Safety equipment list for the 241-SY-101 RAPID mitigation project

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

MORRIS, K.L.

1999-06-29

This document provides the safety classification for the safety (safety class and safety RAPID Mitigation Project. This document is being issued as the project SEL until the supporting authorization basis documentation, this document will be superseded by the TWRS SEL (LMHC 1999), documentation istlralized. Upon implementation of the authorization basis significant) structures, systems, and components (SSCS) associated with the 241-SY-1O1 which will be updated to include the information contained herein.

Urban construction and safety project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The purpose and functions of NASA technology applications temas (TAT) are described, with emphasis on the activities of the Urban and Construction and Safety Project. The transfer and implementation of technology is discussed in five activities. Topics include: flat conductor cable, NASA house and compendium, flood insurance studies, tornado studies, and the controller for stationary diesels.

Case study: the Argentina Road Safety Project: lessons learned for the decade of action for road safety, 2011-2020.

PubMed

Raffo, Veronica; Bliss, Tony; Shotten, Marc; Sleet, David; Blanchard, Claire

2013-12-01

This case study of the Argentina Road Safety Project demonstrates how the application of World Bank road safety project guidelines focused on institution building can accelerate knowledge transfer, scale up investment and improve the focus on results. The case study highlights road safety as a development priority and outlines World Bank initiatives addressing the implementation of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury's recommendations and the subsequent launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, from 2011-2020. The case study emphasizes the vital role played by the lead agency in ensuring sustainable road safety improvements and promoting the shift to a 'Safe System' approach, which necessitated the strengthening of all elements of the road safety management system. It summarizes road safety performance and institutional initiatives in Argentina leading up to the preparation and implementation of the project. We describe the project's development objectives, financing arrangements, specific components and investment staging. Finally, we discuss its innovative features and lessons learned, and present a set of supplementary guidelines, both to assist multilateral development banks and their clients with future road safety initiatives, and to encourage better linkages between the health and transportation sectors supporting them.

I-25 truck safety improvements project : local evaluation report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-12-29

The I-25 Truck Safety Improvements project (I-25 TSIP) is the result of a FY98 congressionally designated earmark to support improvements in transportation efficiency, promote safety, increase traffic flow, reduce emissions, improve traveler informat...

Watershed safety and quality control by safety threshold method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Da-Wei Tsai, David; Mengjung Chou, Caroline; Ramaraj, Rameshprabu; Liu, Wen-Cheng; Honglay Chen, Paris

2014-05-01

Taiwan was warned as one of the most dangerous countries by IPCC and the World Bank. In such an exceptional and perilous island, we would like to launch the strategic research of land-use management on the catastrophe prevention and environmental protection. This study used the watershed management by "Safety Threshold Method" to restore and to prevent the disasters and pollution on island. For the deluge prevention, this study applied the restoration strategy to reduce total runoff which was equilibrium to 59.4% of the infiltration each year. For the sediment management, safety threshold management could reduce the sediment below the equilibrium of the natural sediment cycle. In the water quality issues, the best strategies exhibited the significant total load reductions of 10% in carbon (BOD5), 15% in nitrogen (nitrate) and 9% in phosphorus (TP). We found out the water quality could meet the BOD target by the 50% peak reduction with management. All the simulations demonstrated the safety threshold method was helpful to control the loadings within the safe range of disasters and environmental quality. Moreover, from the historical data of whole island, the past deforestation policy and the mistake economic projects were the prime culprits. Consequently, this study showed a practical method to manage both the disasters and pollution in a watershed scale by the land-use management.

77 FR 25080 - Safety Zones; TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River, Portland, OR

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-27

...-AA00 Safety Zones; TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River, Portland, OR AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... trestles and construction cranes involved in the construction of the TriMet Bridge on the Willamette River... project. These safety zones replace the prior safety zones established for the TriMet Bridge construction...

A root cause analysis project in a medication safety course.

PubMed

Schafer, Jason J

2012-08-10

To develop, implement, and evaluate team-based root cause analysis projects as part of a required medication safety course for second-year pharmacy students. Lectures, in-class activities, and out-of-class reading assignments were used to develop students' medication safety skills and introduce them to the culture of medication safety. Students applied these skills within teams by evaluating cases of medication errors using root cause analyses. Teams also developed error prevention strategies and formally presented their findings. Student performance was assessed using a medication errors evaluation rubric. Of the 211 students who completed the course, the majority performed well on root cause analysis assignments and rated them favorably on course evaluations. Medication error evaluation and prevention was successfully introduced in a medication safety course using team-based root cause analysis projects.

Subsistence restoration project: Food safety testing. Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Project. Final report restoration project 94279

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

Miraglia, R.A.; Chartrand, A.W.

1997-05-01

The goal of this project was to restore the confidence of subsistence users in their abilities to determine the safety of their resources. Methods included community meetings, collection and testing of subsistence resources samples for hydrocarbon contamination, accompanying community representatives on tours of the laboratory where tests were conducted and informational newsletters. Over the two years of the project combined, 228 composite samples of edible tissues from shellfish were tested. The bile of forty rockfish, six sockeye salmon, twelve seals, twenty-three ducks were tested for the presence of hydrocarbon metabolites. Edible tissue (blubber) from seals was also tested. Generally, themore » tests showed such low levels of hydrocarbons and their metabolites, as to be within the test`s margin of error. The project was partly successful in disseminating the subsistence food safety advice of the Oil Spill Health Task Force and in improving the level of trust in the results of hydrocarbon tests on the resources.« less

Compendium of traffic safety research projects : 1987-1997

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-09-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Research and Evaluation Division, Office of Research and Traffic Records, conducts research and evaluation projects dealing with human attitudes, behaviors, and failures (motor vehicle cras...

The sensitivity of tokamak magnetohydrodynamics stability on the edge equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, L. J.; Kotschenreuther, M. T.; Valanju, P.

2017-10-01

Due to the X-point singularity, the safety factor tends to infinity as approaching to the last closed flux surface. The numerical treatments of the near X-point behavior become challenging both for equilibrium and stability. The usual solution is to cut off a small fraction of edge region for system stability evaluation or simply use an up-down symmetric equilibrium without X-point as an approximation. In this work, we assess the sensitivity of this type of equilibrium treatments on the stability calculation. It is found that the system stability can depend strongly on the safety factor value (qa) at the edge after the cutting-off. When the edge safety factor value falls in the vicinity of a rational mode number (referred to as the resonant gap), the system becomes quite unstable due to the excitation of the peeling type modes. Instead, when the edge safety factor is outside the resonant gaps, the system is much more stable and the predominant modes become the usual external kink (or ballooning and infernal) type. It is also found that the resonant gaps become smaller and smaller as qa increases. The ideal magnetohydrodynamic peeling ballooning stability diagram is widely used to explain the experimental observations, and the current results indicate that the conventional peeling ballooning stability diagram based on the simplified equilibrium needs to be reexamined.

Safety risk assessment using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) during planning and budgeting of construction projects.

PubMed

Aminbakhsh, Saman; Gunduz, Murat; Sonmez, Rifat

2013-09-01

The inherent and unique risks on construction projects quite often present key challenges to contractors. Health and safety risks are among the most significant risks in construction projects since the construction industry is characterized by a relatively high injury and death rate compared to other industries. In construction project management, safety risk assessment is an important step toward identifying potential hazards and evaluating the risks associated with the hazards. Adequate prioritization of safety risks during risk assessment is crucial for planning, budgeting, and management of safety related risks. In this paper, a safety risk assessment framework is presented based on the theory of cost of safety (COS) model and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The main contribution of the proposed framework is that it presents a robust method for prioritization of safety risks in construction projects to create a rational budget and to set realistic goals without compromising safety. The framework provides a decision tool for the decision makers to determine the adequate accident/injury prevention investments while considering the funding limits. The proposed safety risk framework is illustrated using a real-life construction project and the advantages and limitations of the framework are discussed. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Future disability projections could be improved by connecting to the theory of a dynamic equilibrium.

PubMed

Klijs, Bart; Mackenbach, Johan P; Kunst, Anton E

2011-04-01

Projections of future trends in the burden of disability could be guided by models linking disability to life expectancy, such as the dynamic equilibrium theory. This article tests the key assumption of this theory that severe disability is associated with proximity to death, whereas mild disability is not. Using data from the GLOBE study (Gezondheid en Levensomstandigheden Bevolking Eindhoven en omstreken), the association of three levels of self-reported disabilities in activities of daily living with age and proximity to death was studied using logistic regression models. Regression estimates were used to estimate the number of life years with disability for life spans of 75 and 85 years. Odds ratios of 0.976 (not significant) for mild disability, 1.137 for moderate disability, and 1.231 for severe disability showed a stronger effect of proximity to death for more severe levels of disability. A 10-year increase of life span was estimated to result in a substantial expansion of mild disability (4.6 years) compared with a small expansion of moderate (0.7 years) and severe (0.9 years) disability. These findings support the theory of a dynamic equilibrium. Projections of the future burden of disability could be substantially improved by connecting to this theory and incorporating information on proximity to death. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aviation Safety Program: Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) Project Overview and Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nadell, Shari-Beth

2003-01-01

This paper presents a project overview and status for the Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) aviation safety program. The topics include: 1) Weather Accident Prevention Project Background/History; 2) Project Modifications; 3) Project Accomplishments; and 4) Project's Next Steps.

75 FR 5511 - Safety Zone; AICW Closure Safety Zone for Ben Sawyer Bridge Replacement Project, Sullivan's...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-03

...-AA00 Safety Zone; AICW Closure Safety Zone for Ben Sawyer Bridge Replacement Project, Sullivan's Island... replacement of the old and new approach spans of the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge. This regulation is necessary to... proposed rulemaking (NPRM) with respect to this rule because hazards associated with the bridge replacement...

The representation of non-equilibrium soil types in earth system models and its impact on carbon cycle projections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hugelius, G.; Ahlström, A.; Canadell, J.; Koven, C. D.; Jackson, R. B.; Luo, Y.

2016-12-01

Soils hold the largest reactive pool of carbon (C) on earth. Global soil organic C stocks (0-200 cm depth plus full peatland depth) are estimated to 2200 Pg C (adapted from Hugelius et al., 2014, Köchy et al., 2015 and Batjes, 2016). Soil C stocks in Earth system models (ESMs) can be generated by running the model over a longer time period until soil C pools are in or near steady-state. Inherent in this concept is the idea that soil C stocks are in (quasi)equilibrium as determined by the balance of net ecosystem input to soil organic matter and its turnover. The rate of turnover is sometimes subdivided into several pools and the rates are affected by various environmental factors. Here we break down the empirically based estimates of global soil C pools into equilibrium-type soils which current (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, phase 5; CMIP5) generation ESMs are set-up to represent and non-equilibrium type soils which are generally not represented in current ESMs. We define equilibrium soils as those where pedogenesis (and associated soil C formation) is not significantly limited by the environmental factors perennial soil freezing, waterlogging/anoxia or limited unconsolidated soil substrate. This is essentially all permafrost-free mineral soils that are not in a wetland or alpine setting. On the other hand, non-equlibrium soils are defined as permafrost soils, peatlands and alpine soils with a limited fine-soil matrix. Based on geospatial analyses of state-of-the-art datasets on soil C stocks, we estimate that the global soil C pool is divided roughly equally between equilibrium and non-equlibrium type soils. We discuss the ways in which this result affects C cycling in ESMs and projections of soil C sensitivity under a changing climate. ReferencesBatjes N.H. (2016) Geoderma, 269, 61-68, doi: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.01.034 Hugelius G. et al. (2014) Biogeosciences, 11, 6573-6593, doi:10.5194/bg-11-6573-2014 Köchy M. et al. (2015) Soil 1, 351-365. DOI: doi

Slope stability analysis using limit equilibrium method in nonlinear criterion.

PubMed

Lin, Hang; Zhong, Wenwen; Xiong, Wei; Tang, Wenyu

2014-01-01

In slope stability analysis, the limit equilibrium method is usually used to calculate the safety factor of slope based on Mohr-Coulomb criterion. However, Mohr-Coulomb criterion is restricted to the description of rock mass. To overcome its shortcomings, this paper combined Hoek-Brown criterion and limit equilibrium method and proposed an equation for calculating the safety factor of slope with limit equilibrium method in Hoek-Brown criterion through equivalent cohesive strength and the friction angle. Moreover, this paper investigates the impact of Hoek-Brown parameters on the safety factor of slope, which reveals that there is linear relation between equivalent cohesive strength and weakening factor D. However, there are nonlinear relations between equivalent cohesive strength and Geological Strength Index (GSI), the uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock σ ci , and the parameter of intact rock m i . There is nonlinear relation between the friction angle and all Hoek-Brown parameters. With the increase of D, the safety factor of slope F decreases linearly; with the increase of GSI, F increases nonlinearly; when σ ci is relatively small, the relation between F and σ ci is nonlinear, but when σ ci is relatively large, the relation is linear; with the increase of m i , F decreases first and then increases.

Slope Stability Analysis Using Limit Equilibrium Method in Nonlinear Criterion

PubMed Central

Lin, Hang; Zhong, Wenwen; Xiong, Wei; Tang, Wenyu

2014-01-01

In slope stability analysis, the limit equilibrium method is usually used to calculate the safety factor of slope based on Mohr-Coulomb criterion. However, Mohr-Coulomb criterion is restricted to the description of rock mass. To overcome its shortcomings, this paper combined Hoek-Brown criterion and limit equilibrium method and proposed an equation for calculating the safety factor of slope with limit equilibrium method in Hoek-Brown criterion through equivalent cohesive strength and the friction angle. Moreover, this paper investigates the impact of Hoek-Brown parameters on the safety factor of slope, which reveals that there is linear relation between equivalent cohesive strength and weakening factor D. However, there are nonlinear relations between equivalent cohesive strength and Geological Strength Index (GSI), the uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock σ ci, and the parameter of intact rock m i. There is nonlinear relation between the friction angle and all Hoek-Brown parameters. With the increase of D, the safety factor of slope F decreases linearly; with the increase of GSI, F increases nonlinearly; when σ ci is relatively small, the relation between F and σ ci is nonlinear, but when σ ci is relatively large, the relation is linear; with the increase of m i, F decreases first and then increases. PMID:25147838

Good practices : incorporating safety into resurfacing and restoration projects

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-12-01

Integrating safety improvements into resurfacing and restoration projects is a subject of long-standing interest by Federal, State, and local transportation agencies. A Scan Tour was conducted to identify and subsequently observe good practices in th...

Innovative tools and techniques in identifying highway safety improvement projects : technical report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-08-01

The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) aims to achieve a reduction in the number and severity of fatalities and serious injury crashes on all public roads by implementing highway safety improvement projects. Although the structure and main com...

75 FR 59078 - Safety Zone; Ledge Removal Project, Bass Harbor, ME

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165 [Docket No. USCG-2010-0806] RIN 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Ledge Removal Project, Bass Harbor, ME AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Temporary... District USACE Web site: http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/projects/me/bassharbor/bassharbor.htm . No...

The SISIFO project: Seismic Safety at High Schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peruzza, Laura; Barnaba, Carla; Bragato, Pier Luigi; Dusi, Alberto; Grimaz, Stefano; Malisan, Petra; Saraò, Angela; Mucciarelli, Marco

2014-05-01

For many years, the Italian scientific community has faced the problem of the reduction of earthquake risk using innovative educational techniques. Recent earthquakes in Italy and around the world have clearly demonstrated that seismic codes alone are not able to guarantee an effective mitigation of risk. After the tragic events of San Giuliano di Puglia (2002), where an earthquake killed 26 school children, special attention was paid in Italy to the seismic safety of schools, but mainly with respect to structural aspects. Little attention has been devoted to the possible and even significant damage to non-structural elements (collapse of ceilings, tipping of cabinets and shelving, obstruction of escape routes, etc..). Students and teachers trained on these aspects may lead to a very effective preventive vigilance. Since 2002, the project EDURISK (www.edurisk.it) proposed educational tools and training programs for schools, at primary and middle levels. More recently, a nationwide campaign aimed to adults (www.iononrischio.it) was launched with the extensive support of civil protection volounteers. There was a gap for high schools, and Project SISIFO was designed to fill this void and in particular for those schools with technical/scientific curricula. SISIFO (https://sites.google.com/site/ogssisifo/) is a multidisciplinary initiative, aimed at the diffusion of scientific culture for achieving seismic safety in schools, replicable and can be structured in training the next several years. The students, helped by their teachers and by experts from scientific institutions, followed a course on specialized training on earthquake safety. The trial began in North-East Italy, with a combination of hands-on activities for the measurement of earthquakes with low-cost instruments and lectures with experts in various disciplines, accompanied by specifically designed teaching materials, both on paper and digital format. We intend to raise teachers and students knowledge of the

Patterns of patient safety culture: a complexity and arts-informed project of knowledge translation.

PubMed

Mitchell, Gail J; Tregunno, Deborah; Gray, Julia; Ginsberg, Liane

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe patterns of patient safety culture that emerged from an innovative collaboration among health services researchers and fine arts colleagues. The group engaged in an arts-informed knowledge translation project to produce a dramatic expression of patient safety culture research for inclusion in a symposium. Scholars have called for a deeper understanding of the complex interrelationships among structure, process and outcomes relating to patient safety. Four patterns of patient safety culture--blinding familiarity, unyielding determination, illusion of control and dismissive urgency--are described with respect to how they informed creation of an arts-informed project for knowledge translation.

Working together to ensure safety at hydro projects

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

Bartel, J.W.

Providing for public safety around a hydroelectric facility can be critically important to the welfare of a hydro-power producer. With this in mind, Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation have worked together to develop consistent safety signage and several for their hydro projects. Although the two utilities sometimes compete for electric customers, they cooperate to ensure the safety to those customers. Both WE and WPS took steps in 1986 to make their operations safer through involvement in the Wisconsin/Michigan Hydro User Group. The organization has 25 members-primarily of electric utilities and paper companies-who operate hydro facilities inmore » the two states. The two areas that the HUG studied in public safety were signs and warning systems. HUG established a sign committee to study how to increase safety of people around hydro plants through signs, explained Ted Handrick, hydro plant superintendent at WPS. The committee's recommendations led to development of a statewide uniform sign system adopted by all HUG members. The committee used Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' guidelines for warning signs and portages in developing the signage standards. HUG members are converting to these new sign standards as they replace old signs and/or install new signs. Notices describing the new signage system have been placed near each hydro plant, at boat landings, and in campgrounds. The signs are mounted well above ground level so they can be seen and easily read by recreationalists. Warning systems, in accordance with HUG warning standards, were installed at WE and WPS hydro facilities. These systems alert nearby recreational users of rapid increases in water flow when generating units are turned on or when spillway gates are opened. Soon after the authors installed equipment to remotely operate its hydro facilities, the utility experienced a dramatic increase increase in intrusion on dams and other structures at the

Compendium of Traffic Safety Research Projects: 1985-1995 and Beyond

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-03-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Program : Development and Evaluation (OPDE) conducts research and evaluation projects : dealing with human attitudes, behaviors and failures (motor vehicle crashes). : OPDE's focus is on ...

Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project Safety Advancement Field Effort (SAFE) Program

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

Not Available

1994-02-01

In 1992, the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project experienced several health and safety related incidents at active remediation project sites. As a result, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) directed the Technical Assistance Contractor (TAC) to establish a program increasing the DOE`s overall presence at operational remediation sites to identify and minimize risks in operations to the fullest extent possible (Attachments A and B). In response, the TAC, in cooperation with the DOE and the Remedial Action Contractor (RAC), developed the Safety Advancement Field Effort (SAFE) Program.

Framework for selection and evaluation of bicycle and pedestrian safety projects in Virginia.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety (BPS) Program provides funds for implementing short-term, low-cost bicycle and pedestrian safety projects in Virginia. This initiative is administered by evaluating each...

An analysis of problem drinker diagnosis and referral within the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project, 1972.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-01-01

This report is one of a series developed in conformance with annual reporting requirements contained within Alcohol Safety Action Projects: Evaluation. In February 1972, operations of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project began and these federall...

System Safety in Early Manned Space Program: A Case Study of NASA and Project Mercury

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, Frederick D.; Pitts, Donald

2005-01-01

This case study provides a review of National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA's) involvement in system safety during research and evolution from air breathing to exo-atmospheric capable flight systems culminating in the successful Project Mercury. Although NASA has been philosophically committed to the principals of system safety, this case study points out that budget and manpower constraints-as well as a variety of internal and external pressures can jeopardize even a well-designed system safety program. This study begins with a review of the evolution and early years of NASA's rise as a project lead agency and ends with the lessons learned from Project Mercury.

77 FR 50916 - Safety Zone; Boston Harbor's Rock Removal Project, Boston Inner Harbor, Boston, MA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-23

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165 [Docket No. USCG-2012-0767] RIN 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Boston Harbor's Rock Removal Project, Boston Inner Harbor, Boston, MA AGENCY: Coast.... 165.T01-0767 Safety Zone; Boston Harbor's Rock Removal Project, Boston Inner Harbor, Boston, MA. (a...

Projecting effects of improvements in passive safety of the New Zealand light vehicle fleet.

PubMed

Keall, Michael; Newstead, Stuart; Jones, Wayne

2007-09-01

In the year 2000, as part of the process for setting New Zealand road safety targets, a projection was made for a reduction in social cost of 15.5 percent associated with improvements in crashworthiness, which is a measure of the occupant protection of the light passenger vehicle fleet. Since that document was produced, new estimates of crashworthiness have become available, allowing for a more accurate projection. The objective of this paper is to describe a methodology for projecting changes in casualty rates associated with passive safety features and to apply this methodology to produce a new prediction. The shape of the age distribution of the New Zealand light passenger vehicle fleet was projected to 2010. Projected improvements in crashworthiness and associated reductions in social cost were also modeled based on historical trends. These projections of changes in the vehicle fleet age distribution and of improvements in crashworthiness together provided a basis for estimating the future performance of the fleet in terms of secondary safety. A large social cost reduction of about 22 percent for 2010 compared to the year 2000 was predicted due to the expected huge impact of improvements in passive vehicle features on road trauma in New Zealand. Countries experiencing improvements in their vehicle fleets can also expect significant reductions in road injury compared to a less crashworthy passenger fleet. Such road safety gains can be analyzed using some of the methodology described here.

77 FR 38723 - Safety Zones; Sellwood Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-29

...-AA00 Safety Zones; Sellwood Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... effect throughout the duration of the construction and renewal of the Sellwood Bridge located on the... the construction area while transiting in the vicinity of the Sellwood Bridge project; however, the...

77 FR 14970 - Safety Zones; Sellwood Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-14

...-AA00 Safety Zones; Sellwood Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... effect throughout the duration of the construction and renewal of the Sellwood Bridge on the Willamette... construction area while transiting in the vicinity of the Sellwood Bridge project; however, the establishment...

Bridging the Divide between Safety and Risk Management for your Project or Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lutomski, Mike

2005-01-01

This presentation will bridge the divide between these separate but overlapping disciplines and help explain how to use Risk Management as an effective management decision support tool that includes safety. Risk Management is an over arching communication tool used by management to prioritize and effectively mitigate potential problems before they concur. Risk Management encompasses every kind of potential problem that can occur on a program or project. Some of these are safety issues such as hazards that have a specific likelihood and consequence that need to be controlled and included to show an integrated picture of accepted) mitigated, and residual risk. Integrating safety and other assurance disciplines is paramount to accurately representing a program s or projects risk posture. Risk is made up of several components such as technical) cost, schedule, or supportability. Safety should also be a consideration for every risk. The safety component can also have an impact on the technical, cost, and schedule aspect of a given risk. The current formats used for communication of safety and risk issues are not consistent or integrated. The presentation will explore the history of these disciplines, current work to integrate them, and suggestions for integration for the future.

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

25 CFR 170.142 - How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions § 170.142 How can tribes obtain funds to perform highway safety projects? There are two...

76 FR 63988 - Pilot Project on NAFTA Trucking Provisions; Pre-Authorization Safety Audits

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-14

...-0097] Pilot Project on NAFTA Trucking Provisions; Pre-Authorization Safety Audits AGENCY: Federal Motor... public comment on data and information concerning the Pre-Authorization Safety Audits (PASAs) for two motor carriers that applied to participate in the Agency's long-haul pilot program to test and...

New Equilibrium Models of Drug-Receptor Interactions Derived from Target-Mediated Drug Disposition.

PubMed

Peletier, Lambertus A; Gabrielsson, Johan

2018-05-14

In vivo analyses of pharmacological data are traditionally based on a closed system approach not incorporating turnover of target and ligand-target kinetics, but mainly focussing on ligand-target binding properties. This study incorporates information about target and ligand-target kinetics parallel to binding. In a previous paper, steady-state relationships between target- and ligand-target complex versus ligand exposure were derived and a new expression of in vivo potency was derived for a circulating target. This communication is extending the equilibrium relationships and in vivo potency expression for (i) two separate targets competing for one ligand, (ii) two different ligands competing for a single target and (iii) a single ligand-target interaction located in tissue. The derived expressions of the in vivo potencies will be useful both in drug-related discovery projects and mechanistic studies. The equilibrium states of two targets and one ligand may have implications in safety assessment, whilst the equilibrium states of two competing ligands for one target may cast light on when pharmacodynamic drug-drug interactions are important. The proposed equilibrium expressions for a peripherally located target may also be useful for small molecule interactions with extravascularly located targets. Including target turnover, ligand-target complex kinetics and binding properties in expressions of potency and efficacy will improve our understanding of within and between-individual (and across species) variability. The new expressions of potencies highlight the fact that the level of drug-induced target suppression is very much governed by target turnover properties rather than by the target expression level as such.

Intermittent Fermi-Pasta-Ulam Dynamics at Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, David; Danieli, Carlo; Flach, Sergej

The equilibrium value of an observable defines a manifold in the phase space of an ergodic and equipartitioned many-body syste. A typical trajectory pierces that manifold infinitely often as time goes to infinity. We use these piercings to measure both the relaxation time of the lowest frequency eigenmode of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain, as well as the fluctuations of the subsequent dynamics in equilibrium. We show that previously obtained scaling laws for equipartition times are modified at low energy density due to an unexpected slowing down of the relaxation. The dynamics in equilibrium is characterized by a power-law distribution of excursion times far off equilibrium, with diverging variance. The long excursions arise from sticky dynamics close to regular orbits in the phase space. Our method is generalizable to large classes of many-body systems. The authors acknowledge financial support from IBS (Project Code IBS-R024-D1).

The Environmental Health/Home Safety Education Project: a successful and practical U.S.-Mexico border initiative.

PubMed

Forster-Cox, Susan C; Mangadu, Thenral; Jacquez, Benjamín; Fullerton, Lynne

2010-05-01

The Environmental Health/Home Safety Education Project (Proyecto de Salud Ambiental y Seguridad en el Hogar) has been developed in response to a wide array of severe and often preventable environmental health issues occurring in and around homes on the U.S.-Mexico border. Utilizing well-trained community members, called promotoras , homes are visited and assessed for potential environmental hazards, including home fire and food safety issues. Data analyzed from project years 2002 to 2005 shows a significant impact in knowledge levels and initial behavior change among targeted participants as it relates to fire and food safety issues. Since the initiation of the project in 1999, hundreds of participants have improved their quality of life by making their homes safer. The project has proven to be sustainable, replicable, flexible, and attractive to funders.

Developing tools for the safety specification in risk management plans: lessons learned from a pilot project.

PubMed

Cooper, Andrew J P; Lettis, Sally; Chapman, Charlotte L; Evans, Stephen J W; Waller, Patrick C; Shakir, Saad; Payvandi, Nassrin; Murray, Alison B

2008-05-01

Following the adoption of the ICH E2E guideline, risk management plans (RMP) defining the cumulative safety experience and identifying limitations in safety information are now required for marketing authorisation applications (MAA). A collaborative research project was conducted to gain experience with tools for presenting and evaluating data in the safety specification. This paper presents those tools found to be useful and the lessons learned from their use. Archive data from a successful MAA were utilised. Methods were assessed for demonstrating the extent of clinical safety experience, evaluating the sensitivity of the clinical trial data to detect treatment differences and identifying safety signals from adverse event and laboratory data to define the extent of safety knowledge with the drug. The extent of clinical safety experience was demonstrated by plots of patient exposure over time. Adverse event data were presented using dot plots, which display the percentages of patients with the events of interest, the odds ratio, and 95% confidence interval. Power and confidence interval plots were utilised for evaluating the sensitivity of the clinical database to detect treatment differences. Box and whisker plots were used to display laboratory data. This project enabled us to identify new evidence-based methods for presenting and evaluating clinical safety data. These methods represent an advance in the way safety data from clinical trials can be analysed and presented. This project emphasises the importance of early and comprehensive planning of the safety package, including evaluation of the use of epidemiology data.

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.

Construction safety monitoring based on the project's characteristic with fuzzy logic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winanda, Lila Ayu Ratna; Adi, Trijoko Wahyu; Anwar, Nadjadji; Wahyuni, Febriana Santi

2017-11-01

Construction workers accident is the highest number compared with other industries and falls are the main cause of fatal and serious injuries in high rise projects. Generally, construction workers accidents are caused by unsafe act and unsafe condition that can occur separately or together, thus a safety monitoring system based on influencing factors is needed to achieve zero accident in construction industry. The dynamic characteristic in construction causes high mobility for workers while doing the task, so it requires a continuously monitoring system to detect unsafe condition and to protect workers from potential hazards. In accordance with the unique nature of project, fuzzy logic approach is one of the appropriate methods for workers safety monitoring on site. In this study, the focus of discussion is based on the characteristic of construction projects in analyzing "potential hazard" and the "protection planning" to be used in accident prevention. The data have been collected from literature review, expert opinion and institution of safety and health. This data used to determine hazard identification. Then, an application model is created using Delphi programming. The process in fuzzy is divided into fuzzification, inference and defuzzification, according to the data collection. Then, the input and final output data are given back to the expert for assessment as a validation of application model. The result of the study showed that the potential hazard of construction workers accident could be analysed based on characteristic of project and protection system on site and fuzzy logic approach can be used for construction workers accident analysis. Based on case study and the feedback assessment from expert, it showed that the application model can be used as one of the safety monitoring tools.

AGRI Grain Power ethanol-for-fuel project feasibility-study report. Volume III. Project environmental/health/safety/ and socioeconomic

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

Not Available

1981-04-01

The AGRI GRAIN POWER (AGP) project, hereafter referred to as the Project, was formed to evaluate the commercial viability and assess the desireability of implementing a large grain based grass-roots anhydrous ethanol fuel project to be sited near Des Moines, Iowa. This report presents the results of a Project feasibility evaluation. The Project concept is based on involving a very strong managerial, financial and technical joint venture that is extremely expert in all facets of planning and implementing a large ethanol project; on locating the ethanol project at a highly desireable site; on utilizing a proven ethanol process; and onmore » developing a Project that is well suited to market requirements, resource availability and competitive factors. This volume contains the results of the environmental, health, safety, and socio-economic studies.« less

76 FR 25278 - Safety Zone; TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-04

...-AA00 Safety Zone; TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... safety zone during the construction of the TriMet Bridge on the Willamette River, in Portland, OR. This..., will be starting construction of the new Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge on July 1, 2011 (with in...

Natural Gas Vehicle Cylinder Safety, Training and Inspection Project

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

Hank Seiff

2008-12-31

Under the auspices of the National Energy Technology Laboratory and the US Department of Energy, the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation conducted a three-year program to increase the understanding of the safe and proper use and maintenance of vehicular compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel systems. High-pressure fuel systems require periodic inspection and maintenance to insure safe and proper operation. The project addressed the needs of CNG fuel containers (cylinders) and associated high-pressure fuel system components related to existing law, codes and standards (C&S), available training and inspection programs, and assured coordination among vehicle users, public safety officials, fueling station operators andmore » training providers. The program included a public and industry awareness campaign, establishment and administration of a cylinder inspector certification training scholarship program, evaluation of current safety training and testing practices, monitoring and investigation of CNG vehicle incidents, evaluation of a cylinder recertification program and the migration of CNG vehicle safety knowledge to the nascent hydrogen vehicle community.« less

77 FR 63732 - Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-17

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN AGENCY: Coast Guard... from a portion of the Indiana Harbor Canal due to the Demolition Project on the Cline Avenue Bridge... vessels from the hazards associated with the demolition project on the Cline Avenue bridge, which are...

77 FR 72957 - Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-07

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN AGENCY: Coast Guard... from a portion of the Indiana Harbor Canal due to the demolition Project on the Cline Avenue Bridge... associated with the demolition project on the Cline Avenue bridge, which are discussed further below. Under 5...

West Virginia peer exchange : streamlining highway safety improvement program project delivery.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-01-01

The West Virginia Division of Highways (WV DOH) hosted a Peer Exchange to share information and experiences : for streamlining Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) project delivery. The event was held September : 22 to 23, 2014 in Charleston, We...

76 FR 78157 - Safety Zone; Eisenhower Expressway Bridge Rehabilitation Project; Chicago River South Branch...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-16

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Eisenhower Expressway Bridge Rehabilitation Project; Chicago River South Branch... the Eisenhower Expressway Bridge. This temporary safety zone is necessary to protect the surrounding... Bridge. Entry into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port...

Study of Evaluation OSH Management System Policy Based On Safety Culture Dimensions in Construction Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latief, Yusuf; Armyn Machfudiyanto, Rossy; Arifuddin, Rosmariani; Mahendra Fira Setiawan, R.; Yogiswara, Yoko

2017-07-01

Safety Culture in the construction industry is very influential on the socio economic conditions that resulted in the country’s competitiveness. Based on the data, the accident rate of construction projects in Indonesia is very high. In the era of the Asian Economic Community (AEC) Indonesian contractor is required to improve competitiveness, one of which is the implementation of the project without zero accident. Research using primary and secondary data validated the results of the literature experts and questionnaire respondents were analyzed using methods SmartPLS, obtained pattern of relationships between dimensions of safety culture to improve the performance of Safety. The results showed that the behaviors and Cost of Safety into dimensions that significantly affect the performance of safety. an increase in visible policy-based on Regulation of Public Work and Housing No 5/PRT/M/2014 to improve to lower the accident rate.

Extending Occupational Health and Safety to Urban Street Vendors: Reflections From a Project in Durban, South Africa.

PubMed

Alfers, Laura; Xulu, Phumzile; Dobson, Richard; Hariparsad, Sujatha

2016-08-01

This article focuses on an action-research project which is attempting to extend occupational health and safety to a group of street traders in Durban, South Africa, using a variety of different (and sometimes unconventional) institutional actors. The article is written from the perspective of key people who have played a role in conceptualizing and administering the project and is intended to deepen the conversation about what it means to extend occupational health to the informal economy. It explores this question through a reflection on three key project activities: the setting up of a trader-led health and safety committee, an occupational health and safety training course, and a clinical health assessment. It concludes with a discussion of the issues that emerge from the reflections of project participants, which include the need to bring occupational health and urban health into closer conversation with one another, the need to be cognizant of local "informal" politics and the impact that has on occupational health and safety interventions, and the need to create greater opportunities for occupational health and safety professionals to interact with workers in the informal economy. © The Author(s) 2016.

Equilibrium Droplets on Deformable Substrates: Equilibrium Conditions.

PubMed

Koursari, Nektaria; Ahmed, Gulraiz; Starov, Victor M

2018-05-15

Equilibrium conditions of droplets on deformable substrates are investigated, and it is proven using Jacobi's sufficient condition that the obtained solutions really provide equilibrium profiles of both the droplet and the deformed support. At the equilibrium, the excess free energy of the system should have a minimum value, which means that both necessary and sufficient conditions of the minimum should be fulfilled. Only in this case, the obtained profiles provide the minimum of the excess free energy. The necessary condition of the equilibrium means that the first variation of the excess free energy should vanish, and the second variation should be positive. Unfortunately, the mentioned two conditions are not the proof that the obtained profiles correspond to the minimum of the excess free energy and they could not be. It is necessary to check whether the sufficient condition of the equilibrium (Jacobi's condition) is satisfied. To the best of our knowledge Jacobi's condition has never been verified for any already published equilibrium profiles of both the droplet and the deformable substrate. A simple model of the equilibrium droplet on the deformable substrate is considered, and it is shown that the deduced profiles of the equilibrium droplet and deformable substrate satisfy the Jacobi's condition, that is, really provide the minimum to the excess free energy of the system. To simplify calculations, a simplified linear disjoining/conjoining pressure isotherm is adopted for the calculations. It is shown that both necessary and sufficient conditions for equilibrium are satisfied. For the first time, validity of the Jacobi's condition is verified. The latter proves that the developed model really provides (i) the minimum of the excess free energy of the system droplet/deformable substrate and (ii) equilibrium profiles of both the droplet and the deformable substrate.

77 FR 64718 - Safety Zone; Steam Ship Col. James M. Schoonmaker Relocation Project, Maumee River, Toledo, OH

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-23

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165 [Docket No. USCG-2012-0939] RIN 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Steam Ship Col. James M. Schoonmaker Relocation Project, Maumee River, Toledo, OH...-0939 as follows: Sec. 165.T09-0939 Safety Zone; Steam Ship Col. James M. Schoonmaker relocation project...

77 FR 65818 - Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-31

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN AGENCY: Coast Guard... from a portion of the Indiana Harbor Canal due to the Demolition Project on the Cline Avenue Bridge... demolition project on the Cline Avenue Bridge, which are discussed further below. Under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3...

The National Program for Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture. 1992 Project Facts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health (DHHS/PHS), Cincinnati, OH.

This book contains information about a project instituted in 1990 by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to prevent work-related diseases and injuries among agricultural workers. Included are facts about 25 projects within NIOSH and 42 cooperative agreements between NIOSH and institutions in 25 states. These…

76 FR 53054 - Safety Zone; TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-25

...-AA00 Safety Zone; TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... the TriMet Bridge on the Willamette River, in Portland, OR. This action is necessary to ensure the... Zone: TriMet Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR in the Federal Register (76 FR 86). We...

Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System Incident Data Associated With the Technical Challenges of the Vehicle Systems Safety Technology Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Withrow, Colleen A.; Reveley, Mary S.

2014-01-01

This analysis was conducted to support the Vehicle Systems Safety Technology (VSST) Project of the Aviation Safety Program (AVsP) milestone VSST4.2.1.01, "Identification of VSST-Related Trends." In particular, this is a review of incident data from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). The following three VSST-related technical challenges (TCs) were the focus of the incidents searched in the ASRS database: (1) Vechicle health assurance, (2) Effective crew-system interactions and decisions in all conditions; and (3) Aircraft loss of control prevention, mitigation, and recovery.

76 FR 17460 - South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company; Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-29

...] South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company; Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board..., 2.318, and 2.321, notice is hereby given that an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) is being...: Ronald M. Spritzer, Chair, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission...

Bifurcated helical core equilibrium states in tokamaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooper, W. A.; Chapman, I. T.; Schmitz, O.; Turnbull, A. D.; Tobias, B. J.; Lazarus, E. A.; Turco, F.; Lanctot, M. J.; Evans, T. E.; Graves, J. P.; Brunetti, D.; Pfefferlé, D.; Reimerdes, H.; Sauter, O.; Halpern, F. D.; Tran, T. M.; Coda, S.; Duval, B. P.; Labit, B.; Pochelon, A.; Turnyanskiy, M. R.; Lao, L.; Luce, T. C.; Buttery, R.; Ferron, J. R.; Hollmann, E. M.; Petty, C. C.; van Zeeland, M.; Fenstermacher, M. E.; Hanson, J. M.; Lütjens, H.

2013-07-01

Tokamaks with weak to moderate reversed central shear in which the minimum inverse rotational transform (safety factor) qmin is in the neighbourhood of unity can trigger bifurcated magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium states, one of which is similar to a saturated ideal internal kink mode. Peaked prescribed pressure profiles reproduce the ‘snake’ structures observed in many tokamaks which has led to a novel explanation of the snake as a bifurcated equilibrium state. Snake equilibrium structures are computed in simulations of the tokamak à configuration variable (TCV), DIII-D and mega amp spherical torus (MAST) tokamaks. The internal helical deformations only weakly modulate the plasma-vacuum interface which is more sensitive to ripple and resonant magnetic perturbations. On the other hand, the external perturbations do not alter the helical core deformation in a significant manner. The confinement of fast particles in MAST simulations deteriorate with the amplitude of the helical core distortion. These three-dimensional bifurcated solutions constitute a paradigm shift that motivates the applications of tools developed for stellarator research in tokamak physics investigations.

Aviation Trends Related to Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies Project Technical Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reveley, Mary S.; Withrow, Colleen A.; Barr, Lawrence C.; Evans, Joni K.; Leone, Karen M.; Jones, Sharon M.

2014-01-01

Current and future aviation safety trends related to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies Project's three technical challenges (engine icing characterization and simulation capability; airframe icing simulation and engineering tool capability; and atmospheric hazard sensing and mitigation technology capability) were assessed by examining the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database (1989 to 2008), incidents from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accident/incident database (1989 to 2006), and literature from various industry and government sources. The accident and incident data were examined for events involving fixed-wing airplanes operating under Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Parts 121, 135, and 91 for atmospheric conditions related to airframe icing, ice-crystal engine icing, turbulence, clear air turbulence, wake vortex, lightning, and low visibility (fog, low ceiling, clouds, precipitation, and low lighting). Five future aviation safety risk areas associated with the three AEST technical challenges were identified after an exhaustive survey of a variety of sources and include: approach and landing accident reduction, icing/ice detection, loss of control in flight, super density operations, and runway safety.

Radiative-convective equilibrium model intercomparison project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wing, Allison A.; Reed, Kevin A.; Satoh, Masaki; Stevens, Bjorn; Bony, Sandrine; Ohno, Tomoki

2018-03-01

RCEMIP, an intercomparison of multiple types of models configured in radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE), is proposed. RCE is an idealization of the climate system in which there is a balance between radiative cooling of the atmosphere and heating by convection. The scientific objectives of RCEMIP are three-fold. First, clouds and climate sensitivity will be investigated in the RCE setting. This includes determining how cloud fraction changes with warming and the role of self-aggregation of convection in climate sensitivity. Second, RCEMIP will quantify the dependence of the degree of convective aggregation and tropical circulation regimes on temperature. Finally, by providing a common baseline, RCEMIP will allow the robustness of the RCE state across the spectrum of models to be assessed, which is essential for interpreting the results found regarding clouds, climate sensitivity, and aggregation, and more generally, determining which features of tropical climate a RCE framework is useful for. A novel aspect and major advantage of RCEMIP is the accessibility of the RCE framework to a variety of models, including cloud-resolving models, general circulation models, global cloud-resolving models, single-column models, and large-eddy simulation models.

Inventory of Federal energy-related environment and safety research for FY 1977. Volume II. Project listings

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

Not Available

This volume contains Biomedical and Environmental Research, Environmental Control Technology Research, and Operational and Environmental Safety Research project listings. The projects are ordered numerically by log number.

Specific issues, exact locations: case study of a community mapping project to improve safety in a disadvantaged community.

PubMed

Qummouh, Rana; Rose, Vanessa; Hall, Pat

2012-12-01

Safety is a health issue and a significant concern in disadvantaged communities. This paper describes an example of community-initiated action to address perceptions of fear and safety in a suburb in south-west Sydney which led to the development of a local, community-driven research project. As a first step in developing community capacity to take action on issues of safety, a joint resident-agency group implemented a community safety mapping project to identify the extent of safety issues in the community and their exact geographical location. Two aerial maps of the suburb, measuring one metre by two metres, were placed on display at different locations for four months. Residents used coloured stickers to identify specific issues and exact locations where crime and safety were a concern. Residents identified 294 specific safety issues in the suburb, 41.9% (n=123) associated with public infrastructure, such as poor lighting and pathways, and 31.9% (n=94) associated with drug-related issues such as drug activity and discarded syringes. Good health promotion practice reflects community need. In a very practical sense, this project responded to community calls for action by mapping resident knowledge on specific safety issues and exact locations and presenting these maps to local decision makers for further action.

Modeling and analyzing traffic safety perceptions: An application to the speed limit reduction pilot project in Edmonton, Alberta.

