, describing their procedural, systemic and normative features in subsequent sections, following the terminology of Binder et al Environ Impact Assess Rev 30:71-81 (2010). The discussion focuses on the systemic and normative aspects: the CWAIs are assessed in terms of their coherent description of the agroclimatic crop environment, at different spatial scales (systemic). The final section shows that the CWAIs retain key statistical properties of the underlying climate variables and that they can be compared to a reference value and used as monitoring and early warning variables (normative).

Solid waste projection model: Model version 1. 0 technical reference manual

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

Wilkins, M.L.; Crow, V.L.; Buska, D.E.

1990-11-01

The Solid Waste Projection Model (SWPM) system is an analytical tool developed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC). The SWPM system provides a modeling and analysis environment that supports decisions in the process of evaluating various solid waste management alternatives. This document, one of a series describing the SWPM system, contains detailed information regarding the software utilized in developing Version 1.0 of the modeling unit of SWPM. This document is intended for use by experienced software engineers and supports programming, code maintenance, and model enhancement. Those interested in using SWPM should refer to the SWPM Modelmore » User's Guide. This document is available from either the PNL project manager (D. L. Stiles, 509-376-4154) or the WHC program monitor (B. C. Anderson, 509-373-2796). 8 figs.« less

Database Integrity Monitoring for Synthetic Vision Systems Using Machine Vision and SHADE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooper, Eric G.; Young, Steven D.

2005-01-01

In an effort to increase situational awareness, the aviation industry is investigating technologies that allow pilots to visualize what is outside of the aircraft during periods of low-visibility. One of these technologies, referred to as Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS), provides the pilot with real-time computer-generated images of obstacles, terrain features, runways, and other aircraft regardless of weather conditions. To help ensure the integrity of such systems, methods of verifying the accuracy of synthetically-derived display elements using onboard remote sensing technologies are under investigation. One such method is based on a shadow detection and extraction (SHADE) algorithm that transforms computer-generated digital elevation data into a reference domain that enables direct comparison with radar measurements. This paper describes machine vision techniques for making this comparison and discusses preliminary results from application to actual flight data.

Sticker-type ECG/PPG concurrent monitoring system hybrid integration of CMOS SoC and organic sensor device.

PubMed

Yongsu Lee; Hyeonwoo Lee; Seunghyup Yoo; Hoi-Jun Yoo

2016-08-01

The sticker-type sensor system is proposed targeting ECG/PPG concurrent monitoring for cardiovascular diseases. The stickers are composed of two types: Hub and Sensor-node (SN) sticker. Low-power CMOS SoC for measuring ECG and PPG signal is hybrid integrated with organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photo detector (OPD). The sticker has only 2g weight and only consumes 141μW. The optical calibration loop is adopted for maintaining SNR of PPG signal higher than 30dB. The pulse arrival time (PAT) and SpO2 value can be extracted from various body parts and verified comparing with the reference device from 20 people in-vivo experiments.

Experimental study on cross-sensitivity of temperature and vibration of embedded fiber Bragg grating sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Tao; Ye, Meng-li; Liu, Shu-liang; Deng, Yan

2018-03-01

In view of the principle for occurrence of cross-sensitivity, a series of calibration experiments are carried out to solve the cross-sensitivity problem of embedded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) using the reference grating method. Moreover, an ultrasonic-vibration-assisted grinding (UVAG) model is established, and finite element analysis (FEA) is carried out under the monitoring environment of embedded temperature measurement system. In addition, the related temperature acquisition tests are set in accordance with requirements of the reference grating method. Finally, comparative analyses of the simulation and experimental results are performed, and it may be concluded that the reference grating method may be utilized to effectively solve the cross-sensitivity of embedded FBGs.

Monitoring by Use of Clusters of Sensor-Data Vectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iverson, David L.

2007-01-01

The inductive monitoring system (IMS) is a system of computer hardware and software for automated monitoring of the performance, operational condition, physical integrity, and other aspects of the health of a complex engineering system (e.g., an industrial process line or a spacecraft). The input to the IMS consists of streams of digitized readings from sensors in the monitored system. The IMS determines the type and amount of any deviation of the monitored system from a nominal or normal ( healthy ) condition on the basis of a comparison between (1) vectors constructed from the incoming sensor data and (2) corresponding vectors in a database of nominal or normal behavior. The term inductive reflects the use of a process reminiscent of traditional mathematical induction to learn about normal operation and build the nominal-condition database. The IMS offers two major advantages over prior computational monitoring systems: The computational burden of the IMS is significantly smaller, and there is no need for abnormal-condition sensor data for training the IMS to recognize abnormal conditions. The figure schematically depicts the relationships among the computational processes effected by the IMS. Training sensor data are gathered during normal operation of the monitored system, detailed computational simulation of operation of the monitored system, or both. The training data are formed into vectors that are used to generate the database. The vectors in the database are clustered into regions that represent normal or nominal operation. Once the database has been generated, the IMS compares the vectors of incoming sensor data with vectors representative of the clusters. The monitored system is deemed to be operating normally or abnormally, depending on whether the vector of incoming sensor data is or is not, respectively, sufficiently close to one of the clusters. For this purpose, a distance between two vectors is calculated by a suitable metric (e.g., Euclidean distance) and "sufficiently close" signifies lying at a distance less than a specified threshold value. It must be emphasized that although the IMS is intended to detect off-nominal or abnormal performance or health, it is not necessarily capable of performing a thorough or detailed diagnosis. Limited diagnostic information may be available under some circumstances. For example, the distance of a vector of incoming sensor data from the nearest cluster could serve as an indication of the severity of a malfunction. The identity of the nearest cluster may be a clue as to the identity of the malfunctioning component or subsystem. It is possible to decrease the IMS computation time by use of a combination of cluster-indexing and -retrieval methods. For example, in one method, the distances between each cluster and two or more reference vectors can be used for the purpose of indexing and retrieval. The clusters are sorted into a list according to these distance values, typically in ascending order of distance. When a set of input data arrives and is to be tested, the data are first arranged as an ordered set (that is, a vector). The distances from the input vector to the reference points are computed. The search of clusters from the list can then be limited to those clusters lying within a certain distance range from the input vector; the computation time is reduced by not searching the clusters at a greater distance.

Application of outlier analysis for baseline-free damage diagnosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seung Dae; In, Chi Won; Cronin, Kelly E.; Sohn, Hoon; Harries, Kent

2006-03-01

As carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates have been widely accepted as valuable materials for retrofitting civil infrastructure systems, an appropriate assessment of bonding conditions between host structures and CFRP laminates becomes a critical issue to guarantee the performance of CFRP strengthened structures. This study attempts to develop a continuous performance monitoring system for CFRP strengthened structures by autonomously inspecting the bonding conditions between the CFRP layers and the host structure. The uniqueness of this study is to develop a new concept and theoretical framework of nondestructive testing (NDT), in which debonding is detected "without using past baseline data." The proposed baseline-free damage diagnosis is achieved in two stages. In the first step, features sensitive to debonding of the CFPR layers but insensitive to loading conditions are extracted based on a concept referred to as a time reversal process. This time reversal process allows extracting damage-sensitive features without direct comparison with past baseline data. Then, a statistical damage classifier will be developed in the second step to make a decision regarding the bonding condition of the CFRP layers. The threshold necessary for decision making will be adaptively determined without predetermined threshold values. Monotonic and fatigue load tests of full-scale CFRP strengthened RC beams are conducted to demonstrate the potential of the proposed reference-free debonding monitoring system.

Structural Health Monitoring for a Z-Type Special Vehicle

PubMed Central

Yuan, Chaolin; Ren, Liang; Li, Hongnan

2017-01-01

Nowadays there exist various kinds of special vehicles designed for some purposes, which are different from regular vehicles in overall dimension and design. In that case, accidents such as overturning will lead to large economical loss and casualties. There are still no technical specifications to follow to ensure the safe operation and driving of these special vehicles. Owing to the poor efficiency of regular maintenance, it is more feasible and effective to apply real-time monitoring during the operation and driving process. In this paper, the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to monitor the safety of a z-type special vehicle. Based on the structural features and force distribution, a reasonable structural health monitoring (SHM) scheme is presented. Comparing the monitoring results with the finite element simulation results guarantees the accuracy and reliability of the monitoring results. Large amounts of data are collected during the operation and driving progress to evaluate the structural safety condition and provide reference for SHM systems developed for other special vehicles. PMID:28587161

A Survey of Current Rotorcraft Propulsion Health Monitoring Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delgado, Irebert R.; Dempsey, Paula J.; Simon, Donald L.

2012-01-01

A brief review is presented on the state-of-the-art in rotorcraft engine health monitoring technologies including summaries on current practices in the area of sensors, data acquisition, monitoring and analysis. Also, presented are guidelines for verification and validation of Health Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) and specifically for maintenance credits to extend part life. Finally, a number of new efforts in HUMS are summarized as well as lessons learned and future challenges. In particular, gaps are identified to supporting maintenance credits to extend rotorcraft engine part life. A number of data sources were consulted and include results from a survey from the HUMS community, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) documents, American Helicopter Society (AHS) papers, as well as references from Defence Science & Technology Organization (DSTO), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Field performance of a semi-continuous monitor for ambient PM2.5 water-soluble inorganic ions and gases at a suburban site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Li-Hao; Li, Chiao-Hsin; Lin, Ming-Yeng; Hwang, Bing-Fang; Hsu, Hui-Tsung; Chen, Yu-Cheng; Jung, Chau-Ren; Chen, Kuan-Chi; Cheng, Dung-Hung; Wang, Ven-Shing; Chiang, Hung-Che; Tsai, Perng-Jy

2016-11-01

To reduce sampling artifacts and to improve time-resolved measurements of inorganic aerosol system, a recently commercialized semi-continuous In-situ Gas and Aerosol Composition (IGAC) monitoring system was evaluated against a reference annular denuder system (ADS; denuder/two-stage filter pack) at a suburban site over a year, during which the average PM2.5 was 37.0 ± 24.8 μg/m3. A suite of eight ions SO42-, NO3-, Cl-, NH4+, Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ and two gases SO2 and NH3 were the target species. In comparison to the reference ADS method, the IGAC performed well in measuring the major ions SO42-, NO3- and NH4+, and the SO2. For those species, the linear slopes, intercepts and R2 values between the two methods all passed the performance evaluation criteria outlined by earlier similar studies. The performance of IGAC on Cl-, Na+, K+ and NH3 was marginally acceptable, whereas Ca2+ and Mg2+ could not be properly evaluated due to the low concentrations (<0.2 μg/m3) and hence inadequate amount of sample size. The ionic balance of the hourly IGAC samples averaged very close to unity, as did the daily ADS samples, though the former was considerably more variable than the latter. The overall performance of the IGAC has been shown to be comparable to other similar monitors and its improvements are discussed.

Performance Evaluation of Three Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems Using ISO 15197

PubMed Central

Bedini, José Luis; Wallace, Jane F.; Pardo, Scott; Petruschke, Thorsten

2015-01-01

Background: Blood glucose monitoring is an essential component of diabetes management. Inaccurate blood glucose measurements can severely impact patients’ health. This study evaluated the performance of 3 blood glucose monitoring systems (BGMS), Contour® Next USB, FreeStyle InsuLinx®, and OneTouch® Verio™ IQ, under routine hospital conditions. Methods: Venous blood samples (N = 236) obtained for routine laboratory procedures were collected at a Spanish hospital, and blood glucose (BG) concentrations were measured with each BGMS and with the available reference (hexokinase) method. Accuracy of the 3 BGMS was compared according to ISO 15197:2013 accuracy limit criteria, by mean absolute relative difference (MARD), consensus error grid (CEG) and surveillance error grid (SEG) analyses, and an insulin dosing error model. Results: All BGMS met the accuracy limit criteria defined by ISO 15197:2013. While all measurements of the 3 BGMS were within low-risk zones in both error grid analyses, the Contour Next USB showed significantly smaller MARDs between reference values compared to the other 2 BGMS. Insulin dosing errors were lowest for the Contour Next USB than compared to the other systems. Conclusions: All BGMS fulfilled ISO 15197:2013 accuracy limit criteria and CEG criterion. However, taking together all analyses, differences in performance of potential clinical relevance may be observed. Results showed that Contour Next USB had lowest MARD values across the tested glucose range, as compared with the 2 other BGMS. CEG and SEG analyses as well as calculation of the hypothetical bolus insulin dosing error suggest a high accuracy of the Contour Next USB. PMID:26445813

Medicare program; standards for quality of water used in dialysis and revised guidelines on reuse of hemodialysis filters for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients--HCFA. Final rule.

PubMed

1995-09-18

This final rule revises the Medicare conditions for coverage of suppliers of end-stage renal disease services. The revisions remove general language in the regulations regarding water quality; incorporate by reference standards for monitoring the quality of water used in dialysis as published by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) in its document, "Hemodialysis Systems" (second edition); and update existing regulations to incorporate by reference the second edition of AAMI's voluntary guidelines on "Reuse of Hemodialyzers."

Absolute metrology for space interferometers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvadé, Yves; Courteville, Alain; Dändliker, René

2017-11-01

The crucial issue of space-based interferometers is the laser interferometric metrology systems to monitor with very high accuracy optical path differences. Although classical high-resolution laser interferometers using a single wavelength are well developed, this type of incremental interferometer has a severe drawback: any interruption of the interferometer signal results in the loss of the zero reference, which requires a new calibration, starting at zero optical path difference. We propose in this paper an absolute metrology system based on multiplewavelength interferometry.

Wireless recording systems: from noninvasive EEG-NIRS to invasive EEG devices.

PubMed

Sawan, Mohamad; Salam, Muhammad T; Le Lan, Jérôme; Kassab, Amal; Gelinas, Sébastien; Vannasing, Phetsamone; Lesage, Frédéric; Lassonde, Maryse; Nguyen, Dang K

2013-04-01

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a wireless wearable electronic system dedicated to remote data recording for brain monitoring. The reported wireless recording system is used for a) simultaneous near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) and scalp electro-encephalography (EEG) for noninvasive monitoring and b) intracerebral EEG (icEEG) for invasive monitoring. Bluetooth and dual radio links were introduced for these recordings. The Bluetooth-based device was embedded in a noninvasive multichannel EEG-NIRS system for easy portability and long-term monitoring. On the other hand, the 32-channel implantable recording device offers 24-bit resolution, tunable features, and a sampling frequency up to 2 kHz per channel. The analog front-end preamplifier presents low input-referred noise of 5 μ VRMS and a signal-to-noise ratio of 112 dB. The communication link is implemented using a dual-band radio frequency transceiver offering a half-duplex 800 kb/s data rate, 16.5 mW power consumption and less than 10(-10) post-correction Bit-Error Rate (BER). The designed system can be accessed and controlled by a computer with a user-friendly graphical interface. The proposed wireless implantable recording device was tested in vitro using real icEEG signals from two patients with refractory epilepsy. The wirelessly recorded signals were compared to the original signals recorded using wired-connection, and measured normalized root-mean square deviation was under 2%.

A Unified Global Reference Frame of Vertical Crustal Movements by Satellite Laser Ranging.

PubMed

Zhu, Xinhui; Wang, Ren; Sun, Fuping; Wang, Jinling

2016-02-08

Crustal movement is one of the main factors influencing the change of the Earth system, especially in its vertical direction, which affects people's daily life through the frequent occurrence of earthquakes, geological disasters, and so on. In order to get a better study and application of the vertical crustal movement,as well as its changes, the foundation and prerequisite areto devise and establish its reference frame; especially, a unified global reference frame is required. Since SLR (satellite laser ranging) is one of the most accurate space techniques for monitoring geocentric motion and can directly measure the ground station's geocentric coordinates and velocities relative to the centre of the Earth's mass, we proposed to take the vertical velocity of the SLR technique in the ITRF2008 framework as the reference frame of vertical crustal motion, which we defined as the SLR vertical reference frame (SVRF). The systematic bias between other velocity fields and the SVRF was resolved by using the GPS (Global Positioning System) and VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) velocity observations, and the unity of other velocity fields and SVRF was realized,as well. The results show that it is feasible and suitable to take the SVRF as a reference frame, which has both geophysical meanings and geodetic observations, so we recommend taking the SLR vertical velocity under ITRF2008 as the global reference frame of vertical crustal movement.

A Unified Global Reference Frame of Vertical Crustal Movements by Satellite Laser Ranging

PubMed Central

Zhu, Xinhui; Wang, Ren; Sun, Fuping; Wang, Jinling

2016-01-01

Crustal movement is one of the main factors influencing the change of the Earth system, especially in its vertical direction, which affects people’s daily life through the frequent occurrence of earthquakes, geological disasters, and so on. In order to get a better study and application of the vertical crustal movement, as well as its changes, the foundation and prerequisite areto devise and establish its reference frame; especially, a unified global reference frame is required. Since SLR (satellite laser ranging) is one of the most accurate space techniques for monitoring geocentric motion and can directly measure the ground station’s geocentric coordinates and velocities relative to the centre of the Earth’s mass, we proposed to take the vertical velocity of the SLR technique in the ITRF2008 framework as the reference frame of vertical crustal motion, which we defined as the SLR vertical reference frame (SVRF). The systematic bias between other velocity fields and the SVRF was resolved by using the GPS (Global Positioning System) and VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) velocity observations, and the unity of other velocity fields and SVRF was realized, as well. The results show that it is feasible and suitable to take the SVRF as a reference frame, which has both geophysical meanings and geodetic observations, so we recommend taking the SLR vertical velocity under ITRF2008 as the global reference frame of vertical crustal movement. PMID:26867197

Software requirements elicitation to support internal monitoring of quality assurance system for higher education in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amalia, A.; Gunawan, D.; Hardi, S. M.; Rachmawati, D.

2018-02-01

The Internal Quality Assurance System (in Indonesian: SPMI (Sistem Penjaminan Mutu Internal) is a systemic activity of quality assurance of higher education in Indonesia. SPMI should be done by all higher education or universities in Indonesia based on the Regulation of the Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia Number 62 of 2016. Implementation of SPMI must refer to the principle of SPMI that is independent, standardize, accurate, well planned and sustainable, documented and systematic. To assist the SPMI cycle properly, universities need a supporting software to monitor all the activities of SPMI. But in reality, many universities are not optimal in building this SPMI monitoring system. One of the obstacles is the determination of system requirements in support of SPMI principles is difficult to achieve. In this paper, we observe the initial phase of the engineering requirements elicitation. Unlike other methods that collect system requirements from users and stakeholders, we find the system requirements of the SPMI principles from SPMI guideline book. The result of this paper can be used as a choice in determining SPMI software requirements. This paper can also be used by developers and users to understand the scenario of SPMI so that could overcome the problems of understanding between this two parties.

Comparison of diagnostic value using a small, single channel, P-wave centric sternal ECG monitoring patch with a standard 3-lead Holter system over 24 hours.

PubMed

Smith, Warren M; Riddell, Fiona; Madon, Morag; Gleva, Marye J

2017-03-01

To compare simultaneous recordings from an external patch system specifically designed to ensure better P-wave recordings and standard Holter monitor to determine diagnostic efficacy. Holter monitors are a mainstay of clinical practice, but are cumbersome to access and wear and P-wave signal quality is frequently inadequate. This study compared the diagnostic efficacy of the P-wave centric electrocardiogram (ECG) patch (Carnation Ambulatory Monitor) to standard 3-channel (leads V1, II, and V5) Holter monitor (Northeast Monitoring, Maynard, MA). Patients were referred to a hospital Holter clinic for standard clinical indications. Each patient wore both devices simultaneously and served as their own control. Holter and Patch reports were read in a blinded fashion by experienced electrophysiologists unaware of the findings in the other corresponding ECG recording. All patients, technicians, and physicians completed a questionnaire on comfort and ease of use, and potential complications. In all 50 patients, the P-wave centric patch recording system identified rhythms in 23 patients (46%) that altered management, compared to 6 Holter patients (12%), P<.001. The patch ECG intervals PR, QRS and QT correlated well with the Holter ECG intervals having correlation coefficients of 0.93, 0.86, and 0.94, respectively. Finally, 48 patients (96%) preferred wearing the patch monitor. A single-channel ambulatory patch ECG monitor, designed specifically to ensure that the P-wave component of the ECG be visible, resulted in a significantly improved rhythm diagnosis and avoided inaccurate diagnoses made by the standard 3-channel Holter monitor. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A universal heliostat control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, Fabian; Geiger, Mark; Buck, Reiner

2017-06-01

This paper describes the development of a universal heliostat control system as part of the AutoR project [1]. The system can control multiple receivers and heliostat types in a single application. The system offers support for multiple operators on different machines and is designed to be as adaptive as possible. Thus, the system can be used for different heliostat field setups with only minor adaptations of the system's source code. This is achieved by extensive usage of modern programming techniques like reflection and dependency injection. Furthermore, the system features co-simulation of a ray tracer, a reference PID-controller implementation for open volumetric receivers and methods for heliostat calibration and monitoring.

Development of a new aerosol monitoring system and its application in Fukushima nuclear accident related aerosol radioactivity measurement at the CTBT radionuclide station in Sidney of Canada.

PubMed

Zhang, Weihua; Bean, Marc; Benotto, Mike; Cheung, Jeff; Ungar, Kurt; Ahier, Brian

2011-12-01

A high volume aerosol sampler ("Grey Owl") has been designed and developed at the Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada. Its design guidance is based on the need for a low operational cost and reliable sampler to provide daily aerosol monitoring samples that can be used as reference samples for radiological studies. It has been developed to provide a constant air flow rate at low pressure drops (∼3 kPa for a day sampling) with variations of less than ±1% of the full scale flow rate. Its energy consumption is only about 1.5 kW for a filter sampling over 22,000 standard cubic meter of air. It has been demonstrated in this Fukushima nuclear accident related aerosol radioactivity monitoring study at Sidney station, B.C. that the sampler is robust and reliable. The results provided by the new monitoring system have been used to support decision-making in Canada during an emergency response. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System (AIMS) reference manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yan, Jerry; Hontalas, Philip; Listgarten, Sherry

1993-01-01

Whether a researcher is designing the 'next parallel programming paradigm,' another 'scalable multiprocessor' or investigating resource allocation algorithms for multiprocessors, a facility that enables parallel program execution to be captured and displayed is invaluable. Careful analysis of execution traces can help computer designers and software architects to uncover system behavior and to take advantage of specific application characteristics and hardware features. A software tool kit that facilitates performance evaluation of parallel applications on multiprocessors is described. The Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System (AIMS) has four major software components: a source code instrumentor which automatically inserts active event recorders into the program's source code before compilation; a run time performance-monitoring library, which collects performance data; a trace file animation and analysis tool kit which reconstructs program execution from the trace file; and a trace post-processor which compensate for data collection overhead. Besides being used as prototype for developing new techniques for instrumenting, monitoring, and visualizing parallel program execution, AIMS is also being incorporated into the run-time environments of various hardware test beds to evaluate their impact on user productivity. Currently, AIMS instrumentors accept FORTRAN and C parallel programs written for Intel's NX operating system on the iPSC family of multi computers. A run-time performance-monitoring library for the iPSC/860 is included in this release. We plan to release monitors for other platforms (such as PVM and TMC's CM-5) in the near future. Performance data collected can be graphically displayed on workstations (e.g. Sun Sparc and SGI) supporting X-Windows (in particular, Xl IR5, Motif 1.1.3).

Actinide ion sensor for pyroprocess monitoring

DOEpatents

Jue, Jan-fong; Li, Shelly X.

2014-06-03

An apparatus for real-time, in-situ monitoring of actinide ion concentrations which comprises a working electrode, a reference electrode, a container, a working electrolyte, a separator, a reference electrolyte, and a voltmeter. The container holds the working electrolyte. The voltmeter is electrically connected to the working electrode and the reference electrode and measures the voltage between those electrodes. The working electrode contacts the working electrolyte. The working electrolyte comprises an actinide ion of interest. The reference electrode contacts the reference electrolyte. The reference electrolyte is separated from the working electrolyte by the separator. The separator contacts both the working electrolyte and the reference electrolyte. The separator is ionically conductive to the actinide ion of interest. The reference electrolyte comprises a known concentration of the actinide ion of interest. The separator comprises a beta double prime alumina exchanged with the actinide ion of interest.

Ground Testing of Prototype Hardware and Processing Algorithms for a Wide Area Space Surveillance System (WASSS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, N.; Dressler, R. A.; Richtsmeier, S. S.; McLean, J.; Dao, P. D.; Murray-Krezan, J.; Fulcoly, D. O.