PubMed

El-Basyouny, Karim; El-Bassiouni, Mohamed Yahia

2013-03-01

To address the speeding problem in residential areas, the City of Edmonton initiated a pilot project to reduce the posted speed limit from 50km/h to 40km/h within six residential communities. This paper investigates the community perceptions of traffic safety within the six pilot communities in two phases: prior to project initiation (pre-pilot) and following the end of the project (post-pilot). This objective was accomplished by analyzing the results of two random dialing telephone surveys comprising 300 residents each. A preliminary analysis showed compatible demographic configurations for the two samples and confirmed that the residents were aware of both the posted speed limits and the adopted speed management controls. For the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), a two-group (pre-pilot and post-pilot) three-factor model was used to assess the residents' perceptions of the speeding behavior (Speeding), their concerns about traffic safety issues (Concerns), and their perceptions of traffic safety (Safety). Comparing the CFA results of the post-pilot survey versus those of the pre-pilot survey, it was evident that there was a significant decrease in Speeding and Concerns accompanied by a significant increase in Safety. A structural equations model (SEM) was also fitted to the data in order to assess the impact of Speeding and Concerns on Safety. The results showed that Concerns increase significantly with Speeding, and that both factors have significant negative impacts on Safety. However, while the impact of Concerns on Safety was direct, that of Speeding on Safety was largely indirect (i.e., mediated through Concerns). Overall, the multivariate analysis has demonstrated that the pilot project was successful in improving the residents' perceptions of traffic safety in their community. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of Occupational Safety to Contractors` or Subcontractors` Performance Evaluation in Construction Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozlovská, Mária; Struková, Zuzana

2013-06-01

Several factors should be considered by the owner and general contractor in the process of contractors` and subcontractors` selection and evaluation. The paper reviews the recent models addressed to guide general contractors in subcontractors' selection process and in evaluation of different contractors during the execution of the project. Moreover the paper suggests the impact of different contractors' performance to the overall level of occupational health and safety culture at the sites. It deals with the factors influencing the safety performance of contractors during construction and analyses the methods for assessing the safety performance of construction contractors. The results of contractors' safety performance evaluation could be a useful tool in motivating contractors to achieve better safety outcomes or could have effect on owners` or general contractors' decision making about contractors suitability for future contracting works.

Trends in public information within the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project, 1975.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-01-01

To assess current trends in the effectiveness of the public information and education countermeasure of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project, two pieces of survey type research are conducted on a periodic basis. The roadside survey has been cond...

Drinking-driving patterns at night : baseline roadside survey of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-01-01

As part of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP), staff members of the Virginia Highway Research Council, acting in their role as evaluators of the project, conducted a baseline survey of the nighttime drinking-driving patterns in Fairfax,...

Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP) for the Ports and Waterways Safety System (PAWSS) Project

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

This document outlines the Test Concept for the Ports and Waterways Safety System (PAWSS) Project. This Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP) purpose is to reduce risk and ensure the PAWSS project meets all System Specification and Statement of Work...

Projecting the health and economic impact of road safety initiatives: a case study of a multi-country project.

PubMed

Esperato, Alexo; Bishai, David; Hyder, Adnan A

2012-01-01

The Road Safety in 10 Countries (RS-10) project will implement 12 different road safety interventions at specific sites within 10 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This evaluation reports the number of lives that RS-10 is projected to save in those locations, the economic value of the risk reduction, and the maximum level of investment that a public health intervention of this magnitude would be able to incur before its costs outweigh its health benefits. We assumed a 5-year time implementation horizon corresponding to the duration of RS-10. Based on a preliminary literature review, we estimated the effectiveness for each of the RS-10 interventions. Applying these effectiveness estimates to the size of the population at risk at RS-10 sites, we calculated the number of lives and life years saved (LYS) by RS-10. We projected the value of a statistical life (VSL) in each RS-10 country based on gross national income (GNI) and estimated the value of the lives saved using each country's VSL. Sensitivity analysis addressed robustness to assumptions about elasticity, discount rates, and intervention effectiveness. From the evidence base reviewed, only 13 studies met our selection criteria. Such a limited base presents uncertainties about the potential impact of the modeled interventions. We tried to account for these uncertainties by allowing effectiveness to vary ± 20 percent for each intervention. Despite this variability, RS-10 remains likely to be worth the investment. RS-10 is expected to save 10,310 lives over 5 years (discounted at 3%). VSL and $/LYS methods provide concordant results. Based on our estimates of each country's VSL, the respective countries would be willing to pay $2.45 billion to lower these fatality risks (varying intervention effectiveness by ± 20 percent, the corresponding range is $2.0-$2.9 billion). Analysis based on $/LYS shows that the RS-10 project will be cost-effective as long as its costs do not exceed $5.14 billion (under ± 20

Using historical crash data as part of traffic work zone safety planning and project management strategies.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

This funding enabled the project entitled, USING HISTORICAL CRASH DATA AS PART OF TRAFFIC WORK ZONE SAFETY : PLANNING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES to address the following: : Evaluate current organizational strategies with respect to w...

77 FR 70684 - Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-27

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN AGENCY: Coast Guard... from a portion of the Indiana Harbor Canal due to the demolition Project on the Cline Avenue Bridge... bridge, which are discussed further below. Under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), the Coast Guard finds that good...

78 FR 2616 - Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-14

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Bridge Demolition Project; Indiana Harbor Canal, East Chicago, IN AGENCY: Coast Guard... from a portion of the Indiana Harbor Canal due to the demolition Project on the Cline Avenue Bridge... Bridge, which are discussed further below. Under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), the Coast Guard finds that good...

Equilibrium and Effective Climate Sensitivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rugenstein, M.; Bloch-Johnson, J.

2016-12-01

Atmosphere-ocean general circulation models, as well as the real world, take thousands of years to equilibrate to CO2 induced radiative perturbations. Equilibrium climate sensitivity - a fully equilibrated 2xCO2 perturbation - has been used for decades as a benchmark in model intercomparisons, as a test of our understanding of the climate system and paleo proxies, and to predict or project future climate change. Computational costs and limited time lead to the widespread practice of extrapolating equilibrium conditions from just a few decades of coupled simulations. The most common workaround is the "effective climate sensitivity" - defined through an extrapolation of a 150 year abrupt2xCO2 simulation, including the assumption of linear climate feedbacks. The definitions of effective and equilibrium climate sensitivity are often mixed up and used equivalently, and it is argued that "transient climate sensitivity" is the more relevant measure for predicting the next decades. We present an ongoing model intercomparison, the "LongRunMIP", to study century and millennia time scales of AOGCM equilibration and the linearity assumptions around feedback analysis. As a true ensemble of opportunity, there is no protocol and the only condition to participate is a coupled model simulation of any stabilizing scenario simulating more than 1000 years. Many of the submitted simulations took several years to conduct. As of July 2016 the contribution comprises 27 scenario simulations of 13 different models originating from 7 modeling centers, each between 1000 and 6000 years. To contribute, please contact the authors as soon as possible We present preliminary results, discussing differences between effective and equilibrium climate sensitivity, the usefulness of transient climate sensitivity, extrapolation methods, and the state of the coupled climate system close to equilibrium. Caption for the Figure below: Evolution of temperature anomaly and radiative imbalance of 22 simulations

GROWTH OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICALITY SAFETY AND REACTOR PHYSICS EXPERIMENT EVALUATION PROJECTS

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

J. Blair Briggs; John D. Bess; Jim Gulliford

2011-09-01

Since the International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC) 2007, the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) have continued to expand their efforts and broaden their scope. Eighteen countries participated on the ICSBEP in 2007. Now, there are 20, with recent contributions from Sweden and Argentina. The IRPhEP has also expanded from eight contributing countries in 2007 to 16 in 2011. Since ICNC 2007, the contents of the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments1' have increased from 442 evaluations (38000 pages), containing benchmark specifications for 3955 critical ormore » subcritical configurations to 516 evaluations (nearly 55000 pages), containing benchmark specifications for 4405 critical or subcritical configurations in the 2010 Edition of the ICSBEP Handbook. The contents of the Handbook have also increased from 21 to 24 criticality-alarm-placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each, and from 20 to 200 configurations categorized as fundamental physics measurements relevant to criticality safety applications. Approximately 25 new evaluations and 150 additional configurations are expected to be added to the 2011 edition of the Handbook. Since ICNC 2007, the contents of the 'International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments2' have increased from 16 different experimental series that were performed at 12 different reactor facilities to 53 experimental series that were performed at 30 different reactor facilities in the 2011 edition of the Handbook. Considerable effort has also been made to improve the functionality of the searchable database, DICE (Database for the International Criticality Benchmark Evaluation Project) and verify the accuracy of the data contained therein. DICE will be discussed in separate papers at ICNC 2011. The status of the ICSBEP and

Alcohol safety action projects evaluation of operations : data, table of results, and formulation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-06-01

This volume contains the data used in the evaluation of 35 Alcohol Safety Action Projects implemented throughout the country. Historical background, discussion of analytic results and factors affecting impact detecion are contained in the document ti...

77 FR 15009 - Safety Zones; Sellwood Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-14

...-AA00 Safety Zones; Sellwood Bridge Project, Willamette River; Portland, OR AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... zones to remain in effect throughout the duration of the construction and renewal of the Sellwood Bridge... safe distance from the construction area while transiting in the vicinity of the Sellwood Bridge...

Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System Incident Data Associated with the Technical Challenges of the System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Withrow, Colleen A.; Reveley, Mary S.

2015-01-01

The Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies (SSAT) Project asked the AvSP Systems and Portfolio Analysis Team to identify SSAT-related trends. SSAT had four technical challenges: advance safety assurance to enable deployment of NextGen systems; automated discovery of precursors to aviation safety incidents; increasing safety of human-automation interaction by incorporating human performance, and prognostic algorithm design for safety assurance. This report reviews incident data from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) for system-component-failure- or-malfunction- (SCFM-) related and human-factor-related incidents for commercial or cargo air carriers (Part 121), commuter airlines (Part 135), and general aviation (Part 91). The data was analyzed by Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) part, phase of flight, SCFM category, human factor category, and a variety of anomalies and results. There were 38 894 SCFM-related incidents and 83 478 human-factorrelated incidents analyzed between January 1993 and April 2011.

PRELIMINARY NUCLEAR CRITICALITY NUCLEAR SAFETY EVLAUATION FOR THE CONTAINER SURVEILLANCE AND STORAGE CAPABILITY PROJECT

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

Low, M; Matthew02 Miller, M; Thomas Reilly, T

2007-04-30

Washington Safety Management Solutions (WSMS) provides criticality safety services to Washington Savannah River Company (WSRC) at the Savannah River Site. One activity at SRS is the Container Surveillance and Storage Capability (CSSC) Project, which will perform surveillances on 3013 containers (hereafter referred to as 3013s) to verify that they meet the Department of Energy (DOE) Standard (STD) 3013 for plutonium storage. The project will handle quantities of material that are greater than ANS/ANSI-8.1 single parameter mass limits, and thus required a Nuclear Criticality Safety Evaluation (NCSE). The WSMS methodology for conducting an NCSE is outlined in the WSMS methods manual.more » The WSMS methods manual currently follows the requirements of DOE-O-420.1B, DOE-STD-3007-2007, and the Washington Savannah River Company (WSRC) SCD-3 manual. DOE-STD-3007-2007 describes how a NCSE should be performed, while DOE-O-420.1B outlines the requirements for a Criticality Safety Program (CSP). The WSRC SCD-3 manual implements DOE requirements and ANS standards. NCSEs do not address the Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) of non-reactor nuclear facilities that may be affected by overt or covert activities of sabotage, espionage, terrorism or other security malevolence. Events which are beyond the Design Basis Accidents (DBAs) are outside the scope of a double contingency analysis.« less

An injury prevention strategy for teen restaurant workers. Washington State's ProSafety project.

PubMed

Ward, Julie A; de Castro, A B; Tsai, Jenny Hsin-Chun; Linker, Darren; Hildahl, Lyle; Miller, Mary E

2010-02-01

High levels of youth employment, workplace hazards, and characteristics unique to adolescents contribute to a relatively high incidence of injuries among teens in the restaurant industry. This article discusses the ProSafety model of injury prevention among teen restaurant workers. Through integration with an existing career and technical education program, the ProSafety project seeks to prevent occupational injuries among the teen worker population through classroom safety education and internship skills reinforcement. ProSafety is the product of an innovative collaboration with occupational health nurses, business professionals, educators, and government. Its approach is derived from Social Cognitive Theory, is consistent with key values and strategies of occupational health nurses, and provides lessons for practitioners seeking to reduce occupational injuries in food service or among other populations of adolescent workers.

The Union RAP: Industry-Wide Research-Action Projects to Win Health and Safety Improvements

PubMed Central

McQuiston, Thomas H.; Lippin, Tobi Mae; Anderson, Leeann G.; Beach, M. Josie; Frederick, James; Seymour, Thomas A.

2009-01-01

Unions are ripe to engage in community-based participatory research (CBPR). We briefly profile 3 United Steelworker CBPR projects aimed at uncovering often-undocumented, industry-wide health and safety conditions in which US industrial workers toil. The results are to be used to advocate improvements at workplace, industry, and national policy levels. We offer details of our CBPR approach (Research-Action Project [RAP]) that engages workers and others in all research stages. Elements of RAPs include strategically constructed teams with knowledge of the industry and health and safety and with skills in research, participatory facilitation, and training; reciprocal training on these knowledge and skill areas; iterative processes of large and small group work; use of technology; and facilitator-developed tools and intermediate products. PMID:19890145

Promoting the safe and strategic use of technology for victims of intimate partner violence: evaluation of the technology safety project.

PubMed

Finn, Jerry; Atkinson, Teresa

2009-11-01

The Technology Safety Project of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence was designed to increase awareness and knowledge of technology safety issues for domestic violence victims, survivors, and advocacy staff. The project used a "train-the-trainer" model and provided computer and Internet resources to domestic violence service providers to (a) increase safe computer and Internet access for domestic violence survivors in Washington, (b) reduce the risk posed by abusers by educating survivors about technology safety and privacy, and (c) increase the ability of survivors to help themselves and their children through information technology. Evaluation of the project suggests that the program is needed, useful, and effective. Consumer satisfaction was high, and there was perceived improvement in computer confidence and knowledge of computer safety. Areas for future program development and further research are discussed.

The Yambo code: a comprehensive tool to perform ab-initio simulations of equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marini, Andrea

Density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory methods (such as GW and Bethe-Selpether equation) are standard approaches to the equilibrium ground and excited state properties of condensed matter systems, surfaces, molecules and other several kind of materials. At the same time ultra-fast optical spectroscopy is becoming a widely used and powerful tool for the observation of the out-of-equilibrium dynamical processes. In this case the theoretical tools (such as the Baym-Kadanoff equation) are well known but, only recently, have been merged with the ab-Initio approach. And, for this reason, highly parallel and efficient codes are lacking. Nevertheless, the combination of these two areas of research represents, for the ab-initio community, a challenging prespective as it requires the development of advanced theoretical, methodological and numerical tools. Yambo is a popular community software implementing the above methods using plane-waves and pseudo-potentials. Yambo is available to the community as open-source software, and oriented to high-performance computing. The Yambo project aims at making the simulation of these equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium complex processes available to a wide community of users. Indeed the code is used, in practice, in many countries and well beyond the European borders. Yambo is a member of the suite of codes of the MAX European Center of Excellence (Materials design at the exascale) . It is also used by the user facilities of the European Spectroscopy Facility and of the NFFA European Center (nanoscience foundries & fine analysis). In this talk I will discuss some recent numerical and methodological developments that have been implemented in Yambo towards to exploitation of next generation HPC supercomputers. In particular, I will present the hybrid MPI+OpenMP parallelization and the specific case of the response function calculation. I will also discuss the future plans of the Yambo project and its potential use as

Shape characteristics of equilibrium and non-equilibrium fractal clusters.

PubMed

Mansfield, Marc L; Douglas, Jack F

2013-07-28

It is often difficult in practice to discriminate between equilibrium and non-equilibrium nanoparticle or colloidal-particle clusters that form through aggregation in gas or solution phases. Scattering studies often permit the determination of an apparent fractal dimension, but both equilibrium and non-equilibrium clusters in three dimensions frequently have fractal dimensions near 2, so that it is often not possible to discriminate on the basis of this geometrical property. A survey of the anisotropy of a wide variety of polymeric structures (linear and ring random and self-avoiding random walks, percolation clusters, lattice animals, diffusion-limited aggregates, and Eden clusters) based on the principal components of both the radius of gyration and electric polarizability tensor indicates, perhaps counter-intuitively, that self-similar equilibrium clusters tend to be intrinsically anisotropic at all sizes, while non-equilibrium processes such as diffusion-limited aggregation or Eden growth tend to be isotropic in the large-mass limit, providing a potential means of discriminating these clusters experimentally if anisotropy could be determined along with the fractal dimension. Equilibrium polymer structures, such as flexible polymer chains, are normally self-similar due to the existence of only a single relevant length scale, and are thus anisotropic at all length scales, while non-equilibrium polymer structures that grow irreversibly in time eventually become isotropic if there is no difference in the average growth rates in different directions. There is apparently no proof of these general trends and little theoretical insight into what controls the universal anisotropy in equilibrium polymer structures of various kinds. This is an obvious topic of theoretical investigation, as well as a matter of practical interest. To address this general problem, we consider two experimentally accessible ratios, one between the hydrodynamic and gyration radii, the other

The Citizenship Safety Project: a pilot study.

PubMed

Frederick, K; Barlow, J

2006-02-01

The Government White Paper Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (1999) provides a clear indication that accidents are a serious public health problem and have been targeted by the Department of Health as a key area for prevention over the next 10 years. School-based injury prevention programmes have been identified as one of the key settings for the implementation of the White Paper's heath promotion strategies. The Citizen Safety Project (CSP) is a peer-delivered injury prevention programme for Year 10 students (14-15 years) and Year 2 pupils (6-7 years). This paper summarizes the findings of a pilot study that assessed the feasibility of implementing the CSP in schools and of conducting a larger study. Working as part of their Personal Social Health Education lessons, 11 pairs (n = 22) of Year 10 students developed a project to take one accident prevention theme of their choice into a primary school to teach small groups of five or six Year 2 pupils (n = 55). A formative evaluation was conducted, based on interviews with Year 2 and Year 10 teachers (n = 2), and the diaries of Year 10 students. Knowledge of accident prevention and risk awareness was measured in Year 2 pupils using the Draw and Write technique, and impact on Year 10 students was measured using self-esteem and locus of control inventories. Using both statistical and thematic analysis the study concludes that the CSP is well accepted, improves knowledge in Year 2 pupils and boosts confidence in Year 10 students, while concurrently achieving key stage attainment targets. Implications of the study are discussed in terms of future research, as are recommendations with regard to modifications to the project.

The Safety project: Sentinel-1 for Civil Protection geohazars management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monserrat, Oriol; Herrera, Gerardo; Bianchini, Silvia; González-Alonso, Elena; Onori, Roberta; Reichenbach, Paola; Carralero, Innocente P.; Barra, Anna; María Mateos, Rosa; Solari, Lorenzo; Ligüérzana, Sergio; Pagliara, Paola; Ardizzone, Francesca; Sarro, Roberto; Crosetto, Michele; Béjar-Pizarro, Marta; Moretti, Sandro; Lopez, Carmen; Garcia-Cañada, Laura; Benito-Saz, María Á.

2017-04-01

This work is aimed at presenting the ongoing project SAFETY (Sentinel for Geohazards regional monitoring and forecasting). The use of Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) in Natural Risks management is becoming more and more exploitable thanks to the experienced growth of the techniques. On one hand, since the DInSAR technique was proposed for the first time (1989) a wide number of data processing, analysis tools and methods have been developed, on the other hand the satellite data availability has increased and provides sensors with different characteristics of sensitivity and spatial and temporal resolutions. Nowadays, DInSAR allows to have a systematic overview about the spatio-temporal activity of a natural deformation phenomena, which is an important information for the risk management in terms of prevention, emergency response and post-emergency intervention. Specifically, Sentinel-1 (A and B) satellites data show two favourable characteristics: the wide covered area and the short revisit time (6 days). The last one, if compared with the other C band available sensors, results in a reduced temporal decorrelation, particularly in non-urbanized areas, in more robust processing results (due to the higher number of images) and in an higher temporal sampling i.e. a better monitoring and activity characterization. In this context, the European project SAFETY is focused on developing tools and implementing a methodology in order to better exploit Sentinel-1 data in the Civil Protection activities of natural risks prevention. The project is aimed at providing Civil Protection Authorities (CPA) with the capability of periodically evaluating and assessing the potential impact of geohazards (volcanic activity, earthquakes, landslides and subsidence) on urban areas. The first results over the two test-areas in Spain and Italy (respectively Canary Islands and Volterra Municipality) will be presented.

77 FR 59551 - Safety Zone, Changes to Original Rule; Boston Harbor's Rock Removal Project, Boston Inner Harbor...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-28

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165 [Docket No. USCG-2012-0767] RIN 1625-AA00 Safety Zone, Changes to Original Rule; Boston Harbor's Rock Removal Project, Boston Inner Harbor... original provisions of that temporary final rule, but adds two additional safety zones necessary for the...

75 FR 47602 - Clinical Studies of Safety and Effectiveness of Orphan Products Research Project Grant (R01)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-06

...] Clinical Studies of Safety and Effectiveness of Orphan Products Research Project Grant (R01) AGENCY: Food... product will be superior to the existing therapy. FDA provides grants for clinical studies on safety and... vaccine annually) and an explanation of how the proposed study will either help support product approval...

Integrated Framework for Patient Safety and Energy Efficiency in Healthcare Facilities Retrofit Projects.

PubMed

Mohammadpour, Atefeh; Anumba, Chimay J; Messner, John I

2016-07-01

There is a growing focus on enhancing energy efficiency in healthcare facilities, many of which are decades old. Since replacement of all aging healthcare facilities is not economically feasible, the retrofitting of these facilities is an appropriate path, which also provides an opportunity to incorporate energy efficiency measures. In undertaking energy efficiency retrofits, it is vital that the safety of the patients in these facilities is maintained or enhanced. However, the interactions between patient safety and energy efficiency have not been adequately addressed to realize the full benefits of retrofitting healthcare facilities. To address this, an innovative integrated framework, the Patient Safety and Energy Efficiency (PATSiE) framework, was developed to simultaneously enhance patient safety and energy efficiency. The framework includes a step -: by -: step procedure for enhancing both patient safety and energy efficiency. It provides a structured overview of the different stages involved in retrofitting healthcare facilities and improves understanding of the intricacies associated with integrating patient safety improvements with energy efficiency enhancements. Evaluation of the PATSiE framework was conducted through focus groups with the key stakeholders in two case study healthcare facilities. The feedback from these stakeholders was generally positive, as they considered the framework useful and applicable to retrofit projects in the healthcare industry. © The Author(s) 2016.

78 FR 56944 - Strata Energy, Inc. (Ross In Situ Recovery Uranium Project); Notice of Atomic Safety and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-16

..., Inc. (Ross In Situ Recovery Uranium Project); Notice of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Reconstitution Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.313(c) and 2.321(b), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) in the... Craig M. White to serve on the Board in place of Administrative Judge Kenneth L. Mossman. All...

Tokamak Equilibrium Reconstruction with MSE-LS Data in DIII-D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lao, L.; Grierson, B.; Burrell, K. H.

2016-10-01

Equilibrium analysis of plasmas in DIII-D using EFIT was upgraded to include the internal magnetic field determined from spectroscopic measurements of motional-Stark-effect line-splitting (MSE-LS). MSE-LS provides measurements of the magnitude of the internal magnetic field, rather than the pitch angle as provided by MSE line-polarization (MSE-LP) used in most tokamaks to date. EFIT MSE-LS reconstruction algorithms and verifications are described. The capability of MSE-LS to provide significant constraints on the equilibrium analysis is evaluated. Reconstruction results with both synthetic and experimental MSE-LS data from 10 DIII-D discharges run over a range of conditions show that MSE-LS measurements can contribute to the equilibrium reconstruction of pressure and safety factor profiles. Adequate MSE-LS measurement accuracy and number of spatial locations are necessary. The 7 available experimental measurements provide useful additional constraints when used with other internal measurements. Using MSE-LS as the only internal measurement yields less current profile information. Work supported by the PPPL Subcontract S013769-F and US DOE under DE-FC02-04ER54698.

Quality improvement for patient safety: project-level versus program-level learning.

PubMed

Rivard, Peter E; Parker, Victoria A; Rosen, Amy K

2013-01-01

Improving quality and patient safety is of increasing strategic importance to health care organizations. However, simply increasing the volume of quality improvement (QI) activity does not necessarily improve patient outcomes. There is a need for greater understanding of QI success factors. This study looked for differences in QI implementation across hospitals with a range of performance on Patient Safety Indicators. We conducted an exploratory comparative case study of 4 Veterans Health Administration hospitals including site visits and interviews with leaders and staff. Two themes emerged. Project-level QI learning is assessing and modifying specific QI projects relative to expectations. Program-level QI learning is assessing and modifying the overall QI endeavor. The nature of project-level QI learning was similar across sites, whereas we identified qualitative differences across organizations in program-level QI learning. The highest performing organization was evaluating and refining its overall approach to QI, whereas the others were learning how to build and control QI programs. Program-level QI learning may be key if a QI program is to succeed in improving patient outcomes. This type of organizational learning entails a big-picture, organization-wide view of QI. It also entails second-order organizational learning based on assessment not only of whether QI is being done correctly but also whether the right QI activities are being done, for the right reasons. The organization is "learning to learn." In addition to gaining mastery and control of QI, leaders regularly engage with staff in rethinking QI and experimenting with new approaches. Leaders also assess how QI activity fits in the organization's developmental journey and how it supports realization of strategy.

Blood alcohol test results of motor vehicle deaths as an evaluation method for the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1973-01-01

The Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP) was started following the June 1971 approval of the proposal and working plan submitted to the Department of Transportation by the Highway Safety Division of Virginia. A total of $2,123,000 was allocat...

West Virginia Peer Exchange : Streamlining Highway Safety Improvement Program Project Delivery - An RSPCB Peer Exchange

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-09-01

The West Virginia Division of Highways (WV DOH) hosted a Peer Exchange to share information and experiences for streamlining Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) project delivery. The event was held September 23 to 24, 2014 in Charleston, West V...

Projected Impact of Compositional Verification on Current and Future Aviation Safety Risk

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reveley, Mary S.; Withrow, Colleen A.; Leone, Karen M.; Jones, Sharon M.

2014-01-01

The projected impact of compositional verification research conducted by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies on aviation safety risk was assessed. Software and compositional verification was described. Traditional verification techniques have two major problems: testing at the prototype stage where error discovery can be quite costly and the inability to test for all potential interactions leaving some errors undetected until used by the end user. Increasingly complex and nondeterministic aviation systems are becoming too large for these tools to check and verify. Compositional verification is a "divide and conquer" solution to addressing increasingly larger and more complex systems. A review of compositional verification research being conducted by academia, industry, and Government agencies is provided. Forty-four aviation safety risks in the Biennial NextGen Safety Issues Survey were identified that could be impacted by compositional verification and grouped into five categories: automation design; system complexity; software, flight control, or equipment failure or malfunction; new technology or operations; and verification and validation. One capability, 1 research action, 5 operational improvements, and 13 enablers within the Federal Aviation Administration Joint Planning and Development Office Integrated Work Plan that could be addressed by compositional verification were identified.

The Development and Implementation of Ground Safety Requirements for Project Orion Abort Flight Testing - A Case Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirkpatrick, Paul D.; Williams, Jeffrey G.; Condzella, Bill R.

2008-01-01

A rigorous set of detailed ground safety requirements is required to make sure that ground support equipment (GSE) and associated planned ground operations are conducted safely. Detailed ground safety requirements supplement the GSE requirements already called out in NASA-STD-5005. This paper will describe the initial genesis of these ground safety requirements, the establishment and approval process and finally the implementation process for Project Orion. The future of the requirements will also be described. Problems and issues encountered and overcame will be discussed.

Chemical Principles Revisited: Chemical Equilibrium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mickey, Charles D.

1980-01-01

Describes: (1) Law of Mass Action; (2) equilibrium constant and ideal behavior; (3) general form of the equilibrium constant; (4) forward and reverse reactions; (5) factors influencing equilibrium; (6) Le Chatelier's principle; (7) effects of temperature, changing concentration, and pressure on equilibrium; and (8) catalysts and equilibrium. (JN)

Engaging Agribusinesses: Feasibility and Cost of an ATV Safety Poster Project.

PubMed

Jennissen, Charles A; Sweat, Shane; Wetjen, Kristel; Hoogerwerf, Pam; Denning, Gerene M

2017-01-01

All-terrain vehicle (ATV)-related deaths and injuries continue to be a significant problem. Influential change agents such as agribusinesses could be important partners for improving safety behaviors among rural ATV users. Our objective was to determine how effectively an injury prevention project could engage agribusinesses through the postal service and to assess their willingness to display a safety poster. One thousand two hundred forty-four agribusinesses received an ATV safety poster and a postcard survey by mail. A randomized sampling of these businesses was surveyed by telephone 4-7 weeks later. Telephone survey questions included whether they recalled receiving the poster, and if so, whether, where and how long the poster was displayed. One hundred six postcards were returned. Of the 192 eligible business persons contacted by telephone, 89% agreed to participate. Approximately one-third of telephone survey participants recalled receiving the poster. Among these, 81% with walk-in customers posted it, and 74% still had it displayed 1 month later. Of participants who did not recall receiving the poster, 83% stated they would have displayed the poster. The cost of displaying each poster in a business was 16.6 cents/day during the first month. Final costs/day would be much less because of continued display. A high percentage of agribusinesses displayed or would have displayed an ATV safety poster, and most displayed it beyond 1 month. Unfortunately, participant recruitment via postal delivery alone was challenging. Nevertheless, mass mailing of injury prevention materials to be displayed in the retail setting may be a low cost method for raising safety awareness.

Coupling Effect between Equilibrium Field and Heating Field and Modification of the Power Supply System on SUNIST Spherical Tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yexi; Li, Xiaoyan; Gao, Zhe

2005-02-01

Strong inductive coupling between the heating field and equilibrium field is confirmed to be responsible for the poor plasma equilibrium in initial discharges on the SUNIST spherical tokamak. A modification project for the power supply system of equilibrium field coils is successfully performed to increase the duration time of plasma current flattop from much less than 1ms to about 2 ms.

Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project second year evaluation summary : a report prepared by the Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council under the sponsorship of the Highway Safety Division of Virginia.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-01-01

The Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP) was begun in January 1972 as one of thirty-five federally funded demonstration projects designed to implement and evaluate a comprehensive community alcohol countermeasures program. The Fairfax ASAP wa...

Far-from-Equilibrium Route to Superthermal Light in Bimodal Nanolasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marconi, Mathias; Javaloyes, Julien; Hamel, Philippe; Raineri, Fabrice; Levenson, Ariel; Yacomotti, Alejandro M.

2018-02-01

Microscale and nanoscale lasers inherently exhibit rich photon statistics due to complex light-matter interaction in a strong spontaneous emission noise background. It is well known that they may display superthermal fluctuations—photon superbunching—in specific situations due to either gain competition, leading to mode-switching instabilities, or carrier-carrier coupling in superradiant microcavities. Here we show a generic route to superbunching in bimodal nanolasers by preparing the system far from equilibrium through a parameter quench. We demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that transient dynamics after a short-pump-pulse-induced quench leads to heavy-tailed superthermal statistics when projected onto the weak mode. We implement a simple experimental technique to access the probability density functions that further enables quantifying the distance from thermal equilibrium via the thermodynamic entropy. The universality of this mechanism relies on the far-from-equilibrium dynamical scenario, which can be mapped to a fast cooling process of a suspension of Brownian particles in a liquid. Our results open up new avenues to mold photon statistics in multimode optical systems and may constitute a test bed to investigate out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics using micro or nanocavity arrays.

Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System Incident Data Associated with the Technical Challenges of the Atmospheric Environment Safety Technology Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Withrow, Colleen A.; Reveley, Mary S.

2014-01-01

This study analyzed aircraft incidents in the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) that apply to two of the three technical challenges (TCs) in NASA's Aviation Safety Program's Atmospheric Environment Safety Technology Project. The aircraft incidents are related to airframe icing and atmospheric hazards TCs. The study reviewed incidents that listed their primary problem as weather or environment-nonweather between 1994 and 2011 for aircraft defined by Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Parts 121, 135, and 91. The study investigated the phases of flight, a variety of anomalies, flight conditions, and incidents by FAR part, along with other categories. The first part of the analysis focused on airframe-icing-related incidents and found 275 incidents out of 3526 weather-related incidents over the 18-yr period. The second portion of the study focused on atmospheric hazards and found 4647 incidents over the same time period. Atmospheric hazards-related incidents included a range of conditions from clear air turbulence and wake vortex, to controlled flight toward terrain, ground encounters, and incursions.

Local police enforcement, public information and education strategies to foster more and proper use of child safety seats by toddlers : evaluation of a demonstration project

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-03-01

This project evaluated the effects of enforcing safety belt (SB)/child safety seat (CSS) laws and providing public information and education (PI&E) about the laws and use and proper use of CSSs--without external funding. Project goals focused on incr...

Equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium mechanics of living mammalian cytoplasm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Satish Kumar; Guo, Ming

2017-10-01

Living cells are intrinsically non-equilibrium systems. They are driven out of equilibrium by the activity of the molecular motors and other enzymatic processes. This activity along with the ever present thermal agitation results in intracellular fluctuations inside the cytoplasm. In analogy to Brownian motion, the material property of the cytoplasm also influences the characteristics of these fluctuations. In this paper, through a combination of experimentation and theoretical analysis, we show that intracellular fluctuations are indeed due to non-thermal forces at relatively long time-scales, however, are dominated solely by thermal forces at relatively short time-scales. Thus, the cytoplasm of living mammalian cells behaves as an equilibrium material at short time-scales. The mean square displacement of these intracellular fluctuations scales inversely with the cytoplasmic shear modulus in this short time-scale equilibrium regime, and is inversely proportional to the square of the cytoplasmic shear modulus in the long time-scale out-of-equilibrium regime. Furthermore, we deploy passive microrheology based on these fluctuations to extract the mechanical property of the cytoplasm at the high-frequency regime. We show that the cytoplasm of living mammalian cells is a weak elastic gel in this regime; this is in an excellent agreement with an independent micromechanical measurement using optical tweezers.

Mixing times towards demographic equilibrium in insect populations with temperature variable age structures.

PubMed

Damos, Petros

2015-08-01

In this study, we use entropy related mixing rate modules to measure the effects of temperature on insect population stability and demographic breakdown. The uncertainty in the age of the mother of a randomly chosen newborn, and how it is moved after a finite act of time steps, is modeled using a stochastic transformation of the Leslie matrix. Age classes are represented as a cycle graph and its transitions towards the stable age distribution are brought forth as an exact Markov chain. The dynamics of divergence, from a non equilibrium state towards equilibrium, are evaluated using the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. Moreover, Kullback-Leibler distance is applied as information-theoretic measure to estimate exact mixing times of age transitions probabilities towards equilibrium. Using empirically data, we show that on the initial conditions and simulated projection's trough time, that population entropy can effectively be applied to detect demographic variability towards equilibrium under different temperature conditions. Changes in entropy are correlated with the fluctuations of the insect population decay rates (i.e. demographic stability towards equilibrium). Moreover, shorter mixing times are directly linked to lower entropy rates and vice versa. This may be linked to the properties of the insect model system, which in contrast to warm blooded animals has the ability to greatly change its metabolic and demographic rates. Moreover, population entropy and the related distance measures that are applied, provide a means to measure these rates. The current results and model projections provide clear biological evidence why dynamic population entropy may be useful to measure population stability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Non-equilibrium supramolecular polymerization.

PubMed

Sorrenti, Alessandro; Leira-Iglesias, Jorge; Markvoort, Albert J; de Greef, Tom F A; Hermans, Thomas M

2017-09-18

Supramolecular polymerization has been traditionally focused on the thermodynamic equilibrium state, where one-dimensional assemblies reside at the global minimum of the Gibbs free energy. The pathway and rate to reach the equilibrium state are irrelevant, and the resulting assemblies remain unchanged over time. In the past decade, the focus has shifted to kinetically trapped (non-dissipative non-equilibrium) structures that heavily depend on the method of preparation (i.e., pathway complexity), and where the assembly rates are of key importance. Kinetic models have greatly improved our understanding of competing pathways, and shown how to steer supramolecular polymerization in the desired direction (i.e., pathway selection). The most recent innovation in the field relies on energy or mass input that is dissipated to keep the system away from the thermodynamic equilibrium (or from other non-dissipative states). This tutorial review aims to provide the reader with a set of tools to identify different types of self-assembled states that have been explored so far. In particular, we aim to clarify the often unclear use of the term "non-equilibrium self-assembly" by subdividing systems into dissipative, and non-dissipative non-equilibrium states. Examples are given for each of the states, with a focus on non-dissipative non-equilibrium states found in one-dimensional supramolecular polymerization.

Trends in drinking-driving at night : a comparison of the four roadside surveys of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-01-01

As part of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP), staff members of the Virginia. Highway and Transportation Research Council, acting in their role as evaluators of the project, have conducted four nighttime roadside surveys in Fairfax, Vir...

NASA's Software Safety Standard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsay, Christopher M.

2007-01-01

NASA relies more and more on software to control, monitor, and verify its safety critical systems, facilities and operations. Since the 1960's there has hardly been a spacecraft launched that does not have a computer on board that will provide command and control services. There have been recent incidents where software has played a role in high-profile mission failures and hazardous incidents. For example, the Mars Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, the DART (Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology), and MER (Mars Exploration Rover) Spirit anomalies were all caused or contributed to by software. The Mission Control Centers for the Shuttle, ISS, and unmanned programs are highly dependant on software for data displays, analysis, and mission planning. Despite this growing dependence on software control and monitoring, there has been little to no consistent application of software safety practices and methodology to NASA's projects with safety critical software. Meanwhile, academia and private industry have been stepping forward with procedures and standards for safety critical systems and software, for example Dr. Nancy Leveson's book Safeware: System Safety and Computers. The NASA Software Safety Standard, originally published in 1997, was widely ignored due to its complexity and poor organization. It also focused on concepts rather than definite procedural requirements organized around a software project lifecycle. Led by NASA Headquarters Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, the NASA Software Safety Standard has recently undergone a significant update. This new standard provides the procedures and guidelines for evaluating a project for safety criticality and then lays out the minimum project lifecycle requirements to assure the software is created, operated, and maintained in the safest possible manner. This update of the standard clearly delineates the minimum set of software safety requirements for a project without detailing the implementation for those

Near Real-Time Surveillance for Influenza Vaccine Safety: Proof-of-Concept in the Vaccine Safety Datalink Project

PubMed Central

Greene, Sharon K.; Kulldorff, Martin; Lewis, Edwin M.; Li, Rong; Yin, Ruihua; Weintraub, Eric S.; Fireman, Bruce H.; Lieu, Tracy A.; Nordin, James D.; Glanz, Jason M.; Baxter, Roger; Jacobsen, Steven J.; Broder, Karen R.; Lee, Grace M.

2010-01-01

The emergence of pandemic H1N1 influenza in 2009 has prompted public health responses, including production and licensure of new influenza A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccines. Safety monitoring is a critical component of vaccination programs. As proof-of-concept, the authors mimicked near real-time prospective surveillance for prespecified neurologic and allergic adverse events among enrollees in 8 medical care organizations (the Vaccine Safety Datalink Project) who received seasonal trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine during the 2005/06–2007/08 influenza seasons. In self-controlled case series analysis, the risk of adverse events in a prespecified exposure period following vaccination was compared with the risk in 1 control period for the same individual either before or after vaccination. In difference-in-difference analysis, the relative risk in exposed versus control periods each season was compared with the relative risk in previous seasons since 2000/01. The authors used Poisson-based analysis to compare the risk of Guillian-Barré syndrome following vaccination in each season with that in previous seasons. Maximized sequential probability ratio tests were used to adjust for repeated analyses on weekly data. With administration of 1,195,552 doses to children under age 18 years and 4,773,956 doses to adults, no elevated risk of adverse events was identified. Near real-time surveillance for selected adverse events can be implemented prospectively to rapidly assess seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccine safety. PMID:19965887

Are automatic systems the future of motorcycle safety? A novel methodology to prioritize potential safety solutions based on their projected effectiveness.

PubMed

Gil, Gustavo; Savino, Giovanni; Piantini, Simone; Baldanzini, Niccolò; Happee, Riender; Pierini, Marco

2017-11-17

Motorcycle riders are involved in significantly more crashes per kilometer driven than passenger car drivers. Nonetheless, the development and implementation of motorcycle safety systems lags far behind that of passenger cars. This research addresses the identification of the most effective motorcycle safety solutions in the context of different countries. A knowledge-based system of motorcycle safety (KBMS) was developed to assess the potential for various safety solutions to mitigate or avoid motorcycle crashes. First, a set of 26 common crash scenarios was identified from the analysis of multiple crash databases. Second, the relative effectiveness of 10 safety solutions was assessed for the 26 crash scenarios by a panel of experts. Third, relevant information about crashes was used to weigh the importance of each crash scenario in the region studied. The KBMS method was applied with an Italian database, with a total of more than 1 million motorcycle crashes in the period 2000-2012. When applied to the Italian context, the KBMS suggested that automatic systems designed to compensate for riders' or drivers' errors of commission or omission are the potentially most effective safety solution. The KBMS method showed an effective way to compare the potential of various safety solutions, through a scored list with the expected effectiveness of each safety solution for the region to which the crash data belong. A comparison of our results with a previous study that attempted a systematic prioritization of safety systems for motorcycles (PISa project) showed an encouraging agreement. Current results revealed that automatic systems have the greatest potential to improve motorcycle safety. Accumulating and encoding expertise in crash analysis from a range of disciplines into a scalable and reusable analytical tool, as proposed with the use of KBMS, has the potential to guide research and development of effective safety systems. As the expert assessment of the crash

Potential difficulties in applying the Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS) in construction projects.

PubMed

Choi, Tracy N Y; Chan, Daniel W M; Chan, Albert P C

2012-09-01

Since 1996, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has introduced the Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS) to the public works construction contracts to uplift their safety performance. However, the adoption of PFSS has also encountered some difficulties that merit considerable attention. This paper purports to provide a concise review of the prevailing application of PFSS in Hong Kong in general, and to explore the potential difficulties associated with PFSS in particular. By means of an empirical questionnaire survey geared towards industrial practitioners with extensive direct hands-on PFSS experience, their opinions were solicited, analyzed and compared between the client group and contractor group of respondents. The three most significant difficulties in implementing PFSS were found to be: (1) "Plenty of paperwork required for certifying payment to contractor"; (2) "Complicated contract documents and lengthy assessment process"; and (3) "Over-tight project schedule requiring rush jobs". The output of this research study is particularly essential in assisting the contracting parties to mitigate the avoidable hindrances when embarking on PFSS. It has also generated valuable insights into developing effective recommendations for alleviating the barriers to PFSS success for future construction projects. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-equilibrium supramolecular polymerization

PubMed Central

Sorrenti, Alessandro; Leira-Iglesias, Jorge; Markvoort, Albert J.

2017-01-01

Supramolecular polymerization has been traditionally focused on the thermodynamic equilibrium state, where one-dimensional assemblies reside at the global minimum of the Gibbs free energy. The pathway and rate to reach the equilibrium state are irrelevant, and the resulting assemblies remain unchanged over time. In the past decade, the focus has shifted to kinetically trapped (non-dissipative non-equilibrium) structures that heavily depend on the method of preparation (i.e., pathway complexity), and where the assembly rates are of key importance. Kinetic models have greatly improved our understanding of competing pathways, and shown how to steer supramolecular polymerization in the desired direction (i.e., pathway selection). The most recent innovation in the field relies on energy or mass input that is dissipated to keep the system away from the thermodynamic equilibrium (or from other non-dissipative states). This tutorial review aims to provide the reader with a set of tools to identify different types of self-assembled states that have been explored so far. In particular, we aim to clarify the often unclear use of the term “non-equilibrium self-assembly” by subdividing systems into dissipative, and non-dissipative non-equilibrium states. Examples are given for each of the states, with a focus on non-dissipative non-equilibrium states found in one-dimensional supramolecular polymerization. PMID:28349143

Identifying apparent local stable isotope equilibrium in a complex non-equilibrium system.