2013-09-01

Recent ground testing of a wide area camera system and automated star removal algorithms has demonstrated the potential to detect, quantify, and track deep space objects using small aperture cameras and on-board processors. The camera system, which was originally developed for a space-based Wide Area Space Surveillance System (WASSS), operates in a fixed-stare mode, continuously monitoring a wide swath of space and differentiating celestial objects from satellites based on differential motion across the field of view. It would have greatest utility in a LEO orbit to provide automated and continuous monitoring of deep space with high refresh rates, and with particular emphasis on the GEO belt and GEO transfer space. Continuous monitoring allows a concept of change detection and custody maintenance not possible with existing sensors. The detection approach is equally applicable to Earth-based sensor systems. A distributed system of such sensors, either Earth-based, or space-based, could provide automated, persistent night-time monitoring of all of deep space. The continuous monitoring provides a daily record of the light curves of all GEO objects above a certain brightness within the field of view. The daily updates of satellite light curves offers a means to identify specific satellites, to note changes in orientation and operational mode, and to queue other SSA assets for higher resolution queries. The data processing approach may also be applied to larger-aperture, higher resolution camera systems to extend the sensitivity towards dimmer objects. In order to demonstrate the utility of the WASSS system and data processing, a ground based field test was conducted in October 2012. We report here the results of the observations made at Magdalena Ridge Observatory using the prototype WASSS camera, which has a 4×60° field-of-view , <0.05° resolution, a 2.8 cm2 aperture, and the ability to view within 4° of the sun. A single camera pointed at the GEO belt provided a continuous night-long record of the intensity and location of more than 50 GEO objects detected within the camera's 60-degree field-of-view, with a detection sensitivity similar to the camera's shot noise limit of Mv=13.7. Performance is anticipated to scale with aperture area, allowing the detection of dimmer objects with larger-aperture cameras. The sensitivity of the system depends on multi-frame averaging and an image processing algorithm that exploits the different angular velocities of celestial objects and SOs. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) is used to filter out all objects moving with the velocity of the celestial frame of reference. The resulting filtered images are projected back into an Earth-centered frame of reference, or into any other relevant frame of reference, and co-added to form a series of images of the GEO objects as a function of time. The PCA approach not only removes the celestial background, but it also removes systematic variations in system calibration, sensor pointing, and atmospheric conditions. The resulting images are shot-noise limited, and can be exploited to automatically identify deep space objects, produce approximate state vectors, and track their locations and intensities as a function of time.

40 CFR Table A-1 to Subpart A of... - Summary of Applicable Requirements for Reference and Equivalent Methods for Air Monitoring of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Methods for Air Monitoring of Criteria Pollutants Pollutant Ref. or equivalent Manual or automated Applicable part 50 appendix Applicable subparts of part 53 A B C D E F SO2 Reference Manual A Equivalent Manual ✓ ✓ Automated ✓ ✓ ✓ CO Reference Automated C ✓ ✓ Equivalent Manual ✓ ✓ Automated ✓ ✓ ✓ O3...

Design and performance of the LCLS cavity BPM system.

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

Lill, R.; Norum, E.; Morrison, L.

2008-01-01

In this paper we present the design of the beam position monitor (BPM) system for the LCLS undulator, which features a high-resolution X-band cavity BPM. Each BPM has a TM{sub 010} monopole reference cavity and a TM{sub 110} dipole cavity designed to operate at a center frequency of 11.384 GHz. The signal processing electronics features a low- noise single-stage three-channel heterodyne receiver that has selectable gain and a phase locking local oscillator. We will discuss the system specifications, design, and prototype test results.

Design and Performance of the LCLS Cavity BPM System

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

Lill, R.M.; Morrison, L.H.; Norum, W.E.

2008-01-23

In this paper we present the design of the beam position monitor (BPM) system for the LCLS undulator, which features a high-resolution X-band cavity BPM. Each BPM has a TM{sub 010} monopole reference cavity and a TM{sub 110} dipole cavity designed to operate at a center frequency of 11.384 GHz. The signal processing electronics features a low noise single-stage three-channel heterodyne receiver that has selectable gain and a phase locking local oscillator. We will discuss the system specifications, design, and prototype test results.

Reference earth orbital research and applications investigations (blue book). Volume 7: Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

The candidate experiment program for manned space stations with specific application to technology disciplines is presented. The five functional program elements are devoted to the development of new technology for application to future generation spacecraft and experiments. The functional program elements are as follows: (1) monitor and trace movement of external contaminants to determine methods for controlling contamination, (2) analysis of fundamentals of fluid systems management, (3) extravehicular activity, (4) advanced spacecraft systems tests, and (5) development of teleoperator system for use with space activities.

Low-Cost GNSS Receivers for Local Monitoring: Experimental Simulation, and Analysis of Displacements

PubMed Central

Biagi, Ludovico; Grec, Florin Cătălin; Negretti, Marco

2016-01-01

The geodetic monitoring of local displacements and deformations is often needed for civil engineering structures and natural phenomena like, for example, landslides. A local permanent GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) network can be installed: receiver positions in the interest area are estimated and monitored with respect to reference stations. Usually, GNSS geodetic receivers are adopted and provide results with accuracies at the millimeter level: however, they are very expensive and the initial cost and the risk of damage and loss can discourage this approach. In this paper the accuracy and the reliability of low-cost u-blox GNSS receivers are experimentally investigated for local monitoring. Two experiments are analyzed. In the first, a baseline (65 m long) between one geodetic reference receiver and one u-blox is continuously observed for one week: the data are processed by hourly sessions and the results provide comparisons between two processing packages and a preliminary accuracy assessment. Then, a network composed of one geodetic and two u-blox receivers is set up. One u-blox is installed on a device (slide) that allows to apply controlled displacements. The geodetic and the other u-blox (at about 130 m) act as references. The experiment lasts about two weeks. The data are again processed by hourly sessions. The estimated displacements of the u-blox on the slide are analyzed and compared with the imposed displacements. All of the results are encouraging: in the first experiment the standard deviations of the residuals are smaller than 5 mm both in the horizontal and vertical; in the second, they are slightly worse but still satisfactory (5 mm in the horizontal and 13 mm in vertical) and the imposed displacements are almost correctly identified. PMID:27983707

Low-Cost GNSS Receivers for Local Monitoring: Experimental Simulation, and Analysis of Displacements.

PubMed

Biagi, Ludovico; Grec, Florin Cătălin; Negretti, Marco

2016-12-15

The geodetic monitoring of local displacements and deformations is often needed for civil engineering structures and natural phenomena like, for example, landslides. A local permanent GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) network can be installed: receiver positions in the interest area are estimated and monitored with respect to reference stations. Usually, GNSS geodetic receivers are adopted and provide results with accuracies at the millimeter level: however, they are very expensive and the initial cost and the risk of damage and loss can discourage this approach. In this paper the accuracy and the reliability of low-cost u-blox GNSS receivers are experimentally investigated for local monitoring. Two experiments are analyzed. In the first, a baseline (65 m long) between one geodetic reference receiver and one u-blox is continuously observed for one week: the data are processed by hourly sessions and the results provide comparisons between two processing packages and a preliminary accuracy assessment. Then, a network composed of one geodetic and two u-blox receivers is set up. One u-blox is installed on a device (slide) that allows to apply controlled displacements. The geodetic and the other u-blox (at about 130 m) act as references. The experiment lasts about two weeks. The data are again processed by hourly sessions. The estimated displacements of the u-blox on the slide are analyzed and compared with the imposed displacements. All of the results are encouraging: in the first experiment the standard deviations of the residuals are smaller than 5 mm both in the horizontal and vertical; in the second, they are slightly worse but still satisfactory (5 mm in the horizontal and 13 mm in vertical) and the imposed displacements are almost correctly identified.

Designing Robust and Reliable Timestamps for Remote Patient Monitoring.

PubMed

Clarke, Malcolm; Schluter, Paul; Reinhold, Barry; Reinhold, Brian

2015-09-01

Having timestamps that are robust and reliable is essential for remote patient monitoring in order for patient data to have context and to be correlated with other data. However, unlike hospital systems for which guidelines on timestamps are currently provided by HL7 and IHE, remote patient monitoring platforms are: operated in environments where it can be difficult to synchronize with reliable time sources; include devices with simple or no clock; and may store data spanning significant periods before able to upload. Existing guidelines prove inadequate. This paper analyzes the requirements and the operating scenarios of remote patient monitoring platforms and defines a framework to convey information on the conditions under which observations were made by the device and forwarded by the gateway in order for data to be managed appropriately and to include both reference to local time and an underlying continuous reference timeline. We define the timestamp formats of HL7 to denote the different conditions of operation and describe extensions to the existing definition of the HL7 timestamp to differentiate between time local to GMT (+0000) and universal coordinated time or network time protocol time where no geographic time zone is implied (-0000). We further describe how timestamps from devices having only simple or no clocks might be managed reliably by a gateway to provide timestamps that are referenced to local time and an underlying continuous reference timeline. We extend the HL7 message to include information to permit a subsequent receiver of the data to understand the quality of the timestamp and how it has been translated. We present evaluation from deploying a platform for 12 months.

Development, application, and sensitivity analysis of a water quality index for drinking water management in small systems.

PubMed

Scheili, A; Rodriguez, Manuel J; Sadiq, R

2015-11-01

The aim of this study was to produce a drinking water assessment tool for operators of small distribution systems. A drinking water quality index (DWQI) was developed and applied to small systems based on the water quality index of the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment. The drinking water quality index was adapted to specific needs by creating four drinking water quality scenarios. First, the temporal and spatial dimensions of drinking water quality variability were taken into account. The DWQI was designed to express global drinking water quality according to different monitoring frequencies. Daily, monthly, and seasonal assessment was also considered. With the data made available, it was possible to use the index as a spatial monitoring tool and express water quality in different points in the distribution system. Moreover, adjustments were made to prioritize the type of contaminant to monitor. For instance, monitoring contaminants with acute health effects led to a scenario based on daily measures, including easily accessible and affordable water quality parameters. On the other hand, contaminants with chronic effects, especially disinfection by-products, were considered in a seasonal monitoring scenario where disinfection by-product reference values were redefined according to their seasonal variability. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to validate the index. Globally, the DWQI developed is adapted to the needs of small systems. In fact, expressing drinking water quality using the DWQI contributes to the identification of problematic periods and segments in the distribution system. Further work may include this index in the development of a customized decision-making tool for small-system operators and managers.

Monitoring of left ventricular ejection fraction with a miniature, nonimaging nuclear detector: accuracy and reliability over time with special reference to blood labeling.

PubMed

Lindhardt, T B; Hesse, B; Gadsbøll, N

1997-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of determinations of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by a nonimaging miniature nuclear detector system (Cardioscint) and to evaluate the feasibility of long-term LVEF monitoring in patients admitted to the coronary care unit, with special reference to the blood-labeling technique. Cardioscint LVEF values were compared with measurements of LVEF by conventional gamma camera radionuclide ventriculography in 33 patients with a wide range of LVEF values. In 21 of the 33 patients, long-term monitoring was carried out for 1 to 4 hours (mean 186 minutes), with three different kits: one for in vivo and two for in vitro red blood cell labeling. The stability of the labeling was assessed by determination of the activity of blood samples taken during the first 24 hours after blood labeling. The agreement between Cardioscint LVEF and gamma camera LVEF was good with automatic background correction (r = 0.82; regression equation y = 1.04x + 3.88) but poor with manual background correction (r = 0.50; y = 0.88x - 0.55). The agreement was highest in patients without wall motion abnormalities. The long-term monitoring showed no difference between morning and afternoon Cardioscint LVEF values. Short-lasting fluctuations in LVEFs greater than 10 EF units were observed in the majority of the patients. After 24 hours, the mean reduction in the physical decay-corrected count rate of the blood samples was most pronounced for the two in vitro blood-labeling kits (57% +/- 9% and 41% +/- 3%) and less for the in vivo blood-labeling kit (32% +/- 26%). This "biologic decay" had a marked influence on the Cardioscint monitoring results, demanding frequent background correction. A fairly accurate estimate of LVEF can be obtained with the nonimaging Cardioscint system, and continuous bedside LVEF monitoring can proceed for hours with little inconvenience to the patients. Instability of the red blood cell labeling during long-term monitoring necessitates frequent background correction.

Field Comparison of Passive Air Samplers with Reference Monitors for Ambient Volatile Organic Compounds and Nitrogen Dioxide Under Week-Long Integrals

EPA Science Inventory

This study evaluates performance of nitrogen dioxide NO₂ and volatile organic compounds (VOC) passive samplers with corresponding reference monitors at two sites in the Detroit, Michigan area during the summer of 2005.

40 CFR 98.74 - Monitoring and QA/QC requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Relative Molecular Mass of Petroleum Oils from Viscosity Measurements (incorporated by reference, see § 98... Weight) of Hydrocarbons by Thermoelectric Measurement of Vapor Pressure (incorporated by reference, see... measurements according to the monitoring and QA/QC requirements for the Tier 3 methodology in § 98.34(b). (e...

Monitoring forests at the speed of light.

Treesearch

Valerie Rapp

2005-01-01

Airborne laser scanning is a technology developed in the last 15 years. Commonly referred to as light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, these systems can map ground with up to a 6-inch elevation accuracy in open, flat terrain. LIDAR is being rapidly adopted for topographical and flood-plain mapping and the detection of earthquake faults hidden by vegetation, among other...

Optical gas monitor

DOEpatents

Wu, Sheng; Deev, Andrei; Palm, Steve L.; Tang, Yongchun; Goddard, William A.

2010-11-30

A frequency modulated spectroscopy system, including a photo-detector, a band-pass filter to filter the output of the photo-detector, and a rectifier to demodulate. The band-pass filter has a relatively high Q factor. With the high Q factor band-pass filter and rectifier, a reference sinusoid is not required for demodulation, resulting in phase-insensitive spectroscopy. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

SU-F-P-11: Long Term Dosimetric Stability of 6 TomoTherapy Systems

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

Smilowitz, J; Dunkerley, D; Geurts, M

2016-06-15

Purpose: The dosimetric stability of six TomoTherapy units was analyzed to investigate changes in performance over time and with system upgrades. Methods: Energy and output were tracked using monitor chamber signal, onboard MVCT detector signal and external ion chamber measurements. The systems (and monitoring periods) include 3 Hi-Art (67, 61 and 65 mos.), 2 HDA (29 and 25 mos.) and one research unit (7 mo.). Dose Control Stability system (DCS) was installed on 4 systems. Output stability is reported as deviation from reference monitor chamber signal for all systems, and from an external chamber for 4 systems. Energy stability wasmore » monitored using the relative (center versus off-axis) MVCT detector signal and/or the ratio of chamber measurements at 2 depths. The results from the clinical systems were used to benchmark the stability of the research unit, which has the same linear accelerator but runs at a higher dose rate. Results: The output based on monitor chamber data of all six systems is very stable. Non- DCS had a standard deviation of 1.7% and 1.8%. As expected, DCS systems had improved standard deviation: 0.003–0.05%. The energy was also very stable for all units. The standard deviation in exit detector flatness was 0.02–0.3%. Ion chamber output and 20/10 cm ratios supported these results. The stability for the research system, as monitored with a variety of metrics, is on par with the existing systems. Conclusion: The output and energy of six TomoTherapy units over a total of almost 10 years is quite stable. For each system, the results are consistent between the different measurement tools and techniques, proving not only the dosimetric stability, but that these quality parameters can be confirmed with various metrics. A research unit operating at a higher dose rate performed as well as the clinical treatment units. University of Wisconsin and Accuray Inc. (vendor of TomoTherapy systems) have a research agreement which supplies funds for research to the University. This project was partially supporting with these funds.« less

Miniaturized pulse oximeter sensor for continuous vital parameter monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiala, Jens; Reichelt, Stephan; Werber, Armin; Bingger, Philipp; Zappe, Hans; Förster, Katharina; Klemm, Rolf; Heilmann, Claudia; Beyersdorf, Friedhelm

2007-07-01

A miniaturized photoplethysmographic sensor system which utilizes the principle of pulse oximetry is presented. The sensor is designed to be implantable and will permit continuous monitoring of important human vital parameters such as arterial blood oxygen saturation as well as pulse rate and shape over a long-term period in vivo. The system employs light emitting diodes and a photo transistor embedded in a transparent elastic cu. which is directly wrapped around an arterial vessel. This paper highlights the specific challenges in design, instrumentation, and electronics associated with that sensor location. In vitro measurements were performed using an artificial circulation system which allows for regulation of the oxygen saturation and pulsatile pumping of whole blood through a section of a domestic pig's arterial vessel. We discuss our experimental results compared to reference CO-oximeter measurements and determine the empirical calibration curve. These results demonstrate the capabilities of the pulse oximeter implant for measurement of a wide range of oxygen saturation levels and pave the way for a continuous and mobile monitoring of high-risk cardiovascular patients.

Optical monitoring of QSO in the framework of the Gaia space mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taris, F.; Damljanovic, G.; Andrei, A.; Klotz, A.; Vachier, F.

2015-08-01

The Gaia astrometric mission of the European Space Agency has been launched the 19th December 2013. It will provide an astrometric catalogue of 500 000 extragalactic sources that could be the basis of a new optical reference frame. On the other hand, the current International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) is based on the observations of extragalactic sources at radio wavelength. The astrometric coordinates of sources in these two reference systems will have roughly the same uncertainty. It is then mandatory to observe a set of common targets at both optical and radio wavelength to link the ICRF with what could be called the GCRF (Gaia Celestial Reference Frame). We will show in this paper some results obtained with the TJO, Telescopi Juan Oro, from Observatori Astronomic del Montsec in Spain. It also presents some results obtained with the Lomb-Scargle and CLEAN algorithm methods applied to optical magnitude obtained with the TAROT telescopes.

Remote sensing new model for monitoring the east Asian migratory locust infections based on its breeding circle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Xiuzhen; Ma, Jianwen; Bao, Yuhai

2006-12-01

Currently the function of operational locust monitor system mainly focused on after-hazards monitoring and assessment, and to found the way effectively to perform early warning and prediction has more practical meaning. Through 2001, 2002 two years continuously field sample and statistics for locusts eggs hatching, nymph growth, adults 3 phases observation, sample statistics and calculation, spectral measurements as well as synchronically remote sensing data processing we raise the view point of Remote Sensing three stage monitor the locust hazards. Based on the point of view we designed remote sensing monitor in three stages: (1) during the egg hitching phase remote sensing can retrieve parameters of land surface temperature (LST) and soil moisture; (2) during nymph growth phase locust increases appetite greatly and remote sensing can calculate vegetation index, leaf area index, vegetation cover and analysis changes; (3) during adult phase the locust move and assembly towards ponds and water ditches as well as less than 75% vegetation cover areas and remote sensing combination with field data can monitor and predicts potential areas for adult locusts to assembly. In this way the priority of remote sensing technology is elaborated effectively and it also provides technique support for the locust monitor system. The idea and techniques used in the study can also be used as reference for other plant diseases and insect pests.

Comparative assessment of a real-time particle monitor against the reference gravimetric method for PM10 and PM2.5 in indoor air

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tasić, Viša; Jovašević-Stojanović, Milena; Vardoulakis, Sotiris; Milošević, Novica; Kovačević, Renata; Petrović, Jelena

2012-07-01

Accurate monitoring of indoor mass concentrations of particulate matter is very important for health risk assessment as people in developed countries spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. The direct reading, aerosol monitoring device, Turnkey, OSIRIS Particle Monitor (Model 2315) and the European reference low volume sampler, LVS3 (Sven/Leckel LVS3) with size-selective inlets for PM10 and PM2.5 fractions were used to assess the comparability of available optical and gravimetric methods for particulate matter characterization in indoor air. Simultaneous 24-hour samples were collected in an indoor environment for 60 sampling periods in the town of Bor, Serbia. The 24-hour mean PM10 levels from the OSIRIS monitor were well correlated with the LVS3 levels (R2 = 0.87) and did not show statistically significant bias. The 24-hour mean PM2.5 levels from the OSIRIS monitor were moderately correlated with the LVS3 levels (R2 = 0.71), but show statistically significant bias. The results suggest that the OSIRIS monitor provides sufficiently accurate measurements for PM10. The OSIRIS monitor underestimated the indoor PM10 concentrations by approximately 12%, relative to the reference LVS3 sampler. The accuracy of PM10 measurements could be further improved through empirical adjustment. For the fine fraction of particulate matter, PM2.5, it was found that the OSIRIS monitor underestimated indoor concentrations by approximately 63%, relative to the reference LVS3 sampler. This could lead to exposure misclassification in health effects studies relying on PM2.5 measurements collected with this instrument in indoor environments.

Assessment of curing behavior of light-activated dental composites using intensity correlation based multiple reference optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Dsouza, Roshan; Subhash, Hrebesh; Neuhaus, Kai; Kantamneni, Ramakrishna; McNamara, Paul M; Hogan, Josh; Wilson, Carol; Leahy, Martin

2016-01-01

Monitoring the curing kinetics of light-activated resin is a key area of research. These resins are used in restorative applications and particularly in dental applications. They can undergo volumetric shrinkage due to poor control of the depth dependent curing process, modulated by the intensity and duration of the curing light source. This often results in the formation of marginal gaps, causing pain and damage to the restoration site. In this study, we demonstrate the capabilities of a correlation method applied using a multiple references optical coherence tomography (MR-OCT) architecture to monitor the curing of the resin. A MR-OCT system is used in this study to monitor the curing of the resin. The system operates at the center wavelength of 1310 nm with an A-scan rate of 1200 A-scans per second. The axial and lateral resolution of the system is ∼13 μm and ∼27 μm. The method to determine the intensity correlation between adjacent B-frames is based on the Pearson correlation coefficient for a region of interest. Calculating the correlation coefficient for multiple B-frames related to the first B-frame at regular spaced time points, shows for a noncured resin a reduction of the correlation coefficient over time due to Brownian motion. The time constant of the reduction of the correlation value is a measure for the progress of the polymerization during LED light irradiation of the resin. The proposed approach is potentially a low-cost, powerful and unique optical imaging modality for measuring the curing behavior of dental resin and other resins, coatings, and adhesives in medical and industrial applications. To demonstrate the proposed method to monitor the curing process, a light-activated resin composite from GRADIA DIRECT ANTERIOR (GC Corporation, Japan) is studied. The curing time of resin was measured and monitored as a function of depth. The correlation coefficient method is highly sensitive to Brownian motion. The process of curing results in a change in intensity as measured by the MR-OCT signal and hence can be monitored using this method. These results show that MR-OCT has the potential to measure the curing time and monitor the curing process as a function of depth. Moreover, MR-OCT as a product has potential to be compact, low-cost and to fit into a smartphone. Using such a device for monitoring the curing of the resin will be suitable for dentists in stationary and mobile clinical settings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hyperresolution Global Land Surface Modeling: Meeting a Grand Challenge for Monitoring Earth's Terrestrial Water

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, Eric F.; Roundy, Joshua K.; Troy, Tara J.; van Beek, L. P. H.; Bierkens, Marc F. P.; 4 Blyth, Eleanor; de Roo, Ad; Doell. Petra; Ek, Mike; Famiglietti, James;

Hyperresolution global land surface modeling: Meeting a grand challenge for monitoring Earth's terrestrial water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Eric F.; Roundy, Joshua K.; Troy, Tara J.; van Beek, L. P. H.; Bierkens, Marc F. P.; Blyth, Eleanor; de Roo, Ad; DöLl, Petra; Ek, Mike; Famiglietti, James; Gochis, David; van de Giesen, Nick; Houser, Paul; Jaffé, Peter R.; Kollet, Stefan; Lehner, Bernhard; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.; Peters-Lidard, Christa; Sivapalan, Murugesu; Sheffield, Justin; Wade, Andrew; Whitehead, Paul

2011-05-01

Monitoring Earth's terrestrial water conditions is critically important to many hydrological applications such as global food production; assessing water resources sustainability; and flood, drought, and climate change prediction. These needs have motivated the development of pilot monitoring and prediction systems for terrestrial hydrologic and vegetative states, but to date only at the rather coarse spatial resolutions (˜10-100 km) over continental to global domains. Adequately addressing critical water cycle science questions and applications requires systems that are implemented globally at much higher resolutions, on the order of 1 km, resolutions referred to as hyperresolution in the context of global land surface models. This opinion paper sets forth the needs and benefits for a system that would monitor and predict the Earth's terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles. We discuss six major challenges in developing a system: improved representation of surface-subsurface interactions due to fine-scale topography and vegetation; improved representation of land-atmospheric interactions and resulting spatial information on soil moisture and evapotranspiration; inclusion of water quality as part of the biogeochemical cycle; representation of human impacts from water management; utilizing massively parallel computer systems and recent computational advances in solving hyperresolution models that will have up to 109 unknowns; and developing the required in situ and remote sensing global data sets. We deem the development of a global hyperresolution model for monitoring the terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles a "grand challenge" to the community, and we call upon the international hydrologic community and the hydrological science support infrastructure to endorse the effort.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Primary Care Approach to Diagnosis and Management.

PubMed

Lam, Nguyet-Cam Vu; Ghetu, Maria V; Bieniek, Marzena L

2016-08-15

Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that affects many systems, including the skin, musculoskeletal, renal, neuropsychiatric, hematologic, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and reproductive systems. Family physicians should be familiar with the manifestations of lupus to aid in early diagnosis, monitoring patients with mild disease, recognizing warning signs that require referral to a rheumatologist, and helping to monitor disease activity and treatment in patients with moderate to severe disease. The American College of Rheumatology has 11 classification criteria for lupus. If a patient meets at least four criteria, lupus can be diagnosed with 95% specificity and 85% sensitivity. All patients with lupus should receive education, counseling, and support. Hydroxychloroquine is the cornerstone of treatment because it reduces disease flares and other constitutional symptoms. Low-dose glucocorticoids can be used to treat most manifestations of lupus. The use of immunosuppressive and cytotoxic agents depends on the body systems affected. Patients with mild disease that does not involve major organ systems can be monitored by their family physician. Patients with increased disease activity, complications, or adverse effects from treatment should be referred to a rheumatologist. To optimize treatment, it is important that a rheumatologist coordinate closely with the patient's family physician to improve chronic care as well as preventive health services.