PubMed

He, Yuyang; Cao, Xiaobin; Wang, Jianwei; Bao, Huiming

2018-02-28

Although being out of equilibrium, biomolecules in organisms have the potential to approach isotope equilibrium locally because enzymatic reactions are intrinsically reversible. A rigorous approach that can describe isotope distribution among biomolecules and their apparent deviation from equilibrium state is lacking, however. Applying the concept of distance matrix in graph theory, we propose that apparent local isotope equilibrium among a subset of biomolecules can be assessed using an apparent fractionation difference (|Δα|) matrix, in which the differences between the observed isotope composition (δ') and the calculated equilibrium fractionation factor (1000lnβ) can be more rigorously evaluated than by using a previous approach for multiple biomolecules. We tested our |Δα| matrix approach by re-analyzing published data of different amino acids (AAs) in potato and in green alga. Our re-analysis shows that biosynthesis pathways could be the reason for an apparently close-to-equilibrium relationship inside AA families in potato leaves. Different biosynthesis/degradation pathways in tubers may have led to the observed isotope distribution difference between potato leaves and tubers. The analysis of data from green algae does not support the conclusion that AAs are further from equilibrium in glucose-cultured green algae than in the autotrophic ones. Application of the |Δα| matrix can help us to locate potential reversible reactions or reaction networks in a complex system such as a metabolic system. The same approach can be broadly applied to all complex systems that have multiple components, e.g. geochemical or atmospheric systems of early Earth or other planets. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

United States Coast Guard Configuration Management Plan (CMP) for the Ports and Waterways Safety System (PAWSS) Project

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

Prepared ca. 1997. The Configuration Management Plan (CMP) provides configuration management instructions and guidance for the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) system of the Ports and Waterways Safety System (PAWSS) project. The CMP describes in detail t...

Multi-period equilibrium/near-equilibrium in electricity markets based on locational marginal prices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia Bertrand, Raquel

In this dissertation we propose an equilibrium procedure that coordinates the point of view of every market agent resulting in an equilibrium that simultaneously maximizes the independent objective of every market agent and satisfies network constraints. Therefore, the activities of the generating companies, consumers and an independent system operator are modeled: (1) The generating companies seek to maximize profits by specifying hourly step functions of productions and minimum selling prices, and bounds on productions. (2) The goals of the consumers are to maximize their economic utilities by specifying hourly step functions of demands and maximum buying prices, and bounds on demands. (3) The independent system operator then clears the market taking into account consistency conditions as well as capacity and line losses so as to achieve maximum social welfare. Then, we approach this equilibrium problem using complementarity theory in order to have the capability of imposing constraints on dual variables, i.e., on prices, such as minimum profit conditions for the generating units or maximum cost conditions for the consumers. In this way, given the form of the individual optimization problems, the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions for the generating companies, the consumers and the independent system operator are both necessary and sufficient. The simultaneous solution to all these conditions constitutes a mixed linear complementarity problem. We include minimum profit constraints imposed by the units in the market equilibrium model. These constraints are added as additional constraints to the equivalent quadratic programming problem of the mixed linear complementarity problem previously described. For the sake of clarity, the proposed equilibrium or near-equilibrium is first developed for the particular case considering only one time period. Afterwards, we consider an equilibrium or near-equilibrium applied to a multi-period framework. This model embodies binary

Evaluation of segmental left ventricular wall motion by equilibrium gated radionuclide ventriculography.

PubMed

Van Nostrand, D; Janowitz, W R; Holmes, D R; Cohen, H A

1979-01-01

The ability of equilibrium gated radionuclide ventriculography to detect segmental left ventricular (LV) wall motion abnormalities was determined in 26 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. Multiple gated studies obtained in 30 degrees right anterior oblique and 45 degrees left anterior oblique projections, played back in a movie format, were compared to the corresponding LV ventriculograms. The LV wall in the two projections was divided into eight segments. Each segment was graded as normal, hypokinetic, akinetic, dyskinetic, or indeterminate. Thirteen percent of the segments in the gated images were indeterminate; 24 out of 27 of these were proximal or distal inferior wall segments. There was exact agreement in 86% of the remaining segments. The sensitivity of the radionuclide technique for detecting normal versus any abnormal wall motion was 71%, with a specificity of 99%. Equilibrium gated ventriculography is an excellent noninvasive technique for evaluating segmental LV wall motion. It is least reliable in assessing the proximal inferior wall and interventricular septum.

Are the Concepts of Dynamic Equilibrium and the Thermodynamic Criteria for Spontaneity, Nonspontaneity, and Equilibrium Compatible?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverberg, Lee J.; Raff, Lionel M.

2015-01-01

Thermodynamic spontaneity-equilibrium criteria require that in a single-reaction system, reactions in either the forward or reverse direction at equilibrium be nonspontaneous. Conversely, the concept of dynamic equilibrium holds that forward and reverse reactions both occur at equal rates at equilibrium to the extent allowed by kinetic…

Implementing an Equilibrium Law Teaching Sequence for Secondary School Students to Learn Chemical Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghirardi, Marco; Marchetti, Fabio; Pettinari, Claudio; Regis, Alberto; Roletto, Ezio

2015-01-01

A didactic sequence is proposed for the teaching of chemical equilibrium law. In this approach, we have avoided the kinetic derivation and the thermodynamic justification of the equilibrium constant. The equilibrium constant expression is established empirically by a trial-and-error approach. Additionally, students learn to use the criterion of…

3D equilibrium reconstruction with islands

DOE PAGES

Cianciosa, M.; Hirshman, S. P.; Seal, S. K.; ...

2018-02-15

This study presents the development of a 3D equilibrium reconstruction tool and the results of the first-ever reconstruction of an island equilibrium. The SIESTA non-nested equilibrium solver has been coupled to the V3FIT 3D equilibrium reconstruction code. Computed from a coupled VMEC and SIESTA model, synthetic signals are matched to measured signals by finding an optimal set of equilibrium parameters. By using the normalized pressure in place of normalized flux, non-equilibrium quantities needed by diagnostic signals can be efficiently mapped to the equilibrium. The effectiveness of this tool is demonstrated by reconstructing an island equilibrium of a DIII-D inner wallmore » limited L-mode case with an n = 1 error field applied. Finally, flat spots in Thomson and ECE temperature diagnostics show the reconstructed islands have the correct size and phase.« less

3D equilibrium reconstruction with islands

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

Cianciosa, M.; Hirshman, S. P.; Seal, S. K.

This study presents the development of a 3D equilibrium reconstruction tool and the results of the first-ever reconstruction of an island equilibrium. The SIESTA non-nested equilibrium solver has been coupled to the V3FIT 3D equilibrium reconstruction code. Computed from a coupled VMEC and SIESTA model, synthetic signals are matched to measured signals by finding an optimal set of equilibrium parameters. By using the normalized pressure in place of normalized flux, non-equilibrium quantities needed by diagnostic signals can be efficiently mapped to the equilibrium. The effectiveness of this tool is demonstrated by reconstructing an island equilibrium of a DIII-D inner wallmore » limited L-mode case with an n = 1 error field applied. Finally, flat spots in Thomson and ECE temperature diagnostics show the reconstructed islands have the correct size and phase.« less

3D equilibrium reconstruction with islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cianciosa, M.; Hirshman, S. P.; Seal, S. K.; Shafer, M. W.

2018-04-01

This paper presents the development of a 3D equilibrium reconstruction tool and the results of the first-ever reconstruction of an island equilibrium. The SIESTA non-nested equilibrium solver has been coupled to the V3FIT 3D equilibrium reconstruction code. Computed from a coupled VMEC and SIESTA model, synthetic signals are matched to measured signals by finding an optimal set of equilibrium parameters. By using the normalized pressure in place of normalized flux, non-equilibrium quantities needed by diagnostic signals can be efficiently mapped to the equilibrium. The effectiveness of this tool is demonstrated by reconstructing an island equilibrium of a DIII-D inner wall limited L-mode case with an n = 1 error field applied. Flat spots in Thomson and ECE temperature diagnostics show the reconstructed islands have the correct size and phase. ).

Examples of equilibrium and non-equilibrium behavior in evolutionary systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soulier, Arne

With this thesis, we want to shed some light into the darkness of our understanding of simply defined statistical mechanics systems and the surprisingly complex dynamical behavior they exhibit. We will do so by presenting in turn one equilibrium and then one non-equilibrium system with evolutionary dynamics. In part 1, we will present the seceder-model, a newly developed system that cannot equilibrate. We will then study several properties of the system and obtain an idea of the richness of the dynamics of the seceder model, which is particular impressive given the minimal amount of modeling necessary in its setup. In part 2, we will present extensions to the directed polymer in random media problem on a hypercube and its connection to the Eigen model of evolution. Our main interest will be the influence of time-dependent and time-independent changes in the fitness landscape viewed by an evolving population. This part contains the equilibrium dynamics. The stochastic models and the topic of evolution and non-equilibrium in general will allow us to point out similarities to the various lines of thought in game theory.

Optimization of safety on pavement preservation projects.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

To achieve a goal of reducing highway crash fatalities by 4% each year to improve roadway safety, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is actively seeking opportunities to incorporate safety improvements into its current pavement preservat...

The Projected Impacts to Clark County and Local Governmental Public Safety Agencies Resulting from the Transportation of High-Level Nuclear Waste to Yucca Mountain

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

Mushkatel, A.H.; Conway, S.; Navis, I.

2006-07-01

This paper focuses on the difficulties of projecting fiscal impacts to public safety agencies from the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The efforts made by Clark County Nevada, to develop a fiscal model of impacts for public safety agencies are described in this paper. Some of the difficulties in constructing a fiscal model of impacts for the entire 24 year high-level nuclear waste transportation shipping campaign are identified, and a refined methodology is provided to accomplish this task. Finally, a comparison of the fiscal impact projections for public safety agencies that Clark County developed in 2001,more » with those done in 2005 is discussed, and the fiscal impact cost projections for the entire 24 year transportation campaign are provided. (authors)« less

Proposal of a risk-factor-based analytical approach for integrating occupational health and safety into project risk evaluation.

PubMed

Badri, Adel; Nadeau, Sylvie; Gbodossou, André

2012-09-01

Excluding occupational health and safety (OHS) from project management is no longer acceptable. Numerous industrial accidents have exposed the ineffectiveness of conventional risk evaluation methods as well as negligence of risk factors having major impact on the health and safety of workers and nearby residents. Lack of reliable and complete evaluations from the beginning of a project generates bad decisions that could end up threatening the very existence of an organization. This article supports a systematic approach to the evaluation of OHS risks and proposes a new procedure based on the number of risk factors identified and their relative significance. A new concept called risk factor concentration along with weighting of risk factor categories as contributors to undesirable events are used in the analytical hierarchy process multi-criteria comparison model with Expert Choice(©) software. A case study is used to illustrate the various steps of the risk evaluation approach and the quick and simple integration of OHS at an early stage of a project. The approach allows continual reassessment of criteria over the course of the project or when new data are acquired. It was thus possible to differentiate the OHS risks from the risk of drop in quality in the case of the factory expansion project. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accelerating Multiagent Reinforcement Learning by Equilibrium Transfer.

PubMed

Hu, Yujing; Gao, Yang; An, Bo

2015-07-01

An important approach in multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) is equilibrium-based MARL, which adopts equilibrium solution concepts in game theory and requires agents to play equilibrium strategies at each state. However, most existing equilibrium-based MARL algorithms cannot scale due to a large number of computationally expensive equilibrium computations (e.g., computing Nash equilibria is PPAD-hard) during learning. For the first time, this paper finds that during the learning process of equilibrium-based MARL, the one-shot games corresponding to each state's successive visits often have the same or similar equilibria (for some states more than 90% of games corresponding to successive visits have similar equilibria). Inspired by this observation, this paper proposes to use equilibrium transfer to accelerate equilibrium-based MARL. The key idea of equilibrium transfer is to reuse previously computed equilibria when each agent has a small incentive to deviate. By introducing transfer loss and transfer condition, a novel framework called equilibrium transfer-based MARL is proposed. We prove that although equilibrium transfer brings transfer loss, equilibrium-based MARL algorithms can still converge to an equilibrium policy under certain assumptions. Experimental results in widely used benchmarks (e.g., grid world game, soccer game, and wall game) show that the proposed framework: 1) not only significantly accelerates equilibrium-based MARL (up to 96.7% reduction in learning time), but also achieves higher average rewards than algorithms without equilibrium transfer and 2) scales significantly better than algorithms without equilibrium transfer when the state/action space grows and the number of agents increases.

A Bayesian test for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium of biallelic X-chromosomal markers

PubMed Central

Puig, X; Ginebra, J; Graffelman, J

2017-01-01

The X chromosome is a relatively large chromosome, harboring a lot of genetic information. Much of the statistical analysis of X-chromosomal information is complicated by the fact that males only have one copy. Recently, frequentist statistical tests for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium have been proposed specifically for dealing with markers on the X chromosome. Bayesian test procedures for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium for the autosomes have been described, but Bayesian work on the X chromosome in this context is lacking. This paper gives the first Bayesian approach for testing Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium with biallelic markers at the X chromosome. Marginal and joint posterior distributions for the inbreeding coefficient in females and the male to female allele frequency ratio are computed, and used for statistical inference. The paper gives a detailed account of the proposed Bayesian test, and illustrates it with data from the 1000 Genomes project. In that implementation, a novel approach to tackle multiple testing from a Bayesian perspective through posterior predictive checks is used. PMID:28900292

The Equilibrium Rule--A Personal Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hewitt, Paul G.

2016-01-01

Examples of equilibrium are evident everywhere and the equilibrium rule provides a reasoned way to view all things, whether in static (balancing rocks, steel beams in building construction) or dynamic (airplanes, bowling balls) equilibrium. Interestingly, the equilibrium rule applies not just to objects at rest but whenever any object or system of…

33 CFR 165.T13-149 - Safety Zone; McNary-John Day Transmission Line Project, Columbia River, Hermiston, OR.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Transmission Line Project, Columbia River, Hermiston, OR. 165.T13-149 Section 165.T13-149 Navigation and... Project, Columbia River, Hermiston, OR. (a) Location: The following is a safety zone: All waters of the Columbia River between two lines with the first line starting at the north bank at 45° 56′ 16.5″ N/119° 19...

Clinical Trial Electronic Portals for Expedited Safety Reporting: Recommendations from the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative Investigational New Drug Safety Advancement Project.

PubMed

Perez, Raymond P; Finnigan, Shanda; Patel, Krupa; Whitney, Shanell; Forrest, Annemarie

2016-12-15

Use of electronic clinical trial portals has increased in recent years to assist with sponsor-investigator communication, safety reporting, and clinical trial management. Electronic portals can help reduce time and costs associated with processing paperwork and add security measures; however, there is a lack of information on clinical trial investigative staff's perceived challenges and benefits of using portals. The Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) sought to (1) identify challenges to investigator receipt and management of investigational new drug (IND) safety reports at oncologic investigative sites and coordinating centers and (2) facilitate adoption of best practices for communicating and managing IND safety reports using electronic portals. CTTI, a public-private partnership to improve the conduct of clinical trials, distributed surveys and conducted interviews in an opinion-gathering effort to record investigator and research staff views on electronic portals in the context of the new safety reporting requirements described in the US Food and Drug Administration's final rule (Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 Section 312). The project focused on receipt, management, and review of safety reports as opposed to the reporting of adverse events. The top challenge investigators and staff identified in using individual sponsor portals was remembering several complex individual passwords to access each site. Also, certain tasks are time-consuming (eg, downloading reports) due to slow sites or difficulties associated with particular operating systems or software. To improve user experiences, respondents suggested that portals function independently of browsers and operating systems, have intuitive interfaces with easy navigation, and incorporate additional features that would allow users to filter, search, and batch safety reports. Results indicate that an ideal system for sharing expedited IND safety information is through a central portal used by

75 FR 53701 - Clinical Studies of Safety and Effectiveness of Orphan Products Research Project Grant (R01...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-01

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0394] Clinical Studies of Safety and Effectiveness of Orphan Products Research Project Grant (R01); Correction AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice; correction. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug...

A system safety model for developmental aircraft programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amberboy, E. J.; Stokeld, R. L.

1982-01-01

Basic tenets of safety as applied to developmental aircraft programs are presented. The integration of safety into the project management aspects of planning, organizing, directing and controlling is illustrated by examples. The basis for project management use of safety and the relationship of these management functions to 'real-world' situations is presented. The rationale which led to the safety-related project decision and the lessons learned as they may apply to future projects are presented.

77 FR 46764 - Clinical Studies of Safety and Effectiveness of Orphan Products Research Project Grant (R01)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-06

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0011] Clinical Studies of Safety and Effectiveness of Orphan Products Research Project Grant (R01) AGENCY: Food... orphan products. Orphan products are drugs, biologics, medical devices, and medical foods that are...

Incorporation of a Chemical Equilibrium Equation of State into LOCI-Chem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, Carey F.

2005-01-01

Renewed interest in development of advanced high-speed transport, reentry vehicles and propulsion systems has led to a resurgence of research into high speed aerodynamics. As this flow regime is typically dominated by hot reacting gaseous flow, efficient models for the characteristic chemical activity are necessary for accurate and cost effective analysis and design of aerodynamic vehicles that transit this regime. The LOCI-Chem code recently developed by Ed Luke at Mississippi State University for NASA/MSFC and used by NASA/MSFC and SSC represents an important step in providing an accurate, efficient computational tool for the simulation of reacting flows through the use of finite-rate kinetics [3]. Finite rate chemistry however, requires the solution of an additional N-1 species mass conservation equations with source terms involving reaction kinetics that are not fully understood. In the equilibrium limit, where the reaction rates approach infinity, these equations become very stiff. Through the use of the assumption of local chemical equilibrium the set of governing equations is reduced back to the usual gas dynamic equations, and thus requires less computation, while still allowing for the inclusion of reacting flow phenomenology. The incorporation of a chemical equilibrium equation of state module into the LOCI-Chem code was the primary objective of the current research. The major goals of the project were: (1) the development of a chemical equilibrium composition solver, and (2) the incorporation of chemical equilibrium solver into LOCI-Chem. Due to time and resource constraints, code optimization was not considered unless it was important to the proper functioning of the code.

Non-Equilibrium Properties from Equilibrium Free Energy Calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pohorille, Andrew; Wilson, Michael A.

2012-01-01

Calculating free energy in computer simulations is of central importance in statistical mechanics of condensed media and its applications to chemistry and biology not only because it is the most comprehensive and informative quantity that characterizes the eqUilibrium state, but also because it often provides an efficient route to access dynamic and kinetic properties of a system. Most of applications of equilibrium free energy calculations to non-equilibrium processes rely on a description in which a molecule or an ion diffuses in the potential of mean force. In general case this description is a simplification, but it might be satisfactorily accurate in many instances of practical interest. This hypothesis has been tested in the example of the electrodiffusion equation . Conductance of model ion channels has been calculated directly through counting the number of ion crossing events observed during long molecular dynamics simulations and has been compared with the conductance obtained from solving the generalized Nernst-Plank equation. It has been shown that under relatively modest conditions the agreement between these two approaches is excellent, thus demonstrating the assumptions underlying the diffusion equation are fulfilled. Under these conditions the electrodiffusion equation provides an efficient approach to calculating the full voltage-current dependence routinely measured in electrophysiological experiments.

Drinking-driving attitudes : a comparison of the first two household surveys of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-01-01

This report provides an analysis of the community response to the public information countermeasure of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project, one thrust of a national effort to get the drunken driver off the highway. A series of in-depth househol...

TA 55 Reinvestment Project II Phase C Update Project Status May 23, 2017

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

Giordano, Anthony P.

The TA-55 Reinvestment Project (TRP) II Phase C is a critical infrastructure project focused on improving safety and reliability of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) TA-55 Complex. The Project recapitalizes and revitalizes aging and obsolete facility and safety systems providing a sustainable nuclear facility for National Security Missions.

The impact of occupational health and safety regulations on prevention through design in construction projects: Perspectives from Spain and the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Martínez-Aires, María Dolores; Rubio Gámez, María Carmen; Gibb, Alistair

2015-01-01

Since the mid-1990 s, Prevention through Design (PtD) has become increasingly prevalent in the built environment. The acceptance of PtD has largely been due to the removal or reduction of risks during the execution phase of construction projects. European States have had the added impetus of national legislation. This paper analyzes the influence of European Union Directive 92/57/EEC on occupational safety and health injury prevention in the project design phase. Qualitative methods comprised individual semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a panel of experts. Sixty individuals from construction and related professions (architects, engineers, constructors, developers, and other construction experts) answered 17 key questions to establish national perceptions of the effectiveness of Directive 92/57/EEC in Spain and the United Kingdom (UK). The implementation of PtD in the project design phase in the UK is clearer since the regulations explicitly state the obligations of project designers as well as those of the coordinator. Interviews with Spanish experts show that, in Spain, the prevention culture is less frequently realized. The most significant differences between the European Directive and national regulations which influence PtD are linked to the Health and Safety Coordinator, and Health and Safety documents.

From Wang-Chen System with Only One Stable Equilibrium to a New Chaotic System Without Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, Viet-Thanh; Wang, Xiong; Jafari, Sajad; Volos, Christos; Kapitaniak, Tomasz

2017-06-01

Wang-Chen system with only one stable equilibrium as well as the coexistence of hidden attractors has attracted increasing interest due to its striking features. In this work, the effect of state feedback on Wang-Chen system is investigated by introducing a further state variable. It is worth noting that a new chaotic system without equilibrium is obtained. We believe that the system is an interesting example to illustrate the conversion of hidden attractors with one stable equilibrium to hidden attractors without equilibrium.

Immunity by equilibrium.

PubMed

Eberl, Gérard

2016-08-01

The classical model of immunity posits that the immune system reacts to pathogens and injury and restores homeostasis. Indeed, a century of research has uncovered the means and mechanisms by which the immune system recognizes danger and regulates its own activity. However, this classical model does not fully explain complex phenomena, such as tolerance, allergy, the increased prevalence of inflammatory pathologies in industrialized nations and immunity to multiple infections. In this Essay, I propose a model of immunity that is based on equilibrium, in which the healthy immune system is always active and in a state of dynamic equilibrium between antagonistic types of response. This equilibrium is regulated both by the internal milieu and by the microbial environment. As a result, alteration of the internal milieu or microbial environment leads to immune disequilibrium, which determines tolerance, protective immunity and inflammatory pathology.

Grinding kinetics and equilibrium states

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Opoczky, L.; Farnady, F.

1984-01-01

The temporary and permanent equilibrium occurring during the initial stage of cement grinding does not indicate the end of comminution, but rather an increased energy consumption during grinding. The constant dynamic equilibrium occurs after a long grinding period indicating the end of comminution for a given particle size. Grinding equilibrium curves can be constructed to show the stages of comminution and agglomeration for certain particle sizes.

Inventory of Federal energy-related environment and safety research for FY 1979. Volume II. Project listings and indexes

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

None

This volume contains summaries of FY 1979 government-sponsored environment and safety research related to energy arranged by log number, which groups the projects by reporting agency. The log number is a unique number assigned to each project from a block of numbers set aside for each contributing agency. Information elements included in the summary listings are project title, principal investigators, research organization, project number, contract number, supporting organization, funding level, related energy sources with numbers indicating percentages of effort devoted to each, and R and D categories. A brief description of each project is given, and this is followed bymore » subject index terms that were assigned for computer searching and for generating the printed subject index in the back of this volume.« less

Final Report on DTRA Basic Research Project #BRCALL08-Per3-C-2-0006 "High-Z Non-Equilibrium Physics and Bright X-ray Sources with New Laser Targets"

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

Colvin, Jeffrey D.

This project had two major goals. Final Goal: obtain spectrally resolved, absolutely calibrated x-ray emission data from uniquely uniform mm-scale near-critical-density high-Z plasmas not in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) to benchmark modern detailed atomic physics models. Scientific significance: advance understanding of non-LTE atomic physics. Intermediate Goal: develop new nano-fabrication techniques to make suitable laser targets that form the required highly uniform non-LTE plasmas when illuminated by high-intensity laser light. Scientific significance: advance understanding of nano-science. The new knowledge will allow us to make x-ray sources that are bright at the photon energies of most interest for testing radiation hardening technologies,more » the spectral energy range where current x-ray sources are weak. All project goals were met.« less

Understanding the relationship between safety investment and safety performance of construction projects through agent-based modeling.

PubMed

Lu, Miaojia; Cheung, Clara Man; Li, Heng; Hsu, Shu-Chien

2016-09-01

The construction industry in Hong Kong increased its safety investment by 300% in the past two decades; however, its accident rate has plateaued to around 50% for one decade. Against this backdrop, researchers have found inconclusive results on the causal relationship between safety investment and safety performance. Using agent-based modeling, this study takes an unconventional bottom-up approach to study safety performance on a construction site as an outcome of a complex system defined by interactions among a worksite, individual construction workers, and different safety investments. Instead of focusing on finding the absolute relationship between safety investment and safety performance, this study contributes to providing a practical framework to investigate how different safety investments interacting with different parameters such as human and environmental factors could affect safety performance. As a result, we could identify cost-effective safety investments under different construction scenarios for delivering optimal safety performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inventory of Federal energy-related environment and safety research for FY 1978. Volume II. Project listings and indexes

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

None

1979-12-01

This volume contains summaries of FY-1978 government-sponsored environment and safety research related to energy. Project summaries were collected by Aerospace Corporation under contract with the Department of Energy, Office of Program Coordination, under the Assistant Secretary for Environment. Summaries are arranged by log number, which groups the projects by reporting agency. The log number is a unique number assigned to each project from a block of numbers set aside for each agency. Information about the projects is included in the summary listings. This includes the project title, principal investigators, research organization, project number, contract number, supporting organization, funding level ifmore » known, related energy sources with numbers indicating percentages of effort devoted to each, and R and D categories. A brief description of each project is given, and this is followed by subject index terms that were assigned for computer searching and for generating the printed subject index in Volume IV.« less

The collection of national trend data on alcohol related crashes for comparison with alcohol safety action projects results. Volume 2, ASAP control site data

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-07-01

As a result of evaluations of the Alcohol Safety Action Projects (ASAP), a requirement was generated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for the development of a data base of alcohol-related accidents in communities with no ...

Rapid-Equilibrium Enzyme Kinetics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alberty, Robert A.

2008-01-01

Rapid-equilibrium rate equations for enzyme-catalyzed reactions are especially useful because if experimental data can be fit by these simpler rate equations, the Michaelis constants can be interpreted as equilibrium constants. However, for some reactions it is necessary to use the more complicated steady-state rate equations. Thermodynamics is…

Roadway safety design workbook.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-07-01

Highway safety is an ongoing concern to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project developm...

Highway safety design workshops.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-11-01

Highway safety is an ongoing concern for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project develop...

Equilibrium drives of the low and high field side n = 2 plasma response and impact on global confinement

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

Paz-Soldan, C.; Logan, N. C.; Haskey, S. R.

The nature of the multi-modal n=2 plasma response and its impact on global confinement is studied as a function of the axisymmetric equilibrium pressure, edge safety factor, collisionality, and L-versus H-mode conditions. Varying the relative phase (ΔΦ UL) between upper and lower in-vessel coils demonstrates that different n=2 poloidal spectra preferentially excite different plasma responses. These different plasma response modes are preferentially detected on the tokamak high-field side (HFS) or low-field side (LFS) midplanes, have different radial extents, couple differently to the resonant surfaces, and have variable impacts on edge stability and global confinement. In all equilibrium conditions studied, themore » observed confinement degradation shares the same ΔΦ UL dependence as the coupling to the resonant surfaces given by both ideal (IPEC) and resistive (MARS-F) MHD computation. Varying the edge safety factor shifts the equilibrium field-line pitch and thus the ΔΦ UL dependence of both the global confinement and the n=2 magnetic response. As edge safety factor is varied, modeling finds that the HFS response (but not the LFS response), the resonant surface coupling, and the edge displacements near the X-point all share the same ΔΦ UL dependence. The LFS response magnitude is strongly sensitive to the core pressure and is insensitive to the collisionality and edge safety factor. This indicates that the LFS measurements are primarily sensitive to a pressure-driven kink-ballooning mode that couples to the core plasma. MHD modeling accurately reproduces these (and indeed all) LFS experimental trends and supports this interpretation. In contrast to the LFS, the HFS magnetic response and correlated global confinement impact is unchanged with plasma pressure, but is strongly reduced in high collisionality conditions in both H- and L-mode. This experimentally suggests the bootstrap current drives the HFS response through the kink-peeling mode drive

Equilibrium drives of the low and high field side n = 2 plasma response and impact on global confinement

DOE PAGES

Paz-Soldan, C.; Logan, N. C.; Haskey, S. R.; ...

2016-03-31

The nature of the multi-modal n=2 plasma response and its impact on global confinement is studied as a function of the axisymmetric equilibrium pressure, edge safety factor, collisionality, and L-versus H-mode conditions. Varying the relative phase (ΔΦ UL) between upper and lower in-vessel coils demonstrates that different n=2 poloidal spectra preferentially excite different plasma responses. These different plasma response modes are preferentially detected on the tokamak high-field side (HFS) or low-field side (LFS) midplanes, have different radial extents, couple differently to the resonant surfaces, and have variable impacts on edge stability and global confinement. In all equilibrium conditions studied, themore » observed confinement degradation shares the same ΔΦ UL dependence as the coupling to the resonant surfaces given by both ideal (IPEC) and resistive (MARS-F) MHD computation. Varying the edge safety factor shifts the equilibrium field-line pitch and thus the ΔΦ UL dependence of both the global confinement and the n=2 magnetic response. As edge safety factor is varied, modeling finds that the HFS response (but not the LFS response), the resonant surface coupling, and the edge displacements near the X-point all share the same ΔΦ UL dependence. The LFS response magnitude is strongly sensitive to the core pressure and is insensitive to the collisionality and edge safety factor. This indicates that the LFS measurements are primarily sensitive to a pressure-driven kink-ballooning mode that couples to the core plasma. MHD modeling accurately reproduces these (and indeed all) LFS experimental trends and supports this interpretation. In contrast to the LFS, the HFS magnetic response and correlated global confinement impact is unchanged with plasma pressure, but is strongly reduced in high collisionality conditions in both H- and L-mode. This experimentally suggests the bootstrap current drives the HFS response through the kink-peeling mode drive

Local Nash equilibrium in social networks.

PubMed

Zhang, Yichao; Aziz-Alaoui, M A; Bertelle, Cyrille; Guan, Jihong

2014-08-29

Nash equilibrium is widely present in various social disputes. As of now, in structured static populations, such as social networks, regular, and random graphs, the discussions on Nash equilibrium are quite limited. In a relatively stable static gaming network, a rational individual has to comprehensively consider all his/her opponents' strategies before they adopt a unified strategy. In this scenario, a new strategy equilibrium emerges in the system. We define this equilibrium as a local Nash equilibrium. In this paper, we present an explicit definition of the local Nash equilibrium for the two-strategy games in structured populations. Based on the definition, we investigate the condition that a system reaches the evolutionary stable state when the individuals play the Prisoner's dilemma and snow-drift game. The local Nash equilibrium provides a way to judge whether a gaming structured population reaches the evolutionary stable state on one hand. On the other hand, it can be used to predict whether cooperators can survive in a system long before the system reaches its evolutionary stable state for the Prisoner's dilemma game. Our work therefore provides a theoretical framework for understanding the evolutionary stable state in the gaming populations with static structures.

Local Nash Equilibrium in Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yichao; Aziz-Alaoui, M. A.; Bertelle, Cyrille; Guan, Jihong

2014-08-01

Nash equilibrium is widely present in various social disputes. As of now, in structured static populations, such as social networks, regular, and random graphs, the discussions on Nash equilibrium are quite limited. In a relatively stable static gaming network, a rational individual has to comprehensively consider all his/her opponents' strategies before they adopt a unified strategy. In this scenario, a new strategy equilibrium emerges in the system. We define this equilibrium as a local Nash equilibrium. In this paper, we present an explicit definition of the local Nash equilibrium for the two-strategy games in structured populations. Based on the definition, we investigate the condition that a system reaches the evolutionary stable state when the individuals play the Prisoner's dilemma and snow-drift game. The local Nash equilibrium provides a way to judge whether a gaming structured population reaches the evolutionary stable state on one hand. On the other hand, it can be used to predict whether cooperators can survive in a system long before the system reaches its evolutionary stable state for the Prisoner's dilemma game. Our work therefore provides a theoretical framework for understanding the evolutionary stable state in the gaming populations with static structures.

Federal motor carrier safety administration safety 2010 strategy and performance planning : project description

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-12-01

The Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act (MCSIA) of 1999, Pub. L. 106-159, created the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in January 2000. Section 104 of the Act requires the Secretary to develop a long-term strategy for improving co...

Software Safety Risk in Legacy Safety-Critical Computer Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Janice L.; Baggs, Rhoda

2007-01-01

Safety Standards contain technical and process-oriented safety requirements. Technical requirements are those such as "must work" and "must not work" functions in the system. Process-Oriented requirements are software engineering and safety management process requirements. Address the system perspective and some cover just software in the system > NASA-STD-8719.13B Software Safety Standard is the current standard of interest. NASA programs/projects will have their own set of safety requirements derived from the standard. Safety Cases: a) Documented demonstration that a system complies with the specified safety requirements. b) Evidence is gathered on the integrity of the system and put forward as an argued case. [Gardener (ed.)] c) Problems occur when trying to meet safety standards, and thus make retrospective safety cases, in legacy safety-critical computer systems.

Safety of novel projects, the battle against Murphy's law.

PubMed

Schmidt, R

2001-01-01

With great pleasure and respect I have accepted the offer to speak in this congress. Medicine was a dream for me sometime ago and my second choice for studies. I remained with my first choice engineering and I am still happy with it; but I never forgot my love and enthusiasm for medicine. My career brought me in contact with many countries and technologies, but the development towards safety management became a dominant trend. At CERN I am a Group Leader in Matters of Safety for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment. In the last few years my attention has been increasingly focused on human and institutional safety aspects, besides the technical ones. My paper deals with three major topics: Safety management at CERN-CMS Murphy's law and the growing importance of institutional and human factors in safety Future outlook for safety and conclusions. In the conclusions the commonalities between different technologies become more evident as the importance of the human nature and man's role and enticement to actively and intelligently contribute to safety are presented. Based on experience and references an appeal is launched to pay more attention to the human factor in safety and recognize the rules and regularities of human behaviour in order to better combat Murphy's law.

The Conceptual Change Approach to Teaching Chemical Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canpolat, Nurtac; Pinarbasi, Tacettin; Bayrakceken, Samih; Geban, Omer

2006-01-01

This study investigates the effect of a conceptual change approach over traditional instruction on students' understanding of chemical equilibrium concepts (e.g. dynamic nature of equilibrium, definition of equilibrium constant, heterogeneous equilibrium, qualitative interpreting of equilibrium constant, changing the reaction conditions). This…

Space-Based Telemetry and Range Safety Project Ku-Band and Ka-Band Phased Array Antenna

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whiteman, Donald E.; Valencia, Lisa M.; Birr, Richard B.

2005-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space-Based Telemetry and Range Safety study is a multiphase project to increase data rates and flexibility and decrease costs by using space-based communications assets for telemetry during launches and landings. Phase 1 used standard S-band antennas with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to obtain a baseline performance. The selection process and available resources for Phase 2 resulted in a Ku-band phased array antenna system. Several development efforts are under way for a Ka-band phased array antenna system for Phase 3. Each phase includes test flights to demonstrate performance and capabilities. Successful completion of this project will result in a set of communications requirements for the next generation of launch vehicles.

Compendium of Traffic Safety Research Projects 1985-2013.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

Through many name changes, from the Office of Program Development and Evaluation, the Office of Research and Evaluation, to the current, Office of Behavioral Safety Research, our focus has remained on improving the safety of drivers, occupants, pedes...

The Nash equilibrium: A perspective

PubMed Central

Holt, Charles A.; Roth, Alvin E.

2004-01-01

In 1950, John Nash contributed a remarkable one-page PNAS article that defined and characterized a notion of equilibrium for n- person games. This notion, now called the “Nash equilibrium,” has been widely applied and adapted in economics and other behavioral sciences. Indeed, game theory, with the Nash equilibrium as its centerpiece, is becoming the most prominent unifying theory of social science. In this perspective, we summarize the historical context and subsequent impact of Nash's contribution. PMID:15024100

Determining Equilibrium Position For Acoustical Levitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmatz, M. B.; Aveni, G.; Putterman, S.; Rudnick, J.

1989-01-01

Equilibrium position and orientation of acoustically-levitated weightless object determined by calibration technique on Earth. From calibration data, possible to calculate equilibrium position and orientation in presence of Earth gravitation. Sample not levitated acoustically during calibration. Technique relies on Boltzmann-Ehrenfest adiabatic-invariance principle. One converts resonant-frequency-shift data into data on normalized acoustical potential energy. Minimum of energy occurs at equilibrium point. From gradients of acoustical potential energy, one calculates acoustical restoring force or torque on objects as function of deviation from equilibrium position or orientation.

Local Nash Equilibrium in Social Networks

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yichao; Aziz-Alaoui, M. A.; Bertelle, Cyrille; Guan, Jihong

2014-01-01

Nash equilibrium is widely present in various social disputes. As of now, in structured static populations, such as social networks, regular, and random graphs, the discussions on Nash equilibrium are quite limited. In a relatively stable static gaming network, a rational individual has to comprehensively consider all his/her opponents' strategies before they adopt a unified strategy. In this scenario, a new strategy equilibrium emerges in the system. We define this equilibrium as a local Nash equilibrium. In this paper, we present an explicit definition of the local Nash equilibrium for the two-strategy games in structured populations. Based on the definition, we investigate the condition that a system reaches the evolutionary stable state when the individuals play the Prisoner's dilemma and snow-drift game. The local Nash equilibrium provides a way to judge whether a gaming structured population reaches the evolutionary stable state on one hand. On the other hand, it can be used to predict whether cooperators can survive in a system long before the system reaches its evolutionary stable state for the Prisoner's dilemma game. Our work therefore provides a theoretical framework for understanding the evolutionary stable state in the gaming populations with static structures. PMID:25169150

First NASA Aviation Safety Program Weather Accident Prevention Project Annual Review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colantonio, Ron

2000-01-01

The goal of this Annual Review was to present NASA plans and accomplishments that will impact the national aviation safety goal. NASA's WxAP Project focuses on developing the following products: (1) Aviation Weather Information (AWIN) technologies (displays, sensors, pilot decision tools, communication links, etc.); (2) Electronic Pilot Reporting (E-PIREPS) technologies; (3) Enhanced weather products with associated hazard metrics; (4) Forward looking turbulence sensor technologies (radar, lidar, etc.); (5) Turbulence mitigation control system designs; Attendees included personnel from various NASA Centers, FAA, National Weather Service, DoD, airlines, aircraft and pilot associations, industry, aircraft manufacturers and academia. Attendees participated in discussion sessions aimed at collecting aviation user community feedback on NASA plans and R&D activities. This CD is a compilation of most of the presentations presented at this Review.

Equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics simultaneously operate in the Galápagos islands.

PubMed

Valente, Luis M; Phillimore, Albert B; Etienne, Rampal S

2015-08-01

Island biotas emerge from the interplay between colonisation, speciation and extinction and are often the scene of spectacular adaptive radiations. A common assumption is that insular diversity is at a dynamic equilibrium, but for remote islands, such as Hawaii or Galápagos, this idea remains untested. Here, we reconstruct the temporal accumulation of terrestrial bird species of the Galápagos using a novel phylogenetic method that estimates rates of biota assembly for an entire community. We show that species richness on the archipelago is in an ascending phase and does not tend towards equilibrium. The majority of the avifauna diversifies at a slow rate, without detectable ecological limits. However, Darwin's finches form an exception: they rapidly reach a carrying capacity and subsequently follow a coalescent-like diversification process. Together, these results suggest that avian diversity of remote islands is rising, and challenge the mutual exclusivity of the non-equilibrium and equilibrium ecological paradigms. © 2015 The Authors Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and CNRS.

Equilibrium sampling by reweighting nonequilibrium simulation trajectories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Cheng; Wan, Biao; Xu, Shun; Wang, Yanting; Zhou, Xin

2016-03-01

Based on equilibrium molecular simulations, it is usually difficult to efficiently visit the whole conformational space of complex systems, which are separated into some metastable regions by high free energy barriers. Nonequilibrium simulations could enhance transitions among these metastable regions and then be applied to sample equilibrium distributions in complex systems, since the associated nonequilibrium effects can be removed by employing the Jarzynski equality (JE). Here we present such a systematical method, named reweighted nonequilibrium ensemble dynamics (RNED), to efficiently sample equilibrium conformations. The RNED is a combination of the JE and our previous reweighted ensemble dynamics (RED) method. The original JE reproduces equilibrium from lots of nonequilibrium trajectories but requires that the initial distribution of these trajectories is equilibrium. The RED reweights many equilibrium trajectories from an arbitrary initial distribution to get the equilibrium distribution, whereas the RNED has both advantages of the two methods, reproducing equilibrium from lots of nonequilibrium simulation trajectories with an arbitrary initial conformational distribution. We illustrated the application of the RNED in a toy model and in a Lennard-Jones fluid to detect its liquid-solid phase coexistence. The results indicate that the RNED sufficiently extends the application of both the original JE and the RED in equilibrium sampling of complex systems.

Equilibrium sampling by reweighting nonequilibrium simulation trajectories.

PubMed

Yang, Cheng; Wan, Biao; Xu, Shun; Wang, Yanting; Zhou, Xin

2016-03-01

Based on equilibrium molecular simulations, it is usually difficult to efficiently visit the whole conformational space of complex systems, which are separated into some metastable regions by high free energy barriers. Nonequilibrium simulations could enhance transitions among these metastable regions and then be applied to sample equilibrium distributions in complex systems, since the associated nonequilibrium effects can be removed by employing the Jarzynski equality (JE). Here we present such a systematical method, named reweighted nonequilibrium ensemble dynamics (RNED), to efficiently sample equilibrium conformations. The RNED is a combination of the JE and our previous reweighted ensemble dynamics (RED) method. The original JE reproduces equilibrium from lots of nonequilibrium trajectories but requires that the initial distribution of these trajectories is equilibrium. The RED reweights many equilibrium trajectories from an arbitrary initial distribution to get the equilibrium distribution, whereas the RNED has both advantages of the two methods, reproducing equilibrium from lots of nonequilibrium simulation trajectories with an arbitrary initial conformational distribution. We illustrated the application of the RNED in a toy model and in a Lennard-Jones fluid to detect its liquid-solid phase coexistence. The results indicate that the RNED sufficiently extends the application of both the original JE and the RED in equilibrium sampling of complex systems.

Non-equilibrium diffusion combustion of a fuel droplet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyurenkova, Veronika V.

2012-06-01

A mathematical model for the non-equilibrium combustion of droplets in rocket engines is developed. This model allows to determine the divergence of combustion rate for the equilibrium and non-equilibrium model. Criterion for droplet combustion deviation from equilibrium is introduced. It grows decreasing droplet radius, accommodation coefficient, temperature and decreases on decreasing diffusion coefficient. Also divergence from equilibrium increases on reduction of droplet radius. Droplet burning time essentially increases under non-equilibrium conditions. Comparison of theoretical and experimental data shows that to have adequate solution for small droplets it is necessary to use the non-equilibrium model.

"Non-equilibrium" block copolymer micelles with glassy cores: a predictive approach based on theory of equilibrium micelles.

PubMed

Nagarajan, Ramanathan

2015-07-01

Micelles generated in water from most amphiphilic block copolymers are widely recognized to be non-equilibrium structures. Typically, the micelles are prepared by a kinetic process, first allowing molecular scale dissolution of the block copolymer in a common solvent that likes both the blocks and then gradually replacing the common solvent by water to promote the hydrophobic blocks to aggregate and create the micelles. The non-equilibrium nature of the micelle originates from the fact that dynamic exchange between the block copolymer molecules in the micelle and the singly dispersed block copolymer molecules in water is suppressed, because of the glassy nature of the core forming polymer block and/or its very large hydrophobicity. Although most amphiphilic block copolymers generate such non-equilibrium micelles, no theoretical approach to a priori predict the micelle characteristics currently exists. In this work, we propose a predictive approach for non-equilibrium micelles with glassy cores by applying the equilibrium theory of micelles in two steps. In the first, we calculate the properties of micelles formed in the mixed solvent while true equilibrium prevails, until the micelle core becomes glassy. In the second step, we freeze the micelle aggregation number at this glassy state and calculate the corona dimension from the equilibrium theory of micelles. The condition when the micelle core becomes glassy is independently determined from a statistical thermodynamic treatment of diluent effect on polymer glass transition temperature. The predictions based on this "non-equilibrium" model compare reasonably well with experimental data for polystyrene-polyethylene oxide diblock copolymer, which is the most extensively studied system in the literature. In contrast, the application of the equilibrium model to describe such a system significantly overpredicts the micelle core and corona dimensions and the aggregation number. The non-equilibrium model suggests ways to

Out-of-Equilibrium Dynamics of Colloidal Particles at Interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Anna

It is widely assumed that when colloidal particles adsorb to a fluid-fluid interface, they reach equilibrium rapidly. Recently, however, Kaz et al. [Nature Materials, 11, 138-142 (2012)] found that a variety of functionalised latex microspheres breaching an aqueous phase-oil interface relax logarithmically with time toward equilibrium. The relaxation is so slow that the time projected for the particles to reach the equilibrium contact angle of 110° is months--far longer than typical experimental timescales. In this thesis, we seek to understand the out-of-equilibrium behaviour of particles near interfaces. Because contact line pinning is likely an extra source of dissipation at interfaces, we start with experiments to elucidate the origins of contact-line pinning and find that polymer hairs on aqueous dispersed polymer particles strongly pin the contact-line. For particles without polymer hairs, nanoscale surface roughness can also pin the contact-line, though with a lower energy. We then extend our digital holography capabilities to track non-spherical particles. We demonstrate that we can track the centre-of-mass of a colloidal spherocylinder to a precision of 35 nm in all three dimensions and its orientation to a precision of 1.5°. Furthermore, the measured translational and rotational diffusion coefficients for the spherocylinders agree with hydrodynamic predictions to within 0.3%. This new functionality enables us to track colloidal ellipsoids and spherocylinders as they breach interfaces. By comparing the adsorption trajectories of the non-spherical particles to what is predicted from energy minimisation, we learn that contact-line pinning affects not just the timescales of breaching, but also the pathway to equilibrium. In fact, a particle's path to equilibrium can have complications even before the particle breaches the interface. Some particles are attracted to the interface, but stay within a few nanometers without ever breaching. We refer to this

The 2007 Projected Impacts to Clark County and Local Government Public Safety Agencies Resulting from the Transportation of High- Level Nuclear Waste to Yucca Mountain

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

Mushkatel, A.H.; Conway, P.H.D.S.; Navis, I.

2008-07-01

This paper focuses on projecting fiscal impacts to public safety agencies from the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The efforts made by Clark County Nevada, to develop a fiscal model of impacts for public safety agencies are described in this paper. In addition, the scenarios used in the study are discussed, as well as a discussion of the plume models provided for each community's scenario that result from the efforts of the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC). Some of the difficulties in constructing a fiscal model of impacts for the entire 24 year high-level nuclearmore » waste transportation shipping campaign are identified, and a refined methodology is provided to accomplish this task. Finally, a comparison of the fiscal impact projections for public safety agencies that Clark County developed in 2001, 2005 are discussed, and the fiscal impact cost projections for the entire 24 year transportation campaign are provided. (authors)« less

Non-equilibrium dynamics from RPMD and CMD.

PubMed

Welsch, Ralph; Song, Kai; Shi, Qiang; Althorpe, Stuart C; Miller, Thomas F

2016-11-28

We investigate the calculation of approximate non-equilibrium quantum time correlation functions (TCFs) using two popular path-integral-based molecular dynamics methods, ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) and centroid molecular dynamics (CMD). It is shown that for the cases of a sudden vertical excitation and an initial momentum impulse, both RPMD and CMD yield non-equilibrium TCFs for linear operators that are exact for high temperatures, in the t = 0 limit, and for harmonic potentials; the subset of these conditions that are preserved for non-equilibrium TCFs of non-linear operators is also discussed. Furthermore, it is shown that for these non-equilibrium initial conditions, both methods retain the connection to Matsubara dynamics that has previously been established for equilibrium initial conditions. Comparison of non-equilibrium TCFs from RPMD and CMD to Matsubara dynamics at short times reveals the orders in time to which the methods agree. Specifically, for the position-autocorrelation function associated with sudden vertical excitation, RPMD and CMD agree with Matsubara dynamics up to O(t 4 ) and O(t 1 ), respectively; for the position-autocorrelation function associated with an initial momentum impulse, RPMD and CMD agree with Matsubara dynamics up to O(t 5 ) and O(t 2 ), respectively. Numerical tests using model potentials for a wide range of non-equilibrium initial conditions show that RPMD and CMD yield non-equilibrium TCFs with an accuracy that is comparable to that for equilibrium TCFs. RPMD is also used to investigate excited-state proton transfer in a system-bath model, and it is compared to numerically exact calculations performed using a recently developed version of the Liouville space hierarchical equation of motion approach; again, similar accuracy is observed for non-equilibrium and equilibrium initial conditions.

25 CFR 170.144 - What are eligible highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...-related deaths, injuries and accidents; (j) Impaired driver initiatives; (k) Child safety seat programs... travel on IRRs, such as guardrail construction and traffic markings; (f) Development of a safety management system; (g) Education and outreach highway safety programs, such as use of child safety seats...

Connected commercial vehicles — retrofit safety device kit project : safety applications and development plan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Connected vehicle wireless data communications can enable safety applications that may reduce injuries and fatalities. Cooperative vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety applications will be effective only if a high fraction of vehicles are equipped. Deploy...

Equilibrium econophysics: A unified formalism for neoclassical economics and equilibrium thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sousa, Tânia; Domingos, Tiago

2006-11-01

We develop a unified conceptual and mathematical structure for equilibrium econophysics, i.e., the use of concepts and tools of equilibrium thermodynamics in neoclassical microeconomics and vice versa. Within this conceptual structure the results obtained in microeconomic theory are: (1) the definition of irreversibility in economic behavior; (2) the clarification that the Engel curve and the offer curve are not descriptions of real processes dictated by the maximization of utility at constant endowment; (3) the derivation of a relation between elasticities proving that economic elasticities are not all independent; (4) the proof that Giffen goods do not exist in a stable equilibrium; (5) the derivation that ‘economic integrability’ is equivalent to the generalized Le Chatelier principle and (6) the definition of a first order phase transition, i.e., a transition between separate points in the utility function. In thermodynamics the results obtained are: (1) a relation between the non-dimensional isothermal and adiabatic compressibilities and the increase or decrease in the thermodynamic potentials; (2) the distinction between mathematical integrability and optimization behavior and (3) the generalization of the Clapeyron equation.

Researchers' Roles in Patient Safety Improvement.

PubMed

Pietikäinen, Elina; Reiman, Teemu; Heikkilä, Jouko; Macchi, Luigi

2016-03-01

In this article, we explore how researchers can contribute to patient safety improvement. We aim to expand the instrumental role researchers have often occupied in relation to patient safety improvement. We reflect on our own improvement model and experiences as patient safety researchers in an ongoing Finnish multi-actor innovation project through self-reflective narration. Our own patient safety improvement model can be described as systemic. Based on the purpose of the innovation project, our improvement model, and the improvement models of the other actors in the project, we have carried out a wide range of activities. Our activities can be summarized in 8 overlapping patient safety improvement roles: modeler, influencer, supplier, producer, ideator, reflector, facilitator, and negotiator. When working side by side with "practice," researchers are offered and engage in several different activities. The way researchers contribute to patient safety improvement and balance between different roles depends on the purpose of the study, as well as on the underlying patient safety improvement models. Different patient safety research paradigms seem to emphasize different improvement roles, and thus, they also face different challenges. Open reflection on the underlying improvement models and roles can help researchers with different backgrounds-as well as other actors involved in patient safety improvement-in structuring their work and collaborating productively.

A web-based tool for the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP).

PubMed

Pronovost, Peter J; King, Jay; Holzmueller, Christine G; Sawyer, Melinda; Bivens, Shauna; Michael, Michelle; Haig, Kathy; Paine, Lori; Moore, Dana; Miller, Marlene

2006-03-01

An organization's ability to change is driven by its culture, which in turn has a significant impact on safety. The six-step Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) is intended to improve local culture and safety. A Web-based project management tool for CUSP was developed and then pilot tested at two hospitals. HOW ECUSP WORKS: Once a patient safety concern is identified (step 3), a unit-level interdisciplinary safety committee determines issue criticality and starts up the projects (step 4), which are managed using project management tools within eCUSP (step 5). On a project's completion, the results are disseminated through a shared story (step 6). OSF St. Joseph's Medical Center-The Medical Birthing Center (Bloomington, Illinois), identified 11 safety issues, implemented 11 projects, and created 9 shared stories--including one for its Armband Project. The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore) Medical Progressive Care (MPC4) Unit identified 5 safety issues and implemented 4 ongoing projects, including the intravenous (IV) Tubing Compliance Project. The eCUSP tool's success depends on an organizational commitment to creating a culture of safety.

Information-theoretic equilibrium and observable thermalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anzà, F.; Vedral, V.

2017-03-01

A crucial point in statistical mechanics is the definition of the notion of thermal equilibrium, which can be given as the state that maximises the von Neumann entropy, under the validity of some constraints. Arguing that such a notion can never be experimentally probed, in this paper we propose a new notion of thermal equilibrium, focused on observables rather than on the full state of the quantum system. We characterise such notion of thermal equilibrium for an arbitrary observable via the maximisation of its Shannon entropy and we bring to light the thermal properties that it heralds. The relation with Gibbs ensembles is studied and understood. We apply such a notion of equilibrium to a closed quantum system and show that there is always a class of observables which exhibits thermal equilibrium properties and we give a recipe to explicitly construct them. Eventually, an intimate connection with the Eigenstate Thermalisation Hypothesis is brought to light.

Information-theoretic equilibrium and observable thermalization

PubMed Central

Anzà, F.; Vedral, V.

2017-01-01

A crucial point in statistical mechanics is the definition of the notion of thermal equilibrium, which can be given as the state that maximises the von Neumann entropy, under the validity of some constraints. Arguing that such a notion can never be experimentally probed, in this paper we propose a new notion of thermal equilibrium, focused on observables rather than on the full state of the quantum system. We characterise such notion of thermal equilibrium for an arbitrary observable via the maximisation of its Shannon entropy and we bring to light the thermal properties that it heralds. The relation with Gibbs ensembles is studied and understood. We apply such a notion of equilibrium to a closed quantum system and show that there is always a class of observables which exhibits thermal equilibrium properties and we give a recipe to explicitly construct them. Eventually, an intimate connection with the Eigenstate Thermalisation Hypothesis is brought to light. PMID:28266646

Information-theoretic equilibrium and observable thermalization.

PubMed

Anzà, F; Vedral, V

2017-03-07

A crucial point in statistical mechanics is the definition of the notion of thermal equilibrium, which can be given as the state that maximises the von Neumann entropy, under the validity of some constraints. Arguing that such a notion can never be experimentally probed, in this paper we propose a new notion of thermal equilibrium, focused on observables rather than on the full state of the quantum system. We characterise such notion of thermal equilibrium for an arbitrary observable via the maximisation of its Shannon entropy and we bring to light the thermal properties that it heralds. The relation with Gibbs ensembles is studied and understood. We apply such a notion of equilibrium to a closed quantum system and show that there is always a class of observables which exhibits thermal equilibrium properties and we give a recipe to explicitly construct them. Eventually, an intimate connection with the Eigenstate Thermalisation Hypothesis is brought to light.

Simulations for Teaching Chemical Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huddle, Penelope A.; White, Margaret Dawn; Rogers, Fiona

2000-07-01

This paper outlines a systematic approach to teaching chemical equilibrium using simulation experiments that address most known alternate conceptions in the topic. Graphs drawn using the data from the simulations are identical to those obtained using real experimental data for reactions that go to equilibrium. This allows easy mapping of the analogy to the target. The requirements for the simulations are simple and inexpensive, making them accessible to even the poorest schools. The simulations can be adapted for all levels, from pupils who are first encountering equilibrium through students in tertiary education to qualified teachers who have experienced difficulty in teaching the topic. The simulations were piloted on four very different audiences. Minor modifications were then made before the Equilibrium Games as reported in this paper were tested on three groups of subjects: a Grade 12 class, college students, and university Chemistry I students. Marked improvements in understanding of the concept were shown in two of the three sets of subjects.

The Study of Equilibrium factor between Radon-222 and its Daughters in Bangkok Atmosphere by Gamma-ray Spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rujiwarodom, Rachanee

2010-05-01

To study the Equilibrium between radon-222 and its daughters in Bangkok atmosphere by Gamma-ray spectrometry, air sample were collected on 48 activated charcoal canister and 360 glass fiber filters by using a high volume jet-air sampler during December 2007 to November 2008.The Spectra of gamma-ray were measured by using a HPGe (Hyper Pure Germanium Detector). In the condition of secular equilibrium obtaining between Radon-222 and its decay products, radon-222 on activated charcoal canister and its daughters on glass fiber filters collected in the same time interval were calculated. The equilibrium factor (F) in the open air had a value of 0.38 at the minimum ,and 0.75 at the maximum. The average value of equilibrium factor (F) was 0.56±0.12. Based on the results, F had variations with a maximum value in the night to the early morning and decreased in the afternoon. In addition, F was higher in the winter than in the summer. This finding corresponds with the properties of the Earth atmosphere. The equilibrium factor (F) also depended on the concentration of dust in the atmosphere. People living in Bangkok were exposed to average value of 30 Bq/m3 of Radon-222 in the atmosphere. The equilibrium factor (0.56±0.12) and the average value of Radon-222 showed that people were exposed to alpha energy from radon-222 and its daughters decay at 0.005 WL(Working Level) which is lower than the safety standard at 0.02 WL. Keywords: Radon, Radon daughters , equilibrium factor, Gamma -ray spectrum analysis ,Bangkok ,Thailand

Evaluation of interactive highway safety design model crash prediction tools for two-lane rural roads on Kansas Department of Transportation projects.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

Historically, project-level decisions for the selection of highway features to promote safety were : based on either engineering judgment or adherence to accepted national guidance. These tools have allowed : highway designers to produce facilities t...

Computing Equilibrium Chemical Compositions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcbride, Bonnie J.; Gordon, Sanford

1995-01-01

Chemical Equilibrium With Transport Properties, 1993 (CET93) computer program provides data on chemical-equilibrium compositions. Aids calculation of thermodynamic properties of chemical systems. Information essential in design and analysis of such equipment as compressors, turbines, nozzles, engines, shock tubes, heat exchangers, and chemical-processing equipment. CET93/PC is version of CET93 specifically designed to run within 640K memory limit of MS-DOS operating system. CET93/PC written in FORTRAN.

Ku- and Ka-Band Phased Array Antenna for the Space-Based Telemetry and Range Safety Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whiteman, Donald E.; Valencia, Lisa M.; Birr, Richard B.

2005-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space-Based Telemetry and Range Safety study is a multiphase project to increase data rates and flexibility and decrease costs by using space-based communications assets for telemetry during launches and landings. Phase 1 used standard S-band antennas with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to obtain a baseline performance. The selection process and available resources for Phase 2 resulted in a Ku-band phased array antenna system. Several development efforts are under way for a Ka-band phased array antenna system for Phase 3. Each phase includes test flights to demonstrate performance and capabilities. Successful completion of this project will result in a set of communications requirements for the next generation of launch vehicles.

Phase Equilibrium, Chemical Equilibrium, and a Test of the Third Law: Experiments for Physical Chemistry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dannhauser, Walter

1980-01-01

Described is an experiment designed to provide an experimental basis for a unifying point of view (utilizing theoretical framework and chemistry laboratory experiments) for physical chemistry students. Three experiments are described: phase equilibrium, chemical equilibrium, and a test of the third law of thermodynamics. (Author/DS)

Unsteady Computational Tests of a Non-Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jirasek, Adam; Hamlington, Peter; Lofthouse, Andrew; Usafa Collaboration; Cu Boulder Collaboration

2017-11-01

A non-equilibrium turbulence model is assessed on simulations of three practically-relevant unsteady test cases; oscillating channel flow, transonic flow around an oscillating airfoil, and transonic flow around the Benchmark Super-Critical Wing. The first case is related to piston-driven flows while the remaining cases are relevant to unsteady aerodynamics at high angles of attack and transonic speeds. Non-equilibrium turbulence effects arise in each of these cases in the form of a lag between the mean strain rate and Reynolds stresses, resulting in reduced kinetic energy production compared to classical equilibrium turbulence models that are based on the gradient transport (or Boussinesq) hypothesis. As a result of the improved representation of unsteady flow effects, the non-equilibrium model provides substantially better agreement with available experimental data than do classical equilibrium turbulence models. This suggests that the non-equilibrium model may be ideally suited for simulations of modern high-speed, high angle of attack aerodynamics problems.

Local Equilibrium and Retardation Revisited.

PubMed

Hansen, Scott K; Vesselinov, Velimir V

2018-01-01

In modeling solute transport with mobile-immobile mass transfer (MIMT), it is common to use an advection-dispersion equation (ADE) with a retardation factor, or retarded ADE. This is commonly referred to as making the local equilibrium assumption (LEA). Assuming local equilibrium, Eulerian textbook treatments derive the retarded ADE, ostensibly exactly. However, other authors have presented rigorous mathematical derivations of the dispersive effect of MIMT, applicable even in the case of arbitrarily fast mass transfer. We resolve the apparent contradiction between these seemingly exact derivations by adopting a Lagrangian point of view. We show that local equilibrium constrains the expected time immobile, whereas the retarded ADE actually embeds a stronger, nonphysical, constraint: that all particles spend the same amount of every time increment immobile. Eulerian derivations of the retarded ADE thus silently commit the gambler's fallacy, leading them to ignore dispersion due to mass transfer that is correctly modeled by other approaches. We then present a particle tracking simulation illustrating how poor an approximation the retarded ADE may be, even when mobile and immobile plumes are continually near local equilibrium. We note that classic "LEA" (actually, retarded ADE validity) criteria test for insignificance of MIMT-driven dispersion relative to hydrodynamic dispersion, rather than for local equilibrium. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Teaching Chemical Equilibrium with the Jigsaw Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doymus, Kemal

2008-03-01

This study investigates the effect of cooperative learning (jigsaw) versus individual learning methods on students’ understanding of chemical equilibrium in a first-year general chemistry course. This study was carried out in two different classes in the department of primary science education during the 2005-2006 academic year. One of the classes was randomly assigned as the non-jigsaw group (control) and other as the jigsaw group (cooperative). Students participating in the jigsaw group were divided into four “home groups” since the topic chemical equilibrium is divided into four subtopics (Modules A, B, C and D). Each of these home groups contained four students. The groups were as follows: (1) Home Group A (HGA), representin g the equilibrium state and quantitative aspects of equilibrium (Module A), (2) Home Group B (HGB), representing the equilibrium constant and relationships involving equilibrium constants (Module B), (3) Home Group C (HGC), representing Altering Equilibrium Conditions: Le Chatelier’s principle (Module C), and (4) Home Group D (HGD), representing calculations with equilibrium constants (Module D). The home groups then broke apart, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and the students moved into jigsaw groups consisting of members from the other home groups who were assigned the same portion of the material. The jigsaw groups were then in charge of teaching their specific subtopic to the rest of the students in their learning group. The main data collection tool was a Chemical Equilibrium Achievement Test (CEAT), which was applied to both the jigsaw and non-jigsaw groups The results indicated that the jigsaw group was more successful than the non-jigsaw group (individual learning method).

[The accuracy of rapid equilibrium assumption in steady-state enzyme kinetics is the function of equilibrium segment structure and properties].

PubMed

Vrzheshch, P V

2015-01-01

Quantitative evaluation of the accuracy of the rapid equilibrium assumption in the steady-state enzyme kinetics was obtained for an arbitrary mechanism of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. This evaluation depends only on the structure and properties of the equilibrium segment, but doesn't depend on the structure and properties of the rest (stationary part) of the kinetic scheme. The smaller the values of the edges leaving equilibrium segment in relation to values of the edges within the equilibrium segment, the higher the accuracy of determination of intermediate concentrations and reaction velocity in a case of the rapid equilibrium assumption.

Improved processes for meeting the data requirements for implementing the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and Safety Analyst in Florida.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Recent research in highway safety has focused on the more advanced and statistically proven techniques of highway : safety analysis. This project focuses on the two most recent safety analysis tools, the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) : and SafetyAnalys...

Non-equilibrium simulation of CH4 production through the depressurization method from gas hydrate reservoirs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qorbani, Khadijeh; Kvamme, Bjørn

2016-04-01

Natural gas hydrates (NGHs) in nature are formed from various hydrate formers (i.e. aqueous, gas, and adsorbed phases). As a result, due to Gibbs phase rule and the combined first and second laws of thermodynamics CH4-hydrate cannot reach thermodynamic equilibrium in real reservoir conditions. CH4 is the dominant component in NGH reservoirs. It is formed as a result of biogenic degradation of biological material in the upper few hundred meters of subsurface. It has been estimated that the amount of fuel-gas reserve in NGHs exceed the total amount of fossil fuel explored until today. Thus, these reservoirs have the potential to satisfy the energy requirements of the future. However, released CH4 from dissociated NGHs could find its way to the atmosphere and it is a far more aggressive greenhouse gas than CO2, even though its life-time is shorter. Lack of reliable field data makes it difficult to predict the production potential, as well as safety of CH4 production from NGHs. Computer simulations can be used as a tool to investigate CH4 production through different scenarios. Most hydrate simulators within academia and industry treat hydrate phase transitions as an equilibrium process and those which employ the kinetic approach utilize simple laboratory data in their models. Furthermore, it is typical to utilize a limited thermodynamic description where only temperature and pressure projections are considered. Another widely used simplification is to assume only a single route for the hydrate phase transitions. The non-equilibrium nature of hydrate indicates a need for proper kinetic models to describe hydrate dissociation and reformation in the reservoir with respect to thermodynamics variables, CH4 mole-fraction, pressure and temperature. The RetrasoCodeBright (RCB) hydrate simulator has previously been extended to model CH4-hydrate dissociation towards CH4 gas and water. CH4-hydrate is added to the RCB data-base as a pseudo mineral. Phase transitions are treated

Intermittent many-body dynamics at equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danieli, C.; Campbell, D. K.; Flach, S.

2017-06-01

The equilibrium value of an observable defines a manifold in the phase space of an ergodic and equipartitioned many-body system. A typical trajectory pierces that manifold infinitely often as time goes to infinity. We use these piercings to measure both the relaxation time of the lowest frequency eigenmode of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain, as well as the fluctuations of the subsequent dynamics in equilibrium. The dynamics in equilibrium is characterized by a power-law distribution of excursion times far off equilibrium, with diverging variance. Long excursions arise from sticky dynamics close to q -breathers localized in normal mode space. Measuring the exponent allows one to predict the transition into nonergodic dynamics. We generalize our method to Klein-Gordon lattices where the sticky dynamics is due to discrete breathers localized in real space.

Equilibrium drives of the low and high field side n  =  2 plasma response and impact on global confinement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paz-Soldan, C.; Logan, N. C.; Haskey, S. R.; Nazikian, R.; Strait, E. J.; Chen, X.; Ferraro, N. M.; King, J. D.; Lyons, B. C.; Park, J.-K.

2016-05-01

The nature of the multi-modal n  =  2 plasma response and its impact on global confinement is studied as a function of the axisymmetric equilibrium pressure, edge safety factor, collisionality, and L-versus H-mode conditions. Varying the relative phase (Δ {φ\\text{UL}} ) between upper and lower in-vessel coils demonstrates that different n  =  2 poloidal spectra preferentially excite different plasma responses. These different plasma response modes are preferentially detected on the tokamak high-field side (HFS) or low-field side (LFS) midplanes, have different radial extents, couple differently to the resonant surfaces, and have variable impacts on edge stability and global confinement. In all equilibrium conditions studied, the observed confinement degradation shares the same Δ {φ\\text{UL}} dependence as the coupling to the resonant surfaces given by both ideal (IPEC) and resistive (MARS-F) MHD computation. Varying the edge safety factor shifts the equilibrium field-line pitch and thus the Δ {φ\\text{UL}} dependence of both the global confinement and the n  =  2 magnetic response. As edge safety factor is varied, modeling finds that the HFS response (but not the LFS response), the resonant surface coupling, and the edge displacements near the X-point all share the same Δ {φ\\text{UL}} dependence. The LFS response magnitude is strongly sensitive to the core pressure and is insensitive to the collisionality and edge safety factor. This indicates that the LFS measurements are primarily sensitive to a pressure-driven kink-ballooning mode that couples to the core plasma. MHD modeling accurately reproduces these (and indeed all) LFS experimental trends and supports this interpretation. In contrast to the LFS, the HFS magnetic response and correlated global confinement impact is unchanged with plasma pressure, but is strongly reduced in high collisionality conditions in both H- and L-mode. This experimentally suggests the bootstrap

HAZWOPER work plan and site safety and health plan for the Alpha characterization project at the solid waste storage area 4 bathtubbing trench at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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

Not Available

1994-07-01

This work plan/site safety and health plan is for the alpha sampling project at the Solid Waste Storage Area 4 bathtubbing trench. The work will be conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Environmental Sciences Division and associated ORNL environmental, safety, and health support groups. This activity will fall under the scope of 29 CFR 1910.120, Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER). The purpose of this document is to establish health and safety guidelines to be followed by all personnel involved in conducting work for this project. Work will be conducted in accordance with requirements as stipulated inmore » the ORNL HAZWOPER Program Manual and applicable ORNL; Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.; and U.S. Department of Energy policies and procedures. The levels of protection and the procedures specified in this plan are based on the best information available from historical data and preliminary evaluations of the area. Therefore, these recommendations represent the minimum health and safety requirements to be observed by all personnel engaged in this project. Unforeseeable site conditions or changes in scope of work may warrant a reassessment of the stated protection levels and controls. All adjustments to the plan must have prior approval by the safety and health disciplines signing the original plan.« less

New phenomena in non-equilibrium quantum physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitagawa, Takuya

From its beginning in the early 20th century, quantum theory has become progressively more important especially due to its contributions to the development of technologies. Quantum mechanics is crucial for current technology such as semiconductors, and also holds promise for future technologies such as superconductors and quantum computing. Despite of the success of quantum theory, its applications have been mostly limited to equilibrium or static systems due to 1. lack of experimental controllability of non-equilibrium quantum systems 2. lack of theoretical frameworks to understand non-equilibrium dynamics. Consequently, physicists have not yet discovered too many interesting phenomena in non-equilibrium quantum systems from both theoretical and experimental point of view and thus, non-equilibrium quantum physics did not attract too much attentions. The situation has recently changed due to the rapid development of experimental techniques in condensed matter as well as cold atom systems, which now enables a better control of non-equilibrium quantum systems. Motivated by this experimental progress, we constructed theoretical frameworks to study three different non-equilibrium regimes of transient dynamics, steady states and periodically drives. These frameworks provide new perspectives for dynamical quantum process, and help to discover new phenomena in these systems. In this thesis, we describe these frameworks through explicit examples and demonstrate their versatility. Some of these theoretical proposals have been realized in experiments, confirming the applicability of the theories to realistic experimental situations. These studies have led to not only the improved fundamental understanding of non-equilibrium processes in quantum systems, but also suggested entirely different venues for developing quantum technologies.

Non-equilibrium synergistic effects in atmospheric pressure plasmas.

PubMed

Guo, Heng; Zhang, Xiao-Ning; Chen, Jian; Li, He-Ping; Ostrikov, Kostya Ken

2018-03-19

Non-equilibrium is one of the important features of an atmospheric gas discharge plasma. It involves complicated physical-chemical processes and plays a key role in various actual plasma processing. In this report, a novel complete non-equilibrium model is developed to reveal the non-equilibrium synergistic effects for the atmospheric-pressure low-temperature plasmas (AP-LTPs). It combines a thermal-chemical non-equilibrium fluid model for the quasi-neutral plasma region and a simplified sheath model for the electrode sheath region. The free-burning argon arc is selected as a model system because both the electrical-thermal-chemical equilibrium and non-equilibrium regions are involved simultaneously in this arc plasma system. The modeling results indicate for the first time that it is the strong and synergistic interactions among the mass, momentum and energy transfer processes that determine the self-consistent non-equilibrium characteristics of the AP-LTPs. An energy transfer process related to the non-uniform spatial distributions of the electron-to-heavy-particle temperature ratio has also been discovered for the first time. It has a significant influence for self-consistently predicting the transition region between the "hot" and "cold" equilibrium regions of an AP-LTP system. The modeling results would provide an instructive guidance for predicting and possibly controlling the non-equilibrium particle-energy transportation process in various AP-LTPs in future.

Project Artemis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birchenough, Shawn; Kato, Denise; Kennedy, Fred; Akin, David

1990-01-01

The goals of Project Artemis are designed to meet the challege of President Bush to return to the Moon, this time to stay. The first goal of the project is to establish a permanent manned base on the Moon for the purposes of scientific research and technological development. The knowledge gained from the establishment and operations of the lunar base will then be used to achieve the second goal of Project Artemis, the establishment of a manned base on the Martian surface. Throughout both phases of the program, crew safety will be the number one priority. There are four main issues that have governed the entire program: crew safety and mission success, commonality, growth potential, and costing and scheduling. These issues are discussed in more detail.

An Award-Winning Approach To Lead Safety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Compton-Lilly, Catherine

2002-01-01

Details how a lead safety project funded in the Toyota Tapestry Grant program provided students with the resources to test for and discover lead present in their recently renovated school. Discusses how the lead safety project played out across grade levels within the school. (DDR)

Developing a Highway Safety Fundamentals Course : Research Project Capsule

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-10-01

Although the need for road : safety education was fi rst : recognized in the 1960s, : recently it has become an : increasingly urgent issue. To : fulfi ll the hefty goal set up by : the AASHTO Highway : Safety Strategy (cutting : traffi c fatalities ...

Commercial vehicle (CV) retrofit safety device (RSD) kits project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

Retrofit Safety Device (RSD) kits were developed and deployed on commercial vehicles as part of the U.S. DOT Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot to gain insight into the unique aspects of deploying connected vehicle technology in a commercial vehicle envi...

Equilibrium 𝛽-limits in classical stellarators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loizu, J.; Hudson, S. R.; Nührenberg, C.; Geiger, J.; Helander, P.

2017-12-01

A numerical investigation is carried out to understand the equilibrium -limit in a classical stellarator. The stepped-pressure equilibrium code (Hudson et al., Phys. Plasmas, vol. 19 (11), 2012) is used in order to assess whether or not magnetic islands and stochastic field-lines can emerge at high . Two modes of operation are considered: a zero-net-current stellarator and a fixed-iota stellarator. Despite the fact that relaxation is allowed (Taylor, Rev. Mod. Phys., vol. 58 (3), 1986, pp. 741-763), the former is shown to maintain good flux surfaces up to the equilibrium -limit predicted by ideal-magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), above which a separatrix forms. The latter, which has no ideal equilibrium -limit, is shown to develop regions of magnetic islands and chaos at sufficiently high , thereby providing a `non-ideal -limit'. Perhaps surprisingly, however, the value of at which the Shafranov shift of the axis reaches a fraction of the minor radius follows in all cases the scaling laws predicted by ideal-MHD. We compare our results to the High-Beta-Stellarator theory of Freidberg (Ideal MHD, 2014, Cambridge University Press) and derive a new prediction for the non-ideal equilibrium -limit above which chaos emerges.

Equilibrium β-limits in classical stellarators

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

Loizu, Joaquim; Hudson, S. R.; Nuhrenberg, C.

Here, a numerical investigation is carried out to understand the equilibrium β-limit in a classical stellarator. The stepped-pressure equilibrium code is used in order to assess whether or not magnetic islands and stochastic field-lines can emerge at high β. Two modes of operation are considered: a zero-net-current stellarator and a fixed-iota stellarator. Despite the fact that relaxation is allowed, the former is shown to maintain good flux surfaces up to the equilibrium β-limit predicted by ideal-magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), above which a separatrix forms. The latter, which has no ideal equilibrium β-limit, is shown to develop regions of magnetic islands and chaosmore » at sufficiently high β, thereby providing a ‘non-ideal β-limit’. Perhaps surprisingly, however, the value of β at which the Shafranov shift of the axis reaches a fraction of the minor radius follows in all cases the scaling laws predicted by ideal-MHD. We compare our results to the High-Beta-Stellarator theory of Freidberg and derive a new prediction for the non-ideal equilibrium β-limit above which chaos emerges.« less

Equilibrium β-limits in classical stellarators

DOE PAGES

Loizu, Joaquim; Hudson, S. R.; Nuhrenberg, C.; ...

2017-11-17

Here, a numerical investigation is carried out to understand the equilibrium β-limit in a classical stellarator. The stepped-pressure equilibrium code is used in order to assess whether or not magnetic islands and stochastic field-lines can emerge at high β. Two modes of operation are considered: a zero-net-current stellarator and a fixed-iota stellarator. Despite the fact that relaxation is allowed, the former is shown to maintain good flux surfaces up to the equilibrium β-limit predicted by ideal-magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), above which a separatrix forms. The latter, which has no ideal equilibrium β-limit, is shown to develop regions of magnetic islands and chaosmore » at sufficiently high β, thereby providing a ‘non-ideal β-limit’. Perhaps surprisingly, however, the value of β at which the Shafranov shift of the axis reaches a fraction of the minor radius follows in all cases the scaling laws predicted by ideal-MHD. We compare our results to the High-Beta-Stellarator theory of Freidberg and derive a new prediction for the non-ideal equilibrium β-limit above which chaos emerges.« less

Non-equilibrium dog-flea model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackerson, Bruce J.

2017-11-01

We develop the open dog-flea model to serve as a check of proposed non-equilibrium theories of statistical mechanics. The model is developed in detail. Then it is applied to four recent models for non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Comparison of the dog-flea solution with these different models allows checking claims and giving a concrete example of the theoretical models.

Non-equilibrium quantum heat machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alicki, Robert; Gelbwaser-Klimovsky, David

2015-11-01

Standard heat machines (engine, heat pump, refrigerator) are composed of a system (working fluid) coupled to at least two equilibrium baths at different temperatures and periodically driven by an external device (piston or rotor) sometimes called the work reservoir. The aim of this paper is to go beyond this scheme by considering environments which are stationary but cannot be decomposed into a few baths at thermal equilibrium. Such situations are important, for example in solar cells, chemical machines in biology, various realizations of laser cooling or nanoscopic machines driven by laser radiation. We classify non-equilibrium baths depending on their thermodynamic behavior and show that the efficiency of heat machines powered by them is limited by the generalized Carnot bound.

Detecting temperature fluctuations at equilibrium.

PubMed

Dixit, Purushottam D

2015-05-21

The Gibbs and the Boltzmann definition of temperature agree only in the macroscopic limit. The ambiguity in identifying the equilibrium temperature of a finite-sized 'small' system exchanging energy with a bath is usually understood as a limitation of conventional statistical mechanics. We interpret this ambiguity as resulting from a stochastically fluctuating temperature coupled with the phase space variables giving rise to a broad temperature distribution. With this ansatz, we develop the equilibrium statistics and dynamics of small systems. Numerical evidence using an analytically tractable model shows that the effects of temperature fluctuations can be detected in the equilibrium and dynamical properties of the phase space of the small system. Our theory generalizes statistical mechanics to small systems relevant in biophysics and nanotechnology.

Self-assembly and transformation of hybrid nano-objects and nanostructures under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mann, Stephen

2009-10-01

Understanding how chemically derived processes control the construction and organization of matter across extended and multiple length scales is of growing interest in many areas of materials research. Here we review present equilibrium and non-equilibrium self-assembly approaches to the synthetic construction of discrete hybrid (inorganic-organic) nano-objects and higher-level nanostructured networks. We examine a range of synthetic modalities under equilibrium conditions that give rise to integrative self-assembly (supramolecular wrapping, nanoscale incarceration and nanostructure templating) or higher-order self-assembly (programmed/directed aggregation). We contrast these strategies with processes of transformative self-assembly that use self-organizing media, reaction-diffusion systems and coupled mesophases to produce higher-level hybrid structures under non-equilibrium conditions. Key elements of the constructional codes associated with these processes are identified with regard to existing theoretical knowledge, and presented as a heuristic guideline for the rational design of hybrid nano-objects and nanomaterials.

Development of safety performance monitoring procedures.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-02-01

Highway safety is an ongoing concern to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project developm...

Advanced Crash Avoidance Technologies (ACAT) Program - Final Report of the Volvo-Ford-UMTRI Project: Safety Impact Methodology for Lane Departure Warning - Method Development and Estimation of Benefits

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-10-01

The Volvo-Ford-UMTRI project: Safety Impact Methodology (SIM) for Lane Departure Warning is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Advanced Crash Avoidance Technologies (ACAT) program. The project developed a basic analytical framework for e...

Advanced structures technology and aircraft safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccomb, H. G., Jr.

1983-01-01

NASA research and development on advanced aeronautical structures technology related to flight safety is reviewed. The effort is categorized as research in the technology base and projects sponsored by the Aircraft Energy Efficiency (ACEE) Project Office. Base technology research includes mechanics of composite structures, crash dynamics, and landing dynamics. The ACEE projects involve development and fabrication of selected composite structural components for existing commercial transport aircraft. Technology emanating from this research is intended to result in airframe structures with improved efficiency and safety.

Patient safety--worker safety: building a culture of safety to improve healthcare worker and patient well-being.

PubMed

Yassi, Annalee; Hancock, Tina

2005-01-01

Patient safety within the Canadian healthcare system is currently a high national priority, which merits a comprehensive understanding of the underlying causes of adverse events. Not least among these is worker health and safety, which is linked to patient outcomes. Healthcare workers have a high risk of workplace injuries and more mental health problems than most other occupational groups. Many healthcare professionals feel fatigued, stressed, in pain, or at risk of illness or injury-factors they feel impede their ability to provide consistent quality care. With this background, the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH) in British Columbia, jointly governed by healthcare unions and healthcare employers, launched several major initiatives to improve the healthcare workplace. These included the promotion of safe patient handling, adaptive clothing, scheduled toileting, stroke management training, measures to improve management of aggressive behaviour and, of course, infection control-all intended to improve the safety of workers, but also to improve patient safety and quality of care. Other projects also explicitly promoting physical and mental health at work, as well as patient safety are also underway. Results of the projects are at various stages of completion, but ample evidence has already been obtained to indicate that looking after the well-being of healthcare workers results in safer and better quality patient care. While more research is needed, our work to date suggests that a comprehensive systems approach to promoting a climate of safety, which includes taking into account workplace organizational factors and physical and psychological hazards for workers, is the best way to improve the healthcare workplace and thereby patient safety.

Absolute Equilibrium Entropy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shebalin, John V.

1997-01-01

The entropy associated with absolute equilibrium ensemble theories of ideal, homogeneous, fluid and magneto-fluid turbulence is discussed and the three-dimensional fluid case is examined in detail. A sigma-function is defined, whose minimum value with respect to global parameters is the entropy. A comparison is made between the use of global functions sigma and phase functions H (associated with the development of various H-theorems of ideal turbulence). It is shown that the two approaches are complimentary though conceptually different: H-theorems show that an isolated system tends to equilibrium while sigma-functions allow the demonstration that entropy never decreases when two previously isolated systems are combined. This provides a more complete picture of entropy in the statistical mechanics of ideal fluids.

Achieving Radiation Tolerance through Non-Equilibrium Grain Boundary Structures.

PubMed

Vetterick, Gregory A; Gruber, Jacob; Suri, Pranav K; Baldwin, Jon K; Kirk, Marquis A; Baldo, Pete; Wang, Yong Q; Misra, Amit; Tucker, Garritt J; Taheri, Mitra L

2017-09-25

Many methods used to produce nanocrystalline (NC) materials leave behind non-equilibrium grain boundaries (GBs) containing excess free volume and higher energy than their equilibrium counterparts with identical 5 degrees of freedom. Since non-equilibrium GBs have increased amounts of both strain and free volume, these boundaries may act as more efficient sinks for the excess interstitials and vacancies produced in a material under irradiation as compared to equilibrium GBs. The relative sink strengths of equilibrium and non-equilibrium GBs were explored by comparing the behavior of annealed (equilibrium) and as-deposited (non-equilibrium) NC iron films on irradiation. These results were coupled with atomistic simulations to better reveal the underlying processes occurring on timescales too short to capture using in situ TEM. After irradiation, NC iron with non-equilibrium GBs contains both a smaller number density of defect clusters and a smaller average defect cluster size. Simulations showed that excess free volume contribute to a decreased survival rate of point defects in cascades occurring adjacent to the GB and that these boundaries undergo less dramatic changes in structure upon irradiation. These results suggest that non-equilibrium GBs act as more efficient sinks for defects and could be utilized to create more radiation tolerant materials in future.

Safety in Schools: An Integral Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gairin, Joaquin; Castro, Diego

2011-01-01

The present paper summarizes a research project into integral safety in schools. The aims of this particular research are, firstly, to evaluate the degree of integral safety in schools, secondly, to propose means for improving prevention and integral safety systems and thirdly, to identify the characteristics of safety culture. The field work was…

Laboratory Safety in the Biology Lab.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritch, Donna; Rank, Jane

2001-01-01

Reports on a research project to determine if students possess and comprehend basic safety knowledge. Shows a significant increase in the amount of safety knowledge gained when students are exposed to various topics in laboratory safety and are held accountable for learning the information as required in a laboratory safety course. (Author/MM)

Innovating in the teaching of Chemical Equilibrium: Taking effective advantage of Information and Communication Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fonseca, Susana Cristina Morais da

Chemical Equilibrium (CE) is a good example of the specific nature of chemistry. The understanding of this theme requires the conceptualization of macroscopic events, as well as explanations of sub microscopic nature, application of symbolic language and mathematics. CE is commonly identified as a topic suitable for the pedagogical use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). However, the growth in the roll of digital resources for the teaching of CE, that took place in the last decades, was not accompanied by a decrease in the signalling of students' difficulties and misconceptions in the subject. This fact, points out the relevance of clarifying the circumstances under which digital resources turn out to be useful in the teaching of CE and develop educative modules that take into account the findings and recommendations from the literature. This project aims to bring a contribution to take advantage form ICT potential in the teaching of CE. The objectives underlying the main purpose of the project were defined according to literature review, which crosses three fundamental dimensions (scientific, pedagogical and technological). The project also benefited from the previous experience of the group and the collaboration with an European project (CROSSNET). The level of abstraction necessary for the understanding of the scientific model is pointed out as the major source of difficulties in the learning of CE, while also referred as a privileged target for the intervention of ICT. In this context, we introduce the expression "facilitating abstraction" to summarize the idea of supporting students' abstract thinking process during the learning of formal concepts. This idea has gained importance throughout the project leading to the development of a pedagogical approach to facilitate abstraction in the learning of CE. Although based on the use of ICT, the main purpose wasn't to introduce new digital resources in the saturated field of CE. Instead, the

Modeling Inflation Using a Non-Equilibrium Equation of Exchange

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamberlain, Robert G.