Error Analysis of Wind Measurements for the University of Illinois Sodium Doppler Temperature System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfenninger, W. Matthew; Papen, George C.

1992-01-01

Four-frequency lidar measurements of temperature and wind velocity require accurate frequency tuning to an absolute reference and long term frequency stability. We quantify frequency tuning errors for the Illinois sodium system, to measure absolute frequencies and a reference interferometer to measure relative frequencies. To determine laser tuning errors, we monitor the vapor cell and interferometer during lidar data acquisition and analyze the two signals for variations as functions of time. Both sodium cell and interferometer are the same as those used to frequency tune the laser. By quantifying the frequency variations of the laser during data acquisition, an error analysis of temperature and wind measurements can be calculated. These error bounds determine the confidence in the calculated temperatures and wind velocities.

Integrating an internet-mediated walking program into family medicine clinical practice: a pilot feasibility study.

PubMed

Goodrich, David E; Buis, Lorraine R; Janney, Adrienne W; Ditty, Megan D; Krause, Christine W; Zheng, Kai; Sen, Ananda; Strecher, Victor J; Hess, Michael L; Piette, John D; Richardson, Caroline R

2011-06-24

Regular participation in physical activity can prevent many chronic health conditions. Computerized self-management programs are effective clinical tools to support patient participation in physical activity. This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate an online interface for primary care providers to refer patients to an Internet-mediated walking program called Stepping Up to Health (SUH) and to monitor participant progress in the program. In Phase I of the study, we recruited six pairs of physicians and medical assistants from two family practice clinics to assist with the design of a clinical interface. During Phase II, providers used the developed interface to refer patients to a six-week pilot intervention. Provider perspectives were assessed regarding the feasibility of integrating the program into routine care. Assessment tools included quantitative and qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews, surveys, and online usage logs. In Phase I, 13 providers used SUH and participated in two interviews. Providers emphasized the need for alerts flagging patients who were not doing well and the ability to review participant progress. Additionally, providers asked for summary views of data across all enrolled clinic patients as well as advertising materials for intervention recruitment. In response to this input, an interface was developed containing three pages: 1) a recruitment page, 2) a summary page, and 3) a detailed patient page. In Phase II, providers used the interface to refer 139 patients to SUH and 37 (27%) enrolled in the intervention. Providers rarely used the interface to monitor enrolled patients. Barriers to regular use of the intervention included lack of integration with the medical record system, competing priorities, patient disinterest, and physician unease with exercise referrals. Intention-to-treat analyses showed that patients increased walking by an average of 1493 steps/day from pre- to post-intervention (t = (36) = 4.13, p < 0.01). Providers successfully referred patients using the SUH provider interface, but were less willing to monitor patient compliance in the program. Patients who completed the program significantly increased their step counts. Future research is needed to test the effectiveness of integrating SUH with clinical information systems over a longer evaluation period.

Modeling of the spatial state of the ionosphere using regular definitions of the VTEC identifier at the network of continuously operating GNSS stations of Ukraine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yankiv-Vitkovska, Liubov; Dzhuman, Bogdan

2017-04-01

Due to the wide application of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), the development of the modern GNSS infrastructure moved the monitoring of the Earth's ionosphere to a new methodological and technological level. The peculiarity of such monitoring is that it allows conducting different experimental studies including the study of the ionosphere directly while using the existing networks of reference GNSS stations intended for solving other problems. The application of the modern GNSS infrastructure is another innovative step in the ionospheric studies as such networks allow to conduct measurements continuously over time in any place. This is used during the monitoring of the ionosphere and allows studying the global and regional phenomena in the ionosphere in real time. Application of a network of continuously operating reference stations to determine numerical characteristics of the Earth's ionosphere allows creating an effective technology to monitor the ionosphere regionally. This technology is intended to solve both scientific problems concerning the space weather, and practical tasks such as providing coordinates of the geodetic level accuracy. For continuously operating reference GNSS stations, the results of the determined ionization identifier TEC (Total Electron Content). On the one hand, this data reflects the state of the ionosphere during the observation; on the other hand, it is a substantial tool for accuracy improvement and reliable determination of coordinates of the observation place. Thus, it was decided to solve a problem of restoring the spatial position of the ionospheric state or its ionization field according to the regular definitions of the TEC identifier, i.e. VTEC (Vertical TEC). The description below shows one of the possible solutions that is based on the spherical cap harmonic analysis method for modeling VTEC parameter. This method involves transformation of the initial data to a spherical cap and construction of model using associated Legendre functions of integer order but not necessarily of integer degree. Such functions form two orthogonal systems of functions on the spherical cap. The method was tested for network of permanent stations ZAKPOS.

Evaluation of Blood Glucose Monitoring System in Screening for Neonatal Hypoglycemia: Tighter Accuracy Standard.

PubMed

Tsao, Mei-Fen; Chang, Hui-Wen; Chang, Chien-Hsi; Cheng, Chi-Hsuan; Lin, Hsiu-Chen

2017-05-01

Neonatal hypoglycemia may cause severe neurological damages; therefore, tight glycemic control is crucial to identify neonate at risk. Previous blood glucose monitoring system (BGMS) failed to perform well in neonates; there are calls for the tightening of accuracy requirements. It remains a need for accurate BGMS for effective bedside diabetes management in neonatal care within a hospital population. A total of 300 neonates were recruited from local hospitals. Accuracy performance of a commercially available BGMS was evaluated against reference instrument in screening for neonatal hypoglycemia, and assessment was made based on the ISO15197:2013 and a tighter standard. At blood glucose level < 47 mg/dl, BGMS assessed met the minimal accuracy requirement of ISO 15197:2013 and tighter standard at 100% and 97.2%, respectively.

Ratioing methods for in-flight response calibration of space-based spectro-radiometers, operating in the solar spectral region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lobb, Dan

2017-11-01

One of the most significant problems for space-based spectro-radiometer systems, observing Earth from space in the solar spectral band (UV through short-wave IR), is in achievement of the required absolute radiometric accuracy. Classical methods, for example using one or more sun-illuminated diffusers as reflectance standards, do not generally provide methods for monitoring degradation of the in-flight reference after pre-flight characterisation. Ratioing methods have been proposed that provide monitoring of degradation of solar attenuators in flight, thus in principle allowing much higher confidence in absolute response calibration. Two example methods are described. It is shown that systems can be designed for relatively low size and without significant additions to the complexity of flight hardware.

Ultrasonic Signal Processing for Structural Health Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michaels, Jennifer E.; Michaels, Thomas E.

2004-02-01

Permanently mounted ultrasonic sensors are a key component of systems under development for structural health monitoring. Signal processing plays a critical role in the viability of such systems due to the difficulty in interpreting signals received from structures of complex geometry. This paper describes a differential feature-based approach to classifying signal changes as either "environmental" or "structural". Data are presented from piezoelectric discs bonded to an aluminum specimen subjected to both environmental changes and introduction of artificial defects. The classifier developed as part of this study was able to correctly identify artificial defects that were not part of the initial training and evaluation data sets. Central to the success of the classifier was the use of the Short Time Cross Correlation to measure coherency between the signal and reference as a function of time.

Assessment of capacity-building activities for forest measurement, reporting, and verification, 2011–15

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peneva-Reed, Elitsa I.; Romijn, J. Erika

2018-05-31

This report was written as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey, SilvaCarbon, and Wageningen University with funding provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the European Space Agency, respectively, to address a pressing need for enhanced result-based monitoring and evaluation of delivered capacity-building activities. For this report, the capacity-building activities delivered by capacity-building providers (referred to as “providers” hereafter) during 2011–15 (the study period) to support countries in building measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) were assessed and evaluated.Summarizing capacity-building activities and outcomes across multiple providers was challenging. Many of the providers did not have information readily available, which precluded them from participating in this study despite the usefulness of their information. This issue led to a key proposed future action: Capacity-building providers could establish a central repository within the Global Forestry Observation Initiative (GFOI; http://www.gfoi.org/) where data from past, current, and future activities of all capacity-building providers could be stored. The repository could be maintained in a manner to continually learn from previous lessons.Although various providers monitored and evaluated the success of their capacity-building activities, such evaluations only assessed the success of immediate outcomes and not the overarching outcomes and impacts of activities implemented by multiple providers. Good monitoring and evaluation should continuously monitor and periodically evaluate all factors affecting the outcomes of a provided capacity-building activity.The absence of a methodology to produce quantitative evidence of a causal link between multiple capacity-building activities delivered and successful outcomes left only a plausible association. A previous publication argued that plausible association, although not a precise measurement of cause and effect, was a realistic tool. Our review of the available literature on this subject did not find another similar assessment to assess capacity-building activities for supporting the countries in building MRV system for REDD+.Four countries from the main forested regions of Africa, the Americas, and Asia were chosen as subjects for this report based on the length of time SilvaCarbon and other providers have provided capacity-building activities toward MRV system for REDD+: Colombia (the Americas), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; Africa), Peru (the Americas), and the Republic of the Philippines (referred to as “the Philippines” hereafter; Asia).Several providers were contacted for information to include in this report, but, because of various constraints, only SilvaCarbon, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) participated in this study. These three providers supported various targeted capacity-building activities through-out Africa, the Americas, and Asia, including the following: technical workshops at national and regional levels (referred to as “workshops” hereafter), hands on training, study tours, technical details by experts, technical consultation between providers and recipients, sponsorship for travel, organizing network meetings, developing sampling protocols, assessing deforestation and degradation drivers, estimating carbon stock and flow, designing monitoring systems for multiple uses, promoting public-private partnerships to scale up investments on MRV system for REDD+, and assisting with the design of national forest monitoring systems.Their activities were planned in coordination with key partners in each country and region and with the support and assistance of other providers. Note that several other organizations and institutions assisted the providers to deliver capacity-building activities, including Boston University, Conservation International, Stanford University, University of Maryland, and Wageningen University & Research.

CHRONOBIOLOGY OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

PubMed Central

Cornélissen, G.; Halberg, F.; Bakken, E. E.; Wang, Z.; Tarquini, R.; Perfetto, F.; Laffi, G.; Maggioni, C.; Kumagai, Y.; Homolka, P.; Havelková, A.; Dušek, J.; Svačinová, H.; Siegelová, J.; Fišer, B.

2008-01-01

BIOCOS, the project aimed at studying BIOlogical systems in their COSmos, has obtained a great deal of expertise in the fields of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) monitoring and of marker rhythmometry for the purposes of screening, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Prolonging the monitoring reduces the uncertainty in the estimation of circadian parameters; the current recommendation of BIOCOS requires monitoring for at least 7 days. The BIOCOS approach consists of a parametric and a non-parametric analysis of the data, in which the results from the individual subject are being compared with gender- and age-specified reference values in health. Chronobiological designs can offer important new information regarding the optimization of treatment by timing its administration as a function of circadian and other rhythms. New technological developments are needed to close the loop between the monitoring of blood pressure and the administration of antihypertensive drugs. PMID:19122770

Use of an intravascular fluorescent continuous glucose sensor in subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

PubMed

Romey, Matthew; Jovanovič, Lois; Bevier, Wendy; Markova, Kateryna; Strasma, Paul; Zisser, Howard

2012-11-01

Stress hyperglycemia in the critically ill is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Continuous glucose monitoring offers a solution to the difficulties of dosing intravenous insulin properly to maintain glycemic control. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an intravascular continuous glucose monitoring (IV-CGM) system with a sensing element based on the concept of quenched fluorescence. A second-generation intravascular continuous glucose sensor was evaluated in 13 volunteer subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus. There were 21 study sessions of up to 24 h in duration. Sensors were inserted into peripheral veins of the upper extremity, up to two sensors per subject per study session. Sensor output was compared with temporally correlated reference measurements obtained from venous samples on a laboratory glucose analyzer. Data were obtained from 23 sensors in 13 study sessions with 942 paired reference values. Fourteen out of 23 sensors (60.9%) had a mean absolute relative difference ≤ 10%. Eighty-nine percent of paired points were in the clinically accurate A zone of the Clarke error grid and met ISO 15197 performance criteria. Adequate venous blood flow was identified as a necessary condition for accuracy when local sensor readings are compared with venous blood glucose. The IV-CGM system was capable of achieving a high level of glucose measurement accuracy. However, superficial peripheral veins may not provide adequate blood flow for reliable indwelling blood glucose monitoring. © 2012 Diabetes Technology Society.

Use of an Intravascular Fluorescent Continuous Glucose Sensor in Subjects with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

PubMed Central

Romey, Matthew; Jovanovič, Lois; Bevier, Wendy; Markova, Kateryna; Strasma, Paul; Zisser, Howard

2012-01-01

Background Stress hyperglycemia in the critically ill is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Continuous glucose monitoring offers a solution to the difficulties of dosing intravenous insulin properly to maintain glycemic control. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an intravascular continuous glucose monitoring (IV-CGM) system with a sensing element based on the concept of quenched fluorescence. Method A second-generation intravascular continuous glucose sensor was evaluated in 13 volunteer subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus. There were 21 study sessions of up to 24 h in duration. Sensors were inserted into peripheral veins of the upper extremity, up to two sensors per subject per study session. Sensor output was compared with temporally correlated reference measurements obtained from venous samples on a laboratory glucose analyzer. Results Data were obtained from 23 sensors in 13 study sessions with 942 paired reference values. Fourteen out of 23 sensors (60.9%) had a mean absolute relative difference ≤ 10%. Eighty-nine percent of paired points were in the clinically accurate A zone of the Clarke error grid and met ISO 15197 performance criteria. Adequate venous blood flow was identified as a necessary condition for accuracy when local sensor readings are compared with venous blood glucose. Conclusions The IV-CGM system was capable of achieving a high level of glucose measurement accuracy. However, superficial peripheral veins may not provide adequate blood flow for reliable indwelling blood glucose monitoring. PMID:23294770

Four-and-one-half years' experience in monitoring of reproducibility of an MR spectroscopy system--application of in vitro results to interpretation of in vivo data.

PubMed

Skorupa, Agnieszka; Wicher, Magdalena; Banasik, Tomasz; Jamroz, Ewa; Paprocka, Justyna; Kiełtyka, Aleksandra; Sokół, Maria; Konopka, Marek

2014-05-08

The primary purpose of this work was to assess long-term in vitro reproducibility of metabolite levels measured using 1H MRS (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy). The secondary purpose was to use the in vitro results for interpretation of 1H MRS in vivo spectra acquired from patients diagnosed with Canavan disease. 1H MRS measurements were performed in the period from April 2006 to September 2010. 118 short and 116 long echo spectra were acquired from a stable phantom during this period. Change-point analysis of the in vitro N-acetylaspartate levels was exploited in the computation of fT factor (ratio of the actual to the reference N-acetylaspartate level normalized by the reciprocity principle). This coefficient was utilized in the interpretation of in vivo spectra analyzed using absolute reference technique. The monitored time period was divided into six time intervals based on short echo in vitro data (seven time intervals based on long echo in vitro data) characterized by fT coefficient ranging from 0.97 to 1.09 (based on short echo data) and from 1.0 to 1.11 (based on long echo data). Application of this coefficient to interpretation of in vivo spectra confirmed increased N-acetylaspartate level in Canavan disease. Long-term monitoring of an MRS system reproducibility, allowing for absolute referencing of metabolite levels, facilitates interpretation of metabolic changes in white matter disorders.

The Chinese version of monitoring and evaluation system strengthening tool for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) capacity building: Development and evaluation.

PubMed

Zhao, Ran; Chen, Ren; Zhang, Bing; Ma, Ying; Qin, Xia; Hu, Zhi

2015-08-01

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) capacity building has become a significant step for HIV prevention and control. The M&E system strengthening tool published by the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was intended to be the most authoritative assessment tool internationally. Facing the fact that the M&E system in China did not function at an optimum level, we considered taking the international standards for reference. By linguistic validating and different stages' discussions and revisions, we came up with the Chinese version of the capacity diagnosis tool with at least 12 components and tested its validity and reliability. The tool turned out to have a sufficiently linguistic validation and proved to be a scientific and feasible instrument which was suitable for China's national conditions.

Community Air Sensor Network (CAIRSENSE) project ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Advances in air pollution sensor technology have enabled the development of small and low cost systems to measure outdoor air pollution. The deployment of a large number of sensors across a small geographic area would have potential benefits to supplement traditional monitoring networks with additional geographic and temporal measurement resolution, if the data quality were sufficient. To understand the capability of emerging air sensor technology, the Community Air Sensor Network (CAIRSENSE) project deployed low cost, continuous and commercially-available air pollution sensors at a regulatory air monitoring site and as a local sensor network over a surrounding ~2 km area in Southeastern U.S. Co-location of sensors measuring oxides of nitrogen, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particles revealed highly variable performance, both in terms of comparison to a reference monitor as well as whether multiple identical sensors reproduced the same signal. Multiple ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide sensors revealed low to very high correlation with a reference monitor, with Pearson sample correlation coefficient (r) ranging from 0.39 to 0.97, -0.25 to 0.76, -0.40 to 0.82, respectively. The only sulfur dioxide sensor tested revealed no correlation (r 0.5), step-wise multiple linear regression was performed to determine if ambient temperature, relative humidity (RH), or age of the sensor in sampling days could be used in a correction algorihm to im

Analysis Article on the Performance Analysis of the OneTouch® UltraVue™ Blood Glucose Monitoring System

PubMed Central

Solnica, Bogdan

2009-01-01

In this issue of Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Chang and colleagues present the analytical performance evaluation of the OneTouch® UltraVue™ blood glucose meter. This device is an advanced construction with a color display, used-strip ejector, no-button interface, and short assay time. Accuracy studies were performed using a YSI 2300 analyzer, considered the reference. Altogether, 349 pairs of results covering a wide range of blood glucose concentrations were analyzed. Patients with diabetes performed a significant part of the tests. Obtained results indicate good accuracy of OneTouch UltraVue blood glucose monitoring system, satisfying the International Organization for Standardization recommendations and thereby locating >95% of tests within zone A of the error grid. Results of the precision studies indicate good reproducibility of measurements. In conclusion, the evaluation of the OneTouch UltraVue meter revealed good analytical performance together with convenient handling useful for self-monitoring of blood glucose performed by elderly diabetes patients. PMID:20144432

Analysis article on the performance analysis of the OneTouch UltraVue blood glucose monitoring system.

PubMed

Solnica, Bogdan

2009-09-01

In this issue of Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Chang and colleagues present the analytical performance evaluation of the OneTouch UltraVue blood glucose meter. This device is an advanced construction with a color display, used-strip ejector, no-button interface, and short assay time. Accuracy studies were performed using a YSI 2300 analyzer, considered the reference. Altogether, 349 pairs of results covering a wide range of blood glucose concentrations were analyzed. Patients with diabetes performed a significant part of the tests. Obtained results indicate good accuracy of OneTouch UltraVue blood glucose monitoring system, satisfying the International Organization for Standardization recommendations and thereby locating >95% of tests within zone A of the error grid. Results of the precision studies indicate good reproducibility of measurements. In conclusion, the evaluation of the OneTouch UltraVue meter revealed good analytical performance together with convenient handling useful for self-monitoring of blood glucose performed by elderly diabetes patients. 2009 Diabetes Technology Society.

Assessment of the usefulness of semipermeable membrane devices for long-term watershed monitoring in an urban slough system

USGS Publications Warehouse

McCarthy, K.

2006-01-01

Semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) were deployed at eight sites within the Buffalo Slough, near Portland, Oregon, to (1) measure the spatial and seasonal distribution of dissolved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and organochlorine (OC) compounds in the slough, (2) assess the usefulness of SPMDs as a tool for investigating and monitoring hydrophobic compounds throughout the Columbia Slough system, and (3) evaluate the utility of SPMDs as a tool for measuring the long-term effects of watershed improvement activities. Data from the SPMDs revealed clear spatial and seasonal differences in water quality within the slough and indicate that for hydrophobic compounds, this time-integrated passive-sampling technique is a useful tool for long-term watershed monitoring. In addition, the data suggest that a spiking rate of 2-5 ??g/SPMD of permeability/performance reference compounds, including at least one compound that is not susceptible to photodegradation, may be optimum for the conditions encountered here. ?? Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006.

Site-specific landslide assessment in Alpine area using a reliable integrated monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romeo, Saverio; Di Matteo, Lucio; Kieffer, Daniel Scott

2016-04-01

Rockfalls are one of major cause of landslide fatalities around the world. The present work discusses the reliability of integrated monitoring of displacements in a rockfall within the Alpine region (Salzburg Land - Austria), taking into account also the effect of the ongoing climate change. Due to the unpredictability of the frequency and magnitude, that threatens human lives and infrastructure, frequently it is necessary to implement an efficient monitoring system. For this reason, during the last decades, integrated monitoring systems of unstable slopes were widely developed and used (e.g., extensometers, cameras, remote sensing, etc.). In this framework, Remote Sensing techniques, such as GBInSAR technique (Groung-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar), have emerged as efficient and powerful tools for deformation monitoring. GBInSAR measurements can be useful to achieve an early warning system using surface deformation parameters as ground displacement or inverse velocity (for semi-empirical forecasting methods). In order to check the reliability of GBInSAR and to monitor the evolution of landslide, it is very important to integrate different techniques. Indeed, a multi-instrumental approach is essential to investigate movements both in surface and in depth and the use of different monitoring techniques allows to perform a cross analysis of the data and to minimize errors, to check the data quality and to improve the monitoring system. During 2013, an intense and complete monitoring campaign has been conducted on the Ingelsberg landslide. By analyzing both historical temperature series (HISTALP) recorded during the last century and those from local weather stations, temperature values (Autumn-Winter, Winter and Spring) are clearly increased in Bad Hofgastein area as well as in Alpine region. As consequence, in the last decades the rockfall events have been shifted from spring to summer due to warmer winters. It is interesting to point out that temperature values recorded in the valley and on the slope show a good relationship indicating that the climatic monitoring is reliable. In addition, the landslide displacement monitoring is reliable as well: the comparison between displacements in depth by extensometers and in surface by GBInSAR - referred to March-December 2013 - shows ad high reliability as confirmed by the inter-rater reliability analysis (Pearson correlation coefficient higher than 0.9). In conclusion, the reliability of the monitoring system confirms that data can be useful to improve the knowledge on rockfall kinematic and to develop an accurate early warning system useful for civil protection issues.

InfoSequia: the first operational remote sensing-based Drought Monitoring System of Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Contreras, Sergio; Hunink, Johannes E.

2016-04-01

We present a satellite-based Drought Monitoring System that provides weekly updates of maps and bulletins with vegetation drought indices over the Iberian Peninsula. The web portal InfoSequía (http://infosequia.es) aims to complement the current Spanish Drought Monitoring System which relies on a hydrological drought index computed at the basin level using data on river flows and water stored in reservoirs. Drought indices computed by InfoSequia are derived from satellite data provided by MODIS sensors (TERRA and AQUA satellites), and report the relative anomaly observed in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Land Surface Temperature (LST), and in an additive combination of both. Similar to the U.S. Drought Monitoring System by NOAA, the indices include the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI, relative NDVI anomaly), the Temperature Condition Index (TCI, relative LST anomaly) and the Vegetation Health Index (VHI, relative NDVI-LST anomaly). Relative anomalies are codified into four warning levels, and all of them are provided for short periods of time (8-day windows), or longer periods (e.g. 1 year) in order to capture the cumulative effects of droughts in the state variables. Additionally, InfoSequia quantifies the seasonal trajectories of the cumulative deviation of the observed NDVI in relation with the averaged seasonal trajectory observed over a reference period. Through the weekly bulletins, the Drought Monitoring System InfoSequia aims to provide practical information to stakeholders on the sensitivity and resilience of native ecosystems and rainfed agrosystems during drought periods. Also, the remote sensed indices can be used as drought impact indicator to evaluate the skill of seasonal agricultural drought forecasting systems. InfoSequia is partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness through a Torres-Quevedo grant.

Validation of Contact-Free Sleep Monitoring Device with Comparison to Polysomnography.