2013-01-01

Inflation is a change in the prices of goods that takes place without changes in the actual values of those goods. The Equation of Exchange, formulated clearly in a seminal paper by Irving Fisher in 1911, establishes an equilibrium relationship between the price index P (also known as "inflation"), the economy's aggregate output Q (also known as "the real gross domestic product"), the amount of money available for spending M (also known as "the money supply"), and the rate at which money is reused V (also known as "the velocity of circulation of money"). This paper offers first a qualitative discussion of what can cause these factors to change and how those causes might be controlled, then develops a quantitative model of inflation based on a non-equilibrium version of the Equation of Exchange. Causal relationships are different from equations in that the effects of changes in the causal variables take time to play out-often significant amounts of time. In the model described here, wages track prices, but only after a distributed lag. Prices change whenever the money supply, aggregate output, or the velocity of circulation of money change, but only after a distributed lag. Similarly, the money supply depends on the supplies of domestic and foreign money, which depend on the monetary base and a variety of foreign transactions, respectively. The spreading of delays mitigates the shocks of sudden changes to important inputs, but the most important aspect of this model is that delays, which often have dramatic consequences in dynamic systems, are explicitly incorporated.macroeconomics, inflation, equation of exchange, non-equilibrium, Athena Project

Health safety nets can break cycles of poverty and disease: a stochastic ecological model.

PubMed

Plucinski, Mateusz M; Ngonghala, Calistus N; Bonds, Matthew H

2011-12-07

The persistence of extreme poverty is increasingly attributed to dynamic interactions between biophysical processes and economics, though there remains a dearth of integrated theoretical frameworks that can inform policy. Here, we present a stochastic model of disease-driven poverty traps. Whereas deterministic models can result in poverty traps that can only be broken by substantial external changes to the initial conditions, in the stochastic model there is always some probability that a population will leave or enter a poverty trap. We show that a 'safety net', defined as an externally enforced minimum level of health or economic conditions, can guarantee ultimate escape from a poverty trap, even if the safety net is set within the basin of attraction of the poverty trap, and even if the safety net is only in the form of a public health measure. Whereas the deterministic model implies that small improvements in initial conditions near the poverty-trap equilibrium are futile, the stochastic model suggests that the impact of changes in the location of the safety net on the rate of development may be strongest near the poverty-trap equilibrium.

Health safety nets can break cycles of poverty and disease: a stochastic ecological model

PubMed Central

Pluciński, Mateusz M.; Ngonghala, Calistus N.; Bonds, Matthew H.

2011-01-01

The persistence of extreme poverty is increasingly attributed to dynamic interactions between biophysical processes and economics, though there remains a dearth of integrated theoretical frameworks that can inform policy. Here, we present a stochastic model of disease-driven poverty traps. Whereas deterministic models can result in poverty traps that can only be broken by substantial external changes to the initial conditions, in the stochastic model there is always some probability that a population will leave or enter a poverty trap. We show that a ‘safety net’, defined as an externally enforced minimum level of health or economic conditions, can guarantee ultimate escape from a poverty trap, even if the safety net is set within the basin of attraction of the poverty trap, and even if the safety net is only in the form of a public health measure. Whereas the deterministic model implies that small improvements in initial conditions near the poverty-trap equilibrium are futile, the stochastic model suggests that the impact of changes in the location of the safety net on the rate of development may be strongest near the poverty-trap equilibrium. PMID:21593026

Phase equilibrium measurements on nine binary mixtures

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

Wilding, W.V.; Giles, N.F.; Wilson, L.C.

1996-11-01

Phase equilibrium measurements have been performed on nine binary mixtures. The PTx method was used to obtain vapor-liquid equilibrium data for the following systems at two temperatures each: (aminoethyl)piperazine + diethylenetriamine; 2-butoxyethyl acetate + 2-butoxyethanol; 2-methyl-2-propanol + 2-methylbutane; 2-methyl-2-propanol + 2-methyl-2-butene; methacrylonitrile + methanol; 1-chloro-1,1-difluoroethane + hydrogen chloride; 2-(hexyloxy)ethanol + ethylene glycol; butane + ammonia; propionaldehyde + butane. Equilibrium vapor and liquid phase compositions were derived form the PTx data using the Soave equation of state to represent the vapor phase and the Wilson or the NRTL activity coefficient model to represent the liquid phase. A large immiscibility region existsmore » in the butane + ammonia system at 0 C. Therefore, separate vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium measurements were performed on this system to more precisely determine the miscibility limits and the composition of the vapor phase in equilibrium with the two liquid phases.« less

Applicability of Donnan equilibrium theory at nanochannel-reservoir interfaces.

PubMed

Tian, Huanhuan; Zhang, Li; Wang, Moran

2015-08-15

Understanding ionic transport in nanochannels has attracted broad attention from various areas in energy and environmental fields. In most pervious research, Donnan equilibrium has been applied widely to nanofluidic systems to obtain ionic concentration and electrical potential at channel-reservoir interfaces; however, as well known that Donnan equilibrium is derived from classical thermodynamic theories with equilibrium assumptions. Therefore the applicability of the Donnan equilibrium may be questionable when the transport at nanochannel-reservoir interface is strongly non-equilibrium. In this work, the Poisson-Nernst-Planck model for ion transport is numerically solved to obtain the exact distributions of ionic concentration and electrical potential. The numerical results are quantitatively compared with the Donnan equilibrium predictions. The applicability of Donnan equilibrium is therefore justified by changing channel length, reservoir ionic concentration, surface charge density and channel height. The results indicate that the Donnan equilibrium is not applicable for short nanochannels, large concentration difference and wide openings. A non-dimensional parameter, Q factor, is proposed to measure the non-equilibrium extent and the relation between Q and the working conditions is studied in detail. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aerospace Applications of Non-Equilibrium Plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blankson, Isaiah M.

2016-01-01

Nonequilibrium plasma/non-thermal plasma/cold plasmas are being used in a wide range of new applications in aeronautics, active flow control, heat transfer reduction, plasma-assisted ignition and combustion, noise suppression, and power generation. Industrial applications may be found in pollution control, materials surface treatment, and water purification. In order for these plasma processes to become practical, efficient means of ionization are necessary. A primary challenge for these applications is to create a desired non-equilibrium plasma in air by preventing the discharge from transitioning into an arc. Of particular interest is the impact on simulations and experimental data with and without detailed consideration of non-equilibrium effects, and the consequences of neglecting non-equilibrium. This presentation will provide an assessment of the presence and influence of non-equilibrium phenomena for various aerospace needs and applications. Specific examples to be considered will include the forward energy deposition of laser-induced non-equilibrium plasmoids for sonic boom mitigation, weakly ionized flows obtained from pulsed nanosecond discharges for an annular Hall type MHD generator duct for turbojet energy bypass, and fundamental mechanisms affecting the design and operation of novel plasma-assisted reactive systems in dielectric liquids (water purification, in-pipe modification of fuels, etc.).

Drinking-driving knowledge, attitudes and behavior : an analysis of the 1973 and 1974 household surveys of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-01-01

The results of the 1974 Household Survey of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project indicated an unimpressive level of factual knowledge which had not increased significantly since the 1973 survey. There were virtually no meaningful shifts in the r...

Evaluating equilibrium and non-equilibrium transport of bromide and isoproturon in disturbed and undisturbed soil columns.

PubMed

Dousset, S; Thevenot, M; Pot, V; Simunek, J; Andreux, F

2007-12-07

In this study, displacement experiments of isoproturon were conducted in disturbed and undisturbed columns of a silty clay loam soil under similar rainfall intensities. Solute transport occurred under saturated conditions in the undisturbed soil and under unsaturated conditions in the sieved soil because of a greater bulk density of the compacted undisturbed soil compared to the sieved soil. The objective of this work was to determine transport characteristics of isoproturon relative to bromide tracer. Triplicate column experiments were performed with sieved (structure partially destroyed to simulate conventional tillage) and undisturbed (structure preserved) soils. Bromide experimental breakthrough curves were analyzed using convective-dispersive and dual-permeability (DP) models (HYDRUS-1D). Isoproturon breakthrough curves (BTCs) were analyzed using the DP model that considered either chemical equilibrium or non-equilibrium transport. The DP model described the bromide elution curves of the sieved soil columns well, whereas it overestimated the tailing of the bromide BTCs of the undisturbed soil columns. A higher degree of physical non-equilibrium was found in the undisturbed soil, where 56% of total water was contained in the slow-flow matrix, compared to 26% in the sieved soil. Isoproturon BTCs were best described in both sieved and undisturbed soil columns using the DP model combined with the chemical non-equilibrium. Higher degradation rates were obtained in the transport experiments than in batch studies, for both soils. This was likely caused by hysteresis in sorption of isoproturon. However, it cannot be ruled out that higher degradation rates were due, at least in part, to the adopted first-order model. Results showed that for similar rainfall intensity, physical and chemical non-equilibrium were greater in the saturated undisturbed soil than in the unsaturated sieved soil. Results also suggested faster transport of isoproturon in the undisturbed soil due

Evaluating equilibrium and non-equilibrium transport of bromide and isoproturon in disturbed and undisturbed soil columns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dousset, S.; Thevenot, M.; Pot, V.; Šimunek, J.; Andreux, F.

2007-12-01

In this study, displacement experiments of isoproturon were conducted in disturbed and undisturbed columns of a silty clay loam soil under similar rainfall intensities. Solute transport occurred under saturated conditions in the undisturbed soil and under unsaturated conditions in the sieved soil because of a greater bulk density of the compacted undisturbed soil compared to the sieved soil. The objective of this work was to determine transport characteristics of isoproturon relative to bromide tracer. Triplicate column experiments were performed with sieved (structure partially destroyed to simulate conventional tillage) and undisturbed (structure preserved) soils. Bromide experimental breakthrough curves were analyzed using convective-dispersive and dual-permeability (DP) models (HYDRUS-1D). Isoproturon breakthrough curves (BTCs) were analyzed using the DP model that considered either chemical equilibrium or non-equilibrium transport. The DP model described the bromide elution curves of the sieved soil columns well, whereas it overestimated the tailing of the bromide BTCs of the undisturbed soil columns. A higher degree of physical non-equilibrium was found in the undisturbed soil, where 56% of total water was contained in the slow-flow matrix, compared to 26% in the sieved soil. Isoproturon BTCs were best described in both sieved and undisturbed soil columns using the DP model combined with the chemical non-equilibrium. Higher degradation rates were obtained in the transport experiments than in batch studies, for both soils. This was likely caused by hysteresis in sorption of isoproturon. However, it cannot be ruled out that higher degradation rates were due, at least in part, to the adopted first-order model. Results showed that for similar rainfall intensity, physical and chemical non-equilibrium were greater in the saturated undisturbed soil than in the unsaturated sieved soil. Results also suggested faster transport of isoproturon in the undisturbed soil due

The Northern Virginia Supported Employment "Safety Nets" Demonstration Project. Final Evaluation Report (for October 1, 1991, through September 30, 1992).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wurbacher and Associates, Takoma Park, MD.

This report describes results and conclusions of a third-party evaluation of a 1-year demonstration project in Alexandria (Virginia) to develop "safety nets" for 12 people with disabilities who were either unemployed or with a history of unemployment. An Employment Security Specialist worked with these individuals and their families to:…

Joint road safety operations in tunnels and open roads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adesiyun, Adewole; Avenoso, Antonio; Dionelis, Kallistratos; Cela, Liljana; Nicodème, Christophe; Goger, Thierry; Polidori, Carlo

2017-09-01

The objective of the ECOROADS project is to overcome the barrier established by the formal interpretation of the two Directives 2008/96/EC and 2004/54/EC, which in practice do not allow the same Road Safety Audits/Inspections to be performed inside tunnels. The projects aims at the establishment of a common enhanced approach to road infrastructure and tunnel safety management by using the concepts and criteria of the Directive 2008/96/CE on road infrastructure safety management and the results of related European Commission (EC) funded projects. ECOROADS has already implemented an analysis of national practices regarding Road Safety Inspections (RSI), two Workshops with the stakeholders, and an exchange of best practices between European tunnel experts and road safety professionals, which led to the definition of common agreed safety procedures. In the second phase of the project, different groups of experts and observers applied the above common procedures by inspecting five European road sections featuring both open roads and tunnels in Belgium, Albania, Germany, Serbia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This paper shows the feedback of the 5 joint safety operations and how they are being used for a set of - recommendations and guidelines for the application of the RSA and RSI concepts within the tunnel safety operations.

Misconceptions of Students and Teachers in Chemical Equilibrium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banerjee, Anil C.

1991-01-01

Written test was developed and administered to diagnose misconceptions in different areas of chemical equilibrium among 162 undergraduate chemistry students and 69 teachers of chemistry. Responses reveal widespread misconceptions among students and teachers in areas related to the prediction of equilibrium conditions, rate and equilibrium,…

Explore The NASA Safety Center

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-07-01

The NASA Safety Center (NSC) reports to NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance and supports the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) requirements of NASA’s portfolio of programs and projects. The NSC focuses on development of the personnel, processes and tools needed for the safe and successful achievement of NASA’s strategic goals.

Conservative-variable average states for equilibrium gas multi-dimensional fluxes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iannelli, G. S.

1992-01-01

Modern split component evaluations of the flux vector Jacobians are thoroughly analyzed for equilibrium-gas average-state determinations. It is shown that all such derivations satisfy a fundamental eigenvalue consistency theorem. A conservative-variable average state is then developed for arbitrary equilibrium-gas equations of state and curvilinear-coordinate fluxes. Original expressions for eigenvalues, sound speed, Mach number, and eigenvectors are then determined for a general average Jacobian, and it is shown that the average eigenvalues, Mach number, and eigenvectors may not coincide with their classical pointwise counterparts. A general equilibrium-gas equation of state is then discussed for conservative-variable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) Euler formulations. The associated derivations lead to unique compatibility relations that constrain the pressure Jacobian derivatives. Thereafter, alternative forms for the pressure variation and average sound speed are developed in terms of two average pressure Jacobian derivatives. Significantly, no additional degree of freedom exists in the determination of these two average partial derivatives of pressure. Therefore, they are simultaneously computed exactly without any auxiliary relation, hence without any geometric solution projection or arbitrary scale factors. Several alternative formulations are then compared and key differences highlighted with emphasis on the determination of the pressure variation and average sound speed. The relevant underlying assumptions are identified, including some subtle approximations that are inherently employed in published average-state procedures. Finally, a representative test case is discussed for which an intrinsically exact average state is determined. This exact state is then compared with the predictions of recent methods, and their inherent approximations are appropriately quantified.

ORNL Trusted Corridors Project: Watts Bar Dam Inland Waterway Project

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

Walker, Randy M; Gross, Ian G; Smith, Cyrus M

2011-11-01

Radiation has existed everywhere in the environment since the Earth's formation - in rocks, soil, water, and plants. The mining and processing of naturally occurring radioactive materials for use in medicine, power generation, consumer products, and industry inevitably generate emissions and waste. Radiological measuring devices have been used by industry for years to measure for radiation in undesired locations or simply identify radioactive materials. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States on 9-11-01 these radiation measuring devices have proliferated in many places in our nation's commerce system. DOE, TVA, the Army Corps and ORNL collaborated to test the usefulnessmore » of these devices in our nation's waterway system on this project. The purpose of the Watts Bar Dam ORNL Trusted Corridors project was to investigate the security, safety and enforcement needs of local, state and federal government entities for state-of-the-art sensor monitoring in regards to illegal cargo including utilization of the existing infrastructure. TVA's inland waterways lock system is a recognized and accepted infrastructure by the commercial carrier industry. Safety Monitoring activities included tow boat operators, commercial barges and vessels, recreational watercraft and their cargo, identification of unsafe vessels and carriers, and, monitoring of domestic and foreign commercial vessels and cargo identification. Safety Enforcement activities included cargo safety, tracking, identification of hazardous materials, waterway safety regulations, and hazardous materials regulations. Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Applications included Radiological Dispersive Devices (RDD) identification, identification of unsafe or illicit transport of hazardous materials including chemicals and radiological materials, and screening for shipments of illicit drugs. In the Fall of 2005 the SensorNet funding for the project expired. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a Federal

Equilibrium problems for Raney densities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forrester, Peter J.; Liu, Dang-Zheng; Zinn-Justin, Paul

2015-07-01

The Raney numbers are a class of combinatorial numbers generalising the Fuss-Catalan numbers. They are indexed by a pair of positive real numbers (p, r) with p > 1 and 0 < r ⩽ p, and form the moments of a probability density function. For certain (p, r) the latter has the interpretation as the density of squared singular values for certain random matrix ensembles, and in this context equilibrium problems characterising the Raney densities for (p, r) = (θ + 1, 1) and (θ/2 + 1, 1/2) have recently been proposed. Using two different techniques—one based on the Wiener-Hopf method for the solution of integral equations and the other on an analysis of the algebraic equation satisfied by the Green's function—we establish the validity of the equilibrium problems for general θ > 0 and similarly use both methods to identify the equilibrium problem for (p, r) = (θ/q + 1, 1/q), θ > 0 and q \\in Z+ . The Wiener-Hopf method is used to extend the latter to parameters (p, r) = (θ/q + 1, m + 1/q) for m a non-negative integer, and also to identify the equilibrium problem for a family of densities with moments given by certain binomial coefficients.

Evaluation of interactive highway safety design model crash prediction tools for two-lane rural roads on Kansas Department of Transportation projects : [technical summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

Historically, project-level decisions for the selection of highway features to promote safety were based on either engineering judgment or adherence to accepted national guidance. These tools have allowed highway designers to produce facilities that ...

Quantifying Vermont transportation safety factors.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-01-01

VTrans and its partners have selected traffic safety : priority areas in their Strategic Highway Safety Plan. : In this project, researchers focus on three of these : prioritized critical emphasis areas: 1) Keeping vehicles : on the roadway, 2) Young...

[Case Study] CityCenter and Cosmopolitan Construction Projects, Las Vegas, Nevada: lessons learned from the use of multiple sources and mixed methods in a safety needs assessment.

PubMed

Gittleman, Janie L; Gardner, Paige C; Haile, Elizabeth; Sampson, Julie M; Cigularov, Konstantin P; Ermann, Erica D; Stafford, Pete; Chen, Peter Y

2010-06-01

The present study describes a response to eight tragic deaths over an eighteen month times span on a fast track construction project on the largest commercial development project in U.S. history. Four versions of a survey were distributed to workers, foremen, superintendents, and senior management. In addition to standard Likert-scale safety climate scale items, an open-ended item was included at the end of the survey. Safety climate perceptions differed by job level. Specifically, management perceived a more positive safety climate as compared to workers. Content analysis of the open-ended item was used to identify important safety and health concerns which might have been overlooked with the qualitative portion of the survey. The surveys were conducted to understand workforce issues of concern with the aim of improving site safety conditions. Such efforts can require minimal investment of resources and time and result in critical feedback for developing interventions affecting organizational structure, management processes, and communication. The most important lesson learned was that gauging differences in perception about site safety can provide critical feedback at all levels of a construction organization. Implementation of multi-level organizational perception surveys can identify major safety issues of concern. Feedback, if acted upon, can potentially result in fewer injuries and fatal events. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Edge equilibrium code for tokamaks

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

Li, Xujing; Zakharov, Leonid E.; Drozdov, Vladimir V.

2014-01-15

The edge equilibrium code (EEC) described in this paper is developed for simulations of the near edge plasma using the finite element method. It solves the Grad-Shafranov equation in toroidal coordinate and uses adaptive grids aligned with magnetic field lines. Hermite finite elements are chosen for the numerical scheme. A fast Newton scheme which is the same as implemented in the equilibrium and stability code (ESC) is applied here to adjust the grids.

Selectivity and stoichiometry boosting of beta-cyclodextrin in cationic/anionic surfactant systems: when host-guest equilibrium meets biased aggregation equilibrium.

PubMed

Jiang, Lingxiang; Yu, Caifang; Deng, Manli; Jin, Changwen; Wang, Yilin; Yan, Yun; Huang, Jianbin

2010-02-18

Cationic surfactant/anionic surfactant/beta-CD ternary aqueous systems provide a platform for the coexistence of the host-guest (beta-CD/surfactant) equilibrium and the biased aggregation (monomeric/aggregated surfactants) equilibrium. We report here that the interplay between the two equilibria dominates the systems as follows. (1) The biased aggregation equilibrium imposes an apparent selectivity on the host-guest equilibrium, namely, beta-CD has to always selectively bind the major surfactant (molar fraction > 0.5) even if binding constants of beta-CD to the pair of surfactants are quite similar. (2) In return, the host-guest equilibrium amplifies the bias of the aggregation equilibrium, that is, the selective binding partly removes the major surfactant from the aggregates and leaves the aggregate composition approaching the electroneutral mixing stoichiometry. (3) This composition variation enhances electrostatic attractions between oppositely charged surfactant head groups, thus resulting in less-curved aggregates. In particular, the present apparent host-guest selectivity is of remarkably high values, and the selectivity stems from the bias of the aggregation equilibrium rather than the difference in binding constants. Moreover, beta-CD is defined as a "stoichiometry booster" for the whole class of cationic/anionic surfactant systems, which provides an additional degree of freedom to directly adjust aggregate compositions of the systems. The stoichiometry boosting of the compositions can in turn affect or even determine microstructures and macroproperties of the systems.

Vehicle Safety Communications project task 3 final report : identify intelligent vehicle safety applications enabled by DSRC

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-03-01

The Crash Avoidance Metrics Partnership (CAMP) Vehicle Safety Communications Consortium (VSCC) comprised of BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen, in partnership with USDOT, established the Vehicle Safety Communications (VSC)...

Onboard Safety Technology Survey Synthesis - Final Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) funded this project to collect, merge, and conduct an assessment of onboard safety system surveys and resulting data sets that may benefit commercial vehicle operations safety and future researc...

NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) Payload Safety Review Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starbus, Calvert S.; Donovan, Shawn; Dook, Mike; Palo, Tom

2007-01-01

Issues addressed by this program: (1) Complicated roles and responsibilities associated with multi-partner projects (2) Working relationships and communications between all organizations involved in the payload safety process (3) Consistent interpretation and implementation of safety requirements from one project to the rest (4) Consistent implementation of the Tailoring Process (5) Clearly defined NASA decision-making-authority (6) Bring Agency-wide perspective to each ElV payload project. Current process requires a Payload Safety Working Group (PSWG) for eac payload with representatives from all involved organizations.

Proceedings of the Nuclear Criticality Technology Safety Workshop

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

Rene G. Sanchez

1998-04-01

This document contains summaries of most of the papers presented at the 1995 Nuclear Criticality Technology Safety Project (NCTSP) meeting, which was held May 16 and 17 at San Diego, Ca. The meeting was broken up into seven sessions, which covered the following topics: (1) Criticality Safety of Project Sapphire; (2) Relevant Experiments For Criticality Safety; (3) Interactions with the Former Soviet Union; (4) Misapplications and Limitations of Monte Carlo Methods Directed Toward Criticality Safety Analyses; (5) Monte Carlo Vulnerabilities of Execution and Interpretation; (6) Monte Carlo Vulnerabilities of Representation; and (7) Benchmark Comparisons.

Laser safety at high profile projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barat, K.

2011-03-01

Laser Safety at high profile laser facilities tends to be more controlled than in the standard laser lab found at a research institution. The reason for this is the potential consequences for such facilities from incidents. This ranges from construction accidents, to equipment damage to personnel injuries. No laser user wants to sustain a laser eye injury. Unfortunately, many laser users, most commonly experienced researchers and inexperienced graduate students, do receive laser eye injuries during their careers. . More unforgiveable is the general acceptance of this scenario, as part of the research & development experience. How do senior researchers, safety personnel and management stop this trend? The answer lies in a cultural change that involves institutional training, user mentoring, hazard awareness by users and administrative controls. None of these would inhibit research activities. As a matter of fact, proper implementation of these controls would increase research productivity. This presentation will review and explain the steps needed to steer an institution, research division, group or individual lab towards a culture that should nearly eliminate laser accidents. As well as how high profile facilities try to avoid laser injuries. Using the definition of high profile facility as one who's funding in the million to billions of dollars or Euros and derives form government funding.

Topologically protected modes in non-equilibrium stochastic systems.

PubMed

Murugan, Arvind; Vaikuntanathan, Suriyanarayanan

2017-01-10

Non-equilibrium driving of biophysical processes is believed to enable their robust functioning despite the presence of thermal fluctuations and other sources of disorder. Such robust functions include sensory adaptation, enhanced enzymatic specificity and maintenance of coherent oscillations. Elucidating the relation between energy consumption and organization remains an important and open question in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Here we report that steady states of systems with non-equilibrium fluxes can support topologically protected boundary modes that resemble similar modes in electronic and mechanical systems. Akin to their electronic and mechanical counterparts, topological-protected boundary steady states in non-equilibrium systems are robust and are largely insensitive to local perturbations. We argue that our work provides a framework for how biophysical systems can use non-equilibrium driving to achieve robust function.

Approaches to the Treatment of Equilibrium Perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canagaratna, Sebastian G.

2003-10-01

Perturbations from equilibrium are treated in the textbooks by a combination of Le Châtelier's principle, the comparison of the equilibrium constant K with the reaction quotient Q,and the kinetic approach. Each of these methods is briefly reviewed. This is followed by derivations of the variation of the equilibrium value of the extent of reaction, ξeq, with various parameters on which it depends. Near equilibrium this relationship can be represented by a straight line. The equilibrium system can be regarded as moving on this line as the parameter is varied. The slope of the line depends on quantities like enthalpy of reaction, volume of reaction and so forth. The derivation shows that these quantities pertain to the equilibrium system, not the standard state. Also, the derivation makes clear what kind of assumptions underlie our conclusions. The derivation of these relations involves knowledge of thermodynamics that is well within the grasp of junior level physical chemistry students. The conclusions that follow from the derived relations are given as subsidiary rules in the form of the slope of ξeq, with T, p, et cetera. The rules are used to develop a visual way of predicting the direction of shift of a perturbed system. This method can be used to supplement one of the other methods even at the introductory level.

Innovative tools and techniques in identifying highway safety improvement projects : project summary.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-01

Researchers completed the following activities: - Reviewed the literature, state HSIP processes and practices, and HSIP tools used by various agencies. - Evaluated the applicability of safety assessment methods and tools used by other states and loca...

Liquid–Liquid Equilibrium Measurements for Model Systems Related to Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass

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

Jasperson, Louis V.; McDougal, Rubin J.; Diky, Vladimir

Here in this paper we report liquid-liquid mutual solubilities for binary aqueous mixtures involving 2-, 3-, and 4-ethylphenol, 2-, 3-, and 4-methoxyphenol, benzofuran, and 1H-indene for the temperature range (300 < T/K < 360). Measurements in the water-rich phase for (2-ethylphenol + water) were extended to T = 440 K to facilitate comparison with literature values. Liquid-liquid equilibrium tie-line determinations were made for four ternary systems involving (water + toluene) mixed with a third component; phenol, 3-ethylphenol, 4-methoxyphenol, or 2,4-dimethylphenol. Literature values at higher temperatures are available for the three (ethylphenol + water) systems, and, in general, good agreement ismore » seen. The ternary system (water + toluene + phenol) has been studied previously with inconsistent results reported in the literature, and one report is shown to be anomalous. All systems are modeled with the predictive methods NIST-Modified-UNIFAC and NIST-COSMO-SAC, with generally good success in the temperature range of interest (300 < T/K < 360). This work is part of a larger project on the testing and development of predictive phase equilibrium models for compound types occurring in catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass, and background information for the larger project is provided.« less

Liquid–Liquid Equilibrium Measurements for Model Systems Related to Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass

DOE PAGES

Jasperson, Louis V.; McDougal, Rubin J.; Diky, Vladimir; ...

2016-11-02

Here in this paper we report liquid-liquid mutual solubilities for binary aqueous mixtures involving 2-, 3-, and 4-ethylphenol, 2-, 3-, and 4-methoxyphenol, benzofuran, and 1H-indene for the temperature range (300 < T/K < 360). Measurements in the water-rich phase for (2-ethylphenol + water) were extended to T = 440 K to facilitate comparison with literature values. Liquid-liquid equilibrium tie-line determinations were made for four ternary systems involving (water + toluene) mixed with a third component; phenol, 3-ethylphenol, 4-methoxyphenol, or 2,4-dimethylphenol. Literature values at higher temperatures are available for the three (ethylphenol + water) systems, and, in general, good agreement ismore » seen. The ternary system (water + toluene + phenol) has been studied previously with inconsistent results reported in the literature, and one report is shown to be anomalous. All systems are modeled with the predictive methods NIST-Modified-UNIFAC and NIST-COSMO-SAC, with generally good success in the temperature range of interest (300 < T/K < 360). This work is part of a larger project on the testing and development of predictive phase equilibrium models for compound types occurring in catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass, and background information for the larger project is provided.« less

Stochastic approach to equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics.

PubMed

Tomé, Tânia; de Oliveira, Mário J

2015-04-01

We develop the stochastic approach to thermodynamics based on stochastic dynamics, which can be discrete (master equation) and continuous (Fokker-Planck equation), and on two assumptions concerning entropy. The first is the definition of entropy itself and the second the definition of entropy production rate, which is non-negative and vanishes in thermodynamic equilibrium. Based on these assumptions, we study interacting systems with many degrees of freedom in equilibrium or out of thermodynamic equilibrium and how the macroscopic laws are derived from the stochastic dynamics. These studies include the quasiequilibrium processes; the convexity of the equilibrium surface; the monotonic time behavior of thermodynamic potentials, including entropy; the bilinear form of the entropy production rate; the Onsager coefficients and reciprocal relations; and the nonequilibrium steady states of chemical reactions.

Calculation of individual isotope equilibrium constants for geochemical reactions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thorstenson, D.C.; Parkhurst, D.L.

2004-01-01

Theory is derived from the work of Urey (Urey H. C. [1947] The thermodynamic properties of isotopic substances. J. Chem. Soc. 562-581) to calculate equilibrium constants commonly used in geochemical equilibrium and reaction-transport models for reactions of individual isotopic species. Urey showed that equilibrium constants of isotope exchange reactions for molecules that contain two or more atoms of the same element in equivalent positions are related to isotope fractionation factors by ?? = (Kex)1/n, where n is the number of atoms exchanged. This relation is extended to include species containing multiple isotopes, for example 13C16O18O and 1H2H18O. The equilibrium constants of the isotope exchange reactions can be expressed as ratios of individual isotope equilibrium constants for geochemical reactions. Knowledge of the equilibrium constant for the dominant isotopic species can then be used to calculate the individual isotope equilibrium constants. Individual isotope equilibrium constants are calculated for the reaction CO2g = CO2aq for all species that can be formed from 12C, 13C, 16O, and 18O; for the reaction between 12C18 O2aq and 1H218Ol; and among the various 1H, 2H, 16O, and 18O species of H2O. This is a subset of a larger number of equilibrium constants calculated elsewhere (Thorstenson D. C. and Parkhurst D. L. [2002] Calculation of individual isotope equilibrium constants for implementation in geochemical models. Water-Resources Investigation Report 02-4172. U.S. Geological Survey). Activity coefficients, activity-concentration conventions for the isotopic variants of H2O in the solvent 1H216Ol, and salt effects on isotope fractionation have been included in the derivations. The effects of nonideality are small because of the chemical similarity of different isotopic species of the same molecule or ion. The temperature dependence of the individual isotope equilibrium constants can be calculated from the temperature dependence of the fractionation

Revealing patterns of cultural transmission from frequency data: equilibrium and non-equilibrium assumptions

PubMed Central

Crema, Enrico R.; Kandler, Anne; Shennan, Stephen

2016-01-01

A long tradition of cultural evolutionary studies has developed a rich repertoire of mathematical models of social learning. Early studies have laid the foundation of more recent endeavours to infer patterns of cultural transmission from observed frequencies of a variety of cultural data, from decorative motifs on potsherds to baby names and musical preferences. While this wide range of applications provides an opportunity for the development of generalisable analytical workflows, archaeological data present new questions and challenges that require further methodological and theoretical discussion. Here we examine the decorative motifs of Neolithic pottery from an archaeological assemblage in Western Germany, and argue that the widely used (and relatively undiscussed) assumption that observed frequencies are the result of a system in equilibrium conditions is unwarranted, and can lead to incorrect conclusions. We analyse our data with a simulation-based inferential framework that can overcome some of the intrinsic limitations in archaeological data, as well as handle both equilibrium conditions and instances where the mode of cultural transmission is time-variant. Results suggest that none of the models examined can produce the observed pattern under equilibrium conditions, and suggest. instead temporal shifts in the patterns of cultural transmission. PMID:27974814

Revealing patterns of cultural transmission from frequency data: equilibrium and non-equilibrium assumptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crema, Enrico R.; Kandler, Anne; Shennan, Stephen

2016-12-01

A long tradition of cultural evolutionary studies has developed a rich repertoire of mathematical models of social learning. Early studies have laid the foundation of more recent endeavours to infer patterns of cultural transmission from observed frequencies of a variety of cultural data, from decorative motifs on potsherds to baby names and musical preferences. While this wide range of applications provides an opportunity for the development of generalisable analytical workflows, archaeological data present new questions and challenges that require further methodological and theoretical discussion. Here we examine the decorative motifs of Neolithic pottery from an archaeological assemblage in Western Germany, and argue that the widely used (and relatively undiscussed) assumption that observed frequencies are the result of a system in equilibrium conditions is unwarranted, and can lead to incorrect conclusions. We analyse our data with a simulation-based inferential framework that can overcome some of the intrinsic limitations in archaeological data, as well as handle both equilibrium conditions and instances where the mode of cultural transmission is time-variant. Results suggest that none of the models examined can produce the observed pattern under equilibrium conditions, and suggest. instead temporal shifts in the patterns of cultural transmission.

Uncertainty Quantification of Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity in CCSM4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Covey, C. C.; Lucas, D. D.; Tannahill, J.; Klein, R.

2013-12-01

Uncertainty in the global mean equilibrium surface warming due to doubled atmospheric CO2, as computed by a "slab ocean" configuration of the Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4), is quantified using 1,039 perturbed-input-parameter simulations. The slab ocean configuration reduces the model's e-folding time when approaching an equilibrium state to ~5 years. This time is much less than for the full ocean configuration, consistent with the shallow depth of the upper well-mixed layer of the ocean represented by the "slab." Adoption of the slab ocean configuration requires the assumption of preset values for the convergence of ocean heat transport beneath the upper well-mixed layer. A standard procedure for choosing these values maximizes agreement with the full ocean version's simulation of the present-day climate when input parameters assume their default values. For each new set of input parameter values, we computed the change in ocean heat transport implied by a "Phase 1" model run in which sea surface temperatures and sea ice concentrations were set equal to present-day values. The resulting total ocean heat transport (= standard value + change implied by Phase 1 run) was then input into "Phase 2" slab ocean runs with varying values of atmospheric CO2. Our uncertainty estimate is based on Latin Hypercube sampling over expert-provided uncertainty ranges of N = 36 adjustable parameters in the atmosphere (CAM4) and sea ice (CICE4) components of CCSM4. Two-dimensional projections of our sampling distribution for the N(N-1)/2 possible pairs of input parameters indicate full coverage of the N-dimensional parameter space, including edges. We used a machine learning-based support vector regression (SVR) statistical model to estimate the probability density function (PDF) of equilibrium warming. This fitting procedure produces a PDF that is qualitatively consistent with the raw histogram of our CCSM4 results. Most of the values from the SVR statistical model

Trends in drinking-driving at night : a comparison of the first five roadside surveys of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-01-01

This report outlines the findings of the first five annual roadside surveys conducted in conjunction with the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP). The baseline survey was conducted in January of 1972 with the four subsequent surveys being co...

Thermodynamic evolution far from equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khantuleva, Tatiana A.

2018-05-01

The presented model of thermodynamic evolution of an open system far from equilibrium is based on the modern results of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, the nonlocal theory of nonequilibrium transport developed by the author and the Speed Gradient principle introduced in the theory of adaptive control. Transition to a description of the system internal structure evolution at the mesoscopic level allows a new insight at the stability problem of non-equilibrium processes. The new model is used in a number of specific tasks.

Abstract generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problems in noncompact Hadamard manifolds.

PubMed

Lu, Haishu; Wang, Zhihua

2017-01-01

This paper deals with the abstract generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problem in noncompact Hadamard manifolds. We prove the existence of solutions to the abstract generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problem under suitable conditions and provide applications to an abstract vector quasi-equilibrium problem, a generalized scalar equilibrium problem, a scalar equilibrium problem, and a perturbed saddle point problem. Finally, as an application of the existence of solutions to the generalized scalar equilibrium problem, we obtain a weakly mixed variational inequality and two mixed variational inequalities. The results presented in this paper unify and generalize many known results in the literature.

Efficiency of muscle contraction. The chemimechanic equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, E. W.

1991-10-01

Although muscle contraction is one of the principal themes of biological research, the exact mechanism whereby the chemical free energy of ATP hydrolysis is converted into mechanical work remains elusive. The high thermodynamic efficiency of the process, above all, is difficult to explain on the basis of present theories. A model of the elementary effect in muscle contraction is proposed which aims at high thermodynamic efficiency based on an approximate equilibrium between chemical and mechanical forces throughout the transfer of free energy. The experimental results described in the literature support the assumption that chemimechanic equilibrium is approximated by a free energy transfer system based on the binding of divalent metal ions to the myosin light chains. Muscle contraction demonstrated without light chains is expected to proceed with a considerably lower efficiency. Free energy transfer systems based on the binding of ions to proteins seem to be widespread in the cell. By establishing an approximate chemimechanic equilibrium, they could facilitate biological reactions considerably and save large amounts of free energy. The concept of chemimechanic equilibrium is seen as a supplementation to the concept of chemiosmotic equilibrium introduced for the membrane transport by P. Mitchell.

The European ASAMPSA_E project : towards guidance to model the impact of high amplitude natural hazards in the probabilistic safety assessment of nuclear power plants. Information on the project progress and needs from the geosciences.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raimond, Emmanuel; Decker, Kurt; Guigueno, Yves; Klug, Joakim; Loeffler, Horst

2015-04-01

The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan resulted from the combination of two correlated extreme external events (earthquake and tsunami). The consequences, in particular flooding, went beyond what was considered in the initial engineering design design of nuclear power plants (NPPs). Such situations can in theory be identified using probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) methodology. PSA results may then lead industry (system suppliers and utilities) or Safety Authorities to take appropriate decisions to reinforce the defence-in-depth of the NPP for low probability event but high amplitude consequences. In reality, the development of such PSA remains a challenging task. Definitions of the design basis of NPPs, for example, require data on events with occurrence probabilities not higher than 10-4 per year. Today, even lower probabilities, down to 10-8, are expected and typically used for probabilistic safety analyses (PSA) of NPPs and the examination of so-called design extension conditions. Modelling the combinations of natural or man-made hazards that can affect a NPP and affecting some meaningful probability of occurrence seems to be difficult. The European project ASAMPSAE (www.asampsa.eu) gathers more than 30 organizations (industry, research, safety control) from Europe, US and Japan and aims at identifying some meaningful practices to extend the scope and the quality of the existing probabilistic safety analysis developed for nuclear power plants. It offers a framework to discuss, at a technical level, how "extended PSA" can be developed efficiently and be used to verify if the robustness of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in their environment is sufficient. The paper will present the objectives of this project, some first lessons and introduce which type of guidance is being developed. It will explain the need of expertise from geosciences to support the nuclear safety assessment in the different area (seismotectonic, hydrological, meteorological and biological

Run-Reversal Equilibrium for Clinical Trial Randomization

PubMed Central

Grant, William C.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we describe a new restricted randomization method called run-reversal equilibrium (RRE), which is a Nash equilibrium of a game where (1) the clinical trial statistician chooses a sequence of medical treatments, and (2) clinical investigators make treatment predictions. RRE randomization counteracts how each investigator could observe treatment histories in order to forecast upcoming treatments. Computation of a run-reversal equilibrium reflects how the treatment history at a particular site is imperfectly correlated with the treatment imbalance for the overall trial. An attractive feature of RRE randomization is that treatment imbalance follows a random walk at each site, while treatment balance is tightly constrained and regularly restored for the overall trial. Less predictable and therefore more scientifically valid experiments can be facilitated by run-reversal equilibrium for multi-site clinical trials. PMID:26079608

Equilibrium Reconstruction on the Large Helical Device

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

Samuel A. Lazerson, D. Gates, D. Monticello, H. Neilson, N. Pomphrey, A. Reiman S. Sakakibara, and Y. Suzuki

Equilibrium reconstruction is commonly applied to axisymmetric toroidal devices. Recent advances in computational power and equilibrium codes have allowed for reconstructions of three-dimensional fields in stellarators and heliotrons. We present the first reconstructions of finite beta discharges in the Large Helical Device (LHD). The plasma boundary and magnetic axis are constrained by the pressure profile from Thomson scattering. This results in a calculation of plasma beta without a-priori assumptions of the equipartition of energy between species. Saddle loop arrays place additional constraints on the equilibrium. These reconstruction utilize STELLOPT, which calls VMEC. The VMEC equilibrium code assumes good nested fluxmore » surfaces. Reconstructed magnetic fields are fed into the PIES code which relaxes this constraint allowing for the examination of the effect of islands and stochastic regions on the magnetic measurements.« less

Torque equilibrium attitude control for Skylab reentry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glaese, J. R.; Kennel, H. F.

1979-01-01

All the available torque equilibrium attitudes (most were useless from the standpoint of lack of electrical power) and the equilibrium seeking method are presented, as well as the actual successful application during the 3 weeks prior to Skylab reentry.

Mapping Isobaric Aging onto the Equilibrium Phase Diagram.

PubMed

Niss, Kristine

2017-09-15

The linear volume relaxation and the nonlinear volume aging of a glass-forming liquid are measured, directly compared, and used to extract the out-of-equilibrium relaxation time. This opens a window to investigate how the relaxation time depends on temperature, structure, and volume in parts of phase space that are not accessed by the equilibrium liquid. It is found that the temperature dependence of relaxation time is non-Arrhenius even in the isostructural case-challenging the Adam-Gibbs entropy model. Based on the presented data and the idea that aging happens through quasiequilibrium states, we suggest a mapping of the out-of-equilibrium states during isobaric aging to the equilibrium phase diagram. This mapping implies the existence of isostructural lines in the equilibrium phase diagram. The relaxation time is found to depend on the bath temperature, density, and a just single structural parameter, referred to as an effective temperature.

24 CFR 51.203 - Safety standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Safety standards. 51.203 Section 51... Conventional Fuels or Chemicals of an Explosive or Flammable Nature § 51.203 Safety standards. The following... from a hazard: (a) Thermal Radiation Safety Standard. Projects shall be located so that: (1) The...

24 CFR 51.203 - Safety standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Safety standards. 51.203 Section 51... Conventional Fuels or Chemicals of an Explosive or Flammable Nature § 51.203 Safety standards. The following... from a hazard: (a) Thermal Radiation Safety Standard. Projects shall be located so that: (1) The...

Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis, an Underutilized Safety, Reliability, Project Management and Systems Engineering Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mullin, Daniel Richard

2013-09-01

The majority of space programs whether manned or unmanned for science or exploration require that a Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) be performed as part of their safety and reliability activities. This comes as no surprise given that FMECAs have been an integral part of the reliability engineer's toolkit since the 1950s. The reasons for performing a FMECA are well known including fleshing out system single point failures, system hazards and critical components and functions. However, in the author's ten years' experience as a space systems safety and reliability engineer, findings demonstrate that the FMECA is often performed as an afterthought, simply to meet contract deliverable requirements and is often started long after the system requirements allocation and preliminary design have been completed. There are also important qualitative and quantitative components often missing which can provide useful data to all of project stakeholders. These include; probability of occurrence, probability of detection, time to effect and time to detect and, finally, the Risk Priority Number. This is unfortunate as the FMECA is a powerful system design tool that when used effectively, can help optimize system function while minimizing the risk of failure. When performed as early as possible in conjunction with writing the top level system requirements, the FMECA can provide instant feedback on the viability of the requirements while providing a valuable sanity check early in the design process. It can indicate which areas of the system will require redundancy and which areas are inherently the most risky from the onset. Based on historical and practical examples, it is this author's contention that FMECAs are an immense source of important information for all involved stakeholders in a given project and can provide several benefits including, efficient project management with respect to cost and schedule, system engineering and requirements management

Equilibrium figures in geodesy and geophysics.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moritz, H.