PubMed

Tal, Asher; Shinar, Zvika; Shaki, David; Codish, Shlomi; Goldbart, Aviv

2017-03-15

To validate a contact-free system designed to achieve maximal comfort during long-term sleep monitoring, together with high monitoring accuracy. We used a contact-free monitoring system (EarlySense, Ltd., Israel), comprising an under-the-mattress piezoelectric sensor and a smartphone application, to collect vital signs and analyze sleep. Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), body movement, and calculated sleep-related parameters from the EarlySense (ES) sensor were compared to data simultaneously generated by the gold standard, polysomnography (PSG). Subjects in the sleep laboratory underwent overnight technician-attended full PSG, whereas subjects at home were recorded for 1 to 3 nights with portable partial PSG devices. Data were compared epoch by epoch. A total of 63 subjects (85 nights) were recorded under a variety of sleep conditions. Compared to PSG, the contact-free system showed similar values for average total sleep time (TST), % wake, % rapid eye movement, and % non-rapid eye movement sleep, with 96.1% and 93.3% accuracy of continuous measurement of HR and RR, respectively. We found a linear correlation between TST measured by the sensor and TST determined by PSG, with a coefficient of 0.98 (R = 0.87). Epoch-by-epoch comparison with PSG in the sleep laboratory setting revealed that the system showed sleep detection sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 92.5%, 80.4%, and 90.5%, respectively. TST estimates with the contact-free sleep monitoring system were closely correlated with the gold-standard reference. This system shows good sleep staging capability with improved performance over accelerometer-based apps, and collects additional physiological information on heart rate and respiratory rate. © 2017 American Academy of Sleep Medicine

A new infrared Fabry-Pérot-based radial-velocity-reference module for the SPIRou radial-velocity spectrograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cersullo, Federica; Wildi, François; Chazelas, Bruno; Pepe, Francesco

2017-05-01

Context. The field of exoplanet research is moving towards the detection and characterization of habitable planets. These exo-Earths can be easily found around low-mass stars by using either photometric transit or radial-velocity (RV) techniques. In the latter case the gain is twofold because the signal induced by the planet of a given mass is higher due to the more favourable planet-star mass ratio and because the habitable zone lies closer to the star. However, late-type stars emit mainly in the infrared (IR) wavelength range, which calls for IR instruments. Aims: SPIRou is a stable RV IR spectrograph addressing these ambitious scientific objectives. As with any other spectrograph, calibration and drift monitoring is fundamental to achieve high precision. However, the IR domain suffers from a lack of suitable reference spectral sources. Our goal was to build, test and finally operate a Fabry-Pérot-based RV-reference module able to provide the needed spectral information over the full wavelength range of SPIRou. Methods: We adapted the existing HARPS Fabry-Pérot calibrator for operation in the IR domain. After manufacturing and assembly, we characterized the FP RV-module in the laboratory before delivering it to the SPIRou integration site. In particular, we measured finesse, transmittance, and spectral flux of the system. Results: The measured finesse value of F = 12.8 corresponds perfectly to the theoretical value. The total transmittance at peak is of the order of 0.5%, mainly limited by fibre-connectors and interfaces. Nevertheless, the provided flux is in line with the the requirements set by the SPIRou instrument. Although we could test the stability of the system, we estimated it by comparing the SPIRou Fabry-Pérot with the already operating HARPS system and demonstrated a stability of better than 1 m s-1 during a night. Conclusions: Once installed on SPIRou, we will test the full spectral characteristics and stability of the RV-reference module. The goal will be to prove that the line position and shape stability of all lines is better than 0.3 m s-1 between two calibration sequences (typically 24 h), such that the RV-reference module can be used to monitor instrumental drifts. In principle, the system is also intrinsically stable over longer time scales such that it can also be used for calibration purposes.

Exploring of PST-TBPM in Monitoring Bridge Dynamic Deflection in Vibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guojian; Liu, Shengzhen; Zhao, Tonglong; Yu, Chengxin

2018-01-01

This study adopts digital photography to monitor bridge dynamic deflection in vibration. Digital photography used in this study is based on PST-TBPM (photographing scale transformation-time baseline parallax method). Firstly, a digital camera is used to monitor the bridge in static as a zero image. Then, the digital camera is used to monitor the bridge in vibration every three seconds as the successive images. Based on the reference system, PST-TBPM is used to calculate the images to obtain the bridge dynamic deflection in vibration. Results show that the average measurement accuracies are 0.615 pixels and 0.79 pixels in X and Z direction. The maximal deflection of the bridge is 7.14 pixels. PST-TBPM is valid in solving the problem-the photographing direction not perpendicular to the bridge. Digital photography used in this study can assess the bridge health through monitoring the bridge dynamic deflection in vibration. The deformation trend curves depicted over time also can warn the possible dangers.

Current methods of monitoring radiation exposure from CT.

PubMed

Talati, Ronak K; Dunkin, Jared; Parikh, Shrujal; Moore, William H

2013-09-01

Increased public and regulatory scrutiny of imaging-related radiation exposure requires familiarity with current dose-monitoring techniques and best practices. CT-related ionizing radiation exposure has been cited as the largest and fastest growing source of population-wide iatrogenic ionizing radiation exposure. Upcoming federal regulations require imaging centers to familiarize themselves with available dose-monitoring techniques and implement comprehensive strategies to track patient dose, with particular emphasis on CT. Because of institution-specific and vendor-specific technologies, there are significant barriers to adoption and implementation. In this article, the authors outline the core components of a universal dose-monitoring strategy and detail a few of the many available commercial platforms. In addition, the authors introduce a cloud-based hybrid model dose-tracking system with the goal of rapid implementation, multicenter scalability, real-time dose feedback for technologists, cumulative dose monitoring, and optional dose communication to patients and into the record; doing so results in improved patient loyalty, referring physician satisfaction, and opportunity for repeat business. Copyright © 2013 American College of Radiology. All rights reserved.

Investigation of an expert health monitoring system for aeronautical structures based on pattern recognition and acousto-ultrasonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tibaduiza-Burgos, Diego Alexander; Torres-Arredondo, Miguel Angel

2015-08-01

Aeronautical structures are subjected to damage during their service raising the necessity for periodic inspection and maintenance of their components so that structural integrity and safe operation can be guaranteed. Cost reduction related to minimizing the out-of-service time of the aircraft, together with the advantages offered by real-time and safe-life service monitoring, have led to a boom in the design of inexpensive and structurally integrated transducer networks comprising actuators, sensors, signal processing units and controllers. These kinds of automated systems are normally referred to as smart structures and offer a multitude of new solutions to engineering problems and multi-functional capabilities. It is thus expected that structural health monitoring (SHM) systems will become one of the leading technologies for assessing and assuring the structural integrity of future aircraft. This study is devoted to the development and experimental investigation of an SHM methodology for the detection of damage in real scale complex aeronautical structures. The work focuses on each aspect of the SHM system and highlights the potentialities of the health monitoring technique based on acousto-ultrasonics and data-driven modelling within the concepts of sensor data fusion, feature extraction and pattern recognition. The methodology is experimentally demonstrated on an aircraft skin panel and fuselage panel for which several damage scenarios are analysed. The detection performance in both structures is quantified and presented.

Air pollution effects field research facility: 3. UV-B exposure and monitoring system

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

McEvers, J.A.; Hileman, M.S.; Edwards, N.T.

1993-03-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Outdoor UltraViolet-B (UV-B) Exposure and Monitoring Facility was developed in 1980 to provide well-controlled and -monitored exposure of specific terrestrial plant. species to elevated levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The introduction of various anthropogenic agents into the earth`s stratosphere has resulted in a decrease in the volume of ozone (O{sub 3}) present here. The decrease in O{sub 3} has resulted in an increase in the level of UV radiation reaching thee earth`s surface. Of particular interest is the level of UV-B, because it has the most detrimental effect on living tissue. A thorough understanding ofmore » the effects of elevated levels of UV-B on living tissue is critical to the formulation of economic policy regarding production of such agents and alternative strategies. The UV region of interest is referred to as UV-B and corresponds to radiation with a wavelength of 290 to 320 nm. Design, operation, and performance of the automated generation, exposure, and monitoring system are described. The system has proved to be reliable and easy to maintain and operate, and it provides significant flexibility in exposure programs. The system software is described, and detailed listings are provided. The ability to expose plants to controlled set point percentages of UV-B above the ambient level was developed.« less

In-line assay monitor for uranium hexafluoride

DOEpatents

Wallace, Steven A.

1981-01-01

An in-line assay monitor for determining the content of uranium-235 in a uranium hexafluoride gas isotopic separation system is provided which removes the necessity of complete access to the operating parameters of the system for determining the uranium-235 content. The monitor is intended for uses such as safeguard applications to assure that weapons grade uranium is not being produced in an enrichment cascade. The method and monitor for carrying out the method involve cooling of a radiation pervious chamber connected in fluid communication with the selected point in the system to withdraw a specimen and solidify the specimen in the chamber. The specimen is irradiated by means of an ionizing radiation source of energy different from that of the 185 keV gamma emissions from the uranium-235 present in the specimen. Simultaneously, the gamma emissions from the uranium-235 of the specimen and the source emissions transmitted through the sample are counted and stored in a multiple channel analyzer. The uranium-235 content of the specimen is determined from the comparison of the accumulated 185 keV energy counts and the reference energy counts. The latter is used to measure the total uranium isotopic content of the specimen. The process eliminates the necessity of knowing the system operating conditions and yet obtains the necessary data without need for large scintillation crystals and sophisticated mechanical designs.

The Global Geodetic Observing System: Recent Activities and Accomplishments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, R. S.

2017-12-01

The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) provides the basis on which future advances in geosciences can be built. By considering the Earth system as a whole (including the geosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere and biosphere), monitoring Earth system components and their interactions by geodetic techniques and studying them from the geodetic point of view, the geodetic community provides the global geosciences community with a powerful tool consisting mainly of high-quality services, standards and references, and theoretical and observational innovations. The mission of GGOS is: (a) to provide the observations needed to monitor, map and understand changes in the Earth's shape, rotation and mass distribution; (b) to provide the global frame of reference that is the fundamental backbone for measuring and consistently interpreting key global change processes and for many other scientific and societal applications; and (c) to benefit science and society by providing the foundation upon which advances in Earth and planetary system science and applications are built. The goals of GGOS are: (1) to be the primary source for all global geodetic information and expertise serving society and Earth system science; (2) to actively promote, sustain, improve, and evolve the integrated global geodetic infrastructure needed to meet Earth science and societal requirements; (3) to coordinate with the international geodetic services that are the main source of key parameters and products needed to realize a stable global frame of reference and to observe and study changes in the dynamic Earth system; (4) to communicate and advocate the benefits of GGOS to user communities, policy makers, funding organizations, and society. In order to accomplish its mission and goals, GGOS depends on the IAG Services, Commissions, and Inter-Commission Committees. The Services provide the infrastructure and products on which all contributions of GGOS are based. The IAG Commissions and Inter-Commission Committees provide expertise and support for the scientific development within GGOS. In summary, GGOS is IAG's central interface to the scientific community and to society in general. Recent activities and accomplishments of the Global Geodetic Observing System will be presented.

Automated selected reaction monitoring software for accurate label-free protein quantification.

PubMed

Teleman, Johan; Karlsson, Christofer; Waldemarson, Sofia; Hansson, Karin; James, Peter; Malmström, Johan; Levander, Fredrik

2012-07-06

Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) is a mass spectrometry method with documented ability to quantify proteins accurately and reproducibly using labeled reference peptides. However, the use of labeled reference peptides becomes impractical if large numbers of peptides are targeted and when high flexibility is desired when selecting peptides. We have developed a label-free quantitative SRM workflow that relies on a new automated algorithm, Anubis, for accurate peak detection. Anubis efficiently removes interfering signals from contaminating peptides to estimate the true signal of the targeted peptides. We evaluated the algorithm on a published multisite data set and achieved results in line with manual data analysis. In complex peptide mixtures from whole proteome digests of Streptococcus pyogenes we achieved a technical variability across the entire proteome abundance range of 6.5-19.2%, which was considerably below the total variation across biological samples. Our results show that the label-free SRM workflow with automated data analysis is feasible for large-scale biological studies, opening up new possibilities for quantitative proteomics and systems biology.

Detecting and Quantifying Forest Change: The Potential of Existing C- and X-Band Radar Datasets.

PubMed

Tanase, Mihai A; Ismail, Ismail; Lowell, Kim; Karyanto, Oka; Santoro, Maurizio

2015-01-01

This paper evaluates the opportunity provided by global interferometric radar datasets for monitoring deforestation, degradation and forest regrowth in tropical and semi-arid environments. The paper describes an easy to implement method for detecting forest spatial changes and estimating their magnitude. The datasets were acquired within space-borne high spatial resolutions radar missions at near-global scales thus being significant for monitoring systems developed under the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The approach presented in this paper was tested in two areas located in Indonesia and Australia. Forest change estimation was based on differences between a reference dataset acquired in February 2000 by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and TanDEM-X mission (TDM) datasets acquired in 2011 and 2013. The synergy between SRTM and TDM datasets allowed not only identifying changes in forest extent but also estimating their magnitude with respect to the reference through variations in forest height.

The study of surgical image quality evaluation system by subjective quality factor method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jian J.; Xuan, Jason R.; Yang, Xirong; Yu, Honggang; Koullick, Edouard

2016-03-01

GreenLightTM procedure is an effective and economical way of treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH); there are almost a million of patients treated with GreenLightTM worldwide. During the surgical procedure, the surgeon or physician will rely on the monitoring video system to survey and confirm the surgical progress. There are a few obstructions that could greatly affect the image quality of the monitoring video, like laser glare by the tissue and body fluid, air bubbles and debris generated by tissue evaporation, and bleeding, just to name a few. In order to improve the physician's visual experience of a laser surgical procedure, the system performance parameter related to image quality needs to be well defined. However, since image quality is the integrated set of perceptions of the overall degree of excellence of an image, or in other words, image quality is the perceptually weighted combination of significant attributes (contrast, graininess …) of an image when considered in its marketplace or application, there is no standard definition on overall image or video quality especially for the no-reference case (without a standard chart as reference). In this study, Subjective Quality Factor (SQF) and acutance are used for no-reference image quality evaluation. Basic image quality parameters, like sharpness, color accuracy, size of obstruction and transmission of obstruction, are used as subparameter to define the rating scale for image quality evaluation or comparison. Sample image groups were evaluated by human observers according to the rating scale. Surveys of physician groups were also conducted with lab generated sample videos. The study shows that human subjective perception is a trustworthy way of image quality evaluation. More systematic investigation on the relationship between video quality and image quality of each frame will be conducted as a future study.

Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) Vegetation Volume Index: An assessment tool for marsh habitat focused on the three-dimensional structure at CRMS vegetation monitoring stations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wood, William B.; Visser, Jenneke M.; Piazza, Sarai C.; Sharp, Leigh A.; Hundy, Laura C.; McGinnis, Tommy E.

2015-12-04

The VV and VVI will be used to establish trends, to make comparisons, and to evaluate restoration projects. Assessments that rely on the VVI will be included in appropriate Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) project reports and analyses. Implementation of the VVI will give coastal managers a new tool to design, implement, and monitor coastal restoration projects. A yearly trajectory of site, project, basin, and coastwide VVI will be posted on the CRMS Web site as data are collected. The primary purpose of the tool is to assess CWPPRA restoration project effectiveness, but it will also be useful in identifying areas in need of restoration and in coastwide vegetation assessments.

Internal corrosion monitoring of subsea oil and gas production equipment

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

Joosten, M.W.; Fischer, K.P.; Strommen, R.

1995-04-01

Nonintrusive techniques will dominate subsea corrosion monitoring compared with the intrusive methods because such methods do not interfere with pipeline operations. The long-term reliability of the nonintrusive techniques in general is considered to be much better than that of intrusive-type probes. The nonintrusive techniques based on radioactive tracers (TLA, NA) and FSM and UT are expected to be the main types of subsea corrosion monitoring equipment in the coming years. Available techniques that could be developed specifically for subsea applications are: electrochemical noise, corrosion potentials (using new types of reference electrodes), multiprobe system for electrochemical measurements, and video camera inspectionmore » (mini-video camera with light source). The following innovative techniques have potential but need further development: ion selective electrodes, radioactive tracers, and Raman spectroscopy.« less

Dynamic Integration of Mobile JXTA with Cloud Computing for Emergency Rural Public Health Care

PubMed Central

Rajkumar, Rajasekaran; Sriman Narayana Iyengar, Nallani Chackravatula

2013-01-01

Objectives The existing processes of health care systems where data collection requires a great deal of labor with high-end tasks to retrieve and analyze information, are usually slow, tedious, and error prone, which restrains their clinical diagnostic and monitoring capabilities. Research is now focused on integrating cloud services with P2P JXTA to identify systematic dynamic process for emergency health care systems. The proposal is based on the concepts of a community cloud for preventative medicine, to help promote a healthy rural community. We investigate the approaches of patient health monitoring, emergency care, and an ambulance alert alarm (AAA) under mobile cloud-based telecare or community cloud controller systems. Methods Considering permanent mobile users, an efficient health promotion method is proposed. Experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the method. The performance was evaluated from September 2011 to July 2012. A total of 1,856,454 cases were transported and referred to hospital, identified with health problems, and were monitored. We selected all the peer groups and the control server N0 which controls N1, N2, and N3 proxied peer groups. The hospital cloud controller maintains the database of the patients through a JXTA network. Results Among 1,856,454 transported cases with beneficiaries of 1,712,877 cases there were 1,662,834 lives saved and 8,500 cases transported per day with 104,530 transported cases found to be registered in a JXTA network. Conclusion The registered case histories were referred from the Hospital community cloud (HCC). SMS messages were sent from node N0 to the relay peers which connected to the N1, N2, and N3 nodes, controlled by the cloud controller through a JXTA network. PMID:24298441

Dynamic Integration of Mobile JXTA with Cloud Computing for Emergency Rural Public Health Care.

PubMed

Rajkumar, Rajasekaran; Sriman Narayana Iyengar, Nallani Chackravatula

2013-10-01

The existing processes of health care systems where data collection requires a great deal of labor with high-end tasks to retrieve and analyze information, are usually slow, tedious, and error prone, which restrains their clinical diagnostic and monitoring capabilities. Research is now focused on integrating cloud services with P2P JXTA to identify systematic dynamic process for emergency health care systems. The proposal is based on the concepts of a community cloud for preventative medicine, to help promote a healthy rural community. We investigate the approaches of patient health monitoring, emergency care, and an ambulance alert alarm (AAA) under mobile cloud-based telecare or community cloud controller systems. Considering permanent mobile users, an efficient health promotion method is proposed. Experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the method. The performance was evaluated from September 2011 to July 2012. A total of 1,856,454 cases were transported and referred to hospital, identified with health problems, and were monitored. We selected all the peer groups and the control server N0 which controls N1, N2, and N3 proxied peer groups. The hospital cloud controller maintains the database of the patients through a JXTA network. Among 1,856,454 transported cases with beneficiaries of 1,712,877 cases there were 1,662,834 lives saved and 8,500 cases transported per day with 104,530 transported cases found to be registered in a JXTA network. The registered case histories were referred from the Hospital community cloud (HCC). SMS messages were sent from node N0 to the relay peers which connected to the N1, N2, and N3 nodes, controlled by the cloud controller through a JXTA network.

Performance Evaluation of Three Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems Using ISO 15197: 2013 Accuracy Criteria, Consensus and Surveillance Error Grid Analyses, and Insulin Dosing Error Modeling in a Hospital Setting.

PubMed

Bedini, José Luis; Wallace, Jane F; Pardo, Scott; Petruschke, Thorsten

2015-10-07

Blood glucose monitoring is an essential component of diabetes management. Inaccurate blood glucose measurements can severely impact patients' health. This study evaluated the performance of 3 blood glucose monitoring systems (BGMS), Contour® Next USB, FreeStyle InsuLinx®, and OneTouch® Verio™ IQ, under routine hospital conditions. Venous blood samples (N = 236) obtained for routine laboratory procedures were collected at a Spanish hospital, and blood glucose (BG) concentrations were measured with each BGMS and with the available reference (hexokinase) method. Accuracy of the 3 BGMS was compared according to ISO 15197:2013 accuracy limit criteria, by mean absolute relative difference (MARD), consensus error grid (CEG) and surveillance error grid (SEG) analyses, and an insulin dosing error model. All BGMS met the accuracy limit criteria defined by ISO 15197:2013. While all measurements of the 3 BGMS were within low-risk zones in both error grid analyses, the Contour Next USB showed significantly smaller MARDs between reference values compared to the other 2 BGMS. Insulin dosing errors were lowest for the Contour Next USB than compared to the other systems. All BGMS fulfilled ISO 15197:2013 accuracy limit criteria and CEG criterion. However, taking together all analyses, differences in performance of potential clinical relevance may be observed. Results showed that Contour Next USB had lowest MARD values across the tested glucose range, as compared with the 2 other BGMS. CEG and SEG analyses as well as calculation of the hypothetical bolus insulin dosing error suggest a high accuracy of the Contour Next USB. © 2015 Diabetes Technology Society.

Laser measurement of respiration activity in preterm infants: Monitoring of peculiar events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scalise, L.; Marchionni, P.; Ercoli, I.; Tomasini, E. P.

2012-09-01

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a part of a pediatric hospital dedicated to the care of ill or pre-term patients . NICU's patients are underweight and most of the time they need cardiac and respiratory support therapies; they are placed in incubators or in cribs maintaining target environmental and body temperatures and protecting patients from bacteria and virus. Patients are continuously monitored for long period of time (days or weeks) due to their possible several health conditions. the most common vital signs monitored are: respiration rate, heart rate, body temperature, blood saturation, etc. Most of the devices used for transducing such quantities in electronic signals - like spirometer or electrocardiogram (ECG) - are in direct contact with the patient and results, also in consideration of the specific patient, largely invasive. In this paper, we propose a novel measurement system for non-contact and non-invasive assessment of the respiration activity, with particular reference to the detection of peculiar respiration events of extreme interest in intensive care units, such as: irregular inspiration/expiration acts, hiccups and apneas. The sensing device proposed is the Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDVi) which is an non contact, optical measurement system for the assessment of a surface velocity and displacement. In the past it has been demonstrated to be suitable to measure heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR) in adult and in preterm infant trough chest-wall displacements. The measurement system is composed by a LDVi system and a data acquisition board installed on a PC, with no direct contact with the patient. Tests have been conducted on 20 NICU patients, for a total of 7219 data sampled. Results show very high correlation (R=0.99) with the reference instrument used for the patient monitoring (mechanical ventilator), with an uncertainty < ±7 ms (k=2). Moreover, during the tests, some peculiar respiration events, have been recorded on 6 of the monitored patients: irregular inspiration/expiration acts (4), hiccups (1) and apneas (1). The proposed measurement method shows to be able to precisely detect the instantaneous respiration frequency of the patient, avoiding patient contact. Moreover the signal collected allow to identify irregularities in the patient respiration of different severity, allowing an optimized action of the care givers.

Spatially monitoring oxygen level in 3D microfabricated cell culture systems using optical oxygen sensing beads

PubMed Central

Wang, Lin; Acosta, Miguel A.; Leach, Jennie B.; Carrier, Rebecca L.

2013-01-01

Capability of measuring and monitoring local oxygen concentration at the single cell level (tens of microns scale) is often desirable but difficult to achieve in cell culture. In this study, biocompatible oxygen sensing beads were prepared and tested for their potential for real-time monitoring and mapping of local oxygen concentration in 3D micro-patterned cell culture systems. Each oxygen sensing bead is composed of a silica core loaded with both an oxygen sensitive Ru(Ph2phen3)Cl2 dye and oxygen insensitive Nile blue reference dye, and a poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) shell rendering biocompatibility. Human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were cultivated on a series of PDMS and type I collagen based substrates patterned with micro-well arrays for 3 or 7 days, and then brought into contact with oxygen sensing beads. Using an image analysis algorithm to convert florescence intensity of beads to partial oxygen pressure in the culture system, tens of microns-size oxygen sensing beads enabled the spatial measurement of local oxygen concentration in the microfabricated system. Results generally indicated lower oxygen level inside wells than on top of wells, and local oxygen level dependence on structural features of cell culture surfaces. Interestingly, chemical composition of cell culture substrates also appeared to affect oxygen level, with type-I collagen based cell culture systems having lower oxygen concentration compared to PDMS based cell culture systems. In general, results suggest that oxygen sensing beads can be utilized to achieve real-time and local monitoring of micro-environment oxygen level in 3D microfabricated cell culture systems. PMID:23443975

Spatially monitoring oxygen level in 3D microfabricated cell culture systems using optical oxygen sensing beads.

PubMed

Wang, Lin; Acosta, Miguel A; Leach, Jennie B; Carrier, Rebecca L

2013-04-21

Capability of measuring and monitoring local oxygen concentration at the single cell level (tens of microns scale) is often desirable but difficult to achieve in cell culture. In this study, biocompatible oxygen sensing beads were prepared and tested for their potential for real-time monitoring and mapping of local oxygen concentration in 3D micro-patterned cell culture systems. Each oxygen sensing bead is composed of a silica core loaded with both an oxygen sensitive Ru(Ph2phen3)Cl2 dye and oxygen insensitive Nile blue reference dye, and a poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) shell rendering biocompatibility. Human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were cultivated on a series of PDMS and type I collagen based substrates patterned with micro-well arrays for 3 or 7 days, and then brought into contact with oxygen sensing beads. Using an image analysis algorithm to convert florescence intensity of beads to partial oxygen pressure in the culture system, tens of microns-size oxygen sensing beads enabled the spatial measurement of local oxygen concentration in the microfabricated system. Results generally indicated lower oxygen level inside wells than on top of wells, and local oxygen level dependence on structural features of cell culture surfaces. Interestingly, chemical composition of cell culture substrates also appeared to affect oxygen level, with type-I collagen based cell culture systems having lower oxygen concentration compared to PDMS based cell culture systems. In general, results suggest that oxygen sensing beads can be utilized to achieve real-time and local monitoring of micro-environment oxygen level in 3D microfabricated cell culture systems.

Devices Would Detect Drugs In Sweat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mintz, Fredrick W.; Richards, Gil; Kidwell, David A.; Foster, Conrad; Kern, Roger G.; Nelson, Gregory A.

1996-01-01

Proposed devices worn on skin detect such substances as methamphetamine, morphine, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and cocaine in wearers' sweat and transmits radio signals in response to computer queries. Called Remote Biochemical Assay Telemetering System (R-BATS), commonly referred to as "drug badge," attached to wearer by use of adhesive wristband. Used for noninvasive monitoring of levels of prescribed medications in hospital and home-care settings and to detect overdoses quickly.

Computation, Mathematics and Logistics Department Report for Fiscal Year 1978.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-03-01

storage technology. A reference library on these and related areas is now composed of two thousand documents. The most comprehensive tool available...at DTNSRDC on the CDC 6000 Computer System for a variety of applications including Navy Logistics, Library Science, Ocean Science, Contract Manage... Library Science) Track technical documents on advanced ship design Univ. of Virginia at Charlottesville - (Ocean Science) Monitor research projects for

Residual water bactericide monitor development program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

A silver-ion bactericidal monitor is considered for the Space Shuttle Potable Water System. Potentiometric measurement using an ion-selective electrode is concluded to be the most feasible of available techniques. Four commercially available electrodes and a specially designed, solid-state, silver-sulfide electrode were evaluated for their response characteristics and suitability for space use. The configuration of the solid-state electrode with its Nernstian response of 10 to 10,000 ppb silver shows promise for use in space. A pressurized double-junction reference electrode with a quartz-fiber junction and a replaceable bellows electrolyte reservoir was designed verification-tested, and paired with a solid-state silver-sulfide electrode in a test fixture.

Research on intelligent scenic security early warning platform based on high resolution image: real scene linkage and real-time LBS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Baishou; Huang, Yu; Lan, Guangquan; Li, Tingting; Lu, Ting; Yao, Mingxing; Luo, Yuandan; Li, Boxiang; Qian, Yongyou; Gao, Yujiu

2015-12-01

This paper design and implement security monitor system within a scenic spot for tourists, the scenic spot staff can be automatic real time for visitors to perception and monitoring, and visitors can also know about themselves location in the scenic, real-time and obtain the 3D imaging conditions of scenic area. Through early warning can realize "parent-child relation", preventing the old man and child lost and wandering. Research results to the further development of virtual reality to provide effective security early warning platform of the theoretical basis and practical reference.

Design of the monitoring system at the Sant'Alessio induced riverbank filtration plant (Lucca, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossetto, Rudy; Barbagli, Alessio; Borsi, Iacopo; Mazzanti, Giorgio; Picciaia, Daniele; Vienken, Thomas; Bonari, Enrico

2015-04-01

In Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) schemes the monitoring system, for both water quality and quantity issues, plays a key role in assuring that a groundwater recharge plant is really managed. Considering induced Riverbank Filtration (RBF) schemes, while the effect of the augmented filtration consists in an improvement of the quality and quantity of the water infiltrating the aquifer, there is in turn the risk for groundwater contamination, as surface water bodies are highly susceptible to contamination. Within the framework of the MARSOL (2014) EU FPVII-ENV-2013 project, an experimental monitoring system has been designed and will be set in place at the Sant'Alessio RBF well field (Lucca, Italy) to demonstrate the sustainability and the benefits of managing induced RBF versus the unmanaged option. The RBF scheme in Sant'Alessio (Borsi et al. 2014) allows abstraction of an overall amount of about 0,5 m3/s groundwater providing drinking water for about 300000 people of the coastal Tuscany. Water is derived by ten vertical wells set along the Serchio River embankments inducing river water filtration into a high yield (10-2m2/s transmissivity) sand and gravel aquifer. Prior to the monitoring system design, a detailed site characterization has been completed taking advantage of previous and new investigations, the latter performed by means of MOSAIC on-site investigation platform (UFZ). A monitoring network has been set in place in the well field area using existing wells. There groundwater head and the main physico-chemical parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and redox potential) are routinely monitored. Major geochemical compounds along with a large set of emerging pollutants are analysed (in cooperation with IWW Zentrum Wasser, Germany) both in surface-water and ground-water. The experimental monitoring system (including sensors in surface- and ground-water) has been designed focusing on managing abstraction efficiency and safety at one of the ten productive wells. The groundwater monitoring system consists of a set of six piezometer clusters drilled around a reference well along the main groundwater flowpaths. At each cluster, three piezometers (screened in the penultimate meter) are set at different depths to allow multilevel monitoring and sampling. At six selected piezometers, depending on ongoing hydrogeochemical investigations, six sensors for continuous monitoring of groundwater head, temperature and electrical conductivity will be set in operation. Within the Serchio River, two monitoring stations will be set in operation in order to monitor river head, water temperature and electrical conductivity upstream and downstream the experimental plot. A multi/parameter probe for the detection of selected analytes such nitrates, and selected organics to be defined will also be set in the Serchio River water. Each sensor will constitute a node of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The WSN is based on several data loggers «client» connected via radio to one server point (Gateway), transmitting to a server via GSM-GPRS. This set up, while maintaining the high quality of data transmission, will allow to reduce installation and operational costs. The main characteristic of the conceived monitoring system is that sensors have been selected so to transmit data in an open format. The sensor network prototype will allow to get a substantial sensor cost reduction compared to available commercial solutions. The ultimate goal of this complex monitoring setting will be that of defining the minimum monitoring set up to guarantee efficiency and safety of groundwater withdrawals. Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge GEAL spa for technical support and granting access to the well field. The activities described in this paper are co-financed within the framework of the EU FP7-ENV-2013-WATER-INNO-DEMO MARSOL (Grant Agreement n. 619120). References Borsi, I., Mazzanti, G., Barbagli, A., Rossetto, R., 2014. The riverbank filtration plant in S. Alessio (Lucca): monitoring and modeling activity within EU the FP7 MARSOL project. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, Vol. 3, n. 3/137 MARSOL (2014). Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution to Water Scarcity and Drought www.marsol.eu [accessed 4 January 2015

Defining the ATC Controller Interface for Data Link Clearances

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rankin, James

1998-01-01

The Controller Interface (CI) is the primary method for Air Traffic Controllers to communicate with aircraft via Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC). The controller, wearing a microphone/headset, aurally gives instructions to aircraft as he/she would with today's voice radio systems. The CI's voice recognition system converts the instructions to digitized messages that are formatted according to the RTCA DO-219 Operational Performance Standards for ATC Two-Way Data Link Communications. The DO-219 messages are transferred via RS-232 to the ATIDS system for uplink using a Mode-S datalink. Pilot acknowledgments of controller messages are downlinked to the ATIDS system and transferred to the Cl. A computer monitor is used to convey information to the controller. Aircraft data from the ARTS database are displayed on flight strips. The flight strips are electronic versions of the strips currently used in the ATC system. Outgoing controller messages cause the respective strip to change color to indicate an unacknowledged transmission. The message text is shown on the flight strips for reference. When the pilot acknowledges the message, the strip returns to its normal color. A map of the airport can also be displayed on the monitor. In addition to voice recognition, the controller can enter messages using the monitor's touch screen or by mouse/keyboard.

Design and Evaluation of an Intelligent Remote Tidal Volume Variability Monitoring System in E-Health Applications.

PubMed

Fekr, Atena Roshan; Radecka, Katarzyna; Zilic, Zeljko

2015-09-01

A reliable long-term monitoring and diagnosis of breath disorders at an early stage provides an improvement of medical act, life expectancy, and quality of life while decreasing the costs of treatment and medical services. Therefore, a real-time unobtrusive monitoring of respiration patterns, as well as breath parameters, is a critical need in medical applications. In this paper, we propose an intelligent system for patient home care, capable of measuring respiration rate and tidal volume variability via a wearable sensing technology. The proposed system is designed particularly for the goal of diagnosis and treatment in patients with pathological breathing, e.g., respiratory complications after surgery or sleep disorders. The complete system was comprised of wearable calibrated accelerometer sensor, Bluetooth low energy, and cloud database. The experiments are conducted with eight subjects and the overall error in respiration rate calculation is obtained 0.29%±0.33% considering SPR-BTA spirometer as the reference. We also introduce a method for tidal volume variability estimation while validated using Pearson correlation. Furthermore, since it is essential to detect the critical events resulted from sudden rise or fall in per breath tidal volume of the patients, we provide a technique to automatically find the accurate threshold values based on each individual breath characteristics. Therefore, the system is able to detect the major changes, precisely by more than 98%, and provide immediate feedback such as sound alarm for round-the-clock respiration monitoring.

Unified Desktop for Monitoring & Control Applications - The Open Navigator Framework Applied for Control Centre and EGSE Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brauer, U.

2007-08-01

The Open Navigator Framework (ONF) was developed to provide a unified and scalable platform for user interface integration. The main objective for the framework was to raise usability of monitoring and control consoles and to provide a reuse of software components in different application areas. ONF is currently applied for the Columbus onboard crew interface, the commanding application for the Columbus Control Centre, the Columbus user facilities specialized user interfaces, the Mission Execution Crew Assistant (MECA) study and EADS Astrium internal R&D projects. ONF provides a well documented and proven middleware for GUI components (Java plugin interface, simplified concept similar to Eclipse). The overall application configuration is performed within a graphical user interface for layout and component selection. The end-user does not have to work in the underlying XML configuration files. ONF was optimized to provide harmonized user interfaces for monitoring and command consoles. It provides many convenience functions designed together with flight controllers and onboard crew: user defined workspaces, incl. support for multi screens efficient communication mechanism between the components integrated web browsing and documentation search &viewing consistent and integrated menus and shortcuts common logging and application configuration (properties) supervision interface for remote plugin GUI access (web based) A large number of operationally proven ONF components have been developed: Command Stack & History: Release of commands and follow up the command acknowledges System Message Panel: Browse, filter and search system messages/events Unified Synoptic System: Generic synoptic display system Situational Awareness : Show overall subsystem status based on monitoring of key parameters System Model Browser: Browse mission database defintions (measurements, commands, events) Flight Procedure Executor: Execute checklist and logical flow interactive procedures Web Browser : Integrated browser reference documentation and operations data Timeline Viewer: View master timeline as Gantt chart Search: Local search of operations products (e.g. documentation, procedures, displays) All GUI components access the underlying spacecraft data (commanding, reporting data, events, command history) via a common library providing adaptors for the current deployments (Columbus MCS, Columbus onboard Data Management System, Columbus Trainer raw packet protocol). New Adaptors are easy to develop. Currently an adaptor to SCOS 2000 is developed as part of a study for the ESTEC standardization section ("USS for ESTEC Reference Facility").

International Collaboration in the field of GNSS-Meteorology and Climate Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, J.; Guerova, G.; Dousa, J.; Bock, O.; Elgered, G.; Vedel, H.; Pottiaux, E.; de Haan, S.; Pacione, R.; Dick, G.; Wang, J.; Gutman, S. I.; Wickert, J.; Rannat, K.; Liu, G.; Braun, J. J.; Shoji, Y.

2012-12-01

International collaboration in the field of GNSS-meteorology and climate monitoring is essential, as severe weather and climate change have no respect for national boundaries. The use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for meteorological purposes is an established atmospheric observing technique, which can accurately sense water vapour, the most abundant greenhouse gas, accounting for 60-70% of atmospheric warming. Severe weather forecasting is challenging, in part due to the high temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric water vapour. Water vapour is currently under-sampled and obtaining and exploiting more high-quality humidity observations is essential to severe weather forecasting and climate monitoring. A proposed EU COST Action (http://www.cost.eu) will address new and improved capabilities from concurrent developments in both GNSS and atmospheric communities to improve (short-range) weather forecasts and climate projections. For the first time, the synergy of the three GNSS systems, GPS, GLONASS and Galileo, will be used to develop new, advanced tropospheric products, stimulating the full potential exploitation of multi-GNSS water vapour estimates on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, from real-time severe weather monitoring and forecasting to climate research. The Action will work in close collaboration with the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Reference Upper Air Network (GRUAN), GNSS Precipitable Water Task Team (TT). GRUAN is a global reference observing network, designed to meet climate requirements and to fill a major void in the current global observing system. GRUAN observations will provide long-term, high-quality data to determine climatic trends and to constrain and validate data from space-based remote sensors. Ground-based GNSS PW was identified as a Priority 1 measurement for GRUAN, and the GNSS-PW TT's goal is to develop explicit guidance on hardware, software and data management practices to obtain GNSS PW measurements of consistent quality at all GRUAN sites. The GRUAN GNSS-PW TT and the proposed COST Action will look to expand the international framework already in place with the European E-GVAP programme to facilitate global collaboration to facilitate knowledge and data exchange.

The Influence of the Terrestrial Reference Frame on Studies of Sea Level Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nerem, R. S.; Bar-Sever, Y. E.; Haines, B. J.; Desai, S.; Heflin, M. B.

2015-12-01

The terrestrial reference frame (TRF) provides the foundation for the accurate monitoring of sea level using both ground-based (tide gauges) and space-based (satellite altimetry) techniques. For the latter, tide gauges are also used to monitor drifts in the satellite instruments over time. The accuracy of the terrestrial reference frame (TRF) is thus a critical component for both types of sea level measurements. The TRF is central to the formation of geocentric sea-surface height (SSH) measurements from satellite altimeter data. The computed satellite orbits are linked to a particular TRF via the assumed locations of the ground-based tracking systems. The manner in which TRF errors are expressed in the orbit solution (and thus SSH) is not straightforward, and depends on the models of the forces underlying the satellite's motion. We discuss this relationship, and provide examples of the systematic TRF-induced errors in the altimeter derived sea-level record. The TRF is also crucial to the interpretation of tide-gauge measurements, as it enables the separation of vertical land motion from volumetric changes in the water level. TRF errors affect tide gauge measurements through GNSS estimates of the vertical land motion at each tide gauge. This talk will discuss the current accuracy of the TRF and how errors in the TRF impact both satellite altimeter and tide gauge sea level measurements. We will also discuss simulations of how the proposed Geodetic Reference Antenna in SPace (GRASP) satellite mission could reduce these errors and revolutionize how reference frames are computed in general.

Central Alaska Network vital signs monitoring plan

USGS Publications Warehouse

MacCluskie, Margaret C.; Oakley, Karen L.; McDonald, Trent; Wilder, Doug

2005-01-01

Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve have been organized into the Central Alaska Network (CAKN) for the purposes of carrying out ecological monitoring activities under the National Park Services’ Vital Signs Monitoring program. The Phase III Report is the initial draft of the Vital Signs Monitoring Plan for the Central Alaska Network. It includes updated material from the Phase I and II documents. This report, and draft protocols for 11 of the network’s Vital Signs, were peer reviewed early in 2005. Review comments were incorporated into the document bringing the network to the final stage of having a Vital Signs Monitoring Plan. Implementation of the program will formally begin in FY 2006. The broad goals of the CAKN monitoring program are to: (1) better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems; and (2) provide reference points for comparisons with other, altered environments. The focus of the CAKN program will be to monitor ecosystems in order to detect change in ecological components and in the relationships among the components. Water quality monitoring is fully integrated within the CAKN monitoring program. A monitoring program for lentic (non-moving water) has been determined, and the program for lotic systems (moving water) is under development.

Demagnetization monitoring and life extending control for permanent magnet-driven traction systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Gang; Liu, Senyi

2018-03-01

This paper presents a novel scheme of demagnetization monitoring and life extending control for traction systems driven by permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). Firstly, the offline training is carried to evaluate fatigue damage of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) under different flux loss based on first-principle modeling. Then an optimal control law can be extracted by turning down the power distribution factor of the demagnetizing PMSM until all damages of IGBTs turn to balance. Next, the similarity-based empirical modeling is employed to online estimate remaining flux of PMSMs, which is used to update the power distribution factor by referring the optimal control law for the health-oriented autonomous control. The proposed strategy can be demonstrated by a case study of traction drive system coupled with dual-PMSMs. Compared with traditional control strategy, the results show that the novel scheme can not only guarantee traction performance but also extend remaining useful life (RUL) of the system after suffering demagnetization fault.

IDEA Fiscal Monitoring and Support Activities 2011-2012 Quick Reference Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regional Resource Center Program, 2011

2011-01-01

This Quick Reference Document is being distributed by the Regional Resource Center Program ARRA/Fiscal Priority Team to provide RRCP state liaisons and other (Technical Assistance) TA providers with a summary of critical fiscal monitoring and support activities they may be involved in during calendar years 2011 and 2012. Like other documents in…

A miniaturised image based fluorescence detection system for point-of-care-testing of cocaine abuse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walczak, Rafał; Krüger, Jan; Moynihan, Shane

2015-08-01

In this paper, we describe a miniaturised image-based fluorescence detection system and demonstrate its viability as a highly sensitive tool for point-of-care-analysis of drugs of abuse in human sweat with a focus on monitor individuals for drugs of abuse. Investigations of miniaturised and low power optoelectronic configurations and methodologies for real-time image analysis were successfully carried out. The miniaturised fluorescence detection system was validated against a reference detection system under controlled laboratory conditions by analysing spiked sweat samples in dip stick and then strip with sample pad. As a result of the validation studies, a 1 ng mL-1 limit of detection of cocaine in sweat and full agreement of test results with the reference detection system can be reported. Results of the investigations open the way towards a detection system that integrates a hand-held fluorescence reader and a wearable skinpatch, and which can collect and in situ analyse sweat for the presence of cocaine at any point for up to tenths hours.

Geo-spatial reporting for monitoring of household immunization coverage through mobile phones: Findings from a feasibility study.

PubMed

Kazi, A M; Ali, M; K, Ayub; Kalimuddin, H; Zubair, K; Kazi, A N; A, Artani; Ali, S A

2017-11-01

The addition of Global Positioning System (GPS) to a mobile phone makes it a very powerful tool for surveillance and monitoring coverage of health programs. This technology enables transfer of data directly into computer applications and cross-references to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps, which enhances assessment of coverage and trends. Utilization of these systems in low and middle income countries is currently limited, particularly for immunization coverage assessments and polio vaccination campaigns. We piloted the use of this system and discussed its potential to improve the efficiency of field-based health providers and health managers for monitoring of the immunization program. Using "30×7" WHO sampling technique, a survey of children less than five years of age was conducted in random clusters of Karachi, Pakistan in three high risk towns where a polio case was detected in 2011. Center point of the cluster was calculated by the application on the mobile. Data and location coordinates were collected through a mobile phone. This data was linked with an automated mHealth based monitoring system for monitoring of Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) in Karachi. After each SIA, a visual report was generated according to the coordinates collected from the survey. A total of 3535 participants consented to answer to a baseline survey. We found that the mobile phones incorporated with GIS maps can improve efficiency of health providers through real-time reporting and replacing paper based questionnaire for collection of data at household level. Visual maps generated from the data and geospatial analysis can also give a better assessment of the immunization coverage and polio vaccination campaigns. The study supports a model system in resource constrained settings that allows routine capture of individual level data through GPS enabled mobile phone providing actionable information and geospatial maps to local public health managers, policy makers and study staff monitoring immunization coverage. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Validation of Contact-Free Sleep Monitoring Device with Comparison to Polysomnography

PubMed Central

Tal, Asher; Shinar, Zvika; Shaki, David; Codish, Shlomi; Goldbart, Aviv

2017-01-01

Study Objectives: To validate a contact-free system designed to achieve maximal comfort during long-term sleep monitoring, together with high monitoring accuracy. Methods: We used a contact-free monitoring system (EarlySense, Ltd., Israel), comprising an under-the-mattress piezoelectric sensor and a smartphone application, to collect vital signs and analyze sleep. Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), body movement, and calculated sleep-related parameters from the EarlySense (ES) sensor were compared to data simultaneously generated by the gold standard, polysomnography (PSG). Subjects in the sleep laboratory underwent overnight technician-attended full PSG, whereas subjects at home were recorded for 1 to 3 nights with portable partial PSG devices. Data were compared epoch by epoch. Results: A total of 63 subjects (85 nights) were recorded under a variety of sleep conditions. Compared to PSG, the contact-free system showed similar values for average total sleep time (TST), % wake, % rapid eye movement, and % non-rapid eye movement sleep, with 96.1% and 93.3% accuracy of continuous measurement of HR and RR, respectively. We found a linear correlation between TST measured by the sensor and TST determined by PSG, with a coefficient of 0.98 (R = 0.87). Epoch-by-epoch comparison with PSG in the sleep laboratory setting revealed that the system showed sleep detection sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 92.5%, 80.4%, and 90.5%, respectively. Conclusions: TST estimates with the contact-free sleep monitoring system were closely correlated with the gold-standard reference. This system shows good sleep staging capability with improved performance over accelerometer-based apps, and collects additional physiological information on heart rate and respiratory rate. Citation: Tal A, Shinar Z, Shaki D, Codish S, Goldbart A. Validation of contact-free sleep monitoring device with comparison to polysomnography. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017;13(3):517–522. PMID:27998378

Application of the Reference Method Isotope Dilution Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (ID/GC/MS) to Establish Metrological Traceability for Calibration and Control of Blood Glucose Test Systems

PubMed Central

Andreis, Elisabeth; Küllmer, Kai

2014-01-01

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (BG) by means of handheld BG systems is a cornerstone in diabetes therapy. The aim of this article is to describe a procedure with proven traceability for calibration and evaluation of BG systems to guarantee reliable BG measurements. Isotope dilution gas chromatography mass spectrometry (ID/GC/MS) is a method that fulfills all requirements to be used in a higher-order reference measurement procedure. However, this method is not applicable for routine measurements because of the time-consuming sample preparation. A hexokinase method with perchloric acid (PCA) sample pretreatment is used in a measurement procedure for such purposes. This method is directly linked to the ID/GC/MS method by calibration with a glucose solution that has an ID/GC/MS-determined target value. BG systems are calibrated with whole blood samples. The glucose levels in such samples are analyzed by this ID/GC/MS-linked hexokinase method to establish traceability to higher-order reference material. For method comparison, the glucose concentrations in 577 whole blood samples were measured using the PCA-hexokinase method and the ID/GC/MS method; this resulted in a mean deviation of 0.1%. The mean deviation between BG levels measured in >500 valid whole blood samples with BG systems and the ID/GC/MS was 1.1%. BG systems allow a reliable glucose measurement if a true reference measurement procedure, with a noninterrupted traceability chain using ID/GC/MS linked hexokinase method for calibration of BG systems, is implemented. Systems should be calibrated by means of a traceable and defined measurement procedure to avoid bias. PMID:24876614

HIERARCHIAL BAYESIAN CALIBRATION: AN APPLICATION TO AIRBORNE PARTICULATE MATTER MONITORING DATA

EPA Science Inventory

In studies of the relationship between airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and health, researchers frequently use monitoring data with the most extensive temporal coverage. Such data may come from a monitor that is not a federal reference monitor (FRM), a monitor that is d...

The INTELSAT VI SSTDMA network diagnostic system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamboli, Satish P.; Zhu, Xiaobo; Wilkins, Kim N.; Gupta, Ramesh K.

The system-level design of an expert-system-based, near-real-time diagnostic system for INTELSAT VI satellite-switched time-division multiple access (SSTDMA) network is described. The challenges of INTELSAT VI diagnostics are discussed, along with alternative approaches for network diagnostics and the rationale for choosing a method based on burst unique-word detection. The focal point of the diagnostic system is the diagnostic processor, which resides in the central control and monitoring facility known as the INTELSAT Operations Center TDMA Facility (IOCTF). As real-time information such as burst unique-word detection data, reference terminal status data, and satellite telemetry alarm data are received at the IOCTF, the diagnostic processor continuously monitors the data streams. When a burst status change is detected, a 'snapshot' of the real-time data is forwarded to the expert system. Receipt of the change causes a set of rules to be invoked which associate the traffic pattern with a set of probable causes. A user-friendly interface allows a graphical view of the burst time plan and provides the ability to browse through the knowledge bases.

Standards, documents of relevance and directives in individual monitoring: is European individual monitoring in compliance with standards?

PubMed

Fantuzzi, E

2007-01-01

Individual monitoring services (IMS) in Europe do not comply with the same legal or approval requirements. Anyway, a degree of harmonisation existing in individual monitoring practices in Europe has been achieved mainly thanks to documents as standards or international recommendations, which with different weight represent invaluable vehicles of condensed information transfer. However, implementation of standards is not straightforward and harmonisation is not directly a consequence. Somehow, 'harmony' is needed also in standards: IEC and ISO standards, on performance requirements for dosemeters sometimes have different approaches (i.e. performance criteria). Moreover, standards do not all refer to reliability, and therefore being in compliance with standards does not by itself assure that dose results are reliable. Standards are not the only reference documents for an IMS. EURADOS working group on 'Harmonisation of Individual Monitoring in Europe', who has been active in the years 2001-2004, suggested a classification of publication on individual monitoring, distinguishing between standards and documents of relevance, which can be both national and international. None of the two categories are mandatory unless specified in legislation. The Council Directive 96/29/EURATOM and its implementation in each EU Member States has fostered harmonisation of the approach (i.e. approval of dosimetric services) and of the reference quantities for individual monitoring within EU, but national legislation still allow substantial differences in individual monitoring from country to country.

myBrain: a novel EEG embedded system for epilepsy monitoring.