There is an enormous literature on geodetic equilibrium figures, but the various works have not always been interrelated, also for linguistic reasons (English, French, German, Italian, Russian). The author attempts to systematize the various approaches and to use the standard second-order theory for a study of the deviation of the actual earth and of the equipotential reference ellipsoid from an equilibrium figure.

Understanding patient safety performance and educational needs using the 'Safety-II' approach for complex systems.

PubMed

McNab, Duncan; Bowie, Paul; Morrison, Jill; Ross, Alastair

2016-11-01

Participation in projects to improve patient safety is a key component of general practice (GP) specialty training, appraisal and revalidation. Patient safety training priorities for GPs at all career stages are described in the Royal College of General Practitioners' curriculum. Current methods that are taught and employed to improve safety often use a 'find-and-fix' approach to identify components of a system (including humans) where performance could be improved. However, the complex interactions and inter-dependence between components in healthcare systems mean that cause and effect are not always linked in a predictable manner. The Safety-II approach has been proposed as a new way to understand how safety is achieved in complex systems that may improve quality and safety initiatives and enhance GP and trainee curriculum coverage. Safety-II aims to maximise the number of events with a successful outcome by exploring everyday work. Work-as-done often differs from work-as-imagined in protocols and guidelines and various ways to achieve success, dependent on work conditions, may be possible. Traditional approaches to improve the quality and safety of care often aim to constrain variability but understanding and managing variability may be a more beneficial approach. The application of a Safety-II approach to incident investigation, quality improvement projects, prospective analysis of risk in systems and performance indicators may offer improved insight into system performance leading to more effective change. The way forward may be to combine the Safety-II approach with 'traditional' methods to enhance patient safety training, outcomes and curriculum coverage.

Non-equilibrium Quasi-Chemical Nucleation Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorbachev, Yuriy E.

2018-04-01

Quasi-chemical model, which is widely used for nucleation description, is revised on the basis of recent results in studying of non-equilibrium effects in reacting gas mixtures (Kolesnichenko and Gorbachev in Appl Math Model 34:3778-3790, 2010; Shock Waves 23:635-648, 2013; Shock Waves 27:333-374, 2017). Non-equilibrium effects in chemical reactions are caused by the chemical reactions themselves and therefore these contributions should be taken into account in the corresponding expressions for reaction rates. Corrections to quasi-equilibrium reaction rates are of two types: (a) spatially homogeneous (caused by physical-chemical processes) and (b) spatially inhomogeneous (caused by gas expansion/compression processes and proportional to the velocity divergency). Both of these processes play an important role during the nucleation and are included into the proposed model. The method developed for solving the generalized Boltzmann equation for chemically reactive gases is applied for solving the set of equations of the revised quasi-chemical model. It is shown that non-equilibrium processes lead to essential deviation of the quasi-stationary distribution and therefore the nucleation rate from its traditional form.

Investigating High School Students' Understanding of Chemical Equilibrium Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpudewan, Mageswary; Treagust, David F.; Mocerino, Mauro; Won, Mihye; Chandrasegaran, A. L.

2015-01-01

This study investigated the year 12 students' (N = 56) understanding of chemical equilibrium concepts after instruction using two conceptual tests, the "Chemical Equilibrium Conceptual Test 1" ("CECT-1") consisting of nine two-tier multiple-choice items and the "Chemical Equilibrium Conceptual Test 2"…

Foundations of atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruggeman, Peter J.; Iza, Felipe; Brandenburg, Ronny

2017-12-01

Non-equilibrium plasmas have been intensively studied over the past century in the context of material processing, environmental remediation, ozone generation, excimer lamps and plasma display panels. Research on atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas intensified over the last two decades leading to a large variety of plasma sources that have been developed for an extended application range including chemical conversion, medicine, chemical analysis and disinfection. The fundamental understanding of these discharges is emerging but there remain a lot of unexplained phenomena in these intrinsically complex plasmas. The properties of non-equilibrium plasmas at atmospheric pressure span over a huge range of electron densities as well as heavy particle and electron temperatures. This paper provides an overview of the key underlying processes that are important for the generation and stabilization of atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas. The unique physical and chemical properties of theses discharges are also summarized.

[The INSuLa Project: the survey of training needs in the SPSAL(Service for Prevention and Safety in the Work Environment)].

PubMed

Martini, Agnese; Iavicoli, Sergio; Bonafede, Michela; Corso, Luca; Iosuel, Michela; Isolani, Lucia; Di Leone, Giorgio; Di Marzio, Davide; Bertazzi, Pier Alberto

2014-01-01

According to Italian Legislative Decree 81/2008 and subsequent modifications the Regions and Autonomous Provinces have a innovative and complex role: 1) to regulate and coordinate the total prevention system and 2) to develop interventions/initiatives through regional/local occupational safety and health (OSH) department using not only inspections and controls but education, training and support. Recommendations also include consolidating the role of actors involved in preventing risks to occupational health throughout occupational safety and health education and training, keys for a successful process to improve prevention system. As result of changing world of work and OSH legislation the INSuLa project has creating a national survey involving of all Italian prevention system actors, in order to evaluate implementation and impact of the actual regulations. According to overall objective of the INSuLA project, for the first time in Italy, we studied about operators in regional/local OSH department. The purpose of this paper is to show and recognize the individual learning paths, the perception of adequacy education degree, the exploring criticalities andthe training needs.

The assumption of equilibrium in models of migration.

PubMed

Schachter, J; Althaus, P G

1993-02-01

In recent articles Evans (1990) and Harrigan and McGregor (1993) (hereafter HM) scrutinized the equilibrium model of migration presented in a 1989 paper by Schachter and Althaus. This model used standard microeconomics to analyze gross interregional migration flows based on the assumption that gross flows are in approximate equilibrium. HM criticized the model as theoretically untenable, while Evans summoned empirical as well as theoretical objections. HM claimed that equilibrium of gross migration flows could be ruled out on theoretical grounds. They argued that the absence of net migration requires that either all regions have equal populations or that unsustainable regional migration propensities must obtain. In fact some moves are inter- and other are intraregional. It does not follow, however, that the number of interregional migrants will be larger for the more populous region. Alternatively, a country could be divided into a large number of small regions that have equal populations. With uniform propensities to move, each of these analytical regions would experience in equilibrium zero net migration. Hence, the condition that net migration equal zero is entirely consistent with unequal distributions of population across regions. The criticisms of Evans were based both on flawed reasoning and on misinterpretation of the results of a number of econometric studies. His reasoning assumed that the existence of demand shifts as found by Goldfarb and Yezer (1987) and Topel (1986) invalidated the equilibrium model. The equilibrium never really obtains exactly, but economic modeling of migration properly begins with a simple equilibrium model of the system. A careful reading of the papers Evans cited in support of his position showed that in fact they affirmed rather than denied the appropriateness of equilibrium modeling. Zero net migration together with nonzero gross migration are not theoretically incompatible with regional heterogeneity of population, wages, or

The Oxygen Equilibrium of Mammalian Hemoglobin

PubMed Central

Roughton, F. J. W.

1965-01-01

The three chief physicochemical theories of the oxygen-hemoglobin equilibrium in vogue 40 years ago still influence current thought on the problem. Although the Hill theory lost its fundamental basis some 40 years ago, the famous empiric equation to which it gave rise is still much used, as a useful phenomenological expression, only involving two disposable constants. The Haldane theory, of which a difference in aggregation of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin was a fundamental feature, lay for many years dormant but has recently had an astonishing reawakening through the work on lamprey hemoglobin, which clearly reveals such differences in aggregation. Lamprey hemoglobin might thus be called a "Haldane type" hemoglobin. Adair's four-stage intermediate compound theory still seems applicable in the case of hemoglobins such as those of sheep, whose tetramer molecules do not tend to dissociate into dimers, and which might therefore be called "Adair type" hemoglobins. Horse and human hemoglobins appear to reveal both "Haldane" and "Adair" behaviour. The effects of pH, temperature, and protein concentration on the oxygen-equilibrium of sheep hemoglobin are summarised, and it is shown that, although the equilibrium curves are often isomorphous over their middle range, intensive work at the top and bottom of the curves reveals considerable differences in the relative effects of these factors on the several equilibrium constants of Adair's four intermediate equations. In the last section an account is given of preliminary experimental attempts to interpret the oxygen- and carbon monoxide—equilibrium curves of whole human blood, under physiological conditions in terms of the Adair intermediate compound hypothesis. PMID:5859923

IONIZATION EQUILIBRIUM TIMESCALES IN COLLISIONAL PLASMAS

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

Smith, Randall K.; Hughes, John P., E-mail: rsmith@cfa.harvard.ed, E-mail: jph@physics.rutgers.ed

2010-07-20

Astrophysical shocks or bursts from a photoionizing source can disturb the typical collisional plasma found in galactic interstellar media or the intergalactic medium. The spectrum emitted by this plasma contains diagnostics that have been used to determine the time since the disturbing event, although this determination becomes uncertain as the elements in the plasma return to ionization equilibrium. A general solution for the equilibrium timescale for each element arises from the elegant eigenvector method of solution to the problem of a non-equilibrium plasma described by Masai and Hughes and Helfand. In general, the ionization evolution of an element Z inmore » a constant electron temperature plasma is given by a coupled set of Z + 1 first-order differential equations. However, they can be recast as Z uncoupled first-order differential equations using an eigenvector basis for the system. The solution is then Z separate exponential functions, with the time constants given by the eigenvalues of the rate matrix. The smallest of these eigenvalues gives the scale of the slowest return to equilibrium independent of the initial conditions, while conversely the largest eigenvalue is the scale of the fastest change in the ion population. These results hold for an ionizing plasma, a recombining plasma, or even a plasma with random initial conditions, and will allow users of these diagnostics to determine directly if their best-fit result significantly limits the timescale since a disturbance or is so close to equilibrium as to include an arbitrarily long time.« less

NACA Wartime Safety Poster

NASA Image and Video Library

1945-04-21

One of many safety posters produced by NACA artists during World War II. The Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory established a Safety Office in 1942 to coordinate and oversee safety-related activities. The lab struggled to maintain a full staff during the war when military research projects were at a peak. NACA management mandated six-day work weeks without overtime and the elimination of holidays. As such, workplace injuries were a serious threat to maintaining productivity needed to sustain the military’s aeronautics efforts.

Methane on Mars: Thermodynamic Equilibrium and Photochemical Calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levine, J. S.; Summers, M. E.; Ewell, M.

2010-01-01

The detection of methane (CH4) in the atmosphere of Mars by Mars Express and Earth-based spectroscopy is very surprising, very puzzling, and very intriguing. On Earth, about 90% of atmospheric ozone is produced by living systems. A major question concerning methane on Mars is its origin - biological or geological. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations indicated that methane cannot be produced by atmospheric chemical/photochemical reactions. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations for three gases, methane, ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in the Earth s atmosphere are summarized in Table 1. The calculations indicate that these three gases should not exist in the Earth s atmosphere. Yet they do, with methane, ammonia and nitrous oxide enhanced 139, 50 and 12 orders of magnitude above their calculated thermodynamic equilibrium concentration due to the impact of life! Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations have been performed for the same three gases in the atmosphere of Mars based on the assumed composition of the Mars atmosphere shown in Table 2. The calculated thermodynamic equilibrium concentrations of the same three gases in the atmosphere of Mars is shown in Table 3. Clearly, based on thermodynamic equilibrium calculations, methane should not be present in the atmosphere of Mars, but it is in concentrations approaching 30 ppbv from three distinct regions on Mars.

Towards Non-Equilibrium Dynamics with Trapped Ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silbert, Ariel; Jubin, Sierra; Doret, Charlie

2016-05-01

Atomic systems are superbly suited to the study of non-equilibrium dynamics. These systems' exquisite isolation from environmental perturbations leads to long relaxation times that enable exploration of far-from-equilibrium phenomena. One example of particular relevance to experiments in trapped ion quantum information processing, metrology, and precision spectroscopy is the approach to thermal equilibrium of sympathetically cooled linear ion chains. Suitable manipulation of experimental parameters permits exploration of the quantum-to-classical crossover between ballistic transport and diffusive, Fourier's Law conduction, a topic of interest not only to the trapped ion community but also for the development of microelectronic devices and other nanoscale structures. We present progress towards trapping chains of multiple co-trapped calcium isotopes geared towards measuring thermal equilibration and discuss plans for future experiments in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. This work is supported by Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement and by Williams College.

The new Wallula CO2 project may revive the old Columbia River Basalt (western USA) nuclear-waste repository project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwartz, Michael O.

2018-02-01

A novel CO2 sequestration project at Wallula, Washington, USA, makes ample use of the geoscientific data collection of the old nuclear waste repository project at the Hanford Site nearby. Both projects target the Columbia River Basalt (CRB). The new publicity for the old project comes at a time when the approach to high-level nuclear waste disposal has undergone fundamental changes. The emphasis now is on a technical barrier that is chemically compatible with the host rock. In the ideal case, the waste container is in thermodynamic equilibrium with the host-rock groundwater regime. The CRB groundwater has what it takes to represent the ideal case.

CloudSat Safety Operations at Vandenberg AFB

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenberg, Steve

2006-01-01

CloudSat safety operations at Vendenberg AFB is given. The topics include: 1) CloudSat Project Overview; 2) Vandenberg Ground Operations; 3) Delta II Launch Vehicle; 4) The A-Train; 5) System Safety Management; 6) CALIPSO Hazards Assessment; 7) CALIPSO Supplemental Safeguards; 8) Joint System Safety Operations; 9) Extended Stand-down; 10) Launch Delay Safety Concerns; and 11) Lessons Learned.

75 FR 15484 - Railroad Safety Technology Program Grant Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-29

... governments for projects that have a public benefit of improved railroad safety and efficiency. The program... State and local governments for projects * * * that have a public benefit of improved safety and network... minimum 20 percent grantee cost share (cash or in-kind) match requirement. DATES: FRA will begin accepting...

Implementing Patient Safety Initiatives in Rural Hospitals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klingner, Jill; Moscovice, Ira; Tupper, Judith; Coburn, Andrew; Wakefield, Mary

2009-01-01

Implementation of patient safety initiatives can be costly in time and energy. Because of small volumes and limited resources, rural hospitals often are not included in nationally driven patient safety initiatives. This article describes the Tennessee Rural Hospital Patient Safety Demonstration project, whose goal was to strengthen capacity for…

Local thermodynamic equilibrium for globally disequilibrium open systems under stress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podladchikov, Yury

2016-04-01

Predictive modeling of far and near equilibrium processes is essential for understanding of patterns formation and for quantifying of natural processes that are never in global equilibrium. Methods of both equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics are needed and have to be combined. For example, predicting temperature evolution due to heat conduction requires simultaneous use of equilibrium relationship between internal energy and temperature via heat capacity (the caloric equation of state) and disequilibrium relationship between heat flux and temperature gradient. Similarly, modeling of rocks deforming under stress, reactions in system open for the porous fluid flow, or kinetic overstepping of the equilibrium reaction boundary necessarily needs both equilibrium and disequilibrium material properties measured under fundamentally different laboratory conditions. Classical irreversible thermodynamics (CIT) is the well-developed discipline providing the working recipes for the combined application of mutually exclusive experimental data such as density and chemical potential at rest under constant pressure and temperature and viscosity of the flow under stress. Several examples will be presented.

On Budyko curve as a consequence of climate-soil-vegetation equilibrium hypothesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pande, S.

2012-04-01

A hypothesis that Budyko curve is a consequence of stable equilibriums of climate-soil-vegetation co-evolution is tested at biome scale. We assume that i) distribution of vegetation, soil and climate within a biome is a distribution of equilibriums of similar soil-vegetation dynamics and that this dynamics is different across different biomes and ii) soil and vegetation are in dynamic equilibrium with climate while in static equilibrium with each other. In order to test the hypothesis, a two stage regression is considered using MOPEX/Hydrologic Synthesis Project dataset for basins in eastern United States. In the first stage, multivariate regression (Seemingly Unrelated Regression) is performed for each biome with soil (estimated porosity and slope of soil water retention curve) and vegetation characteristics (5-week NDVI gradient) as dependent variables and aridity index, vegetation and soil characteristics as independent variables for respective dependent variables. The regression residuals of the first stage along with aridity index then serve as second stage independent variables while actual vaporization to precipitation ratio (vapor index) serving as dependent variable. Insignificance, if revealed, of a first stage parameter allows us to reject the role of corresponding soil or vegetation characteristics in the co-evolution hypothesis. Meanwhile the significance of second stage regression parameter corresponding to a first stage residual allow us to reject the hypothesis that Budyko curve is a locus "solely" of climate-soil-vegetation co-evolution equilibrium points. Results suggest lack of evidence for soil-vegetation co-evolution in Prairies and Mixed/SouthEast Forests (unlike in Deciduous Forests) though climate plays a dominant role in explaining within biome soil and vegetation characteristics across all the biomes. Preliminary results indicate absence of effects beyond climate-soil-vegetation co-evolution in explaining the ratio of annual total minimum

Some comments on thermodynamic consistency for equilibrium mixture equations of state

DOE PAGES

Grove, John W.

2018-03-28

We investigate sufficient conditions for thermodynamic consistency for equilibrium mixtures. Such models assume that the mass fraction average of the material component equations of state, when closed by a suitable equilibrium condition, provide a composite equation of state for the mixture. Here, we show that the two common equilibrium models of component pressure/temperature equilibrium and volume/temperature equilibrium (Dalton, 1808) define thermodynamically consistent mixture equations of state and that other equilibrium conditions can be thermodynamically consistent provided appropriate values are used for the mixture specific entropy and pressure.

Equilibrium Molecular Thermodynamics from Kirkwood Sampling

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

We present two methods for barrierless equilibrium sampling of molecular systems based on the recently proposed Kirkwood method (J. Chem. Phys.2009, 130, 134102). Kirkwood sampling employs low-order correlations among internal coordinates of a molecule for random (or non-Markovian) sampling of the high dimensional conformational space. This is a geometrical sampling method independent of the potential energy surface. The first method is a variant of biased Monte Carlo, where Kirkwood sampling is used for generating trial Monte Carlo moves. Using this method, equilibrium distributions corresponding to different temperatures and potential energy functions can be generated from a given set of low-order correlations. Since Kirkwood samples are generated independently, this method is ideally suited for massively parallel distributed computing. The second approach is a variant of reservoir replica exchange, where Kirkwood sampling is used to construct a reservoir of conformations, which exchanges conformations with the replicas performing equilibrium sampling corresponding to different thermodynamic states. Coupling with the Kirkwood reservoir enhances sampling by facilitating global jumps in the conformational space. The efficiency of both methods depends on the overlap of the Kirkwood distribution with the target equilibrium distribution. We present proof-of-concept results for a model nine-atom linear molecule and alanine dipeptide. PMID:25915525

Equilibrium Shapes of Large Trans-Neptunian Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rambaux, Nicolas; Baguet, Daniel; Chambat, Frederic; Castillo-Rogez, Julie C.

2017-11-01

The large trans-Neptunian objects (TNO) with radii larger than 400 km are thought to be in hydrostatic equilibrium. Their shapes can provide clues regarding their internal structures that would reveal information on their formation and evolution. In this paper, we explore the equilibrium figures of five TNOs, and we show that the difference between the equilibrium figures of homogeneous and heterogeneous interior models can reach several kilometers for fast rotating and low density bodies. Such a difference could be measurable by ground-based techniques. This demonstrates the importance of developing the shape up to second and third order when modeling the shapes of large and rapid rotators.

Particle Sorting and Motility Out of Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandford, Cato

The theory of equilibrium statistical physics, formulated over a century ago, provides an excellent description of physical systems which have reached a static, relaxed state. Such systems can be loosely thought of as maximally disordered, in keeping with the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that a thermal system in equilibrium has reached a state of highest entropy. However, many entities in the world around us maintain themselves in an remarkably ordered and dynamic state, and must pay for this by producing entropy in their surroundings. Organisms, for example, convert chemical energy (food) into heat, which is then dumped into the environment, raising its entropy. Systems which produce entropy through any mechanism must be described by theories of non-equilibrium statistical physics, for which there currently exists no unified framework or ontology. Here we examine two specific cases of non-equilibrium phenomena from a theoretical perspective. First, we explore the behaviour of microscopic particles which continually dissipate energy to propel themselves through their environment. Second, we consider how devices which distinguish between different types of particles can exploit non-equilibrium processes to enhance their performance. For the case of self-propelled particles, we consider a theoretical model where the particle's propulsion force has "memory"--it is a random process whose instantaneous value depends on its past evolution. This introduces a persistence in the particle's motion, and requires the dissipation of energy into its surroundings. These particles are found to exhibit a variety of behaviours forbidden in equilibrium systems: for instance they may cluster around barriers, exert unbalanced forces, and sustain steady flows through space. We develop the understanding of these particles' dynamics through a combination of explicit calculations, approximations and numerical simulation which characterise and quantify their non-equilibrium

Thermal equilibrium control by frequent bang-bang modulation.

PubMed

Yang, Cheng-Xi; Wang, Xiang-Bin

2010-05-01

In this paper, we investigate the non-Markovian heat transfer between a weakly damped harmonic oscillator (system) and a thermal bath. When the system is initially in a thermal state and not correlated with the environment, the mean energy of the system always first increases, then oscillates, and finally reaches equilibrium with the bath, no matter what the initial temperature of the system is. Moreover, the heat transfer between the system and the bath can be controlled by fast bang-bang modulation. This modulation does work on the system, and temporarily inverts the direction of heat flow. In this case, the common sense that heat always transfers from hot to cold does not hold any more. At the long time scale, a new dynamic equilibrium is established between the system and the bath. At this equilibrium, the energy of the system can be either higher or lower than its normal equilibrium value. A comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the dynamic equilibrium and the parameters of the modulation as well as the environment is presented.

Communication: Microphase equilibrium and assembly dynamics.

PubMed

Zhuang, Yuan; Charbonneau, Patrick

2017-09-07

Despite many attempts, ordered equilibrium microphases have yet to be obtained in experimental colloidal suspensions. The recent computation of the equilibrium phase diagram of a microscopic, particle-based microphase former [Zhuang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 098301 (2016)] has nonetheless found such mesoscale assemblies to be thermodynamically stable. Here, we consider their equilibrium and assembly dynamics. At intermediate densities above the order-disorder transition, we identify four different dynamical regimes and the structural changes that underlie the dynamical crossovers from one disordered regime to the next. Below the order-disorder transition, we also find that periodic lamellae are the most dynamically accessible of the periodic microphases. Our analysis thus offers a comprehensive view of the dynamics of disordered microphases and a route to the assembly of periodic microphases in a putative well-controlled, experimental system.

Hanging an Airplane: A Case Study in Static Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katz, Debora M.

2009-01-01

Our classrooms are filled with engineering majors who take a semester-long course in static equilibrium. Many students find this class too challenging and drop their engineering major. In our introductory physics class, we often breeze through static equilibrium; to physicists equilibrium is just a special case of Newton's second law. While it is…

A Holistic Equilibrium Theory of Organization Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Baiyin; Zheng, Wei

2005-01-01

This paper proposes a holistic equilibrium theory of organizational development (OD). The theory states that there are three driving forces in organizational change and development--rationality, reality, and liberty. OD can be viewed as a planned process of change in an organization so as to establish equilibrium among these three interacting…

Equilibrium theory of island biogeography: A review

Treesearch

Angela D. Yu; Simon A. Lei

2001-01-01

The topography, climatic pattern, location, and origin of islands generate unique patterns of species distribution. The equilibrium theory of island biogeography creates a general framework in which the study of taxon distribution and broad island trends may be conducted. Critical components of the equilibrium theory include the species-area relationship, island-...

On the Concept "Chemical Equilibrium": The Associative Framework.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gussarsky, Esther; Gorodetsky, Malka

1990-01-01

Word associations were used to map high school students' concepts of "chemical equilibrium" and "equilibrium." It was found that the preconception of the two concepts was differentiated on noncritical dimensions. (Author/CW)

Engineering and Safety Partnership Enhances Safety of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duarte, Alberto

2007-01-01

Project Management must use the risk assessment documents (RADs) as tools to support their decision making process. Therefore, these documents have to be initiated, developed, and evolved parallel to the life of the project. Technical preparation and safety compliance of these documents require a great deal of resources. Updating these documents after-the-fact not only requires substantial increase in resources - Project Cost -, but this task is also not useful and perhaps an unnecessary expense. Hazard Reports (HRs), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEAs), Critical Item Lists (CILs), Risk Management process are, among others, within this category. A positive action resulting from a strong partnership between interested parties is one way to get these documents and related processes and requirements, released and updated in useful time. The Space Shuttle Program (SSP) at the Marshall Space Flight Center has implemented a process which is having positive results and gaining acceptance within the Agency. A hybrid Panel, with equal interest and responsibilities for the two larger organizations, Safety and Engineering, is the focal point of this process. Called the Marshall Safety and Engineering Review Panel (MSERP), its charter (Space Shuttle Program Directive 110 F, April 15, 2005), and its Operating Control Plan emphasizes the technical and safety responsibilities over the program risk documents: HRs; FMEA/CILs; Engineering Changes; anomalies/problem resolutions and corrective action implementations, and trend analysis. The MSERP has undertaken its responsibilities with objectivity, assertiveness, dedication, has operated with focus, and has shown significant results and promising perspectives. The MSERP has been deeply involved in propulsion systems and integration, real time technical issues and other relevant reviews, since its conception. These activities have transformed the propulsion MSERP in a truly participative and value added panel, making a

Understanding the relationship between safety culture dimensions and safety performance of construction projects through partial least square method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latief, Yusuf; Machfudiyanto, Rossy A.; Arifuddin, Rosmariani; Yogiswara, Yoko

2017-03-01

Based on the data, 32% of accidental cases in Indonesia occurs on constructional sectors. It is supported by the data from Public Work and Housing Department that 27.43% of the implementation level of Safety Management System policy at construction companies in Indonesia remains unsafe categories. Moreover, there are dimensions of occupational safety culture formed including leadership, behavior, strategy, policy, process, people, safety cost, value and contract system. The aim of this study is to determine the model of an effective safety culture and know the relationship between dimensions in construction industry. The method used in this research was questionnaire survey which was distributed to the sample of construction companies either in a national private one in Indonesia. The result of this research is supposed to be able to illustrate the development of the relationship among occupational safety culture dimensions which have influences to the performances of constructional companies in Indonesia.

Equilibrium of Global Amphibian Species Distributions with Climate

PubMed Central

Munguía, Mariana; Rahbek, Carsten; Rangel, Thiago F.; Diniz-Filho, Jose Alexandre F.; Araújo, Miguel B.

2012-01-01

A common assumption in bioclimatic envelope modeling is that species distributions are in equilibrium with contemporary climate. A number of studies have measured departures from equilibrium in species distributions in particular regions, but such investigations were never carried out for a complete lineage across its entire distribution. We measure departures of equilibrium with contemporary climate for the distributions of the world amphibian species. Specifically, we fitted bioclimatic envelopes for 5544 species using three presence-only models. We then measured the proportion of the modeled envelope that is currently occupied by the species, as a metric of equilibrium of species distributions with climate. The assumption was that the greater the difference between modeled bioclimatic envelope and the occupied distribution, the greater the likelihood that species distribution would not be at equilibrium with contemporary climate. On average, amphibians occupied 30% to 57% of their potential distributions. Although patterns differed across regions, there were no significant differences among lineages. Species in the Neotropic, Afrotropics, Indo-Malay, and Palaearctic occupied a smaller proportion of their potential distributions than species in the Nearctic, Madagascar, and Australasia. We acknowledge that our models underestimate non equilibrium, and discuss potential reasons for the observed patterns. From a modeling perspective our results support the view that at global scale bioclimatic envelope models might perform similarly across lineages but differently across regions. PMID:22511938

Methane and carbon at equilibrium in source rocks

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Methane in source rocks may not exist exclusively as free gas. It could exist in equilibrium with carbon and higher hydrocarbons: CH4 + C < = > Hydrocarbon. Three lines of evidence support this possibility. 1) Shales ingest gas in amounts and selectivities consistent with gas-carbon equilibrium. There is a 50% increase in solid hydrocarbon mass when Fayetteville Shale is exposed to methane (450 psi) under moderate conditions (100°C): Rock-Eval S2 (mg g-1) 8.5 = > 12.5. All light hydrocarbons are ingested, but with high selectivity, consistent with competitive addition to receptor sites in a growing polymer. Mowry Shale ingests butane vigorously from argon, for example, but not from methane under the same conditions. 2) Production data for a well producing from Fayetteville Shale declines along the theoretical curve for withdrawing gas from higher hydrocarbons in equilibrium with carbon. 3) A new general gas-solid equilibrium model accounts for natural gas at thermodynamic equilibrium, and C6-C7 hydrocarbons constrained to invariant compositions. The results make a strong case for methane in equilibrium with carbon and higher hydrocarbons. If correct, the higher hydrocarbons in source rocks are gas reservoirs, raising the possibility of substantially more gas in shales than analytically apparent, and far more gas in shale deposits than currently recognized. PMID:24330266

Calculation of individual isotope equilibrium constants for implementation in geochemical models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thorstenson, Donald C.; Parkhurst, David L.

2002-01-01

Theory is derived from the work of Urey to calculate equilibrium constants commonly used in geochemical equilibrium and reaction-transport models for reactions of individual isotopic species. Urey showed that equilibrium constants of isotope exchange reactions for molecules that contain two or more atoms of the same element in equivalent positions are related to isotope fractionation factors by , where is n the number of atoms exchanged. This relation is extended to include species containing multiple isotopes, for example and , and to include the effects of nonideality. The equilibrium constants of the isotope exchange reactions provide a basis for calculating the individual isotope equilibrium constants for the geochemical modeling reactions. The temperature dependence of the individual isotope equilibrium constants can be calculated from the temperature dependence of the fractionation factors. Equilibrium constants are calculated for all species that can be formed from and selected species containing , in the molecules and the ion pairs with where the subscripts g, aq, l, and s refer to gas, aqueous, liquid, and solid, respectively. These equilibrium constants are used in the geochemical model PHREEQC to produce an equilibrium and reaction-transport model that includes these isotopic species. Methods are presented for calculation of the individual isotope equilibrium constants for the asymmetric bicarbonate ion. An example calculates the equilibrium of multiple isotopes among multiple species and phases.

23 CFR 635.108 - Health and safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Health and safety. 635.108 Section 635.108 Highways... CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE Contract Procedures § 635.108 Health and safety. Contracts for projects shall... laws governing safety, health and sanitation; and (b) To require that the contractor shall provide all...

23 CFR 635.108 - Health and safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Health and safety. 635.108 Section 635.108 Highways... CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE Contract Procedures § 635.108 Health and safety. Contracts for projects shall... laws governing safety, health and sanitation; and (b) To require that the contractor shall provide all...

23 CFR 635.108 - Health and safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Health and safety. 635.108 Section 635.108 Highways... CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE Contract Procedures § 635.108 Health and safety. Contracts for projects shall... laws governing safety, health and sanitation; and (b) To require that the contractor shall provide all...

23 CFR 635.108 - Health and safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Health and safety. 635.108 Section 635.108 Highways... CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE Contract Procedures § 635.108 Health and safety. Contracts for projects shall... laws governing safety, health and sanitation; and (b) To require that the contractor shall provide all...

Edge Equilibrium Code (EEC) For Tokamaks

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

Li, Xujling

2014-02-24

The edge equilibrium code (EEC) described in this paper is developed for simulations of the near edge plasma using the finite element method. It solves the Grad-Shafranov equation in toroidal coordinate and uses adaptive grids aligned with magnetic field lines. Hermite finite elements are chosen for the numerical scheme. A fast Newton scheme which is the same as implemented in the equilibrium and stability code (ESC) is applied here to adjust the grids

Integrating Safety and Mission Assurance in Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cianciola, Chris; Crane, Kenneth

2008-01-01

This presentation describes how the Ares Projects are learning from the successes and failures of previous launch systems in order to maximize safety and reliability while maintaining fiscal responsibility. The Ares Projects are integrating Safety and Mission Assurance into design activities and embracing independent assessments by Quality experts in thorough reviews of designs and processes. Incorporating Lean thinking into the design process, Ares is also streamlining existing processes and future manufacturing flows which will yield savings during production. Understanding the value of early involvement of Quality experts, the Ares Projects are leading launch vehicle development into the 21st century.

Addition to the Lewis Chemical Equilibrium Program to allow computation from coal composition data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sevigny, R.

1980-01-01

Changes made to the Coal Gasification Project are reported. The program was developed by equilibrium combustion in rocket engines. It can be applied directly to the entrained flow coal gasification process. The particular problem addressed is the reduction of the coal data into a form suitable to the program, since the manual process is involved and error prone. A similar problem in relating the normal output of the program to parameters meaningful to the coal gasification process is also addressed.

Determining Safety Inspection Thresholds for Employee Incentives Programs on Construction Sites

PubMed Central

Sparer, Emily; Dennerlein, Jack

2017-01-01

The goal of this project was to evaluate approaches of determining the numerical value of a safety inspection score that would activate a reward in an employee safety incentive program. Safety inspections are a reflection of the physical working conditions at a construction site and provide a safety score that can be used in incentive programs to reward workers. Yet it is unclear what level of safety should be used when implementing this kind of program. This study explored five ways of grouping safety inspection data collected during 19 months at Harvard University-owned construction projects. Each approach grouped the data by one of the following: owner, general contractor, project, trade, or subcontractor. The median value for each grouping provided the threshold score. These five approaches were then applied to data from a completed project in order to calculate the frequency and distribution of rewards in a monthly safety incentive program. The application of each approach was evaluated qualitatively for consistency, competitiveness, attainability, and fairness. The owner-specific approach resulted in a threshold score of 96.3% and met all of the qualitative evaluation goals. It had the most competitive reward distribution (only 1/3 of the project duration) yet it was also attainable. By treating all workers equally and maintaining the same value throughout the project duration, this approach was fair and consistent. The owner-based approach for threshold determination can be used by owners or general contractors when creating leading indicator incentives programs and by researchers in future studies on incentive program effectiveness. PMID:28638178

Safety performance functions.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-10-01

This project developed safety performance functions for roadway segments and intersections for two-lane rural highways in : Pennsylvania. The statistical modeling methodology was consistent with that used in the first edition of the American : Associ...

Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Chemical Equilibrium in Solution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leenson, I. A.

1986-01-01

Discusses theory of thermodynamics of the equilibrium in solution and dissociation-dimerization kinetics. Describes experimental procedure including determination of molar absorptivity and equilibrium constant, reaction enthalpy, and kinetics of the dissociation-dimerization reaction. (JM)

An Updated Equilibrium Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, Emeric

2008-08-01

A device that can demonstrate equilibrium, kinetic, and thermodynamic concepts is described. The device consists of a leaf blower attached to a plastic container divided into two chambers by a barrier of variable size and form. Styrofoam balls can be exchanged across the barrier when the leaf blower is turned on and various air pressures are applied. Equilibrium can be approached from different distributions of balls in the container under different conditions. The Le Châtelier principle can be demonstrated. Kinetic concepts can be demonstrated by changing the nature of the barrier, either changing the height or by having various sized holes in the barrier. Thermodynamic concepts can be demonstrated by taping over some or all of the openings and restricting air flow into container on either side of the barrier.

Non-equilibrium in cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietroni, M.

2009-02-01

All the non-trivial features of the Universe we see around us, such as particles, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies, are the result of non-equilibrium processes in the cosmic evolution. These lectures aim to provide some general background in cosmology and to examine specific, and notable, examples of departures from thermal equilibrium. They are organized as follows: 1) Overview of the thermal history of the Universe after the Big Bang: the relevant time-scales and the mechanism of particle decoupling from the themal bath; 2) Explicit examples of cosmic relics: nucleosynthesis, photons and the cosmic microwave background, neutrinos, and cold dark matter; 3) Baryogenesis: the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe; 4) The formation of cosmic structures (galaxies, clusters of galaxies): from the Vlasov equation to the renormalization group.

Experimental determination of thermodynamic equilibrium in biocatalytic transamination.

PubMed

Tufvesson, Pär; Jensen, Jacob S; Kroutil, Wolfgang; Woodley, John M

2012-08-01

The equilibrium constant is a critical parameter for making rational design choices in biocatalytic transamination for the synthesis of chiral amines. However, very few reports are available in the scientific literature determining the equilibrium constant (K) for the transamination of ketones. Various methods for determining (or estimating) equilibrium have previously been suggested, both experimental as well as computational (based on group contribution methods). However, none of these were found suitable for determining the equilibrium constant for the transamination of ketones. Therefore, in this communication we suggest a simple experimental methodology which we hope will stimulate more accurate determination of thermodynamic equilibria when reporting the results of transaminase-catalyzed reactions in order to increase understanding of the relationship between substrate and product molecular structure on reaction thermodynamics. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Dielectric permeability tensor and linear waves in spin-1/2 quantum kinetics with non-trivial equilibrium spin-distribution functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreev, Pavel A.; Kuz'menkov, L. S.

2017-11-01

A consideration of waves propagating parallel to the external magnetic field is presented. The dielectric permeability tensor is derived from the quantum kinetic equations with non-trivial equilibrium spin-distribution functions in the linear approximation on the amplitude of wave perturbations. It is possible to consider the equilibrium spin-distribution functions with nonzero z-projection proportional to the difference of the Fermi steps of electrons with the chosen spin direction, while x- and y-projections are equal to zero. It is called the trivial equilibrium spin-distribution functions. In the general case, x- and y-projections of the spin-distribution functions are nonzero which is called the non-trivial regime. A corresponding equilibrium solution is found in Andreev [Phys. Plasmas 23, 062103 (2016)]. The contribution of the nontrivial part of the spin-distribution function appears in the dielectric permeability tensor in the additive form. It is explicitly found here. A corresponding modification in the dispersion equation for the transverse waves is derived. The contribution of the nontrivial part of the spin-distribution function in the spectrum of transverse waves is calculated numerically. It is found that the term caused by the nontrivial part of the spin-distribution function can be comparable with the classic terms for the relatively small wave vectors and frequencies above the cyclotron frequency. In a majority of regimes, the extra spin caused term dominates over the spin term found earlier, except the small frequency regime, where their contributions in the whistler spectrum are comparable. A decrease of the left-hand circularly polarized wave frequency, an increase of the high-frequency right-hand circularly polarized wave frequency, and a decrease of frequency changing by an increase of frequency at the growth of the wave vector for the whistler are found. A considerable decrease of the spin wave frequency is found either. It results in an

Unfolding single RNA molecules: bridging the gap between equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics.

PubMed

Bustamante, Carlos

2005-11-01

During the last 15 years, scientists have developed methods that permit the direct mechanical manipulation of individual molecules. Using this approach, they have begun to investigate the effect of force and torque in chemical and biochemical reactions. These studies span from the study of the mechanical properties of macromolecules, to the characterization of molecular motors, to the mechanical unfolding of individual proteins and RNA. Here I present a review of some of our most recent results using mechanical force to unfold individual molecules of RNA. These studies make it possible to follow in real time the trajectory of each molecule as it unfolds and characterize the various intermediates of the reaction. Moreover, if the process takes place reversibly it is possible to extract both kinetic and thermodynamic information from these experiments at the same time that we characterize the forces that maintain the three-dimensional structure of the molecule in solution. These studies bring us closer to the biological unfolding processes in the cell as they simulate in vitro, the mechanical unfolding of RNAs carried out in the cell by helicases. If the unfolding process occurs irreversibly, I show here that single-molecule experiments can still provide equilibrium, thermodynamic information from non-equilibrium data by using recently discovered fluctuation theorems. Such theorems represent a bridge between equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. In fact, first derived in 1997, the first experimental demonstration of the validity of fluctuation theorems was obtained by unfolding mechanically a single molecule of RNA. It is perhaps a sign of the times that important physical results are these days used to extract information about biological systems and that biological systems are being used to test and confirm fundamental new laws in physics.

Exploring Chemical Equilibrium with Poker Chips: A General Chemistry Laboratory Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bindel, Thomas H.

2012-01-01

A hands-on laboratory exercise at the general chemistry level introduces students to chemical equilibrium through a simulation that uses poker chips and rate equations. More specifically, the exercise allows students to explore reaction tables, dynamic chemical equilibrium, equilibrium constant expressions, and the equilibrium constant based on…

Analysis of Managing Safety in Small Enterprises: Dual-Effects of Employee Prosocial Safety Behavior and Government Inspection

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This paper aims to promote a national and international occupational health and safety (OHS) intervention for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within internal and external resources. Based on the characteristics of small SME management, the work environment and occupational health may be positively affected by the dual-effects of employees and government. Evolutionary game theory is utilized to identify relevant interactions among the government, small enterprises, and employees. Furthermore, dynamic simulations of the evolutionary game model are used to explore stability strategies and to identify modes of equilibrium. PMID:29707574

Dynamics of Charged Particles in an Adiabatic Thermal Beam Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chiping; Wei, Haofei

2010-11-01

Charged-particle motion is studied in the self-electric and self-magnetic fields of a well-matched, intense charged-particle beam and an applied periodic solenoidal magnetic focusing field. The beam is assumed to be in a state of adiabatic thermal equilibrium. The phase space is analyzed and compared with that of the well-known Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij (KV)-type beam equilibrium. It is found that the widths of nonlinear resonances in the adiabatic thermal beam equilibrium are narrower than those in the KV-type beam equilibrium. Numerical evidence is presented, indicating almost complete elimination of chaotic particle motion in the adiabatic thermal beam equilibrium.

Paths to equilibrium in non-conformal collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Attems, Maximilian; Bea, Yago; Casalderrey-Solana, Jorge; Mateos, David; Santos-Oliván, Daniel; Sopuerta, Carlos F.; Triana, Miquel; Zilhão, Miguel

2018-03-01

Ever since fast hydrodynamization has been observed in heavy ion collisions the understanding of the hot early out-of-equilibrium stage of such collisions has been a topic of intense research. We use the gauge/gravity duality to model the creation of a strongly coupled Quark-Gluon plasma in a non-conformal gauge theory. This numerical relativity study is the first non-conformal holographic simulation of a heavy ion collision and reveals the existence of new relaxation channels due to the presence of non-vanishing bulk viscosity. We study shock wave collisions at different energies in gauge theories with different degrees of non-conformality and compare three relaxation times which can occur in different orderings: the hydrodynamization time (when hydrodynamics becomes applicable), the EoSization time (when the average pressure approaches its equilibrium value) and the condensate relaxation time (when the expectation value of a scalar operator approaches its equilibrium value). We find that these processes can occur in several different orderings. In particular, the condensate can remain far from equilibrium even long after the plasma has hydrodynamized and EoSized.

Wave propagation in a quasi-chemical equilibrium plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fang, T.-M.; Baum, H. R.

1975-01-01

Wave propagation in a quasi-chemical equilibrium plasma is studied. The plasma is infinite and without external fields. The chemical reactions are assumed to result from the ionization and recombination processes. When the gas is near equilibrium, the dominant role describing the evolution of a reacting plasma is played by the global conservation equations. These equations are first derived and then used to study the small amplitude wave motion for a near-equilibrium situation. Nontrivial damping effects have been obtained by including the conduction current terms.

Magnetospheric equilibrium configurations and slow adiabatic convection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Voigt, Gerd-Hannes

1986-01-01

This review paper demonstrates how the magnetohydrostatic equilibrium (MHE) theory can be used to describe the large-scale magnetic field configuration of the magnetosphere and its time evolution under the influence of magnetospheric convection. The equilibrium problem is reviewed, and levels of B-field modelling are examined for vacuum models, quasi-static equilibrium models, and MHD models. Results from two-dimensional MHE theory as they apply to the Grad-Shafranov equation, linear equilibria, the asymptotic theory, magnetospheric convection and the substorm mechanism, and plasma anisotropies are addressed. Results from three-dimensional MHE theory are considered as they apply to an intermediate analytical magnetospheric model, magnetotail configurations, and magnetopause boundary conditions and the influence of the IMF.

KSC History Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snaples, Lee

2001-01-01

The project is a joint endeavor between Dr. Henry Dethloff and myself and is producing a number of products related to KSC history. This report is a summary of those projects. First, there is an overview monograph covering KSC history. Second, there is a chapter outline for an eventual book-length history. Third, there is monograph on safety at KSC. Finally, there is a web page and database dedicated to the KSC oral history project.

Zeroth Law, Entropy, Equilibrium, and All That

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canagaratna, Sebastian G.

2008-01-01

The place of the zeroth law in the teaching of thermodynamics is examined in the context of the recent discussion by Gislason and Craig of some problems involving the establishment of thermal equilibrium. The concept of thermal equilibrium is introduced through the zeroth law. The relation between the zeroth law and the second law in the…

Why Non-Equilibrium is Different

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorfman, J. Robert; Kirkpatrick, Theodore R.; Sengers, Jan V.

The 1970 paper, "Decay of the Velocity Correlation Function" [Phys. Rev. A1, 18 (1970), see also Phys. Rev. Lett. 18, 988, (1967)] by Berni Alder and Tom Wainwright, demonstrated, by means of computer simulations, that the velocity autocorrelation function for a particle moving diffusively in a gas of hard disks decays algebraically in time as t-1, and as t-3/2 for a gas of hard spheres. These decays appear in non-equilibrium fluids and have no counterpart in fluids in thermodynamic equilibrium. The work of Alder and Wainwright stimulated theorists to find explanations for these "long time tails" using kinetic theory or a mesoscopic mode-coupling theory. This paper has had a profound influence on our understanding of the non-equilibrium properties of fluid systems. Here we discuss the kinetic origins of the long time tails, the microscopic foundations of modecoupling theory, and the implications of these results for the physics of fluids. We also mention applications of the long time tails and mode-coupling theory to other, seemingly unrelated, fields of physics. We are honored to dedicate this short review to Berni Alder on the occasion of his 90th birthday!

Effectiveness of high school safety belt instruction

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-12-01

The Effectiveness of High School Safety Belt Instruction was developed during a two-phased project. In Phase I, Focus Group Activities were conducted to determine whether audiovisual safety belt instructional materials assembled by the National Highw...

Ares Project Overview - Quality in Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cianciola, Chris; Crane, Kenneth

2008-01-01

This presentation introduces the audience to the overall goals of the Ares Project, which include providing human access to low-Earth orbit, the Moon, and beyond. The presentation also provides an overview of with the vehicles that will execute those goals and progress made on the vehicles to date. The briefing will provide an introduction to Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen practices Ares will use to improve the overall effectiveness and quality of its efforts. Finally, the briefing includes a summary of Safety and Mission Assurance practices being implemented within[Ares to ensure safety and quality early in the design process. Integrating Safety and Mission Assurance in Design: This presentation describes how the Ares Projects are learning from the successes and failures of previous launch systems in order to maximize safety and reliability while maintaining fiscal responsibility. The Ares Projects are integrating Safer T and Mission Assurance into design activities and embracing independent assessments by Quality experts in thorough reviews of designs and processes. Incorporating Lean thinking into the design process, Ares is also streamlining existing processes and future manufacturing flows which will yield savings during production. Understanding the value of early involvement of Quality experts, the Ares Projects are leading launch vehicle development into the 21st century.

A "User-Friendly" Program for Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Da Silva, Francisco A.; And Others

1991-01-01

Described is a computer software package suitable for teaching and research in the area of multicomponent vapor-liquid equilibrium. This program, which has a complete database, can accomplish phase-equilibrium calculations using various models and graph the results. (KR)

Providing Nuclear Criticality Safety Analysis Education through Benchmark Experiment Evaluation

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

John D. Bess; J. Blair Briggs; David W. Nigg

2009-11-01

One of the challenges that today's new workforce of nuclear criticality safety engineers face is the opportunity to provide assessment of nuclear systems and establish safety guidelines without having received significant experience or hands-on training prior to graduation. Participation in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and/or the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) provides students and young professionals the opportunity to gain experience and enhance critical engineering skills.

The Fort McMurray Demonstration Project in social marketing: health- and safety-related behaviour among oil sands workers.

PubMed

Guidotti, T L; Watson, L; Wheeler, M; Jhangri, G S

1996-08-01

This is the first round in a series of surveys conducted in Fort McMurray as part of the Fort McMurray Demonstration Project in social marketing. This component of the survey was intended to focus on the most prominent group of employed workers in the community and to compare their patterns of response with the community as a whole. Respondents to the survey were overwhelmingly male (96%), married (72.9%) and living in households of two to five persons (87.9%). They were predominantly aged 30-44 (55%) and graduates of high school (53.5%). Younger male workers (below age 30) were more likely to have a high school diploma (78.3%) or some additional technical or vocational training (21.7% compared to 12.5% overall) and to be unmarried or separated. Attitudes toward safety-related behaviours were stronger than for respondents from the community as a whole. Approximately 70-100% of all age groups and both sexes showed strong agreement with attitudes involving child car seats and the unacceptability of drinking and driving. These attitudes include strong advocacy of vigorous enforcement of occupational health and safety standards. However, they showed a variability similar to the community as a whole in behaviour at home compared to work, generally reporting more consistent use of personal protection on the job than in their own homes, particularly hearing protection. Even so, they were much less likely to perform stretching and warm-up exercises prior to exertion than community residents in general. The potential may exist to transfer the technology and attitudes from workplace health and safety to community safety. One possible strategy to accomplish this is to involve workers in this industry directly in community initiatives. This strategy may be generalizable to any community in which there are major employers who place a heavy emphasis on risk control and occupational health and safety.

Connected commercial vehicles — retrofit safety device kit project : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Connected vehicle wireless data communications can enable safety applications that may reduce injuries and fatalities. Cooperative vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety applications will be effective only if a high fraction of vehicles are equipped. Deploy...

Bifurcation and Stability Analysis of the Equilibrium States in Thermodynamic Systems in a Small Vicinity of the Equilibrium Values of Parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barsuk, Alexandr A.; Paladi, Florentin

2018-04-01

The dynamic behavior of thermodynamic system, described by one order parameter and one control parameter, in a small neighborhood of ordinary and bifurcation equilibrium values of the system parameters is studied. Using the general methods of investigating the branching (bifurcations) of solutions for nonlinear equations, we performed an exhaustive analysis of the order parameter dependences on the control parameter in a small vicinity of the equilibrium values of parameters, including the stability analysis of the equilibrium states, and the asymptotic behavior of the order parameter dependences on the control parameter (bifurcation diagrams). The peculiarities of the transition to an unstable state of the system are discussed, and the estimates of the transition time to the unstable state in the neighborhood of ordinary and bifurcation equilibrium values of parameters are given. The influence of an external field on the dynamic behavior of thermodynamic system is analyzed, and the peculiarities of the system dynamic behavior are discussed near the ordinary and bifurcation equilibrium values of parameters in the presence of external field. The dynamic process of magnetization of a ferromagnet is discussed by using the general methods of bifurcation and stability analysis presented in the paper.

23 CFR 630.1010 - Significant projects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Significant projects. 630.1010 Section 630.1010 Highways... PRECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES Work Zone Safety and Mobility § 630.1010 Significant projects. (a) A significant project is one that, alone or in combination with other concurrent projects nearby is anticipated to cause...

23 CFR 630.1010 - Significant projects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Significant projects. 630.1010 Section 630.1010 Highways... PRECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES Work Zone Safety and Mobility § 630.1010 Significant projects. (a) A significant project is one that, alone or in combination with other concurrent projects nearby is anticipated to cause...

23 CFR 630.1010 - Significant projects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Significant projects. 630.1010 Section 630.1010 Highways... PRECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES Work Zone Safety and Mobility § 630.1010 Significant projects. (a) A significant project is one that, alone or in combination with other concurrent projects nearby is anticipated to cause...

23 CFR 630.1010 - Significant projects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Significant projects. 630.1010 Section 630.1010 Highways... PRECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES Work Zone Safety and Mobility § 630.1010 Significant projects. (a) A significant project is one that, alone or in combination with other concurrent projects nearby is anticipated to cause...

23 CFR 630.1010 - Significant projects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Significant projects. 630.1010 Section 630.1010 Highways... PRECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES Work Zone Safety and Mobility § 630.1010 Significant projects. (a) A significant project is one that, alone or in combination with other concurrent projects nearby is anticipated to cause...

Safety belt use estimate for Native American tribal reservations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-10-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Indian Highway Safety Program, sponsored a project to (a) establish the first baseline tribal reservation safety belt use rate, and (b) develop a metho...

Modelling non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems from the speed-gradient principle.

PubMed

Khantuleva, Tatiana A; Shalymov, Dmitry S

2017-03-06

The application of the speed-gradient (SG) principle to the non-equilibrium distribution systems far away from thermodynamic equilibrium is investigated. The options for applying the SG principle to describe the non-equilibrium transport processes in real-world environments are discussed. Investigation of a non-equilibrium system's evolution at different scale levels via the SG principle allows for a fresh look at the thermodynamics problems associated with the behaviour of the system entropy. Generalized dynamic equations for finite and infinite number of constraints are proposed. It is shown that the stationary solution to the equations, resulting from the SG principle, entirely coincides with the locally equilibrium distribution function obtained by Zubarev. A new approach to describe time evolution of systems far from equilibrium is proposed based on application of the SG principle at the intermediate scale level of the system's internal structure. The problem of the high-rate shear flow of viscous fluid near the rigid plane plate is discussed. It is shown that the SG principle allows closed mathematical models of non-equilibrium processes to be constructed.This article is part of the themed issue 'Horizons of cybernetical physics'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Modelling non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems from the speed-gradient principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khantuleva, Tatiana A.; Shalymov, Dmitry S.

2017-03-01

The application of the speed-gradient (SG) principle to the non-equilibrium distribution systems far away from thermodynamic equilibrium is investigated. The options for applying the SG principle to describe the non-equilibrium transport processes in real-world environments are discussed. Investigation of a non-equilibrium system's evolution at different scale levels via the SG principle allows for a fresh look at the thermodynamics problems associated with the behaviour of the system entropy. Generalized dynamic equations for finite and infinite number of constraints are proposed. It is shown that the stationary solution to the equations, resulting from the SG principle, entirely coincides with the locally equilibrium distribution function obtained by Zubarev. A new approach to describe time evolution of systems far from equilibrium is proposed based on application of the SG principle at the intermediate scale level of the system's internal structure. The problem of the high-rate shear flow of viscous fluid near the rigid plane plate is discussed. It is shown that the SG principle allows closed mathematical models of non-equilibrium processes to be constructed. This article is part of the themed issue 'Horizons of cybernetical physics'.

Modelling non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems from the speed-gradient principle

PubMed Central

Khantuleva, Tatiana A.

2017-01-01

The application of the speed-gradient (SG) principle to the non-equilibrium distribution systems far away from thermodynamic equilibrium is investigated. The options for applying the SG principle to describe the non-equilibrium transport processes in real-world environments are discussed. Investigation of a non-equilibrium system's evolution at different scale levels via the SG principle allows for a fresh look at the thermodynamics problems associated with the behaviour of the system entropy. Generalized dynamic equations for finite and infinite number of constraints are proposed. It is shown that the stationary solution to the equations, resulting from the SG principle, entirely coincides with the locally equilibrium distribution function obtained by Zubarev. A new approach to describe time evolution of systems far from equilibrium is proposed based on application of the SG principle at the intermediate scale level of the system's internal structure. The problem of the high-rate shear flow of viscous fluid near the rigid plane plate is discussed. It is shown that the SG principle allows closed mathematical models of non-equilibrium processes to be constructed. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Horizons of cybernetical physics’. PMID:28115617

Global asymptotic stability of density dependent integral population projection models.

PubMed

Rebarber, Richard; Tenhumberg, Brigitte; Townley, Stuart

2012-02-01

Many stage-structured density dependent populations with a continuum of stages can be naturally modeled using nonlinear integral projection models. In this paper, we study a trichotomy of global stability result for a class of density dependent systems which include a Platte thistle model. Specifically, we identify those systems parameters for which zero is globally asymptotically stable, parameters for which there is a positive asymptotically stable equilibrium, and parameters for which there is no asymptotically stable equilibrium. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Energy Storage Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mercer, Carolyn R.; Jankovsky, Amy L.; Reid, Concha M.; Miller, Thomas B.; Hoberecht, Mark A.

2011-01-01

NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program funded the Energy Storage Project to develop battery and fuel cell technology to meet the expected energy storage needs of the Constellation Program for human exploration. Technology needs were determined by architecture studies and risk assessments conducted by the Constellation Program, focused on a mission for a long-duration lunar outpost. Critical energy storage needs were identified as batteries for EVA suits, surface mobility systems, and a lander ascent stage; fuel cells for the lander and mobility systems; and a regenerative fuel cell for surface power. To address these needs, the Energy Storage Project developed advanced lithium-ion battery technology, targeting cell-level safety and very high specific energy and energy density. Key accomplishments include the development of silicon composite anodes, lithiated-mixed-metal-oxide cathodes, low-flammability electrolytes, and cell-incorporated safety devices that promise to substantially improve battery performance while providing a high level of safety. The project also developed "non-flow-through" proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell stacks. The primary advantage of this technology set is the reduction of ancillary parts in the balance-of-plant--fewer pumps, separators and related components should result in fewer failure modes and hence a higher probability of achieving very reliable operation, and reduced parasitic power losses enable smaller reactant tanks and therefore systems with lower mass and volume. Key accomplishments include the fabrication and testing of several robust, small-scale nonflow-through fuel cell stacks that have demonstrated proof-of-concept. This report summarizes the project s goals, objectives, technical accomplishments, and risk assessments. A bibliography spanning the life of the project is also included.

Road safety enhancement: an investigation on the visibility of on-road image projections using DMD-based pixel light systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizvi, Sadiq; Ley, Peer-Phillip; Knöchelmann, Marvin; Lachmayer, Roland

2018-02-01

Research reveals that visual information forms the major portion of the received data for driving. At night -owing to the, sometimes scarcity, sometime inhomogeneity of light- the human physiology and psychology experiences a dramatic alteration. It is found that although the likelihood of accident occurrence is higher during the day due to heavier traffic, the most fatal accidents still occur during night time. How can road safety be improved in limited lighting conditions using DMD-based high resolution headlamps? DMD-based pixel light systems, utilizing HID and LED light sources, are able to address hundreds of thousands of pixels individually. Using camera information, this capability allows 'glare-free' light distributions that perfectly adapt to the needs of all road users. What really enables these systems to stand out however, is their on-road image projection capability. This projection functionality may be used in co-operation with other driver assistance systems as an assist feature for the projection of navigation data, warning signs, car status information etc. Since contrast sensitivity constitutes a decisive measure of the human visual function, here is then a core question: what distributions of luminance in the projection space produce highly visible on-road image projections? This work seeks to address this question. Responses on sets of differently illuminated projections are collected from a group of participants and later interpreted using statistical data obtained using a luminance camera. Some aspects regarding the correlation between contrast ratio, symbol form and attention capture are also discussed.

The Painting-Sponging Analogy for Chemical Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gamitz, Adoni

1997-05-01

An analogy for chemical equilibrium is presented, in which high school or younger students can follow the advance towards equilibrium and its final dynamic nature. The relative opposition between forward and backward processes in a real chemical reaction is exemplified by the distance of a road line that is painted by one person and erased by another, both with different skills and working speeds. The graphical results of the progress of the line distance is entirely similar to the increasing of products concentration in a chemical reaction starting from the reactants. In the analogy, the final equilibrium position is independent of the starting point, as well as in a real chemical process. A simple basic program is included for interactive learning purposes.

Introduction to LNG vehicle safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bratvold, Delma; Friedman, David; Chernoff, Harry; Farkhondehpay, Dariush; Comay, Claudia

1994-03-01

Basic information on the characteristics of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is assembled to provide an overview of safety issues and practices for the use of LNG vehicles. This document is intended for those planning or considering the use of LNG vehicles, including vehicle fleet owners and operators, public transit officials and boards, local fire and safety officials, manufacturers and distributors, and gas industry officials. Safety issues and mitigation measures that should be considered for candidate LNG vehicle projects are addressed.

PREFACE: International Symposium on Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter 2010 International Symposium on Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawakatsu, T.; Matsuyama, A.; Ohta, T.; Tanaka, H.; Tanaka, S.

2011-07-01

Soft matter is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary research field covering a range of subject areas including physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering. Some of the important universal features of these materials are their mesoscopic structures and their dynamics. Due to the existence of such large-scale structures, which nevertheless exhibit interactions of the order of the thermal energy, soft matter can readily be taken out of equilibrium by imposing a weak external field such as an electric field, a mechanical stress or a shear flow. The importance of the coexistence of microscopic molecular dynamics and the mesoscopic/macroscopic structures and flows requires us to develop hierarchical approaches to understand the nonlinear and nonequilibrium phenomena, which is one of the central issues of current soft matter research. This special section presents selected contributions from the 'International Symposium on Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter 2010' held from 17-20 August 2010 in Nara, Japan, which aimed to describe recent advances in soft matter research focusing especially on its nonequilibrium aspects. The topics discussed cover statics and dynamics of a wide variety of materials ranging from traditional soft matter like polymers, gels, emulsions, liquid crystals and colloids to biomaterials such as biopolymers and biomembranes. Among these studies, we highlighted the physics of biomembranes and vesicles, which has attracted great attention during the last decade; we organized a special session for this active field. The work presented in this issue deals with (1) structure formation in biomembranes and vesicles, (2) rheology of polymers and gels, (3) mesophases in block copolymers, (4) mesoscopic structures in liquid crystals and ionic liquids, and (5) nonequilibrium dynamics. This symposium was organized as part of a research project supported by the Grant-in-Aid for the priority area 'Soft Matter Physics' (2006-2010) from the Ministry of Education

Equilibrium time correlation functions and the dynamics of fluctuations

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

Luban, Marshall; Luscombe, James H.

1999-12-01

Equilibrium time correlation functions are of great importance because they probe the equilibrium dynamical response to external perturbations. We discuss the properties of time correlation functions for several systems that are simple enough to illustrate the calculational steps involved. The discussion underscores the need for avoiding language which misleadingly suggests that thermal equilibrium is associated with a quiescent or moribund state of the system. (c) 1999 American Association of Physics Teachers.

The Lewis Chemical Equilibrium Program with parametric study capability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sevigny, R.

1981-01-01

The program was developed to determine chemical equilibrium in complex systems. Using a free energy minimization technique, the program permits calculations such as: chemical equilibrium for assigned thermodynamic states; theoretical rocket performance for both equilibrium and frozen compositions during expansion; incident and reflected shock properties; and Chapman-Jouget detonation properties. It is shown that the same program can handle solid coal in an entrained flow coal gasification problem.

Federal and tribal lands road safety audits : case studies

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-01

A road safety audit (RSA) is a formal safety performance examination by an independent, multidisciplinary team. RSAs are an effective tool for proactively improving the safety performance of a road project during the planning and design stages, and f...

Evaluation of Safety, Quality and Productivity in Construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usmen, M. A.; Vilnitis, M.

2015-11-01

This paper examines the success indicators of construction projects, safety, quality and productivity, in terms of their implications and impacts during and after construction. First safety is considered during construction with a focus on hazard identification and the prevention of occupational accidents and injuries on worksites. The legislation mandating safety programs, training and compliance with safety standards is presented and discussed. Consideration of safety at the design stage is emphasized. Building safety and the roles of building codes in prevention of structural failures are also covered in the paper together with factors affecting building failures and methods for their prevention. Quality is introduced in the paper from the perspective of modern total quality management. Concepts of quality management, quality control, quality assurance and Six Sigma and how they relate to building quality and structural integrity are discussed with examples. Finally, productivity concepts are presented with emphasis on effective project management to minimize loss of productivity, complimented by lean construction and lean Six Sigma principles. The paper concludes by synthesizing the relationships between safety, quality and productivity.

Phase equilibrium measurements on twelve binary mixtures

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

Giles, N.F.; Wilson, H.L.; Wilding, W.V.

1996-11-01

Phase equilibrium measurements have been performed on twelve binary mixtures. The PTx method was used to obtain vapor-liquid equilibrium data for the following binary systems at two temperatures each: ethanethiol + propylene; nitrobenzene + methanol; pyridine + ethyl acetate; octane + tert-amyl methyl ether; diisopropyl ether + butane; 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol + epichlorohydrin; 2,3-dichloro-1-propanol + epichlorohydrin; 2,3-epoxy-1-propanol + epichlorohydrin; 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol + epichlorohydrin; methanol + hydrogen cyanide. For these systems, equilibrium vapor and liquid phase compositions were derived from the PTx data using the Soave equation of state to represent the vapor phase and the Wilson, NRTL, or Redlich-Kister activity coefficient model tomore » represent the liquid phase. The infinite dilution activity coefficient of methylamine in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone was determined at three temperatures by performing PTx measurements on the N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone was determined at three temperatures by performing PTx measurements on the N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone-rich half of the binary. Liquid-liquid equilibrium studies were made on the triethylene glycol + 1-pentene system at two temperatures by directly analyzing samples taken from each liquid phase.« less

Polylogarithmic equilibrium treatment of molecular aggregation and critical concentrations.

PubMed

Michel, Denis; Ruelle, Philippe

2017-02-15

A full equilibrium treatment of molecular aggregation is presented for prototypes of 1D and 3D aggregates, with and without nucleation. By skipping complex kinetic parameters like aggregate size-dependent diffusion, the equilibrium treatment allows us to predict directly time-independent quantities such as critical concentrations. The relationships between the macroscopic equilibrium constants for different paths are first established by statistical corrections and so as to comply with the detailed balance constraints imposed by nucleation, and the composition of the mixture resulting from homogeneous aggregation is then analyzed using a polylogarithmic function. Several critical concentrations are distinguished: the residual monomer concentration at equilibrium (RMC) and the critical nucleation concentration (CNC), which is the threshold concentration of total subunits necessary for initiating aggregation. When increasing the concentration of total subunits, the RMC converges more strongly to its asymptotic value, the equilibrium constant of depolymerization, for 3D aggregates and in the case of nucleation. The CNC moderately depends on the number of subunits in the nucleus, but sharply increases with the difference between the equilibrium constants of polymerization and nucleation. As the RMC and CNC can be numerically but not analytically determined, ansatz equations connecting them to thermodynamic parameters are proposed.

Connected commercial vehicles — retrofit safety device kit project : safety applications performance and functional test plan and procedure.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Connected vehicle wireless data communications can enable safety applications that may reduce injuries and fatalities. Cooperative vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety applications will be effective only if a high fraction of vehicles are equipped. Deploy...

Preliminary Results Obtained in Integrated Safety Analysis of NASA Aviation Safety Program Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reveley, Mary S.

2003-01-01

The goal of the NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is to develop and demonstrate technologies that contribute to a reduction in the aviation fatal accident rate by a factor of 5 by the year 2007 and by a factor of 10 by the year 2022. Integrated safety analysis of day-to-day operations and risks within those operations will provide an understanding of the Aviation Safety Program portfolio. Safety benefits analyses are currently being conducted. Preliminary results for the Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) and Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) projects of the AvSP have been completed by the Logistics Management Institute under a contract with the NASA Glenn Research Center. These analyses include both a reliability analysis and a computer simulation model. The integrated safety analysis method comprises two principal components: a reliability model and a simulation model. In the reliability model, the results indicate how different technologies and systems will perform in normal, degraded, and failed modes of operation. In the simulation, an operational scenario is modeled. The primary purpose of the SVS project is to improve safety by providing visual-flightlike situation awareness during instrument conditions. The current analyses are an estimate of the benefits of SVS in avoiding controlled flight into terrain. The scenario modeled has an aircraft flying directly toward a terrain feature. When the flight crew determines that the aircraft is headed toward an obstruction, the aircraft executes a level turn at speed. The simulation is ended when the aircraft completes the turn.

Thermodynamic equilibrium with acceleration and the Unruh effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becattini, F.

2018-04-01

We address the problem of thermodynamic equilibrium with constant acceleration along the velocity field lines in a quantum relativistic statistical mechanics framework. We show that for a free scalar quantum field, after vacuum subtraction, all mean values vanish when the local temperature T is as low as the Unruh temperature TU=A /2 π where A is the magnitude of the acceleration four-vector. We argue that the Unruh temperature is an absolute lower bound for the temperature of any accelerated fluid at global thermodynamic equilibrium. We discuss the conditions of this bound to be applicable in a local thermodynamic equilibrium situation.

CFD analysis of laboratory scale phase equilibrium cell operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jama, Mohamed Ali; Nikiforow, Kaj; Qureshi, Muhammad Saad; Alopaeus, Ville

2017-10-01

For the modeling of multiphase chemical reactors or separation processes, it is essential to predict accurately chemical equilibrium data, such as vapor-liquid or liquid-liquid equilibria [M. Šoóš et al., Chem. Eng. Process.: Process Intensif. 42(4), 273-284 (2003)]. The instruments used in these experiments are typically designed based on previous experiences, and their operation verified based on known equilibria of standard components. However, mass transfer limitations with different chemical systems may be very different, potentially falsifying the measured equilibrium compositions. In this work, computational fluid dynamics is utilized to design and analyze laboratory scale experimental gas-liquid equilibrium cell for the first time to augment the traditional analysis based on plug flow assumption. Two-phase dilutor cell, used for measuring limiting activity coefficients at infinite dilution, is used as a test case for the analysis. The Lagrangian discrete model is used to track each bubble and to study the residence time distribution of the carrier gas bubbles in the dilutor cell. This analysis is necessary to assess whether the gas leaving the cell is in equilibrium with the liquid, as required in traditional analysis of such apparatus. Mass transfer for six different bio-oil compounds is calculated to determine the approach equilibrium concentration. Also, residence times assuming plug flow and ideal mixing are used as reference cases to evaluate the influence of mixing on the approach to equilibrium in the dilutor. Results show that the model can be used to predict the dilutor operating conditions for which each of the studied gas-liquid systems reaches equilibrium.

CFD analysis of laboratory scale phase equilibrium cell operation.

PubMed

Jama, Mohamed Ali; Nikiforow, Kaj; Qureshi, Muhammad Saad; Alopaeus, Ville

2017-10-01

For the modeling of multiphase chemical reactors or separation processes, it is essential to predict accurately chemical equilibrium data, such as vapor-liquid or liquid-liquid equilibria [M. Šoóš et al., Chem. Eng. Process Intensif. 42(4), 273-284 (2003)]. The instruments used in these experiments are typically designed based on previous experiences, and their operation verified based on known equilibria of standard components. However, mass transfer limitations with different chemical systems may be very different, potentially falsifying the measured equilibrium compositions. In this work, computational fluid dynamics is utilized to design and analyze laboratory scale experimental gas-liquid equilibrium cell for the first time to augment the traditional analysis based on plug flow assumption. Two-phase dilutor cell, used for measuring limiting activity coefficients at infinite dilution, is used as a test case for the analysis. The Lagrangian discrete model is used to track each bubble and to study the residence time distribution of the carrier gas bubbles in the dilutor cell. This analysis is necessary to assess whether the gas leaving the cell is in equilibrium with the liquid, as required in traditional analysis of such apparatus. Mass transfer for six different bio-oil compounds is calculated to determine the approach equilibrium concentration. Also, residence times assuming plug flow and ideal mixing are used as reference cases to evaluate the influence of mixing on the approach to equilibrium in the dilutor. Results show that the model can be used to predict the dilutor operating conditions for which each of the studied gas-liquid systems reaches equilibrium.

Developing a Practical and Sustainable Faculty Development Program With a Focus on Teaching Quality Improvement and Patient Safety: An Alliance for Independent Academic Medical Centers National Initiative III Project.

PubMed

Rodrigue, Christopher; Seoane, Leonardo; Gala, Rajiv B; Piazza, Janice; Amedee, Ronald G

2012-01-01

Teaching the next generation of physicians requires more than traditional teaching models. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's Next Accreditation System places considerable emphasis on developing a learning environment that fosters resident education in quality improvement and patient safety. The goal of this project was to develop a comprehensive and sustainable faculty development program with a focus on teaching quality improvement and patient safety. A multidisciplinary team representing all stakeholders in graduate medical education developed a validated survey to assess faculty and house officer baseline perceptions of their experience with faculty development opportunities, quality improvement tools and training, and resident participation in quality improvement and patient safety programs at our institution. We then developed a curriculum to address these 3 areas. Our pilot survey revealed a need for a comprehensive program to teach faculty and residents the art of teaching. Two other areas of need are (1) regular resident participation in quality improvement and patient safety efforts and (2) effective tools for developing skills and habits to analyze practices using quality improvement methods. Resident and faculty pairs in 17 Ochsner training programs developed and began quality improvement projects while completing the first learning module. Resident and faculty teams also have been working on the patient safety modules and incorporating aspects of patient safety into their individual work environments. Our team's goal is to develop a sustainable and manageable faculty development program that includes modules addressing quality improvement and patient safety in accordance with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accreditation requirements.

The NEUF-DIX space project - Non-EquilibriUm Fluctuations during DIffusion in compleX liquids.

PubMed

Baaske, Philipp; Bataller, Henri; Braibanti, Marco; Carpineti, Marina; Cerbino, Roberto; Croccolo, Fabrizio; Donev, Aleksandar; Köhler, Werner; Ortiz de Zárate, José M; Vailati, Alberto

2016-12-01

Diffusion and thermal diffusion processes in a liquid mixture are accompanied by long-range non-equilibrium fluctuations, whose amplitude is orders of magnitude larger than that of equilibrium fluctuations. The mean-square amplitude of the non-equilibrium fluctuations presents a scale-free power law behavior q -4 as a function of the wave vector q, but the divergence of the amplitude of the fluctuations at small wave vectors is prevented by the presence of gravity. In microgravity conditions the non-equilibrium fluctuations are fully developed and span all the available length scales up to the macroscopic size of the systems in the direction parallel to the applied gradient. Available theoretical models are based on linearized hydrodynamics and provide an adequate description of the statics and dynamics of the fluctuations in the presence of small temperature/concentration gradients and under stationary or quasi-stationary conditions. We describe a project aimed at the investigation of Non-EquilibriUm Fluctuations during DIffusion in compleX liquids (NEUF-DIX). The focus of the project is on the investigation in micro-gravity conditions of the non-equilibrium fluctuations in complex liquids, trying to tackle several challenging problems that emerged during the latest years, such as the theoretical predictions of Casimir-like forces induced by non-equilibrium fluctuations; the understanding of the non-equilibrium fluctuations in multi-component mixtures including a polymer, both in relation to the transport coefficients and to their behavior close to a glass transition; the understanding of the non-equilibrium fluctuations in concentrated colloidal suspensions, a problem closely related with the detection of Casimir forces; and the investigation of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion. We envision to parallel these experiments with state-of-the-art multi-scale simulations.

Automated track video inspection pilot project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-09-01

This project had two main objectives. The first was to improve the safety of transit workers, specifically right-of-way safety for rail transit : workers through demonstration of advanced track inspection techniques that limit the inspectors expos...

Thermal Equilibrium in Plastic and Glass Microscale Containers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curbelo, Estela; Cerda, Maria F.; Mendez, Eduardo

2007-01-01

The study describes the various thermal equilibrium conditions, which should be taken care for while designing or selecting the plastic and glass microscale containers for physical chemistry experiments. The results show that the thermal equilibrium completely depends on the material of the container for the same volume and thickness.

REACTT: an algorithm for solving spatial equilibrium problems.

Treesearch

D.J. Brooks; J. Kincaid

1987-01-01

The problem of determining equilibrium prices and quantities in spatially separated markets is reviewed. Algorithms that compute spatial equilibria are discussed. A computer program using the reactive programming algorithm for solving spatial equilibrium problems that involve multiple commodities is presented, along with detailed documentation. A sample data set,...

State of Tennessee strategic highway safety plan

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-08-01

The State of Tennessee's Strategic Highway Safety Plan was developed by the Tennessee Strategic Highway Safety Committee with the goal of reaching a 10% fatality rate reduction, based on CY 2002 data, by the end of CY 2008, with a projected saving of...

Adaptive Equilibrium Regulation: A Balancing Act in Two Timescales

PubMed Central

Boker, Steven M.

2015-01-01

An equilibrium involves a balancing of forces. Just as one maintains upright posture in standing or walking, many self-regulatory and interpersonal behaviors can be framed as a balancing act between an ever changing environment and within-person processes. The emerging balance between person and environment, the equilibria, are dynamic and adaptive in response to development and learning. A distinction is made between equilibrium achieved solely due to a short timescale balancing of forces and a longer timescale preferred equilibrium which we define as a state towards which the system slowly adapts. Together, these are developed into a framework that this article calls Adaptive Equilibrium Regulation (ÆR), which separates a regulatory process into two timescales: a faster regulation that automatically balances forces and a slower timescale adaptation process that reconfigures the fast regulation so as to move the system towards its preferred equilibrium when an environmental force persists over the longer timescale. This way of thinking leads to novel models for the interplay between multiple timescales of behavior, learning, and development. PMID:27066197

Performance Evaluation and Analysis of Rural Drinking Water Safety Project——A Case Study in Jiangsu, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xiaorong

2017-04-01

Water is the basic condition for human survival and development. As China is the most populous country, rural drinking water safety problems are most conspicuous. Therefore, the Chinese government keeps increasing investment and has built a large number of rural drinking water safety projects. Scientific evaluation of project performance is of great significance to promote the sustainable operation of the project and the sustainable development of rural economy. Previous studies mainly focus on the economic benefits of the project, while ignoring the fact that the rural drinking water safety project is quasi-public goods, which has economic, social and ecological benefits. This paper establishes a comprehensive evaluation model for rural drinking water safety performance, which adapts the rules of "5E" (economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equity and environment) as the value orientation, and selects a rural drinking water safety project as object in case study at K District, which is in the north of Jiangsu Province, China. The results shows: 1) the comprehensive performance of K project is in good condition; 2) The performance of every part shows that the scores of criteria "efficiency", "environment" and "effect" are higher than the mean performance, while the "economy" is slightly lower than the mean and the "equity" is the lowest. 3) The performance of indicator layer shows that: the planned completion rate of project, the reduction rate of project cost and the penetration rate of water-use population are significantly lower than other indicators. Based on the achievements of previous studies and the characteristics of rural drinking water safety project, this study integrates the evaluation dimensions of equity and environment, which can contribute to a more comprehensive and systematic assessment of project performance and provide empirical data for performance evaluation and management of rural drinking water safety project. Key Words: Rural drinking water

Projecting long term medical spending growth.

PubMed

Borger, Christine; Rutherford, Thomas F; Won, Gregory Y

2008-01-01

We present a dynamic general equilibrium model of the U.S. economy and the medical sector in which the adoption of new medical treatments is endogenous and the demand for medical services is conditional on the state of technology. We use this model to prepare 75-year medical spending forecasts and a projection of the Medicare actuarial balance, and we compare our results to those obtained from a method that has been used by government actuaries. Our baseline forecast predicts slower health spending growth in the long run and a lower Medicare actuarial deficit relative to the previous projection methodology.

NASA's Software Safety Standard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsay, Christopher M.

2005-01-01

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) relies more and more on software to control, monitor, and verify its safety critical systems, facilities and operations. Since the 1960's there has hardly been a spacecraft (manned or unmanned) launched that did not have a computer on board that provided vital command and control services. Despite this growing dependence on software control and monitoring, there has been no consistent application of software safety practices and methodology to NASA's projects with safety critical software. Led by the NASA Headquarters Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, the NASA Software Safety Standard (STD-18l9.13B) has recently undergone a significant update in an attempt to provide that consistency. This paper will discuss the key features of the new NASA Software Safety Standard. It will start with a brief history of the use and development of software in safety critical applications at NASA. It will then give a brief overview of the NASA Software Working Group and the approach it took to revise the software engineering process across the Agency.

Skills Conversion Project: Chapter 17, Occupational Safety and Health. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Society of Professional Engineers, Washington, DC.

The greatest employment opportunity for safety professionals at the present time is with the Department of Labor for enforcement of the Williams-Steiger Act, which establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). As part of a federal study of job possibilities for displaced aerospace and defense technical professionals, it was…

Experimental Liquidus Studies of the Pb-Fe-Si-O System in Equilibrium with Metallic Pb

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shevchenko, M.; Jak, E.

2018-02-01

Phase equilibria of the Pb-Fe-Si-O system have been investigated at 943 K to 1773 K (670 °C to 1500 °C) for oxide liquid in equilibrium with liquid Pb metal and solid oxide phases: (a) quartz, tridymite, or cristobalite; (b) (fayalite + tridymite) or (fayalite + spinel); (c) spinel (Fe3O4); (d) complex lead-iron silicates (melanotekite PbO·FeO1.5·SiO2, barysilite 8PbO·FeO·6SiO2, 5PbO·FeO1.5·SiO2, and 6PbO·FeO1.5·SiO2); (e) lead silicates (Pb2SiO4, Pb11Si3O17); (f) lead ferrites (magnetoplumbite Pb1+ x Fe12- x O19- x solid solution range); and (g) lead oxide (PbO, massicot). High-temperature equilibration on primary phase or iridium substrates, followed by quenching and direct measurement of Pb, Fe, and Si concentrations in the phases with the electron probe X-ray microanalysis, has been used to accurately characterize the system in equilibrium with Pb metal. All results are projected onto the PbO-"FeO"-SiO2 plane for presentation purposes. The present study is the first systematic characterization of liquidus over a wide range of compositions in this system in equilibrium with metallic Pb.

Local approximation of a metapopulation's equilibrium.

PubMed

Barbour, A D; McVinish, R; Pollett, P K

2018-04-18

We consider the approximation of the equilibrium of a metapopulation model, in which a finite number of patches are randomly distributed over a bounded subset [Formula: see text] of Euclidean space. The approximation is good when a large number of patches contribute to the colonization pressure on any given unoccupied patch, and when the quality of the patches varies little over the length scale determined by the colonization radius. If this is the case, the equilibrium probability of a patch at z being occupied is shown to be close to [Formula: see text], the equilibrium occupation probability in Levins's model, at any point [Formula: see text] not too close to the boundary, if the local colonization pressure and extinction rates appropriate to z are assumed. The approximation is justified by giving explicit upper and lower bounds for the occupation probabilities, expressed in terms of the model parameters. Since the patches are distributed randomly, the occupation probabilities are also random, and we complement our bounds with explicit bounds on the probability that they are satisfied at all patches simultaneously.

Statistical approach to partial equilibrium analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yougui; Stanley, H. E.

2009-04-01

A statistical approach to market equilibrium and efficiency analysis is proposed in this paper. One factor that governs the exchange decisions of traders in a market, named willingness price, is highlighted and constitutes the whole theory. The supply and demand functions are formulated as the distributions of corresponding willing exchange over the willingness price. The laws of supply and demand can be derived directly from these distributions. The characteristics of excess demand function are analyzed and the necessary conditions for the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium point of the market are specified. The rationing rates of buyers and sellers are introduced to describe the ratio of realized exchange to willing exchange, and their dependence on the market price is studied in the cases of shortage and surplus. The realized market surplus, which is the criterion of market efficiency, can be written as a function of the distributions of willing exchange and the rationing rates. With this approach we can strictly prove that a market is efficient in the state of equilibrium.

EAST kinetic equilibrium reconstruction combining with Polarimeter-Interferometer internal measurement constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lian, H.; Liu, H. Q.; Li, K.; Zou, Z. Y.; Qian, J. P.; Wu, M. Q.; Li, G. Q.; Zeng, L.; Zang, Q.; Lv, B.; Jie, Y. X.; EAST Team

2017-12-01

Plasma equilibrium reconstruction plays an important role in the tokamak plasma research. With a high temporal and spatial resolution, the POlarimeter-INTerferometer (POINT) system on EAST has provided effective measurements for 102s H-mode operation. Based on internal Faraday rotation measurements provided by the POINT system, the equilibrium reconstruction with a more accurate core current profile constraint has been demonstrated successfully on EAST. Combining other experimental diagnostics and external magnetic fields measurement, the kinetic equilibrium has also been reconstructed on EAST. Take the pressure and edge current information from kinetic EFIT into the equilibrium reconstruction with Faraday rotation constraint, the new equilibrium reconstruction not only provides a more accurate internal current profile but also contains edge current and pressure information. One time slice result using new kinetic equilibrium reconstruction with POINT data constraints is demonstrated in this paper and the result shows there is a reversed shear of q profile and the pressure profile is also contained. The new improved equilibrium reconstruction is greatly helpful to the future theoretical analysis.

Equilibrium Bird Species Diversity in Atlantic Islands.

PubMed

Valente, Luis; Illera, Juan Carlos; Havenstein, Katja; Pallien, Tamara; Etienne, Rampal S; Tiedemann, Ralph

2017-06-05

Half a century ago, MacArthur and Wilson proposed that the number of species on islands tends toward a dynamic equilibrium diversity around which species richness fluctuates [1]. The current prevailing view in island biogeography accepts the fundamentals of MacArthur and Wilson's theory [2] but questions whether their prediction of equilibrium can be fulfilled over evolutionary timescales, given the unpredictable and ever-changing nature of island geological and biotic features [3-7]. Here we conduct a complete molecular phylogenetic survey of the terrestrial bird species from four oceanic archipelagos that make up the diverse Macaronesian bioregion-the Azores, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and Madeira [8, 9]. We estimate the times at which birds colonized and speciated in the four archipelagos, including many previously unsampled endemic and non-endemic taxa and their closest continental relatives. We develop and fit a new multi-archipelago dynamic stochastic model to these data, explicitly incorporating information from 91 taxa, both extant and extinct. Remarkably, we find that all four archipelagos have independently achieved and maintained a dynamic equilibrium over millions of years. Biogeographical rates are homogeneous across archipelagos, except for the Canary Islands, which exhibit higher speciation and colonization. Our finding that the avian communities of the four Macaronesian archipelagos display an equilibrium diversity pattern indicates that a diversity plateau may be rapidly achieved on islands where rates of in situ radiation are low and extinction is high. This study reveals that equilibrium processes may be more prevalent than recently proposed, supporting MacArthur and Wilson's 50-year-old theory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of equilibrium and non-equilibrium distribution coefficients for the human drug carbamazepine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The distribution coefficient (KD) for the human drug carbamazepine was measured using a non-equilibrium technique. Repacked soil columns were prepared using an Airport silt loam (Typic Natrustalf) with an average organic matter content of 2.45%. Carbamazepine solutions were then leached through th...

Principles of Safety Pharmacology

PubMed Central

Pugsley, M K; Authier, S; Curtis, M J

2008-01-01

Safety Pharmacology is a rapidly developing discipline that uses the basic principles of pharmacology in a regulatory-driven process to generate data to inform risk/benefit assessment. The aim of Safety Pharmacology is to characterize the pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic (PK/PD) relationship of a drug's adverse effects using continuously evolving methodology. Unlike toxicology, Safety Pharmacology includes within its remit a regulatory requirement to predict the risk of rare lethal events. This gives Safety Pharmacology its unique character. The key issues for Safety Pharmacology are detection of an adverse effect liability, projection of the data into safety margin calculation and finally clinical safety monitoring. This article sets out to explain the drivers for Safety Pharmacology so that the wider pharmacology community is better placed to understand the discipline. It concludes with a summary of principles that may help inform future resolution of unmet needs (especially establishing model validation for accurate risk assessment). Subsequent articles in this issue of the journal address specific aspects of Safety Pharmacology to explore the issues of model choice, the burden of proof and to highlight areas of intensive activity (such as testing for drug-induced rare event liability, and the challenge of testing the safety of so-called biologics (antibodies, gene therapy and so on.). PMID:18604233

Using nonequilibrium capillary electrophoresis of equilibrium mixtures (NECEEM) for simultaneous determination of concentration and equilibrium constant.