PubMed

Pinho, Francisco; Cerqueira, João; Correia, José; Sousa, Nuno; Dias, Nuno

2017-10-01

The World Health Organisation has pointed that a successful health care delivery, requires effective medical devices as tools for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. Several studies have concluded that longer monitoring periods and outpatient settings might increase diagnosis accuracy and success rate of treatment selection. The long-term monitoring of epileptic patients through electroencephalography (EEG) has been considered a powerful tool to improve the diagnosis, disease classification, and treatment of patients with such condition. This work presents the development of a wireless and wearable EEG acquisition platform suitable for both long-term and short-term monitoring in inpatient and outpatient settings. The developed platform features 32 passive dry electrodes, analogue-to-digital signal conversion with 24-bit resolution and a variable sampling frequency from 250 Hz to 1000 Hz per channel, embedded in a stand-alone module. A computer-on-module embedded system runs a Linux ® operating system that rules the interface between two software frameworks, which interact to satisfy the real-time constraints of signal acquisition as well as parallel recording, processing and wireless data transmission. A textile structure was developed to accommodate all components. Platform performance was evaluated in terms of hardware, software and signal quality. The electrodes were characterised through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and the operating system performance running an epileptic discrimination algorithm was evaluated. Signal quality was thoroughly assessed in two different approaches: playback of EEG reference signals and benchmarking with a clinical-grade EEG system in alpha-wave replacement and steady-state visual evoked potential paradigms. The proposed platform seems to efficiently monitor epileptic patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings and paves the way to new ambulatory clinical regimens as well as non-clinical EEG applications.

Gas monitoring onboard ISS using FTIR spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gisi, Michael; Stettner, Armin; Seurig, Roland; Honne, Atle; Witt, Johannes; Rebeyre, Pierre

2017-06-01

In the confined, enclosed environment of a spacecraft, the air quality must be monitored continuously in order to safeguard the crew's health. For this reason, OHB builds the ANITA2 (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air) technology demonstrator for trace gas monitoring onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The measurement principle of ANITA2 is based on the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) technology with dedicated gas analysis software from the Norwegian partner SINTEF. This combination proved to provide high sensitivity, accuracy and precision for parallel measurements of 33 trace gases simultaneously onboard ISS by the precursor instrument ANITA1. The paper gives a technical overview about the opto-mechanical components of ANITA2, such as the interferometer, the reference Laser, the infrared source and the gas cell design and a quick overview about the gas analysis. ANITA2 is very well suited for measuring gas concentrations specifically but not limited to usage onboard spacecraft, as no consumables are required and measurements are performed autonomously. ANITA2 is a programme under the contract of the European Space Agency, and the air quality monitoring system is a stepping stone into the future, as a precursor system for manned exploration missions.

40 CFR 53.16 - Supersession of reference methods.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Supersession of reference methods. 53... (CONTINUED) AMBIENT AIR MONITORING REFERENCE AND EQUIVALENT METHODS General Provisions § 53.16 Supersession of reference methods. (a) This section prescribes procedures and criteria applicable to requests that...

Carded Tow Real-Time Color Assessment: A Spectral Camera-Based System.

PubMed

Furferi, Rocco; Governi, Lapo; Volpe, Yary; Carfagni, Monica

2016-08-31

One of the most important parameters to be controlled during the production of textile yarns obtained by mixing pre-colored fibers, is the color correspondence between the manufactured yarn and a given reference, usually provided by a designer or a customer. Obtaining yarns from raw pre-colored fibers is a complex manufacturing process entailing a number of steps such as laboratory sampling, color recipe corrections, blowing, carding and spinning. Carding process is the one devoted to transform a "fuzzy mass" of tufted fibers into a regular mass of untwisted fibers, named "tow". During this process, unfortunately, the correspondence between the color of the tow and the target one cannot be assured, thus leading to yarns whose color differs from the one used for reference. To solve this issue, the main aim of this work is to provide a system able to perform a spectral camera-based real-time measurement of a carded tow, to assess its color correspondence with a reference carded fabric and, at the same time, to monitor the overall quality of the tow during the carding process. Tested against a number of differently colored carded fabrics, the proposed system proved its effectiveness in reliably assessing color correspondence in real-time.

A thermal biosensor based on enzyme reaction.

PubMed

Zheng, Yi-Hua; Hua, Tse-Chao; Xu, Fei

2005-01-01

Application of the thermal biosensor as analytical tool is promising due to advantages as universal, simplicity and quick response. A novel thermal biosensor based on enzyme reaction has been developed. This biosensor is a flow injection analysis system and consists of two channels with enzyme reaction column and reference column. The reference column, which is set for eliminating the unspecific heat, is inactived on special enzyme reaction of the ingredient to be detected. The special enzyme reaction takes places in the enzyme reaction column at a constant temperature realizing by a thermoelectric thermostat. Thermal sensor based on the thermoelectric module containing 127 serial BiTe-thermocouples is used to monitor the temperature difference between two streams from the enzyme reaction column and the reference column. The analytical example for dichlorvos shows that this biosensor can be used as analytical tool in medicine and biology.

Study and Development of a Fluorescence Based Sensor System for Monitoring Oxygen in Wine Production: The WOW Project.

PubMed

Trivellin, Nicola; Barbisan, Diego; Badocco, Denis; Pastore, Paolo; Meneghesso, Gaudenzio; Meneghini, Matteo; Zanoni, Enrico; Belgioioso, Giuseppe; Cenedese, Angelo

2018-04-07

The importance of oxygen in the winemaking process is widely known, as it affects the chemical aspects and therefore the organoleptic characteristics of the final product. Hence, it is evident the usefulness of a continuous and real-time measurements of the levels of oxygen in the various stages of the winemaking process, both for monitoring and for control. The WOW project (Deployment of WSAN technology for monitoring Oxygen in Wine products) has focused on the design and the development of an innovative device for monitoring the oxygen levels in wine. This system is based on the use of an optical fiber to measure the luminescent lifetime variation of a reference metal/porphyrin complex, which decays in presence of oxygen. The developed technology results in a high sensitivity and low cost sensor head that can be employed for measuring the dissolved oxygen levels at several points inside a wine fermentation or aging tank. This system can be complemented with dynamic modeling techniques to provide predictive behavior of the nutrient evolution in space and time given few sampled measuring points, for both process monitoring and control purposes. The experimental validation of the technology has been first performed in a controlled laboratory setup to attain calibration and study sensitivity with respect to different photo-luminescent compounds and alcoholic or non-alcoholic solutions, and then in an actual case study during a measurement campaign at a renown Italian winery.

Study and Development of a Fluorescence Based Sensor System for Monitoring Oxygen in Wine Production: The WOW Project

PubMed Central

Trivellin, Nicola; Barbisan, Diego; Badocco, Denis; Pastore, Paolo; Meneghini, Matteo; Zanoni, Enrico; Belgioioso, Giuseppe

2018-01-01

The importance of oxygen in the winemaking process is widely known, as it affects the chemical aspects and therefore the organoleptic characteristics of the final product. Hence, it is evident the usefulness of a continuous and real-time measurements of the levels of oxygen in the various stages of the winemaking process, both for monitoring and for control. The WOW project (Deployment of WSAN technology for monitoring Oxygen in Wine products) has focused on the design and the development of an innovative device for monitoring the oxygen levels in wine. This system is based on the use of an optical fiber to measure the luminescent lifetime variation of a reference metal/porphyrin complex, which decays in presence of oxygen. The developed technology results in a high sensitivity and low cost sensor head that can be employed for measuring the dissolved oxygen levels at several points inside a wine fermentation or aging tank. This system can be complemented with dynamic modeling techniques to provide predictive behavior of the nutrient evolution in space and time given few sampled measuring points, for both process monitoring and control purposes. The experimental validation of the technology has been first performed in a controlled laboratory setup to attain calibration and study sensitivity with respect to different photo-luminescent compounds and alcoholic or non-alcoholic solutions, and then in an actual case study during a measurement campaign at a renown Italian winery. PMID:29642468

DNA barcode authentication of wood samples of threatened and commercial timber trees within the tropical dry evergreen forest of India.

PubMed

Nithaniyal, Stalin; Newmaster, Steven G; Ragupathy, Subramanyam; Krishnamoorthy, Devanathan; Vassou, Sophie Lorraine; Parani, Madasamy

2014-01-01

India is rich with biodiversity, which includes a large number of endemic, rare and threatened plant species. Previous studies have used DNA barcoding to inventory species for applications in biodiversity monitoring, conservation impact assessment, monitoring of illegal trading, authentication of traded medicinal plants etc. This is the first tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) barcode study in the World and the first attempt to assemble a reference barcode library for the trees of India as part of a larger project initiated by this research group. We sampled 429 trees representing 143 tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) species, which included 16 threatened species. DNA barcoding was completed using rbcL and matK markers. The tiered approach (1st tier rbcL; 2nd tier matK) correctly identified 136 out of 143 species (95%). This high level of species resolution was largely due to the fact that the tree species were taxonomically diverse in the TDEF. Ability to resolve taxonomically diverse tree species of TDEF was comparable among the best match method, the phylogenetic method, and the characteristic attribute organization system method. We demonstrated the utility of the TDEF reference barcode library to authenticate wood samples from timber operations in the TDEF. This pilot research study will enable more comprehensive surveys of the illegal timber trade of threatened species in the TDEF. This TDEF reference barcode library also contains trees that have medicinal properties, which could be used to monitor unsustainable and indiscriminate collection of plants from the wild for their medicinal value.

DNA Barcode Authentication of Wood Samples of Threatened and Commercial Timber Trees within the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest of India

PubMed Central

Nithaniyal, Stalin; Newmaster, Steven G.; Ragupathy, Subramanyam; Krishnamoorthy, Devanathan; Vassou, Sophie Lorraine; Parani, Madasamy

2014-01-01

Background India is rich with biodiversity, which includes a large number of endemic, rare and threatened plant species. Previous studies have used DNA barcoding to inventory species for applications in biodiversity monitoring, conservation impact assessment, monitoring of illegal trading, authentication of traded medicinal plants etc. This is the first tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) barcode study in the World and the first attempt to assemble a reference barcode library for the trees of India as part of a larger project initiated by this research group. Methodology/Principal Findings We sampled 429 trees representing 143 tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) species, which included 16 threatened species. DNA barcoding was completed using rbcL and matK markers. The tiered approach (1st tier rbcL; 2nd tier matK) correctly identified 136 out of 143 species (95%). This high level of species resolution was largely due to the fact that the tree species were taxonomically diverse in the TDEF. Ability to resolve taxonomically diverse tree species of TDEF was comparable among the best match method, the phylogenetic method, and the characteristic attribute organization system method. Conclusions We demonstrated the utility of the TDEF reference barcode library to authenticate wood samples from timber operations in the TDEF. This pilot research study will enable more comprehensive surveys of the illegal timber trade of threatened species in the TDEF. This TDEF reference barcode library also contains trees that have medicinal properties, which could be used to monitor unsustainable and indiscriminate collection of plants from the wild for their medicinal value. PMID:25259794

First Definition of Reference Intervals of Liver Function Tests in China: A Large-Population-Based Multi-Center Study about Healthy Adults

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chuanbao; Guo, Wei; Huang, Hengjian; Ma, Yueyun; Zhuang, Junhua; Zhang, Jie

2013-01-01

Background Reference intervals of Liver function tests are very important for the screening, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of liver diseases. We aim to establish common reference intervals of liver function tests specifically for the Chinese adult population. Methods A total of 3210 individuals (20–79 years) were enrolled in six representative geographical regions in China. Analytes of ALT, AST, GGT, ALP, total protein, albumin and total bilirubin were measured using three analytical systems mainly used in China. The newly established reference intervals were based on the results of traceability or multiple systems, and then validated in 21 large hospitals located nationwide qualified by the National External Quality Assessment (EQA) of China. Results We had been established reference intervals of the seven liver function tests for the Chinese adult population and found there were apparent variances of reference values for the variables for partitioning analysis such as gender(ALT, GGT, total bilirubin), age(ALP, albumin) and region(total protein). More than 86% of the 21 laboratories passed the validation in all subgroup of reference intervals and overall about 95.3% to 98.8% of the 1220 validation results fell within the range of the new reference interval for all liver function tests. In comparison with the currently recommended reference intervals in China, the single side observed proportions of out of range of reference values from our study for most of the tests deviated significantly from the nominal 2.5% such as total bilirubin (15.2%), ALP (0.2%), albumin (0.0%). Most of reference intervals in our study were obviously different from that of other races. Conclusion These used reference intervals are no longer applicable for the current Chinese population. We have established common reference intervals of liver function tests that are defined specifically for Chinese population and can be universally used among EQA-approved laboratories located all over China. PMID:24058449

Environmental networks for large-scale monitoring of Earth and atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maurodimou, Olga; Kolios, Stavros; Konstantaras, Antonios; Georgoulas, George; Stylios, Chrysostomos

2013-04-01

Installation and operation of instrument/sensor networks are proven fundamental in the monitoring of the physical environment from local to global scale. The advances in electronics, wireless communications and informatics has led to the development of a huge number of networks at different spatial scales that measure, collect and store a wide range of environmental parameters. These networks have been gradually evolved into integrated information systems that provide real time monitoring, forecasts and different products from the initial collected datasets. Instrument/sensor networks have nowadays become important solutions for environmental monitoring, comprising a basic component of fully automated systems developing worldwide that contribute in the efforts for a sustainable Earth's environment (e.g. Hart et al., 2006, Othman et al., 2012). They are also used as a source of data for models parameterization and as verification tools for accuracy assessment techniques of the satellite imagery. Environmental networks can be incorporated into decision support systems (e.g Rizzi et al., 2012) providing informational background along with data from satellites for decision making, manage problems, suggest solutions and best practices for a sustainable management of the environment. This is a comparative study aiming to examine and highlight the significant role of existing instrument/sensor networks for large-scale monitoring of environmental issues, especially atmospheric and marine environment as well as weather and climate. We provide characteristic examples of integrated systems based on large scale instrument/sensor networks along with other sources of data (like satellite datasets) as informational background to measure, identify, monitor, analyze and forecast a vast series of atmospheric parameters (like CO2, O3, particle matter and solar irradiance), weather, climate and their impacts (e.g., cloud systems, lightnings, rainfall, air and surface temperature, humidity, winds) and marine environment (salinity, water quality, sea surface temperature among others). "ZEUS" lightning detection system (Chronis et al. 2006, Lagouvardos et al. 2009), "UVnet" system that is primarily referred to the UltaViolet solar irradiance (Bais et al. 2006, Kazantzidis et al. 2006) and "GLOBcolour" system for seas monitoring, are some characteristic examples of systems that use networks of instruments/sensors to monitor relative parameters. The chosen examples are focused on the European continent. Basic operating principles of these networks, their usefulness, restrictions and their perspectives in the environmental real time basis monitoring and forecast, are also described. References Bais, A.F., Meleti, C. Kazantzidis, A., Topaloglou, C., Zerefos, C.S., Kosmidis, E. 2006. Greek UV Network: Results and perspectives after three years. 8th Conference on Meteorology - Climatology and Atmospheric Physics, 24-25 May, Athens, Greece. Chronis, T., Anagnostou, E. 2006. Evaluation of a Long-Range Lightning Detection Network with Receivers in Europe and Africa. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 44, 1504-1510. Hart, K.J., Martinez, K. 2006. Environmental Sensor Networks: A revolution in the Earth system science? Earth-Science Reviews, 78, 178-19. Kazantzidis, A., Bais, A.F, Topaloglou, C., Garane, K., Zempila, M., Meleti, C., Zerefos, C.S. 2006. Quality assurance of the Greek UV Network: preliminary results from the pilot phase operation. Proceedings of SPIE Europe Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XI, vol. 6362, 636229-1 - 636229-10, Stockholm, Sweden, 11-14 September. Lagouvardos, K., Kotroni, V, Betz, D-H., Schmidt, K. 2009. A comparison of lightning data provided by ZEUS and LINET networks over Western Europe. Natural Hazards and Earth Systems Sciences, 9, 1713-1717. Maritorena, S., D'Andon, O.H.F., Mangin, A., Siegel, D.A., 2010. Merged satellite ocean color data products using bio-optical model: Characteristics, benefits and issues. Remote Sensing of Environment, 114, 1791-1804. Othman, M.F., Shazali K., 2012. Wireless Network Applications: A study in environment monitoring system. Procedia Engineering, 41, 1204-1210. Rizzi, J., Torresan, S., Zabeo, A., Gallina, V., Critto, A., Marcomini, A., 2012. A GIS-based Decision Support System to support the implementation of integrated coastal zone management - preliminary results from the PEGASO project. Proceedings of the AGILE' 2012 International Conference on Geographical Information Science, Avignon, April, 24-27.

Quality assurance of reference standards from nine European solar-ultraviolet monitoring laboratories.

PubMed

Gröbner, Julian; Rembges, Diana; Bais, Alkiviadis F; Blumthaler, Mario; Cabot, Thierry; Josefsson, Weine; Koskela, Tapani; Thorseth, Trond M; Webb, Ann R; Wester, Ulf

2002-07-20

A program for quality assurance of reference standards has been initiated among nine solar-UV monitoring laboratories. By means of a traveling lamp package that comprises several 1000-W ANSI code DXW-type quartz-halogen lamps, a 0.1-ohm shunt, and a 6-1/2 digit voltmeter, the irradiance scales used by the nine laboratories were compared with one another; a relative uncertainty of 1.2% was found. The comparison of 15 reference standards yielded differences of as much as 9%; the average difference was less than 3%.

GCOS reference upper air network (GRUAN): Steps towards assuring future climate records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorne, P. W.; Vömel, H.; Bodeker, G.; Sommer, M.; Apituley, A.; Berger, F.; Bojinski, S.; Braathen, G.; Calpini, B.; Demoz, B.; Diamond, H. J.; Dykema, J.; Fassò, A.; Fujiwara, M.; Gardiner, T.; Hurst, D.; Leblanc, T.; Madonna, F.; Merlone, A.; Mikalsen, A.; Miller, C. D.; Reale, T.; Rannat, K.; Richter, C.; Seidel, D. J.; Shiotani, M.; Sisterson, D.; Tan, D. G. H.; Vose, R. S.; Voyles, J.; Wang, J.; Whiteman, D. N.; Williams, S.

2013-09-01

The observational climate record is a cornerstone of our scientific understanding of climate changes and their potential causes. Existing observing networks have been designed largely in support of operational weather forecasting and continue to be run in this mode. Coverage and timeliness are often higher priorities than absolute traceability and accuracy. Changes in instrumentation used in the observing system, as well as in operating procedures, are frequent, rarely adequately documented and their impacts poorly quantified. For monitoring changes in upper-air climate, which is achieved through in-situ soundings and more recently satellites and ground-based remote sensing, the net result has been trend uncertainties as large as, or larger than, the expected emergent signals of climate change. This is more than simply academic with the tropospheric temperature trends issue having been the subject of intense debate, two international assessment reports and several US congressional hearings. For more than a decade the international climate science community has been calling for the instigation of a network of reference quality measurements to reduce uncertainty in our climate monitoring capabilities. This paper provides a brief history of GRUAN developments to date and outlines future plans. Such reference networks can only be achieved and maintained with strong continuing input from the global metrological community.

A pervasive health monitoring service system based on ubiquitous network technology.

PubMed

Lin, Chung-Chih; Lee, Ren-Guey; Hsiao, Chun-Chieh

2008-07-01

The phenomenon of aging society has derived problems such as shortage of medical resources and reduction of quality in healthcare services. This paper presents a system infrastructure for pervasive and long-term healthcare applications, i.e. a ubiquitous network composed of wireless local area network (WLAN) and cable television (CATV) network serving as a platform for monitoring physiological signals. Users can record vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature anytime either at home or at frequently visited public places in order to create a personal health file. The whole system was formally implemented in December 2004. Analysis of 2000 questionnaires indicates that 85% of users were satisfied with the provided community-wide healthcare services. Among the services provided by our system, health consultation services offered by family doctors was rated the most important service by 17.9% of respondents, and was followed by control of one's own health condition (16.4% of respondents). Convenience of data access was rated most important by roughly 14.3% of respondents. We proposed and implemented a long-term healthcare system integrating WLAN and CATV networks in the form of a ubiquitous network providing a service platform for physiological monitoring. This system can classify the health levels of the resident according to the variation tendency of his or her physiological signal for important reference of health management.

Use of ultrasound to monitor physical properties of soybean oil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baêsso, R. M.; Oliveira, P. A.; Morais, G. C.; Alvarenga, A. V.; Costa-Félix, R. P. B.

2016-07-01

The study of the monitoring physical properties of soybean oil was performed. The pulse-echo method allowed measuring the density and viscosity of the oil in real time and accurately. The physical property values were related to the acoustic time of flight ratio, dimensionless parameter that can be obtained from any reference. In our case, we used the time of flight at 20°C as reference and a fixed distance between the transducer and the reflector. Ultrasonic monitoring technique employed here has shown promising in the analysis of edible oils.

Optimizing Observation Networks Combining Ships of Opportunity, Gliders, Moored Buoys and FerryBox in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charria, G.; Lamouroux, J.; De Mey, P. J.; Raynaud, S.; Heyraud, C.; Craneguy, P.; Dumas, F.; Le Henaff, M.

2016-02-01

Designing optimal observation networks in coastal oceans remains one of the major challenges towards the implementation of future Integrated Ocean Observing Systems to monitor the coastal environment. In the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel, the diversity of involved processes requires to adapt observing systems to the specific targeted environments. Also important is the requirement for those systems to sustain coastal applications. An efficient way to measure the hydrological content of the water column over the continental shelf is to consider ships of opportunity. In the French observation strategy, the RECOPESCA program, as a component of the High frequency Observation network for the environment in coastal SEAs (HOSEA), aims to collect environmental observations from sensors attached to fishing nets. In the present study, we assess that network performances using the ArM method (Le Hénaff et al., 2009). A reference network, based on fishing vessels observations in 2008, is assessed using that method. Moreover, three scenarios, based on the reference network, a denser network in 2010 and a fictive network aggregated from a pluri-annual collection of profiles, are also analyzed. Two other observational network design experiments have been implemented for the spring season in two regions: 1) the Loire River plume (northern part of the Bay of Biscay) to explore different possible glider endurance lines combined with a fixed mooring to monitor temperature and salinity and 2) the Western English Channel using a glider below FerryBox measurements. These experiments combining existing and future observing systems, as well as numerical ensemble simulations, highlight the key issue of monitoring the whole water column in and close to river plumes (e.g. using gliders), the efficiency of the surface high frequency sampling from FerryBoxes in macrotidal regions and the importance of sampling key regions instead of increasing the number of Voluntary Observing Ships.

The Battle Command Sustainment Support System: Initial Analysis Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

diagnostic monitoring, asynchronous commits, and others. The other components of the NEDP include a main forwarding gateway /web server and one or more...NATIONAL ENTERPRISE DATA PORTAL ANALYSIS The NEDP is comprised of an Oracle Database 10g referred to as the National Data Server and several other...data forwarding gateways (DFG). Together, with the Oracle Database 10g, these components provide a heterogeneous data source that aligns various data

Submergence Vulnerability Index development and application to Coastwide Reference Monitoring System Sites and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stagg, Camille L.; Sharp, Leigh A.; McGinnis, Thomas E.; Snedden, Gregg A.

2013-01-01

Since its implementation in 2003, the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) in Louisiana has facilitated the creation of a comprehensive dataset that includes, but is not limited to, vegetation, hydrologic, and soil metrics on a coastwide scale. The primary impetus for this data collection is to assess land management activities, including restoration efforts, across the coast. The aim of the CRMS analytical team is to provide a method to synthesize this data to enable multiscaled evaluations of activities in Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. Several indices have been developed to facilitate data synthesis and interpretation, including a Floristic Quality Index, a Hydrologic Index, and a Landscape Index. This document details the development of the Submergence Vulnerability Index, which incorporates sediment-elevation data as well as hydrologic data to determine the vulnerability of a wetland based on its ability to keep pace with sea-level rise. The objective of this document is to provide Federal and State sponsors, project managers, planners, landowners, data users, and the rest of the coastal restoration community with the following: (1) data collection and model development methods for the sediment-elevation response variables, and (2) a description of how these response variables will be used to evaluate CWPPRA project and program effectiveness.

New measurement system for on line in core high-energy neutron flux monitoring in materials testing reactor conditions.

PubMed

Geslot, B; Vermeeren, L; Filliatre, P; Lopez, A Legrand; Barbot, L; Jammes, C; Bréaud, S; Oriol, L; Villard, J-F

2011-03-01

Flux monitoring is of great interest for experimental studies in material testing reactors. Nowadays, only the thermal neutron flux can be monitored on line, e.g., using fission chambers or self-powered neutron detectors. In the framework of the Joint Instrumentation Laboratory between SCK-CEN and CEA, we have developed a fast neutron detector system (FNDS) capable of measuring on line the local high-energy neutron flux in fission reactor core and reflector locations. FNDS is based on fission chambers measurements in Campbelling mode. The system consists of two detectors, one detector being mainly sensitive to fast neutrons and the other one to thermal neutrons. On line data processing uses the CEA depletion code DARWIN in order to disentangle fast and thermal neutrons components, taking into account the isotopic evolution of the fissile deposit. The first results of FNDS experimental test in the BR2 reactor are presented in this paper. Several fission chambers have been irradiated up to a fluence of about 7 × 10(20) n∕cm(2). A good agreement (less than 10% discrepancy) was observed between FNDS fast flux estimation and reference flux measurement.

New measurement system for on line in core high-energy neutron flux monitoring in materials testing reactor conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geslot, B.; Vermeeren, L.; Filliatre, P.; Lopez, A. Legrand; Barbot, L.; Jammes, C.; Bréaud, S.; Oriol, L.; Villard, J.-F.

2011-03-01

Flux monitoring is of great interest for experimental studies in material testing reactors. Nowadays, only the thermal neutron flux can be monitored on line, e.g., using fission chambers or self-powered neutron detectors. In the framework of the Joint Instrumentation Laboratory between SCK-CEN and CEA, we have developed a fast neutron detector system (FNDS) capable of measuring on line the local high-energy neutron flux in fission reactor core and reflector locations. FNDS is based on fission chambers measurements in Campbelling mode. The system consists of two detectors, one detector being mainly sensitive to fast neutrons and the other one to thermal neutrons. On line data processing uses the CEA depletion code DARWIN in order to disentangle fast and thermal neutrons components, taking into account the isotopic evolution of the fissile deposit. The first results of FNDS experimental test in the BR2 reactor are presented in this paper. Several fission chambers have been irradiated up to a fluence of about 7 × 1020 n/cm2. A good agreement (less than 10% discrepancy) was observed between FNDS fast flux estimation and reference flux measurement.

Dual-channel (green and red) fluorescence microendoscope with subcellular resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Paula D'Almeida, Camila; Fortunato, Thereza Cury; Teixeira Rosa, Ramon Gabriel; Romano, Renan Arnon; Moriyama, Lilian Tan; Pratavieira, Sebastião.

2018-02-01

Usually, tissue images at cellular level need biopsies to be done. Considering this, diagnostic devices, such as microendoscopes, have been developed with the purpose of do not be invasive. This study goal is the development of a dual-channel microendoscope, using two fluorescent labels: proflavine and protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), both approved by Food and Drug Administration. This system, with the potential to perform a microscopic diagnosis and to monitor a photodynamic therapy (PDT) session, uses a halogen lamp and an image fiber bundle to perform subcellular image. Proflavine fluorescence indicates the nuclei of the cell, which is the reference for PpIX localization on image tissue. Preliminary results indicate the efficacy of this optical technique to detect abnormal tissues and to improve the PDT dosimetry. This was the first time, up to our knowledge, that PpIX fluorescence was microscopically observed in vivo, in real time, combined to other fluorescent marker (Proflavine), which allowed to simultaneously observe the spatial localization of the PpIX in the mucosal tissue. We believe this system is very promising tool to monitor PDT in mucosa as it happens. Further experiments have to be performed in order to validate the system for PDT monitoring.

Four‐and‐one‐half years' experience in monitoring of reproducibility of an MR spectroscopy system — application of in vitro results to interpretation of in vivo data

PubMed Central

Wicher, Magdalena; Banasik, Tomasz; Jamroz, Ewa; Paprocka, Justyna; Kiettyka, Aleksandra; Sokót, Maria; Konopka, Marek

2014-01-01

The primary purpose of this work was to assess long‐term in vitro reproducibility of metabolite levels measured using 1H MRS (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy). The secondary purpose was to use the in vitro results for interpretation of ‘H MRS in vivo spectra acquired from patients diagnosed with Canavan disease. 1H MRS measurements were performed in the period from April 2006 to September 2010. 118 short and 116 long echo spectra were acquired from a stable phantom during this period. Change‐point analysis of the in vitro N‐acetylaspartate levels was exploited in the computation of fT factor (ratio of the actual to the reference N‐acetylaspartate level normalized by the reciprocity principle). This coefficient was utilized in the interpretation of in vivo spectra analyzed using absolute reference technique. The monitored time period was divided into six time intervals based on short echo in vitro data (seven time intervals based on long echo in vitro data) characterized by fT coefficient ranging from 0.97 to 1.09 (based on short echo data) and from 1.0 to 1.11 (based on long echo data). Application of this coefficient to interpretation of in vivo spectra confirmed increased N‐acetylaspartate level in Canavan disease. Long‐term monitoring of an MRS system reproducibility, allowing for absolute referencing of metabolite levels, facilitates interpretation of metabolic changes in white matter disorders. PACS numbers: 87.19.lf, 87.61.Tg, 87.64.K‐, 87.64.kj PMID:24892353

Autoverification process improvement by Six Sigma approach: Clinical chemistry & immunoassay.

PubMed

Randell, Edward W; Short, Garry; Lee, Natasha; Beresford, Allison; Spencer, Margaret; Kennell, Marina; Moores, Zoë; Parry, David

2018-05-01

This study examines effectiveness of a project to enhance an autoverification (AV) system through application of Six Sigma (DMAIC) process improvement strategies. Similar AV systems set up at three sites underwent examination and modification to produce improved systems while monitoring proportions of samples autoverified, the time required for manual review and verification, sample processing time, and examining characteristics of tests not autoverified. This information was used to identify areas for improvement and monitor the impact of changes. Use of reference range based criteria had the greatest impact on the proportion of tests autoverified. To improve AV process, reference range based criteria was replaced with extreme value limits based on a 99.5% test result interval, delta check criteria were broadened, and new specimen consistency rules were implemented. Decision guidance tools were also developed to assist staff using the AV system. The mean proportion of tests and samples autoverified improved from <62% for samples and <80% for tests, to >90% for samples and >95% for tests across all three sites. The new AV system significantly decreased turn-around time and total sample review time (to about a third), however, time spent for manual review of held samples almost tripled. There was no evidence of compromise to the quality of testing process and <1% of samples held for exceeding delta check or extreme limits required corrective action. The Six Sigma (DMAIC) process improvement methodology was successfully applied to AV systems resulting in an increase in overall test and sample AV by >90%, improved turn-around time, reduced time for manual verification, and with no obvious compromise to quality or error detection. Copyright © 2018 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The how and why of a $10 optical coherence tomography system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leahy, M. J.; Wilson, C.; Hogan, J.; O'Brien, Peter; Dsouza, R.; Neuhaus, K.; Bogue, D.; Subhash, H.; O'Riordan, Colm; McNamara, Paul M.

2016-03-01

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is the fastest growing medical imaging modality with more than 1Bln worth of scans ordered and over 400M worth of equipment shipped in 2010, just nine years after its commercialization. It is at various stages of acceptance and approvals for eye care, coronary care and skin cancer care and is spreading rapidly to other medical specialties. Indeed, it is the leading success of translation of biophotonics science into clinical practice. Significant effort is being made to provide sufficient evidence for efficacy across a broad range of applications, but more needs to be done to radically reduce the cost of OCT so that it can spread to underserved markets and address new, fast growing opportunities in mobile health monitoring. Currently, a clinical OCT system ranges in price from 50k to 150k, typically is housed on a bedside trolley, runs off AC power, and requires skilled, extensively trained technicians to operate. The cost, size, and skill level required keep this wonderful technology beyond the reach of mainstream primary care, much less individual consumers seeking to monitor their health on a routine basis outside of typical clinical settings and major urban medical centers. Beyond the first world market, there are 6.5 billion people with similar eye and skin cancer care needs which cannot be met by the current generation of large, expensive, complex, and delicate OCT systems. This paper will describe a means to manufacture a low cost, compact, simple, and robust OCT system, using parts and a configuration similar to a CD-ROM or DVD pickup unit (see figure 1). Essentially, this system—multiple reference OCT (MR-OCT)—is based on the use of a partial mirror in the reference arm of a time domain OCT system to provide multiple references, and hence A-scans, at several depths simultaneously (see figure 2). We have already shown that a system based on this configuration can achieve an SNR of greater than 90 dB, which is sufficient for many medical imaging and biometry applications.

Monitoring contamination due to materials outgassing by QCM-based sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dirri, Fabrizio

2016-07-01

F. Dirri, E. Palomba, A. Longobardo, D. Biondi, A. Boccaccini, E. Zampetti, B. Saggin, D. Scaccabarozzi, A. Tortora, A. Nanni, J. Alves, A. Tighe Outgassing from spacecraft materials often occurs and degassing contaminants can degrade critical spacecraft surfaces, such as optical systems, solar panels, thermal radiators and thermal management systems. The main contaminants are the water adsorbed by cold surface, organics from spacecraft structure, electronics, insulation and thrusters firings [1]. Thus, it is fundamental to monitor these low-outgassing rates especially in a long duration mission: Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) based sensors (i.e. single and double crystal configurations) are a suitable instruments to monitor step by step these degradation processes which occur in space conditions. The Contamination Assessment Microbalance (CAM) is a device aimed at monitoring in-orbit contamination of sensitive surfaces and payloads on ESA's future satellites. The device, developed by a consortium of Italian research Institutes, is based on QCM technology, previously considered by NASA and ESA experiments performed on Space Shuttle and satellite missions [2,3,4]. CAM is a low mass (200 grams for the sensor head), low volume (smaller than 5x5x5 cm3 for the sensor head) and low power consumption (less than 1.5 W) sensor. The device is composed by: 1) the Sensor Head, containing a sensing crystal (which measures the deposited contaminant mass), a reference crystal (used as frequency reference), their related Proximity Electronics (PE) and a Temperature Control System (TCS); 2) the Main Electronics Unit (MEU), which acquires the signal in output from Sensor Head unit; 3) the Harness connecting Sensor Head and MEU; 4) the User Interface (UI) to read and display the data. The device shows several improvements, i.e. possibility to measure directly the crystal temperature (with an accuracy better than 0.1°C), large measurable mass range (from 5•10-9 to 7•10-4 g/cm2), large operative temperature range (from -80°C to 130°C), temperature stability within 0.5°C and good frequency resolution of 0.1 Hz. The instruments concept and the performance evaluation, based on tests performed on the QCM based sensors (i.e. simulating an outgassing source in space conditions), are presented in this work. References : [1] Soares et al. 2003, Proc. SPIE, 09/2000; [2] Miller 1982, Report NASA TM- 82457; [3] Tighe et al. 2009, AIP Conf. Proc. 1087, 195; [4] Wood et al. 1997, AIAA 97-0841

A cascade feedback control approach for hypnosis.

PubMed

Puebla, Hector; Alvarez-Ramírez, José

2005-10-01

This article studies the problem of controlling the drug administration during an anesthesia process, where muscle relaxation, analgesia, and hypnosis are regulated by means of monitored administration of specific drugs. On the basis of a seventh-order nonlinear pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic representation of the hypnosis process dynamics, a cascade (master/slave) feedback control structure for controlling the bispectral index (BIS) is proposed. The master controller compares the measured BIS with its reference value to provide the expired isoflurane concentration reference to the slave controller. In turn, the slave controller manipulates the anesthetic isoflurane concentration entering the anesthetic system to achieve the reference from the master controller. The advantage of the proposed cascade control structure with respect to its noncascade counterpart is that the former provides operation protection against BIS measurement failures. In fact, under a BIS measurement fault, the master control feedback is broken and the slave controller operates under a safe reference value. Extensive numerical simulations are used to illustrate the functioning of the proposed cascade control structure.

A time reference distribution concept for a time division communication network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stover, H. A.

1973-01-01

Starting with an assumed ideal network having perfect clocks at every node and known fixed transmission delays between nodes, the effects of adding tolerances to both transmission delays and nodal clocks is described. The advantages of controlling tolerances on time rather than frequency are discussed. Then a concept is presented for maintaining these tolerances on time throughout the network. This concept, called time reference distribution, is a systematic technique for distributing time reference to all nodes of the network. It is reliable, survivable and possesses many other desirable characteristics. Some of its features such as an excellent self monitoring capability will be pointed out. Some preliminary estimates of the accuracy that might be expected are developed and there is a brief discussion of the impact upon communication system costs. Time reference distribution is a concept that appears very attractive. It has not had experimental evaluation and has not yet been endorsed for use in any communication network.

On the rapid and efficient divulgation of monitoring results in landslide emergency scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordan, Daniele; Allasia, Paolo; Manconi, Andrea; Bertolo, Davide

2014-05-01

In last decades, the availability of several technological systems to monitor different physical parameters that can be used to control a landslide evolution recorded an exponential growth. In particular, surficial and deep-seated displacements of an instable area, as well as meteorological or hydrological parameters can be nowadays acquired with high spatial and temporal resolutions. As a consequence, the application of complex monitoring systems produces large amounts of data. While this can be considered an important progress in the field of landslide monitoring applications, the availability of large volumes of high resolution and multiparametric information implies important challenges. In this context, two main criticalities are: i) the integrated management of dataset produced by different monitoring systems and ii) the correct divulgation of monitoring results. In this work, we present the results of a real case-study relevant to a complex emergency scenario, i.e. the Mont de La Saxe landslide, a large rockslide (with an estimated volume or more than 8 million of cubic meters) that threatens La Palud and Entrèves hamlets in the Courmayeur municipality (Aosta Valley, Italy). We developed a web-based system based on the ADVICE algorithm (Allasia et al., 2013) in order to manage several data sources. The system collects, analyzes and publishes the results obtained by monitoring instrumentations in near-real-time at each new measurement cycle. Moreover, by collecting all the data in an unique web-based platform reduces the problems of compatibility amongst different monitoring systems, which usually rely on customized software for the data processing, delaying the comparative analysis comparison amongst different data sources. This is indeed a crucial task for decision makers, in particular during the emergency phases. In addition, by using the developed web-based platform we aimed at coping with another important task, often not considered and/or underestimated, relevant to the landslide monitoring results, i.e. the divulgation. Starting from the analysis of different landslide scenarios, we identified and classified people belonging to emergency management teams into several categories according to their role, the level of knowledge of landslides, and/or of monitoring systems. Our aim is to define standards to share the monitoring results, in order to disseminate the information about the recent evolution of the landslide, as well as the level of criticality, within all the people involved (scientists, technicians, civil protection operators, decision makers, politicians, press, population). This task is particularly critical during the emergency phases, when a correct understanding of the situation is (in particular for the population) the first step for a successful emergency management. References: Allasia, P.; Manconi, A.; Giordan, D.; Baldo, M.; Lollino, G. ADVICE: A New Approach for Near-Real-Time Monitoring of Surface Displacements in Landslide Hazard Scenarios. Sensors 2013, 13, 8285-8302.

Mapping, Monitoring and Modeling Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Species and Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartis, Brett Michael

Aquatic macrophyte communities are critically important habitat species in aquatic systems worldwide. None are more important than those found beneath the water's surface, commonly referred to as submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV). Although vital to such systems, many native submersed plants have shown near irreversible declines in recent decades as water quality impairment, habitat destruction, and encroachment by invasive species have increased. In the past, aquatic plant science has emphasized the restoration and protection of native species and the management of invasive species. Comparatively little emphasis has been directed toward adequately mapping and monitoring these resources to track their viability over time. Modeling the potential intrusion of certain invasive plant species has also been given little attention, likely because aquatic systems in general can be difficult to assess. In recent years, scientists and resource managers alike have begun paying more attention to mapping SAV communities and to address the spread of invasive species across various regions. This research attempts to provide new, cutting-edge techniques to improve SAV mapping and monitoring efforts in coastal regions, at both community and individual species levels, while also providing insights about the establishment potential of Hydrilla verticillata, a noxious, highly invasive submersed plant. Technological advances in satellite remote sensing, interpolation and spatial analysis in geographic information systems, and state-of-the-art climate envelope modeling techniques were used to further assess the dynamic nature of SAV on various scales. This work contributes to the growing science of mapping, monitoring, and modeling of SAV

Concept of an advanced hyperspectral remote sensing system for pipeline monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keskin, Göksu; Teutsch, Caroline D.; Lenz, Andreas; Middelmann, Wolfgang

2015-10-01

Areas occupied by oil pipelines and storage facilities are prone to severe contamination due to leaks caused by natural forces, poor maintenance or third parties. These threats have to be detected as quickly as possible in order to prevent serious environmental damage. Periodical and emergency monitoring activities need to be carried out for successful disaster management and pollution minimization. Airborne remote sensing stands out as an appropriate choice to operate either in an emergency or periodically. Hydrocarbon Index (HI) and Hydrocarbon Detection Index (HDI) utilize the unique absorption features of hydrocarbon based materials at SWIR spectral region. These band ratio based methods require no a priori knowledge of the reference spectrum and can be calculated in real time. This work introduces a flexible airborne pipeline monitoring system based on the online quasi-operational hyperspectral remote sensing system developed at Fraunhofer IOSB, utilizing HI and HDI for oil leak detection on the data acquired by an SWIR imaging sensor. Robustness of HI and HDI compared to state of the art detection algorithms is evaluated in an experimental setup using a synthetic dataset, which was prepared in a systematic way to simulate linear mixtures of selected background and oil spectra consisting of gradually decreasing percentages of oil content. Real airborne measurements in Ettlingen, Germany are used to gather background data while the crude oil spectrum was measured with a field spectrometer. The results indicate that the system can be utilized for online and offline monitoring activities.

ICAROUS - Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations Of Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Consiglio, María; Muñoz, César; Hagen, George; Narkawicz, Anthony; Balachandran, Swee

2016-01-01

NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This paper describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and contingency control functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

ICAROUS: Integrated Configurable Architecture for Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Consiglio, Maria C.

2016-01-01

NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This video describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the auspices of the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and autonomous detect and avoid functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

Exciter For X-Band Transmitter And Receiver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johns, Carl E.

1989-01-01

Report describes developmental X-band exciter for X-band uplink subsystem of Deep Space Network. X-band transmitter-exciting signal expected to have fractional frequency stability of 5.2 X 10 to negative 15th power during 1,000-second integration period. Generates coherent test signals for S- and X-band Block III translator of Deep Space Network, Doppler-reference signal for associated Doppler-extractor system, first-local-oscillator signal for associated receiver, and reference signal for associated ranging subsystem. Tests of prototype exciter show controlling and monitoring and internal phase-correcting loops perform according to applicable design criteria. Measurements of stability of frequency and of single-sideband noise spectral density of transmitter-exciting signal made subsequently.

On the global geodetic observing system: Africa's preparedness and challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Botai, O. J.; Combrinck, Ludwig; Rautenbach, C. J. Hannes

2013-02-01

Space geodetic techniques and satellite missions play a crucial role in the determination and monitoring of geo-kinematics, Earth's rotation and gravity fields. These three pillars of geodesy provide the basis for determining the geodetic reference frames with high accuracy, spatial resolution and temporal stability. Space geodetic techniques have been used for the assessment of geo-hazards, anthropogenic hazards and in the design of early warning systems for hazard and disasters. In general, space geodesy provides products for Earth observation, science and influences many activities (e.g., building and management) in a modern society. In order to further promote the application of space geodetic methods to solving Earth science problems, the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) was commissioned as an important geodetic infrastructure that integrates different geodetic techniques (such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, Satellite Laser Ranging, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite), models and analysis techniques for the purpose of ensuring long-term, precise monitoring of geodetic observables vital for monitoring Earth system processes. Since its inception, there has been considerable progress made towards setting up the infrastructure necessary for the establishment of the GGOS database. While the challenges that beleaguer the GGOS are acknowledged (at least at global level), the assessment of an attuned GGOS infrastructure in the African context is necessary, yet lacking. In the present contribution, (a) the African preparedness and response to the observing system is assessed, and (b) the specific scientific and technological challenges of establishing a regional GGOS hub for Africa are reviewed. Currently only South Africa has a fundamental geodetic observatory located at Hartebeesthoek, Pretoria. Other countries in Africa have shown interest to participate in global geodetic activities, in particular through interest in the development of a unified African geodetic reference frame (AFREF). In particular interest has been shown in the proposed African VLBI Network (AVN), which will be partially based on existing ex-telecommunication radio antennas. Several countries are investigating their participation in the AVN, including Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.

Use of diagnostic accuracy as a metric for evaluating laboratory proficiency with microarray assays using mixed-tissue RNA reference samples.

PubMed

Pine, P S; Boedigheimer, M; Rosenzweig, B A; Turpaz, Y; He, Y D; Delenstarr, G; Ganter, B; Jarnagin, K; Jones, W D; Reid, L H; Thompson, K L

2008-11-01

Effective use of microarray technology in clinical and regulatory settings is contingent on the adoption of standard methods for assessing performance. The MicroArray Quality Control project evaluated the repeatability and comparability of microarray data on the major commercial platforms and laid the groundwork for the application of microarray technology to regulatory assessments. However, methods for assessing performance that are commonly applied to diagnostic assays used in laboratory medicine remain to be developed for microarray assays. A reference system for microarray performance evaluation and process improvement was developed that includes reference samples, metrics and reference datasets. The reference material is composed of two mixes of four different rat tissue RNAs that allow defined target ratios to be assayed using a set of tissue-selective analytes that are distributed along the dynamic range of measurement. The diagnostic accuracy of detected changes in expression ratios, measured as the area under the curve from receiver operating characteristic plots, provides a single commutable value for comparing assay specificity and sensitivity. The utility of this system for assessing overall performance was evaluated for relevant applications like multi-laboratory proficiency testing programs and single-laboratory process drift monitoring. The diagnostic accuracy of detection of a 1.5-fold change in signal level was found to be a sensitive metric for comparing overall performance. This test approaches the technical limit for reliable discrimination of differences between two samples using this technology. We describe a reference system that provides a mechanism for internal and external assessment of laboratory proficiency with microarray technology and is translatable to performance assessments on other whole-genome expression arrays used for basic and clinical research.

Enhanced dynamic wedge and independent monitor unit verification.

PubMed

Howlett, S J

2005-03-01

Some serious radiation accidents have occurred around the world during the delivery of radiotherapy treatment. The regrettable incident in Panama clearly indicated the need for independent monitor unit (MU) verification. Indeed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), after investigating the incident, made specific recommendations for radiotherapy centres which included an independent monitor unit check for all treatments. Independent monitor unit verification is practiced in many radiotherapy centres in developed countries around the world. It is mandatory in USA but not yet in Australia. This paper describes development of an independent MU program, concentrating on the implementation of the Enhanced Dynamic Wedge (EDW) component. The difficult case of non centre of field (COF) calculation points under the EDW was studied in some detail. Results of a survey of Australasian centres regarding the use of independent MU check systems is also presented. The system was developed with reference to MU calculations made by Pinnacle 3D Radiotherapy Treatment Planning (RTP) system (ADAC - Philips) for 4MV, 6MV and 18MV X-ray beams used at the Newcastle Mater Misericordiae Hospital (NMMH) in the clinical environment. A small systematic error was detected in the equation used for the EDW calculations. Results indicate that COF equations may be used in the non COF situation with similar accuracy to that achieved with profile corrected methods. Further collaborative work with other centres is planned to extend these findings.

A study to assess the long-term stability of the ionization chamber reference system in the LNMRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trindade Filho, O. L.; Conceição, D. A.; da Silva, C. J.; Delgado, J. U.; de Oliveira, A. E.; Iwahara, A.; Tauhata, L.

2018-03-01

Ionization chambers are used as secondary standard in order to maintain the calibration factors of radionuclides in the activity measurements in metrology laboratories. Used as radionuclide calibrator in nuclear medicine clinics to control dose in patients, its long-term performance is not evaluated systematically. A methodology for long-term evaluation for its stability is monitored and checked. Historical data produced monthly of 2012 until 2017, by an ionization chamber, electrometer and 226Ra, were analyzed via control chart, aiming to follow the long-term performance. Monitoring systematic errors were consistent within the limits of control, demonstrating the quality of measurements in compliance with ISO17025.

Using oblique digital photography for alluvial sandbar monitoring and low-cost change detection

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tusso, Robert B.; Buscombe, Daniel D.; Grams, Paul E.

2015-01-01

The maintenance of alluvial sandbars is a longstanding management interest along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Resource managers are interested in both the long-term trend in sandbar condition and the short-term response to management actions, such as intentional controlled floods released from Glen Canyon Dam. Long-term monitoring is accomplished at a range of scales, by a combination of annual topographic survey at selected sites, daily collection of images from those sites using novel, autonomously operating, digital camera systems (hereafter referred to as 'remote cameras'), and quadrennial remote sensing of sandbars canyonwide. In this paper, we present results from the remote camera images for daily changes in sandbar topography.

Wearable real-time and adaptive feedback device to face the stuttering: a knowledge-based telehealthcare proposal.

PubMed

Prado, Manuel; Roa, Laura M

2007-01-01

Despite first written references to permanent developmental stuttering occurred more than 2500 years ago, the mechanisms underlying this disorder are still unknown. This paper briefly reviews stuttering causal hypothesis and treatments, and presents the requirements that a new stuttering therapeutic device should verify. As a result of the analysis, an adaptive altered auditory feedback device based on a multimodal intelligent monitor, within the framework of a knowledge-based telehealthcare system, is presented. The subsequent discussion, based partly on the successful outcomes of a similar intelligent monitor, suggests that this novel device is feasible and could help to fill the gap between research and clinic.

A low-power multi-modal body sensor network with application to epileptic seizure monitoring.

PubMed

Altini, Marco; Del Din, Silvia; Patel, Shyamal; Schachter, Steven; Penders, Julien; Bonato, Paolo

2011-01-01

Monitoring patients' physiological signals during their daily activities in the home environment is one of the challenge of the health care. New ultra-low-power wireless technologies could help to achieve this goal. In this paper we present a low-power, multi-modal, wearable sensor platform for the simultaneous recording of activity and physiological data. First we provide a description of the wearable sensor platform, and its characteristics with respect to power consumption. Second we present the preliminary results of the comparison between our sensors and a reference system, on healthy subjects, to test the reliability of the detected physiological (electrocardiogram and respiration) and electromyography signals.

Wireless Infrared Data Link

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Timothy E.

1995-01-01

Infrared transmitter and receiver designed for wireless transmission of information on measured physical quantity (for example, temperature) from transducer device to remote-acquisition system. In transmitter, output of transducer amplified and shifted with respect to bias or reference level, then fed to voltage-to-frequency converter to control frequency of repetition of current pulses applied to infrared-light-emitting diode. In receiver, frequency of repetition of pulses converted back into voltage indicative of temperature or other measured quantity. Potential applications include logging data while drilling for oil, transmitting measurements from rotors in machines without using slip rings, remote monitoring of temperatures and pressures in hazardous locations, and remote continuous monitoring of temperatures and blood pressures in medical patients, who thus remain mobile.

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

Sobocinski, Kathryn L.; Johnson, Gary E.; Sather, Nichole K.

This document is the first annual report for the study titled “Ecology of Juvenile Salmonids in Shallow Tidal Freshwater Habitats in the Vicinity of the Sandy River Delta in the Lower Columbia River.” Hereafter, we refer to this research as the Tidal Freshwater Monitoring (TFM) Study. The study is part of the research, monitoring, and evaluation effort developed by the Action Agencies (Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) in response to obligations arising from the Endangered Species Act as a result of operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The project ismore » performed under the auspices of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.« less

Head ballistocardiogram based on wireless multi-location sensors.

PubMed

Onizuka, Kohei; Sodini, Charles G

2015-08-01

Recently a wearable BCG monitoring technique based on an accelerometer worn at the ear was demonstrated to replace a conventional bulky BCG acquisition system. In this work, a multi-location wireless vital signs monitor was developed, and at least two common acceleration vectors correlating to sitting-BCG were found in the supine position by using head PPG signal as a reference for eight healthy human subjects. The head side amplitude in the supine position is roughly proportional to the sitting amplitude that is in turn proportional to the stroke volume. Signal processing techniques to identify J-waves in a subject having small amplitude was also developed based on the two common vectors at the head side and top.

Current strategies for monitoring men with localised prostate cancer lack a strong evidence base: observational longitudinal study.

PubMed

Metcalfe, C; Tilling, K; Davis, M; Lane, J A; Martin, R M; Kynaston, H; Powell, P; Neal, D E; Hamdy, F; Donovan, J L

2009-08-04

The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance recommends conservative management of men with 'low-risk' localised prostate cancer, monitoring the disease using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics and re-biopsy. However, there is little evidence of the changes in PSA level that should alert to the need for clinical re-assessment. This study compares the alerts resulting from PSA kinetics and a novel longitudinal reference range approach, which incorporates age-related changes, during the monitoring of 408 men with localised prostate cancer. Men were monitored by regular PSA tests over a mean of 2.9 years, recording when a man's PSA doubling time fell below 2 years, PSA velocity exceeded 2 ng ml(-1) per year, or when his upper 10% reference range was exceeded. Prostate-specific antigen doubling time and PSA velocity alerted a high proportion of men initially but became unresponsive to changes with successive tests. Calculating doubling time using recent PSA measurements reduced the decline in response. The reference range method maintained responsiveness to changes in PSA level throughout the monitoring. The increasing unresponsiveness of PSA kinetics is a consequence of the underlying regression model. Novel methods are needed for evaluation in cohorts currently being managed by monitoring. Meanwhile, the NICE guidance should be cautious.

Ecological thresholds as a basis for defining management triggers for National Park Service vital signs: case studies for dryland ecosystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bowker, Matthew A.; Miller, Mark E.; Belote, R. Travis; Garman, Steven L.

2013-01-01

Threshold concepts are used in research and management of ecological systems to describe and interpret abrupt and persistent reorganization of ecosystem properties (Walker and Meyers, 2004; Groffman and others, 2006). Abrupt change, referred to as a threshold crossing, and the progression of reorganization can be triggered by one or more interactive disturbances such as land-use activities and climatic events (Paine and others, 1998). Threshold crossings occur when feedback mechanisms that typically absorb forces of change are replaced with those that promote development of alternative equilibria or states (Suding and others, 2004; Walker and Meyers, 2004; Briske and others, 2008). The alternative states that emerge from a threshold crossing vary and often exhibit reduced ecological integrity and value in terms of management goals relative to the original or reference system. Alternative stable states with some limited residual properties of the original system may develop along the progression after a crossing; an eventual outcome may be the complete loss of pre-threshold properties of the original ecosystem. Reverting to the more desirable reference state through ecological restoration becomes increasingly difficult and expensive along the progression gradient and may eventually become impossible. Ecological threshold concepts have been applied as a heuristic framework and to aid in the management of rangelands (Bestelmeyer, 2006; Briske and others, 2006, 2008), aquatic (Scheffer and others, 1993; Rapport and Whitford 1999), riparian (Stringham and others, 2001; Scott and others, 2005), and forested ecosystems (Allen and others, 2002; Digiovinazzo and others, 2010). These concepts are also topical in ecological restoration (Hobbs and Norton 1996; Whisenant 1999; Suding and others, 2004; King and Hobbs, 2006) and ecosystem sustainability (Herrick, 2000; Chapin and others, 1996; Davenport and others, 1998). Achieving conservation management goals requires the protection of resources within the range of desired conditions (Cook and others, 2010). The goal of conservation management for natural resources in the U.S. National Park System is to maintain native species and habitat unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. Achieving this goal requires, in part, early detection of system change and timely implementation of remediation. The recent National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program (NPS I&M) was established to provide early warning of declining ecosystem conditions relative to a desired native or reference system (Fancy and others, 2009). To be an effective tool for resource protection, monitoring must be designed to alert managers of impending thresholds so that preventive actions can be taken. This requires an understanding of the ecosystem attributes and processes associated with threshold-type behavior; how these attributes and processes become degraded; and how risks of degradation vary among ecosystems and in relation to environmental factors such as soil properties, climatic conditions, and exposure to stressors. In general, the utility of the threshold concept for long-term monitoring depends on the ability of scientists and managers to detect, predict, and prevent the occurrence of threshold crossings associated with persistent, undesirable shifts among ecosystem states (Briske and others, 2006). Because of the scientific challenges associated with understanding these factors, the application of threshold concepts to monitoring designs has been very limited to date (Groffman and others, 2006). As a case in point, the monitoring efforts across the 32 NPS I&M networks were largely designed with the knowledge that they would not be used to their full potential until the development of a systematic method for understanding threshold dynamics and methods for estimating key attributes of threshold crossings. This report describes and demonstrates a generalized approach that we implemented to formalize understanding and estimating of threshold dynamics for terrestrial dryland ecosystems in national parks of the Colorado Plateau. We provide a structured approach to identify and describe degradation processes associated with threshold behavior and to estimate indicator levels that characterize the point at which a threshold crossing has occurred or is imminent (tipping points) or points where investigative or preventive management action should be triggered (assessment points). We illustrate this method for several case studies in national parks included in the Northern and Southern Colorado Plateau NPS I&M networks, where historical livestock grazing, climatic change, and invasive species are key agents of change. The approaches developed in these case studies are intended to enhance the design, effectiveness, and management-relevance of monitoring efforts in support of conservation management in dryland systems. They specifically enhance National Park Service (NPS) capacity for protecting park resources on the Colorado Plateau but have applicability to monitoring and conservation management of dryland ecosystems worldwide.

30 CFR 77.216-3 - Water, sediment, or slurry impoundments and impounding structures; inspection requirements...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Secretary. (c) After each examination and instrumentation monitoring referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b... instrumentation monitoring shall promptly record the results of such examination or instrumentation monitoring in... instrumentation monitoring reports recorded in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section shall include a...

30 CFR 77.216-3 - Water, sediment, or slurry impoundments and impounding structures; inspection requirements...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Secretary. (c) After each examination and instrumentation monitoring referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b... instrumentation monitoring shall promptly record the results of such examination or instrumentation monitoring in... instrumentation monitoring reports recorded in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section shall include a...

30 CFR 77.216-3 - Water, sediment, or slurry impoundments and impounding structures; inspection requirements...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Secretary. (c) After each examination and instrumentation monitoring referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b... instrumentation monitoring shall promptly record the results of such examination or instrumentation monitoring in... instrumentation monitoring reports recorded in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section shall include a...

30 CFR 77.216-3 - Water, sediment, or slurry impoundments and impounding structures; inspection requirements...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Secretary. (c) After each examination and instrumentation monitoring referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b... instrumentation monitoring shall promptly record the results of such examination or instrumentation monitoring in... instrumentation monitoring reports recorded in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section shall include a...

30 CFR 77.216-3 - Water, sediment, or slurry impoundments and impounding structures; inspection requirements...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Secretary. (c) After each examination and instrumentation monitoring referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b... instrumentation monitoring shall promptly record the results of such examination or instrumentation monitoring in... instrumentation monitoring reports recorded in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section shall include a...

A Proposal for Geologic Radioactive Waste Disposal Environmental Zero-State and Subsequent Monitoring Definition - First Lessons Learned from the French Environment Observatory - 13188

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

Landais, Patrick; Leclerc, Elisabeth; Mariotti, Andre

Obtaining a reference state of the environment before the beginning of construction work for a geological repository is essential as it will be useful for further monitoring during operations and beyond, thus keeping a memory of the original environmental state. The area and the compartments of the biosphere to be observed and monitored as well as the choice of the markers (e.g. bio-markers, biodiversity, quality of the environment, etc.) to be followed must be carefully selected. In parallel, the choice and selection of the environmental monitoring systems (i.e. scientific and technical criteria, social requirements) will be of paramount importance formore » the evaluation of the perturbations that could be induced during the operational phase of the repository exploitation. This paper presents learning points of the French environment observatory located in the Meuse/Haute-Marne that has been selected for studying the feasibility of the underground disposal of high level wastes in France. (authors)« less

CORS911:Real-Time Subsidence Monitoring of the Napoleonville Salt Dome Sinkhole Using GPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kent, J. D.

2013-12-01

The sinkhole associated with the Napoleonville salt dome in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, threatens the stability of Highway 70 - a state maintained route. To mitigate the potential damaging effects to the highway and address issues of public safety, a program of research and decision support has been implemented to provide long-term measurements of the surface stability using continuous operating GPS reference stations (CORS). Four CORS sites were installed in the vicinity of the sinkhole to measure the horizontal and vertical motions of each site relative to each other and a fixed location outside the study area. Differential motions measured by a integrity monitoring software are summarized for response agencies tasked with ensuring public safety and stability of the Highway, a designated hurricane evacuation route. Implementation experience and intermediate findings will be shared and discussed. Strategies for monitoring random and systematic biases detected in the system are presented. Figure depicting the location of CORS sites used to monitor surface stability along Highway 70 near the Bayou Corne Sinkhole.

Extracting respiratory information from seismocardiogram signals acquired on the chest using a miniature accelerometer.

PubMed

Pandia, Keya; Inan, Omer T; Kovacs, Gregory T A; Giovangrandi, Laurent

2012-10-01

Seismocardiography (SCG) is a non-invasive measurement of the vibrations of the chest caused by the heartbeat. SCG signals can be measured using a miniature accelerometer attached to the chest, and are thus well-suited for unobtrusive and long-term patient monitoring. Additionally, SCG contains information relating to both cardiovascular and respiratory systems. In this work, algorithms were developed for extracting three respiration-dependent features of the SCG signal: intensity modulation, timing interval changes within each heartbeat, and timing interval changes between successive heartbeats. Simultaneously with a reference respiration belt, SCG signals were measured from 20 healthy subjects and a respiration rate was estimated using each of the three SCG features and the reference signal. The agreement between each of the three accelerometer-derived respiration rate measurements was computed with respect to the respiration rate derived from the reference respiration belt. The respiration rate obtained from the intensity modulation in the SCG signal was found to be in closest agreement with the respiration rate obtained from the reference respiration belt: the bias was found to be 0.06 breaths per minute with a 95% confidence interval of -0.99 to 1.11 breaths per minute. The limits of agreement between the respiration rates estimated using SCG (intensity modulation) and the reference were within the clinically relevant ranges given in existing literature, demonstrating that SCG could be used for both cardiovascular and respiratory monitoring. Furthermore, phases of each of the three SCG parameters were investigated at four instances of a respiration cycle-start inspiration, peak inspiration, start expiration, and peak expiration-and during breath hold (apnea). The phases of the three SCG parameters observed during the respiration cycle were congruent with existing literature and physiologically expected trends.

On-line condition monitoring applications in nuclear power plants

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

Hastiemian, H. M.; Feltus, M. A.

2006-07-01

Existing signals from process instruments in nuclear power plants can be sampled while the plant is operating and analyzed to verify the static and dynamic performance of process sensors, identify process-to-sensor problems, detect instrument anomalies such as venturi fouling, measure the vibration of the reactor vessel and its internals, or detect thermal hydraulic anomalies within the reactor coolant system. These applications are important in nuclear plants to satisfy a variety of objectives such as: 1) meeting the plant technical specification requirements; 2) complying with regulatory regulations; 3) guarding against equipment and process degradation; 4) providing a means for incipient failuremore » detection and predictive maintenance; or 5) identifying the root cause of anomalies in equipment and plant processes. The technologies that are used to achieve these objectives are collectively referred to as 'on-line condition monitoring.' This paper presents a review of key elements of these technologies, provides examples of their use in nuclear power plants, and illustrates how they can be integrated into an on-line condition monitoring system for nuclear power plants. (authors)« less

Development of atomic radical monitoring probe and its application to spatial distribution measurements of H and O atomic radical densities in radical-based plasma processing

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

Takahashi, Shunji; Katagiri Engineering Co., Ltd., 3-5-34 Shitte Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0003; Takashima, Seigo

2009-09-01

Atomic radicals such as hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) play important roles in process plasmas. In a previous study, we developed a system for measuring the absolute density of H, O, nitrogen, and carbon atoms in plasmas using vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy (VUVAS) with a compact light source using an atmospheric pressure microplasma [microdischarge hollow cathode lamp (MHCL)]. In this study, we developed a monitoring probe for atomic radicals employing the VUVAS with the MHCL. The probe size was 2.7 mm in diameter. Using this probe, only a single port needs to be accessed for radical density measurements. We successfullymore » measured the spatial distribution of the absolute densities of H and O atomic radicals in a radical-based plasma processing system by moving the probe along the radial direction of the chamber. This probe allows convenient analysis of atomic radical densities to be carried out for any type of process plasma at any time. We refer to this probe as a ubiquitous monitoring probe for atomic radicals.« less

[Calibration of a room air gas monitor with certified reference gases].

PubMed

Krueger, W A; Trick, M; Schroeder, T H; Unertl, K E

2003-12-01

Photo-acoustic infrared spectrometry is considered to be the gold standard for on-line measurement of anesthetic waste gas in room air. For maintenance of the precision of the measurements, the manufacturer recommends calibration of the gas monitor monitor every 3-12 months. We investigated whether the use of reference gases with analysis certificate could serve as a feasible alternative to commercial recalibration. We connected a multi-gas monitor type1302 (Bruel & Kjaer, Naerum, Denmark) to compressed air bottles containing reference gases with analysis certificate. Using a T-piece with a flow-meter, we avoided the entry of room air during the calibration phase. Highly purified nitrogen was used for zero calibration. The reference concentrations for desflurane, enflurane, halothane, isoflurane, and sevoflurane ranged from 41.6-51.1 ml/m(3) (ppm) in synthetic air. Since there is an overlap of the infrared absorption spectra of volatile anesthetics with alcohol used in operating rooms, we performed a cross-compensation with iso-propanol (107.0 ppm). A two-point calibration was performed for N(2)O (96.2 and 979.0 ppm), followed by cross-compensation with CO(2). Nafion tubes were used in order to avoid erroneous measurements due to molecular relaxation phenomena. The deviation of the measurement values ranged initially from 0-2.0% and increased to up to 4.9% after 18 months. For N(2)O, the corresponding values were 4.2% and 2.7%, respectively. Thus, our calibration procedure using certified reference gases yielded precise measurements with low deterioration over 18 months. It seems to be advantageous that the precision can be determined whenever deemed necessary. This allows for an individual decision, when the gas monitor needs to be calibrated again. The costs for reference gases and working time as well as logistic aspects such as storage and expiration dates must be individually balanced against the costs for commercial recalibration.

The Anatahan volcano-monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marso, J. N.; Lockhart, A. B.; White, R. A.; Koyanagi, S. K.; Trusdell, F. A.; Camacho, J. T.; Chong, R.

2003-12-01

A real-time 24/7 Anatahan volcano-monitoring and eruption detection system is now operational. There had been no real-time seismic monitoring on Anatahan during the May 10, 2003 eruption because the single telemetered seismic station on Anatahan Island had failed. On May 25, staff from the Emergency Management Office (EMO) of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) established a replacement telemetered seismic station on Anatahan whose data were recorded on a drum recorder at the EMO on Saipan, 130 km to the south by June 5. In late June EMO and USGS staff installed a Glowworm seismic data acquisition system (Marso et al, 2003) at EMO and hardened the Anatahan telemetry links. The Glowworm system collects the telemetered seismic data from Anatahan and Saipan, places graphical display products on a webpage, and exports the seismic waveform data in real time to Glowworm systems at Hawaii Volcano Observatory and Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO). In early July, a back-up telemetered seismic station was placed on Sarigan Island 40 km north of Anatahan, transmitting directly to the EMO on Saipan. Because there is currently no population on the island, at this time the principal hazard presented by Anatahan volcano would be air traffic disruption caused by possible erupted ash. The aircraft/ash hazard requires a monitoring program that focuses on eruption detection. The USGS currently provides 24/7 monitoring of Anatahan with a rotational seismic duty officer who carries a Pocket PC-cell phone combination that receives SMS text messages from the CVO Glowworm system when it detects large seismic signals. Upon receiving an SMS text message notification from the CVO Glowworm, the seismic duty officer can use the Pocket PC - cell phone to view a graphic of the seismic traces on the EMO Glowworm's webpage to determine if the seismic signal is eruption related. There have been no further eruptions since the monitoring system was installed, but regional tectonic earthquakes have provided frequent tests of the system. Reliance on a Pocket PC - cell phone requires that the seismic duty officer remain in an area with cell phone coverage. With this monitoring method, the USGS is able to provide rapid notice of an Anatahan eruption to the EMO and the Washington Volcano Ash Advisory Center. Reference Marso, J.N., Murray, T.L., Lockhart, A.B., Bryan, C.J., Glowworm: An extended PC-based Earthworm system for volcano monitoring. Abstracts, Cities On Volcanoes III, Hilo Hawaii, July 2003.

Diagnostic workstation for digital hand atlas in bone age assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Fei; Huang, H. K.; Pietka, Ewa; Gilsanz, Vicente; Ominsky, Steven

1998-06-01

Bone age assessment by a radiological examination of a hand and wrist image is a procedure frequently performed in pediatric patients to evaluate growth disorders, determine growth potential in children and monitor therapy effects. The assessment method currently used in radiological diagnosis is based on atlas matching of the diagnosed hand image with the reference set of atlas patterns, which was developed in 1950s and is not fully applicable for children of today. We intent to implement a diagnostic workstation for creating a new reference set of clinically normal images which will serve as a digital atlas and can be used for a computer-assisted bone age assessment. In this paper, we present the initial data- collection and system setup phase of this five-year research program. We describe the system design, user interface implementation and software tool development for collection, visualization, management and processing of clinically normal hand and wrist images.

A regional assessment of salt marsh restoration and monitoring in the Gulf of Maine

USGS Publications Warehouse

Konisky, R.A.; Burdick, D.M.; Dionne, M.; Neckles, H.A.

2006-01-01

We compiled salt marsh monitoring datasets from 36 complete or imminent restoration projects in the Gulf of Maine to assess regional monitoring and restoration practices. Data were organized by functional indicators and restoration project types (culvert replacement, excavation works, or ditch plugging) then pooled to generate mean values for indicators before restoration, after restoration, and at reference sites. Monitoring data were checked against the regional standards of a voluntary protocol for the Gulf of Maine. Data inventories showed that vegetation and salinity indicators were most frequently collected (89 and 78% of sites, respectively), whereas nekton, bird, and hydrologic measures were collected at only about half of the sites. Reference conditions were monitored at 72% of sites. Indicators were analyzed to see if project sites were degraded relative to reference areas and to detect ecological responses to restoration activities. Results showed that compared to reference areas, prerestoration sites had smaller tidal ranges, reduced salinity levels, greater cover of brackish plants species, and lower cover of halophyte plants. Following restoration, physical factors rebounded rapidly with increased flood and salinity levels after about one year, especially for culvert projects. Biological responses were less definitive and occurred over longer time frames. Plant communities trended toward recovered halophytes and reduced brackish species at 3+ years following restoration. Nekton and avian indicators were indistinguishable among reference, impacted, and restored areas. The protocol was successful in demonstrating restoration response for the region, but results were limited by regional inconsistencies in field practices and relatively few multiyear datasets. To improve future assessment capabilities, we encourage greater adherence to the standard protocol throughout the Gulf of Maine salt marsh restoration community.

A portable data-logging system for industrial hygiene personal chlorine monitoring.

PubMed

Langhorst, M L; Illes, S P

1986-02-01

The combination of suitable portable sensors or instruments with small microprocessor-based data-logger units has made it possible to obtain detailed monitoring data for many health and environmental applications. Following data acquisition in field use, the logged data may be transferred to a desk-top personal computer for complete flexibility in manipulation of data and formating of results. A system has been assembled from commercial components and demonstrated for chlorine personal monitoring applications. The system consists of personal chlorine sensors, a Metrosonics data-logger and reader unit, and an Apple II Plus personal computer. The computer software was developed to handle sensor calibration, data evaluation and reduction, report formating and long-term storage of raw data on a disk. This system makes it possible to generate time-concentration profiles, evaluate dose above a threshold, quantitate short-term excursions and summarize time-weighted average (TWA) results. Field data from plant trials demonstrated feasibility of use, ruggedness and reliability. No significant differences were found between the time-weighted average chlorine concentrations determined by the sensor/logger system and two other methods: the sulfamic acid bubbler reference method and the 3M Poroplastic diffusional dosimeter. The sensor/data-logger system, however, provided far more information than the other two methods in terms of peak excursions, TWAs and exposure doses. For industrial hygiene applications, the system allows better definition of employee exposures, particularly for chemicals with acute as well as chronic health effects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The image-interpretation-workstation of the future: lessons learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maier, S.; van de Camp, F.; Hafermann, J.; Wagner, B.; Peinsipp-Byma, E.; Beyerer, J.

2017-05-01

In recent years, professionally used workstations got increasingly complex and multi-monitor systems are more and more common. Novel interaction techniques like gesture recognition were developed but used mostly for entertainment and gaming purposes. These human computer interfaces are not yet widely used in professional environments where they could greatly improve the user experience. To approach this problem, we combined existing tools in our imageinterpretation-workstation of the future, a multi-monitor workplace comprised of four screens. Each screen is dedicated to a special task in the image interpreting process: a geo-information system to geo-reference the images and provide a spatial reference for the user, an interactive recognition support tool, an annotation tool and a reporting tool. To further support the complex task of image interpreting, self-developed interaction systems for head-pose estimation and hand tracking were used in addition to more common technologies like touchscreens, face identification and speech recognition. A set of experiments were conducted to evaluate the usability of the different interaction systems. Two typical extensive tasks of image interpreting were devised and approved by military personal. They were then tested with a current setup of an image interpreting workstation using only keyboard and mouse against our image-interpretationworkstation of the future. To get a more detailed look at the usefulness of the interaction techniques in a multi-monitorsetup, the hand tracking, head pose estimation and the face recognition were further evaluated using tests inspired by everyday tasks. The results of the evaluation and the discussion are presented in this paper.

Practical identifiability analysis of a minimal cardiovascular system model.

PubMed

Pironet, Antoine; Docherty, Paul D; Dauby, Pierre C; Chase, J Geoffrey; Desaive, Thomas

2017-01-17

Parameters of mathematical models of the cardiovascular system can be used to monitor cardiovascular state, such as total stressed blood volume status, vessel elastance and resistance. To do so, the model parameters have to be estimated from data collected at the patient's bedside. This work considers a seven-parameter model of the cardiovascular system and investigates whether these parameters can be uniquely determined using indices derived from measurements of arterial and venous pressures, and stroke volume. An error vector defined the residuals between the simulated and reference values of the seven clinically available haemodynamic indices. The sensitivity of this error vector to each model parameter was analysed, as well as the collinearity between parameters. To assess practical identifiability of the model parameters, profile-likelihood curves were constructed for each parameter. Four of the seven model parameters were found to be practically identifiable from the selected data. The remaining three parameters were practically non-identifiable. Among these non-identifiable parameters, one could be decreased as much as possible. The other two non-identifiable parameters were inversely correlated, which prevented their precise estimation. This work presented the practical identifiability analysis of a seven-parameter cardiovascular system model, from limited clinical data. The analysis showed that three of the seven parameters were practically non-identifiable, thus limiting the use of the model as a monitoring tool. Slight changes in the time-varying function modeling cardiac contraction and use of larger values for the reference range of venous pressure made the model fully practically identifiable. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.