PubMed

Kanoatov, Mirzo; Galievsky, Victor A; Krylova, Svetlana M; Cherney, Leonid T; Jankowski, Hanna K; Krylov, Sergey N

2015-03-03

Nonequilibrium capillary electrophoresis of equilibrium mixtures (NECEEM) is a versatile tool for studying affinity binding. Here we describe a NECEEM-based approach for simultaneous determination of both the equilibrium constant, K(d), and the unknown concentration of a binder that we call a target, T. In essence, NECEEM is used to measure the unbound equilibrium fraction, R, for the binder with a known concentration that we call a ligand, L. The first set of experiments is performed at varying concentrations of T, prepared by serial dilution of the stock solution, but at a constant concentration of L, which is as low as its reliable quantitation allows. The value of R is plotted as a function of the dilution coefficient, and dilution corresponding to R = 0.5 is determined. This dilution of T is used in the second set of experiments in which the concentration of T is fixed but the concentration of L is varied. The experimental dependence of R on the concentration of L is fitted with a function describing their theoretical dependence. Both K(d) and the concentration of T are used as fitting parameters, and their sought values are determined as the ones that generate the best fit. We have fully validated this approach in silico by using computer-simulated NECEEM electropherograms and then applied it to experimental determination of the unknown concentration of MutS protein and K(d) of its interactions with a DNA aptamer. The general approach described here is applicable not only to NECEEM but also to any other method that can determine a fraction of unbound molecules at equilibrium.

Relativistic Fluid Dynamics Far From Local Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romatschke, Paul

2018-01-01

Fluid dynamics is traditionally thought to apply only to systems near local equilibrium. In this case, the effective theory of fluid dynamics can be constructed as a gradient series. Recent applications of resurgence suggest that this gradient series diverges, but can be Borel resummed, giving rise to a hydrodynamic attractor solution which is well defined even for large gradients. Arbitrary initial data quickly approaches this attractor via nonhydrodynamic mode decay. This suggests the existence of a new theory of far-from-equilibrium fluid dynamics. In this Letter, the framework of fluid dynamics far from local equilibrium for a conformal system is introduced, and the hydrodynamic attractor solutions for resummed Baier-Romatschke-Son-Starinets-Stephanov theory, kinetic theory in the relaxation time approximation, and strongly coupled N =4 super Yang-Mills theory are identified for a system undergoing Bjorken flow.

Safety performance functions for freeway merge zones.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-12-01

This report documents the results of a research project to support CDOT in the area of Safety : Performance Function (SPF) development. The project involved collecting data and developing SPFs for : ramp-freeway merge zones categorized as isolated, n...

Using Analogies to Prevent Misconceptions about Chemical Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahin Pekmez, Esin

2010-01-01

The main purpose of this study was to find the effectiveness of using analogies to prevent misconceptions about chemical equilibrium. Nineteen analogies, which were based on dynamic aspects of chemical equilibrium and application of Le Chatelier's principle, were developed. The participations of this study consisted of 11th grade students (n: 151)…

Unique equilibrium states for Bonatti–Viana diffeomorphisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Climenhaga, Vaughn; Fisher, Todd; Thompson, Daniel J.

2018-06-01

We show that the robustly transitive diffeomorphisms constructed by Bonatti and Viana have unique equilibrium states for natural classes of potentials. In particular, we characterize the SRB measure as the unique equilibrium state for a suitable geometric potential. The techniques developed are applicable to a wide class of DA diffeomorphisms, and persist under C 1 perturbations of the map. These results are an application of general machinery developed by the first and last named authors.

Putting A Human Face on Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glickstein, Neil

2005-03-01

A short biography of chemist Fritz Haber is used to personalize the abstract concepts of equilibrium chemistry for high school students in an introductory course. In addition to giving the Haber Bosch process an historic, an economic, and a scientific background the reading and subsequent discussion allows students for whom the human perspective is of paramount importance a chance to investigate the irony of balance or equilibrium in Haber's life story. Since the inclusion of the Haber biography, performance in the laboratory and on examinations for those students who are usually only partially engaged has dramatically improved.

Quantum gambling based on Nash-equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Pei; Zhou, Xiao-Qi; Wang, Yun-Long; Liu, Bi-Heng; Shadbolt, Pete; Zhang, Yong-Sheng; Gao, Hong; Li, Fu-Li; O'Brien, Jeremy L.

2017-06-01

The problem of establishing a fair bet between spatially separated gambler and casino can only be solved in the classical regime by relying on a trusted third party. By combining Nash-equilibrium theory with quantum game theory, we show that a secure, remote, two-party game can be played using a quantum gambling machine which has no classical counterpart. Specifically, by modifying the Nash-equilibrium point we can construct games with arbitrary amount of bias, including a game that is demonstrably fair to both parties. We also report a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration using linear optics.

Non-Equilibrium Dynamics with Quantum Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Qiaoyuan

This work is motivated by the fact that the investigation of non-equilibrium phenomena in strongly correlated electron systems has developed into one of the most active and exciting branches of condensed matter physics as it provides rich new insights that could not be obtained from the study of equilibrium situations. However, a theoretical description of those phenomena is missing. Therefore, in this thesis, we develop a numerical method that can be used to study two minimal models--the Hubbard model and the Anderson impurity model with general parameter range and time dependence. We begin by introducing the theoretical framework and the general features of the Hubbard model. We then describe the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), which was first invented by Georges in 1992. It provides a feasible way to approach strongly correlated electron systems and reduces the complexity of the calculations via a mapping of lattice models onto quantum impurity models subject to a self-consistency condition. We employ the non-equilibrium extension of DMFT and map the Hubbard model to the single impurity Anderson model (SIAM). Since the fundamental component of the DMFT method is a solver of the single impurity Anderson model, we continue with a description of the formalism to study the real-time dynamics of the impurity model staring at its thermal equilibrium state. We utilize the non-equilibrium strong-coupling perturbation theory and derive semi-analytical approximation methods such as the non-crossing approximation (NCA) and the one-crossing approximation (OCA). We then use the Quantum Monte-Carlo method (QMC) as a numerically exact method and present proper measurements of local observables, current and Green's functions. We perform simulations of the current after a quantum quench from equilibrium by rapidly applying a bias voltage in a wide range of initial temperatures. The current exhibits short equilibrium times and saturates upon the decrease of temperature at all

The in-depth safety assessment (ISA) pilot projects in Ukraine.

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

Kot, C. A.

1998-02-10

Ukraine operates pressurized water reactors of the Soviet-designed type, VVER. All Ukrainian plants are currently operating with annually renewable permits until they update their safety analysis reports (SARs). After approval of the SARS by the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the plants will be granted longer-term operating licenses. In September 1995, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the Government Nuclear Power Coordinating Committee of Ukraine issued a new contents requirement for the safety analysis reports of VVERs in Ukraine. It contains requirements in three major areas: design basis accident (DBA) analysis, probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), and beyond design-basis accident (BDBA) analysis. Themore » DBA requirements are an expanded version of the older SAR requirements. The last two requirements, on PRA and BDBA, are new. The US Department of Energy (USDOE), through the International Nuclear Safety Program (INSP), has initiated an assistance and technology transfer program to Ukraine to assist their nuclear power stations in developing a Western-type technical basis for the new SARS. USDOE sponsored In-Depth Safety Assessments (ISAs) have been initiated at three pilot nuclear reactor units in Ukraine, South Ukraine Unit 1, Zaporizhzhya Unit 5, and Rivne Unit 1. USDOE/INSP have structured the ISA program in such a way as to provide maximum assistance and technology transfer to Ukraine while encouraging and supporting the Ukrainian plants to take the responsibility and initiative and to perform the required assessments.« less

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics, maximum entropy production and Earth-system evolution.

PubMed

Kleidon, Axel

2010-01-13

The present-day atmosphere is in a unique state far from thermodynamic equilibrium. This uniqueness is for instance reflected in the high concentration of molecular oxygen and the low relative humidity in the atmosphere. Given that the concentration of atmospheric oxygen has likely increased throughout Earth-system history, we can ask whether this trend can be generalized to a trend of Earth-system evolution that is directed away from thermodynamic equilibrium, why we would expect such a trend to take place and what it would imply for Earth-system evolution as a whole. The justification for such a trend could be found in the proposed general principle of maximum entropy production (MEP), which states that non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems maintain steady states at which entropy production is maximized. Here, I justify and demonstrate this application of MEP to the Earth at the planetary scale. I first describe the non-equilibrium thermodynamic nature of Earth-system processes and distinguish processes that drive the system's state away from equilibrium from those that are directed towards equilibrium. I formulate the interactions among these processes from a thermodynamic perspective and then connect them to a holistic view of the planetary thermodynamic state of the Earth system. In conclusion, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and MEP have the potential to provide a simple and holistic theory of Earth-system functioning. This theory can be used to derive overall evolutionary trends of the Earth's past, identify the role that life plays in driving thermodynamic states far from equilibrium, identify habitability in other planetary environments and evaluate human impacts on Earth-system functioning. This journal is © 2010 The Royal Society

29 CFR 505.6 - Safety and health standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Safety and health standards. 505.6 Section 505.6 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.6 Safety and health standards. (a) Standards. Section 5(i)(2) and section 7(g)(2) of the Act... dangerous to the health and safety of the employees engaged in such project or production. Compliance with...

29 CFR 505.6 - Safety and health standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Safety and health standards. 505.6 Section 505.6 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.6 Safety and health standards. (a) Standards. Section 5(i)(2) and section 7(g)(2) of the Act... dangerous to the health and safety of the employees engaged in such project or production. Compliance with...

29 CFR 505.6 - Safety and health standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Safety and health standards. 505.6 Section 505.6 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.6 Safety and health standards. (a) Standards. Section 5(i)(2) and section 7(g)(2) of the Act... dangerous to the health and safety of the employees engaged in such project or production. Compliance with...

29 CFR 505.6 - Safety and health standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Safety and health standards. 505.6 Section 505.6 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.6 Safety and health standards. (a) Standards. Section 5(i)(2) and section 7(g)(2) of the Act... dangerous to the health and safety of the employees engaged in such project or production. Compliance with...

29 CFR 505.6 - Safety and health standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Safety and health standards. 505.6 Section 505.6 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.6 Safety and health standards. (a) Standards. Section 5(i)(2) and section 7(g)(2) of the Act... dangerous to the health and safety of the employees engaged in such project or production. Compliance with...

2012 NASA Range Safety Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dumont, Alan G.

2012-01-01

This report provides a NASA Range Safety (NRS) overview for current and potential range users. This report contains articles which cover a variety of subject areas, summaries of various NASA Range Safety Program (RSP) activities performed during the past year, links to past reports, and information on several projects that may have a profound impact on the way business will be conducted in the future. Specific topics discussed in the 2012 NASA Range Safety Annual Report include a program overview and 2012 highlights; Range Safety Training; Independent Assessments; Support to Program Operations at all ranges conducting NASA launch/flight operations; a continuing overview of emerging range safety-related technologies; and status reports from all of the NASA Centers that have Range Safety responsibilities.

Profiles of equilibrium constants for self-association of aromatic molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beshnova, Daria A.; Lantushenko, Anastasia O.; Davies, David B.; Evstigneev, Maxim P.

2009-04-01

Analysis of the noncovalent, noncooperative self-association of identical aromatic molecules assumes that the equilibrium self-association constants are either independent of the number of molecules (the EK-model) or change progressively with increasing aggregation (the AK-model). The dependence of the self-association constant on the number of molecules in the aggregate (i.e., the profile of the equilibrium constant) was empirically derived in the AK-model but, in order to provide some physical understanding of the profile, it is proposed that the sources for attenuation of the equilibrium constant are the loss of translational and rotational degrees of freedom, the ordering of molecules in the aggregates and the electrostatic contribution (for charged units). Expressions are derived for the profiles of the equilibrium constants for both neutral and charged molecules. Although the EK-model has been widely used in the analysis of experimental data, it is shown in this work that the derived equilibrium constant, KEK, depends on the concentration range used and hence, on the experimental method employed. The relationship has also been demonstrated between the equilibrium constant KEK and the real dimerization constant, KD, which shows that the value of KEK is always lower than KD.

A Framework for Assessment of Aviation Safety Technology Portfolios

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Sharon M.; Reveley, Mary S.

2014-01-01

The programs within NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) conduct research and development to improve the national air transportation system so that Americans can travel as safely as possible. NASA aviation safety systems analysis personnel support various levels of ARMD management in their fulfillment of system analysis and technology prioritization as defined in the agency's program and project requirements. This paper provides a framework for the assessment of aviation safety research and technology portfolios that includes metrics such as projected impact on current and future safety, technical development risk and implementation risk. The paper also contains methods for presenting portfolio analysis and aviation safety Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) output results to management using bubble charts and quantitative decision analysis techniques.

A Comparison of Simulated JWST Observations Derived from Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Chemistry Models of Giant Exoplanets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blumenthal, Sarah D.; Mandell, Avi M.; Hébrard, Eric; Batalha, Natasha E.; Cubillos, Patricio E.; Rugheimer, Sarah; Wakeford, Hannah R.

2018-02-01

We aim to see if the difference between equilibrium and disequilibrium chemistry is observable in the atmospheres of transiting planets by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We perform a case study comparing the dayside emission spectra of three planets like HD 189733b, WASP-80b, and GJ 436b, in and out of chemical equilibrium at two metallicities each. These three planets were chosen because they span a large range of planetary masses and equilibrium temperatures, from hot and Jupiter-sized to warm and Neptune-sized. We link the one-dimensional disequilibrium chemistry model from Venot et al. (2012), in which thermochemical kinetics, vertical transport, and photochemistry are taken into account, to the one-dimensional, pseudo line-by-line radiative transfer model, Pyrat bay, developed especially for hot Jupiters, and then simulate JWST spectra using PandExo for comparing the effects of temperature, metallicity, and radius. We find the most significant differences from 4 to 5 μm due to disequilibrium from CO and CO2 abundances, and also H2O for select cases. Our case study shows a certain “sweet spot” of planetary mass, temperature, and metallicity where the difference between equilibrium and disequilibrium is observable. For a planet similar to WASP-80b, JWST’s NIRSpec G395M can detect differences due to disequilibrium chemistry with one eclipse event. For a planet similar to GJ 436b, the observability of differences due to disequilibrium chemistry is possible at low metallicity given five eclipse events, but not possible at the higher metallicity.

Transit safety retrofit package development : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

This report provides a summary of the Transit Safety Retrofit Package (TRP) Development project and its results. The report documents results of each project phase, and provides recommended next steps as well as a vision for a next generation TRP. Th...

Climatic niche conservatism and biogeographical non-equilibrium in Eschscholzia californica (Papaveraceae), an invasive plant in the Chilean Mediterranean region.

PubMed

Peña-Gómez, Francisco T; Guerrero, Pablo C; Bizama, Gustavo; Duarte, Milén; Bustamante, Ramiro O

2014-01-01

Species climate requirements are useful for predicting their geographic distribution. It is often assumed that the niche requirements for invasive plants are conserved during invasion, especially when the invaded regions share similar climate conditions. California and central Chile have a remarkable degree of convergence in their vegetation structure, and a similar Mediterranean climate. Such similarities make these geographic areas an interesting natural experiment for testing climatic niche dynamics and the equilibrium of invasive species in a new environment. We tested to see if the climatic niche of Eschscholzia californica is conserved in the invaded range (central Chile), and we assessed whether the invasion process has reached a biogeographical equilibrium, i.e., occupy all the suitable geographic locations that have suitable conditions under native niche requirements. We compared the climatic niche in the native and invaded ranges as well as the projected potential geographic distribution in the invaded range. In order to compare climatic niches, we conducted a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Species Distribution Models (SDMs), to estimate E. californica's potential geographic distribution. We also used SDMs to predict altitudinal distribution limits in central Chile. Our results indicated that the climatic niche occupied by E. californica in the invaded range is firmly conserved, occupying a subset of the native climatic niche but leaving a substantial fraction of it unfilled. Comparisons of projected SDMs for central Chile indicate a similarity, yet the projection from native range predicted a larger geographic distribution in central Chile compared to the prediction of the model constructed for central Chile. The projected niche occupancy profile from California predicted a higher mean elevation than that projected from central Chile. We concluded that the invasion process of E. californica in central Chile is consistent with climatic niche

Safety programmes in the Egyptian construction industry.

PubMed

Hassanein, Amr A G; Hanna, Ragaa S

2007-12-01

This study is aimed at exploring the nature of the safety programmes applied by large-size contractors operating in Egypt. Results revealed that safety programmes applied by those contractors were less formal than the programmes applied by their American counterparts. Only three contractors out of the surveyed sample had accident records broken down by projects, provided workers with formal safety orientation, and trained safety personnel on first-aid. The study recommended that reforms to the scheme of the employers' contribution to social insurance are necessary. This is meant to serve as a strong incentive for safety management.

Non-equilibrium freezing behaviour of aqueous systems.

PubMed

MacKenzie, A P

1977-03-29

The tendencies to non-equilibrium freezing behaviour commonly noted in representative aqueous systems derive from bulk and surface properties according to the circumstances. Supercooling and supersaturation are limited by heterogeneous nucleation in the presence of solid impurities. Homogeneous nucleation has been observed in aqueous systems freed from interfering solids. Once initiated, crystal growth is ofter slowed and, very frequently, terminated with increasing viscosity. Nor does ice first formed always succeed in assuming its most stable crystalline form. Many of the more significant measurements on a given systeatter permitting the simultaneous representation of thermodynamic and non-equilibrium properties. The diagram incorporated equilibrium melting points, heterogeneous nucleation temperatures, homogeneous nucleation temperatures, glass transition and devitrification temperatures, recrystallization temperatures, and, where appropriate, solute solubilities and eutectic temperatures. Taken together, the findings on modle systems aid the identification of the kinetic and thermodynamic factors responsible for the freezing-thawing survival of living cells.

Interfaces at equilibrium: A guide to fundamentals.

PubMed

Marmur, Abraham

2017-06-01

The fundamentals of the thermodynamics of interfaces are reviewed and concisely presented. The discussion starts with a short review of the elements of bulk thermodynamics that are also relevant to interfaces. It continues with the interfacial thermodynamics of two-phase systems, including the definition of interfacial tension and adsorption. Finally, the interfacial thermodynamics of three-phase (wetting) systems is discussed, including the topic of non-wettable surfaces. A clear distinction is made between equilibrium conditions, in terms of minimizing energies (internal, Gibbs or Helmholtz), and equilibrium indicators, in terms of measurable, intrinsic properties (temperature, chemical potential, pressure). It is emphasized that the equilibrium indicators are the same whatever energy is minimized, if the boundary conditions are properly chosen. Also, to avoid a common confusion, a distinction is made between systems of constant volume and systems with drops of constant volume. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Equilibrium and Orientation in Cephalopods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budelmann, Bernd-Ulrich

1980-01-01

Describes the structure of the equilibrium receptor system in cephalopods, comparing it to the vertebrate counterpart--the vestibular system. Relates the evolution of this complex system to the competition of cephalopods with fishes. (CS)

Primer on the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-09-16

The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) is a core Federal-aid program for State Departments of Transportation (State DOTs) administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). This is a major source of funding for safety projects on the n...

Students’ misconceptions on solubility equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiowati, H.; Utomo, S. B.; Ashadi

2018-05-01

This study investigated the students’ misconceptions of the solubility equilibrium. The participants of the study consisted of 164 students who were in the science class of second year high school. Instrument used is two-tier diagnostic test consisting of 15 items. Responses were marked and coded into four categories: understanding, misconception, understand little without misconception, and not understanding. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 45 students according to their written responses which reflected different perspectives, to obtain a more elaborated source of data. Data collected from multiple methods were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the data analysis showed that the students misconceptions in all areas in solubility equilibrium. They had more misconceptions such as in the relation of solubility and solubility product, common-ion effect and pH in solubility, and precipitation concept.

Organizational safety climate and supervisor safety enforcement: Multilevel explorations of the causes of accident underreporting.

PubMed

Probst, Tahira M

2015-11-01

According to national surveillance statistics, over 3 million employees are injured each year; yet, research indicates that these may be substantial underestimates of the true prevalence. The purpose of the current project was to empirically test the hypothesis that organizational safety climate and transactional supervisor safety leadership would predict the extent to which accidents go unreported by employees. Using hierarchical linear modeling and survey data collected from 1,238 employees in 33 organizations, employee-level supervisor safety enforcement behaviors (and to a less consistent extent, organizational-level safety climate) predicted employee accident underreporting. There was also a significant cross-level interaction, such that the effect of supervisor enforcement on underreporting was attenuated in organizations with a positive safety climate. These results may benefit human resources and safety professionals by pinpointing methods of increasing the accuracy of accident reporting, reducing actual safety incidents, and reducing the costs to individuals and organizations that result from underreporting. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Fall prevention and safety communication training for foremen:Report of a pilot project designed to improve residential construction safety

PubMed Central

Kaskutas, Vicki; Dale, Ann Marie; Lipscomb, Hester; Evanoff, Brad

2013-01-01

Problem Falls from heights account for 64% of residential construction worker fatalities and 20% of missed work days. We hypothesized that worker safety would improve with foremen training in fall prevention and safety communication. Method Training priorities identified through foreman and apprentice focus groups and surveys were integrated into an 8-hour training. We piloted the training with ten foremen employed by a residential builder. Carpenter trainers contrasted proper methods to protect workers from falls with methods observed at the foremen’s worksites. Trainers presented methods to deliver toolbox talks and safety messages. Results from worksite observational audits (n=29) and foremen/crewmember surveys (n=97) administered before and after training were compared. Results We found that inexperienced workers are exposed to many fall hazards that they are often not prepared to negotiate. Fall protection is used inconsistently and worksite mentorship is often inadequate. Foremen feel pressured to meet productivity demands and some are unsure of the fall protection requirements. After the training, the frequency of daily mentoring and toolbox talks increased, and these talks became more interactive and focused on hazardous daily work tasks. Foremen observed their worksites for fall hazards more often. We observed increased compliance with fall protection and decreased unsafe behaviors during worksite audits. Discussion Designing the training to meet both foremen’s and crewmembers’ needs ensured the training was learner-centered and contextually-relevant. This pilot suggests that training residential foremen can increase use of fall protection, improve safety behaviors, and enhance on-the-job training and safety communication at their worksites. Impact on Industry Construction workers’ training should target safety communication and mentoring skills with workers who will lead work crews. Interventions at multiple levels are necessary to increase safety

Fall prevention and safety communication training for foremen: report of a pilot project designed to improve residential construction safety.

PubMed

Kaskutas, Vicki; Dale, Ann Marie; Lipscomb, Hester; Evanoff, Brad

2013-02-01

Falls from heights account for 64% of residential construction worker fatalities and 20% of missed work days. We hypothesized that worker safety would improve with foremen training in fall prevention and safety communication. Training priorities identified through foreman and apprentice focus groups and surveys were integrated into an 8-hour training. We piloted the training with ten foremen employed by a residential builder. Carpenter trainers contrasted proper methods to protect workers from falls with methods observed at the foremen's worksites. Trainers presented methods to deliver toolbox talks and safety messages. Results from worksite observational audits (n=29) and foremen/crewmember surveys (n=97) administered before and after training were compared. We found that inexperienced workers are exposed to many fall hazards that they are often not prepared to negotiate. Fall protection is used inconsistently and worksite mentorship is often inadequate. Foremen feel pressured to meet productivity demands and some are unsure of the fall protection requirements. After the training, the frequency of daily mentoring and toolbox talks increased, and these talks became more interactive and focused on hazardous daily work tasks. Foremen observed their worksites for fall hazards more often. We observed increased compliance with fall protection and decreased unsafe behaviors during worksite audits. Designing the training to meet both foremen's and crewmembers' needs ensured the training was learner-centered and contextually-relevant. This pilot suggests that training residential foremen can increase use of fall protection, improve safety behaviors, and enhance on-the-job training and safety communication at their worksites. Construction workers' training should target safety communication and mentoring skills with workers who will lead work crews. Interventions at multiple levels are necessary to increase safety compliance in residential construction and decrease falls

Near-equilibrium dumb-bell-shaped figures for cohesionless small bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Descamps, Pascal

2016-02-01

In a previous paper (Descamps, P. [2015]. Icarus 245, 64-79), we developed a specific method aimed to retrieve the main physical characteristics (shape, density, surface scattering properties) of highly elongated bodies from their rotational lightcurves through the use of dumb-bell-shaped equilibrium figures. The present work is a test of this method. For that purpose we introduce near-equilibrium dumb-bell-shaped figures which are base dumb-bell equilibrium shapes modulated by lognormal statistics. Such synthetic irregular models are used to generate lightcurves from which our method is successfully applied. Shape statistical parameters of such near-equilibrium dumb-bell-shaped objects are in good agreement with those calculated for example for the Asteroid (216) Kleopatra from its dog-bone radar model. It may suggest that such bilobed and elongated asteroids can be approached by equilibrium figures perturbed be the interplay with a substantial internal friction modeled by a Gaussian random sphere.

KSC History Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dethloff, Henry C.

2001-01-01

The KSC History Project focuses on archival research and oral history interviews on the history of Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Related projects include the preparation of a precis and chapter outline for a proposed book-length narrative history, a bibliography of key primary and secondary resources, a brief monograph overview of the history of KSC, and a monograph on the history of safety at the Center. Finally, there is work on the development of a web page and a personal history data base associated with the oral history project. The KSC History Project has been a joint endeavor between Henry C. Dethloff and Dr. Noble Lee Snaples, Jr.

The equilibrium-diffusion limit for radiation hydrodynamics

DOE PAGES

Ferguson, J. M.; Morel, J. E.; Lowrie, R.

2017-07-27

The equilibrium-diffusion approximation (EDA) is used to describe certain radiation-hydrodynamic (RH) environments. When this is done the RH equations reduce to a simplified set of equations. The EDA can be derived by asymptotically analyzing the full set of RH equations in the equilibrium-diffusion limit. Here, we derive the EDA this way and show that it and the associated set of simplified equations are both first-order accurate with transport corrections occurring at second order. Having established the EDA’s first-order accuracy we then analyze the grey nonequilibrium-diffusion approximation and the grey Eddington approximation and show that they both preserve this first-order accuracy.more » Further, these approximations preserve the EDA’s first-order accuracy when made in either the comoving-frame (CMF) or the lab-frame (LF). And while analyzing the Eddington approximation, we found that the CMF and LF radiation-source equations are equivalent when neglecting O(β 2) terms and compared in the LF. Of course, the radiation pressures are not equivalent. It is expected that simplified physical models and numerical discretizations of the RH equations that do not preserve this first-order accuracy will not retain the correct equilibrium-diffusion solutions. As a practical example, we show that nonequilibrium-diffusion radiative-shock solutions devolve to equilibrium-diffusion solutions when the asymptotic parameter is small.« less

What Can Reinforcement Learning Teach Us About Non-Equilibrium Quantum Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukov, Marin; Day, Alexandre; Sels, Dries; Weinberg, Phillip; Polkovnikov, Anatoli; Mehta, Pankaj

Equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical physics are the building blocks of modern science and technology. Yet, our understanding of thermodynamic processes away from equilibrium is largely missing. In this talk, I will reveal the potential of what artificial intelligence can teach us about the complex behaviour of non-equilibrium systems. Specifically, I will discuss the problem of finding optimal drive protocols to prepare a desired target state in quantum mechanical systems by applying ideas from Reinforcement Learning [one can think of Reinforcement Learning as the study of how an agent (e.g. a robot) can learn and perfect a given policy through interactions with an environment.]. The driving protocols learnt by our agent suggest that the non-equilibrium world features possibilities easily defying intuition based on equilibrium physics.

2009 NASA Range Safety Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2010-01-01

This year, NASA Range Safety transitioned to a condensed annual report to allow for Secretariat support to the Range Safety Group, Risk Committee. Although much shorter than in previous years, this report contains full-length articles concerning various subject areas, as well as links to past reports. Additionally, summaries from various NASA Range Safety Program activities that took place throughout the year are presented, as well as information on several projects that may have a profound impact on the way business will be done in the future. The sections include a program overview and 2009 highlights; Range Safety Training; Range Safety Policy; Independent Assessments Support to Program Operations at all ranges conducting NASA launch operations; a continuing overview of emerging range safety-related technologies; and status reports from all of the NASA Centers that have Range Safety responsibilities.

Equilibrium, quasi-equilibrium, and nonequilibrium freezing of mammalian embryos.

PubMed

Mazur, P

1990-08-01

The first successful freezing of early embryos to -196 degrees C in 1972 required that they be cooled slowly at approximately 1 degree C/min to about -70 degrees C. Subsequent observations and physical/chemical analyses indicate that embryos cooled at that rate dehydrate sufficiently to maintain the chemical potential of their intracellular water close to that of the water in the partly frozen extracellular solution. Consequently, such slow freezing is referred to as equilibrium freezing. In 1972 and since, a number of investigators have studied the responses of embryos to departures from equilibrium freezing. When disequilibrium is achieved by the use of higher constant cooling rates to -70 degrees C, the results is usually intracellular ice formation and embryo death. That result is quantitatively in accord with the predictions of the physical/chemical analysis of the kinetics of water loss as a function of cooling rate. However, other procedures involving rapid nonequilibrium cooling do not result in high mortality. One common element in these other nonequilibrium procedures is that, before the temperature has dropped to a level that permits intracellular ice formation, the embryo water content is reduced to the point at which the subsequent rapid nonequilibrium cooling results in either the formation of small innocuous intracellular ice crystals or the conversion of the intracellular solution into a glass. In both cases, high survival requires that subsequent warming be rapid, to prevent recrystallization or devitrification. The physical/chemical analysis developed for initially nondehydrated cells appears generally applicable to these other nonequilibrium procedures as well.

42 CFR 86.16 - Use of project funds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES GRANTS FOR EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH Occupational Safety and Health Training Grants § 86.16 Use of project funds. (a) Any funds granted pursuant to...

42 CFR 86.16 - Use of project funds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES GRANTS FOR EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH Occupational Safety and Health Training Grants § 86.16 Use of project funds. (a) Any funds granted pursuant to...

Impact of biomarker development on drug safety assessment

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

Marrer, Estelle, E-mail: estelle.marrer@novartis.co; Dieterle, Frank

2010-03-01

Drug safety has always been a key aspect of drug development. Recently, the Vioxx case and several cases of serious adverse events being linked to high-profile products have increased the importance of drug safety, especially in the eyes of drug development companies and global regulatory agencies. Safety biomarkers are increasingly being seen as helping to provide the clarity, predictability, and certainty needed to gain confidence in decision making: early-stage projects can be stopped quicker, late-stage projects become less risky. Public and private organizations are investing heavily in terms of time, money and manpower on safety biomarker development. An illustrative andmore » 'door opening' safety biomarker success story is the recent recognition of kidney safety biomarkers for pre-clinical and limited translational contexts by FDA and EMEA. This milestone achieved for kidney biomarkers and the 'know how' acquired is being transferred to other organ toxicities, namely liver, heart, vascular system. New technologies and molecular-based approaches, i.e., molecular pathology as a complement to the classical toolbox, allow promising discoveries in the safety biomarker field. This review will focus on the utility and use of safety biomarkers all along drug development, highlighting the present gaps and opportunities identified in organ toxicity monitoring. A last part will be dedicated to safety biomarker development in general, from identification to diagnostic tests, using the kidney safety biomarkers success as an illustrative example.« less

A Heuristic Approach to Examining Volatile Equilibrium at Titan's Surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Samuelson, Robert E.

1999-01-01

R. D. Lorenz, J. I. Lunine, and C. P. McKay have shown in a manuscript accepted for publication that, for a given ethane abundance and surface temperature, the nitrogen and methane abundances in Titan's atmosphere can be calculated, yielding a surface pressure that can be compared with the observed value. This is potentially a very valuable tool for examining the evolution of Titan's climatology. Its validity does depend on two important assumptions, however: 1) that the atmosphere of Titan is in global radiative equilibrium, and 2) that volatiles present are in vapor equilibrium with the surface. The former assumption has been shown to be likely, but the latter has not. Water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere, in fact, is generally not very close to equilibrium in a global sense. In the present work a heuristic approach is used to examine the likelihood that methane vapor is in equilibrium with Titan's surface. Plausible climate scenerios are examined that are consistent with methane vapor abundances derived from Voyager IRIS data. Simple precipitation and surface diffusion models are incorporated into the analysis. It is tentatively inferred that methane may be in surface equilibrium near the poles, but that equilibrium at low latitudes is more difficult to establish.

Nighttime Ozone Chemical Equilibrium in the Mesopause Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulikov, M. Yu.; Belikovich, M. V.; Grygalashvyly, M.; Sonnemann, G. R.; Ermakova, T. S.; Nechaev, A. A.; Feigin, A. M.

2018-03-01

We examine the applicability of the assumption that nighttime ozone is in photochemical equilibrium. The analysis is based on calculations with a 3-D chemical transport model. These data are used to determine the ratio of correct (calculated) O3 density to its equilibrium value for the conditions of the nighttime mesosphere depending on the altitude, latitude, and month in the annual cycle. The results obtained demonstrate that the retrieval of O and H distributions using the assumption of photochemical ozone equilibrium may lead to a significant error below 81-87 km depending on season. Possible modifications of the currently used approach that allow improving the quality of retrieval of O and H mesospheric distributions from satellite-based observations are discussed.

Work Safety Climate, Safety Behaviors, and Occupational Injuries of Youth Farmworkers in North Carolina

PubMed Central

Rodriguez, Guadalupe; Quandt, Sara A.; Arcury, Justin T.; Arcury, Thomas A.

2015-01-01

Objectives. The aims of this project were to describe the work safety climate and the association between occupational safety behaviors and injuries among hired youth farmworkers in North Carolina (n = 87). Methods. We conducted personal interviews among a cross-sectional sample of youth farmworkers aged 10 to 17 years. Results. The majority of youths reported that work safety practices were very important to management, yet 38% stated that supervisors were only interested in “doing the job quickly and cheaply.” Few youths reported appropriate work safety behavior, and 14% experienced an injury within the past 12 months. In bivariate analysis, perceptions of work safety climate were significantly associated with pesticide exposure risk factors for rewearing wet shoes (P = .01), wet clothes (P = .01), and shorts (P = .03). Conclusions. Youth farmworkers perceived their work safety climate as being poor. Although additional research is needed to support these findings, these results strengthen the need to increase employer awareness to improve the safety climate for protecting youth farmworkers from harmful exposures and injuries. PMID:25973817

Improvements on non-equilibrium and transport Green function techniques: The next-generation TRANSIESTA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papior, Nick; Lorente, Nicolás; Frederiksen, Thomas; García, Alberto; Brandbyge, Mads

2017-03-01

We present novel methods implemented within the non-equilibrium Green function code (NEGF) TRANSIESTA based on density functional theory (DFT). Our flexible, next-generation DFT-NEGF code handles devices with one or multiple electrodes (Ne ≥ 1) with individual chemical potentials and electronic temperatures. We describe its novel methods for electrostatic gating, contour optimizations, and assertion of charge conservation, as well as the newly implemented algorithms for optimized and scalable matrix inversion, performance-critical pivoting, and hybrid parallelization. Additionally, a generic NEGF "post-processing" code (TBTRANS/PHTRANS) for electron and phonon transport is presented with several novelties such as Hamiltonian interpolations, Ne ≥ 1 electrode capability, bond-currents, generalized interface for user-defined tight-binding transport, transmission projection using eigenstates of a projected Hamiltonian, and fast inversion algorithms for large-scale simulations easily exceeding 106 atoms on workstation computers. The new features of both codes are demonstrated and bench-marked for relevant test systems.

TEA: A Code Calculating Thermochemical Equilibrium Abundances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blecic, Jasmina; Harrington, Joseph; Bowman, M. Oliver

2016-07-01

We present an open-source Thermochemical Equilibrium Abundances (TEA) code that calculates the abundances of gaseous molecular species. The code is based on the methodology of White et al. and Eriksson. It applies Gibbs free-energy minimization using an iterative, Lagrangian optimization scheme. Given elemental abundances, TEA calculates molecular abundances for a particular temperature and pressure or a list of temperature-pressure pairs. We tested the code against the method of Burrows & Sharp, the free thermochemical equilibrium code Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA), and the example given by Burrows & Sharp. Using their thermodynamic data, TEA reproduces their final abundances, but with higher precision. We also applied the TEA abundance calculations to models of several hot-Jupiter exoplanets, producing expected results. TEA is written in Python in a modular format. There is a start guide, a user manual, and a code document in addition to this theory paper. TEA is available under a reproducible-research, open-source license via https://github.com/dzesmin/TEA.

Answer Sets in a Fuzzy Equilibrium Logic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schockaert, Steven; Janssen, Jeroen; Vermeir, Dirk; de Cock, Martine

Since its introduction, answer set programming has been generalized in many directions, to cater to the needs of real-world applications. As one of the most general “classical” approaches, answer sets of arbitrary propositional theories can be defined as models in the equilibrium logic of Pearce. Fuzzy answer set programming, on the other hand, extends answer set programming with the capability of modeling continuous systems. In this paper, we combine the expressiveness of both approaches, and define answer sets of arbitrary fuzzy propositional theories as models in a fuzzification of equilibrium logic. We show that the resulting notion of answer set is compatible with existing definitions, when the syntactic restrictions of the corresponding approaches are met. We furthermore locate the complexity of the main reasoning tasks at the second level of the polynomial hierarchy. Finally, as an illustration of its modeling power, we show how fuzzy equilibrium logic can be used to find strong Nash equilibria.

Spectral Quasi-Equilibrium Manifold for Chemical Kinetics.

PubMed

Kooshkbaghi, Mahdi; Frouzakis, Christos E; Boulouchos, Konstantinos; Karlin, Iliya V

2016-05-26

The Spectral Quasi-Equilibrium Manifold (SQEM) method is a model reduction technique for chemical kinetics based on entropy maximization under constraints built by the slowest eigenvectors at equilibrium. The method is revisited here and discussed and validated through the Michaelis-Menten kinetic scheme, and the quality of the reduction is related to the temporal evolution and the gap between eigenvalues. SQEM is then applied to detailed reaction mechanisms for the homogeneous combustion of hydrogen, syngas, and methane mixtures with air in adiabatic constant pressure reactors. The system states computed using SQEM are compared with those obtained by direct integration of the detailed mechanism, and good agreement between the reduced and the detailed descriptions is demonstrated. The SQEM reduced model of hydrogen/air combustion is also compared with another similar technique, the Rate-Controlled Constrained-Equilibrium (RCCE). For the same number of representative variables, SQEM is found to provide a more accurate description.

Influence of safety motivation and climate on safety behaviour and outcomes: evidence from the Saudi Arabian construction industry.

PubMed

Panuwatwanich, Kriengsak; Al-Haadir, Saeed; Stewart, Rodney A

2017-03-01

Over the last three decades, safety literature has focused on safety climate and its role in forecasting injuries and accidents. However, research findings regarding the relationships between safety climate and other key outcome constructs are somewhat inconsistent. Recent safety climate literature suggests that examining the role of safety motivation may help provide a better explanation of such relationships. The research presented in this article aimed to empirically analyse the relationships among safety motivation, safety climate, safety behaviour and safety outcomes within the context of the Saudi Arabian construction industry. A conceptual model was developed to examine the relationships among four main constructs: safety motivation, safety climate, safety behaviour and safety outcomes. Based on the survey data collected in Saudi Arabia from site engineers and project managers (n = 295), statistical analyses were carried out, including confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling to assess the model and test the hypotheses. The main results indicated that safety motivation could positively influence safety behaviour through safety climate, which plays a mediating role for this mechanism. The results also confirmed that safety behaviour could predict safety outcomes within the context of the Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Wall ablation of heated compound-materials into non-equilibrium discharge plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Weizong; Kong, Linghan; Geng, Jinyue; Wei, Fuzhi; Xia, Guangqing

2017-02-01

The discharge properties of the plasma bulk flow near the surface of heated compound-materials strongly affects the kinetic layer parameters modeled and manifested in the Knudsen layer. This paper extends the widely used two-layer kinetic ablation model to the ablation controlled non-equilibrium discharge due to the fact that the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) approximation is often violated as a result of the interaction between the plasma and solid walls. Modifications to the governing set of equations, to account for this effect, are derived and presented by assuming that the temperature of the electrons deviates from that of the heavy particles. The ablation characteristics of one typical material, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are calculated with this improved model. The internal degrees of freedom as well as the average particle mass and specific heat ratio of the polyatomic vapor, which strongly depends on the temperature, pressure and plasma non-equilibrium degree and plays a crucial role in the accurate determination of the ablation behavior by this model, are also taken into account. Our assessment showed the significance of including such modifications related to the non-equilibrium effect in the study of vaporization of heated compound materials in ablation controlled arcs. Additionally, a two-temperature magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) model accounting for the thermal non-equilibrium occurring near the wall surface is developed and applied into an ablation-dominated discharge for an electro-thermal chemical launch device. Special attention is paid to the interaction between the non-equilibrium plasma and the solid propellant surface. Both the mass exchange process caused by the wall ablation and plasma species deposition as well as the associated momentum and energy exchange processes are taken into account. A detailed comparison of the results of the non-equilibrium model with those of an equilibrium model is presented. The non-equilibrium results

Obstetric Safety and Quality.

PubMed

Pettker, Christian M; Grobman, William A

2015-07-01

Obstetric safety and quality is an emerging and important topic not only as a result of the pressures of patient and regulatory expectations, but also because of the genuine interest of caregivers to reduce harm, improve outcomes, and optimize care. Although each seeks to improve care by using scientific approaches beyond human physiology and pathophysiology, patient safety methodologies seek to avoid preventable adverse events, whereas health care quality projects aim to achieve the best possible outcomes. It is well-documented that an increasingly complex medical system controlled by human workers is a circumstance subject to recurrent failure. A safety culture encourages a proactive approach to mitigate failure before, during, and after it occurs. This article highlights the key concepts in health care safety and quality and reviews the background of the quality improvement sciences with particular emphasis on obstetric outcomes and quality measures.

International Research Reactor Decommissioning Project

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

Leopando, Leonardo; Warnecke, Ernst

2008-01-15

Many research reactors have been or will be shut down and are candidates for decommissioning. Most of the respective countries neither have a decommissioning policy nor the required expertise and funds to effectively implement a decommissioning project. The IAEA established the Research Reactor Decommissioning Demonstration Project (R{sup 2}D{sup 2}P) to help answer this need. It was agreed to involve the Philippine Research Reactor (PRR-1) as model reactor to demonstrate 'hands-on' experience as it is just starting the decommissioning process. Other facilities may be included in the project as they fit into the scope of R{sup 2}D{sup 2}P and complement tomore » the PRR-1 decommissioning activities. The key outcome of the R{sup 2}D{sup 2}P will be the decommissioning of the PRR-1 reactor. On the way to this final goal the preparation of safety related documents (i.e., decommissioning plan, environmental impact assessment, safety analysis report, health and safety plan, cost estimate, etc.) and the licensing process as well as the actual dismantling activities could provide a model to other countries involved in the project. It is expected that the R{sup 2}D{sup 2}P would initiate activities related to planning and funding of decommissioning activities in the participating countries if that has not yet been done.« less

A high-fidelity Monte Carlo evaluation of CANDU-6 safety parameters

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

Kim, Y.; Hartanto, D.

2012-07-01

Important safety parameters such as the fuel temperature coefficient (FTC) and the power coefficient of reactivity (PCR) of the CANDU-6 (CANada Deuterium Uranium) reactor have been evaluated by using a modified MCNPX code. For accurate analysis of the parameters, the DBRC (Doppler Broadening Rejection Correction) scheme was implemented in MCNPX in order to account for the thermal motion of the heavy uranium nucleus in the neutron-U scattering reactions. In this work, a standard fuel lattice has been modeled and the fuel is depleted by using the MCNPX and the FTC value is evaluated for several burnup points including the mid-burnupmore » representing a near-equilibrium core. The Doppler effect has been evaluated by using several cross section libraries such as ENDF/B-VI, ENDF/B-VII, JEFF, JENDLE. The PCR value is also evaluated at mid-burnup conditions to characterize safety features of equilibrium CANDU-6 reactor. To improve the reliability of the Monte Carlo calculations, huge number of neutron histories are considered in this work and the standard deviation of the k-inf values is only 0.5{approx}1 pcm. It has been found that the FTC is significantly enhanced by accounting for the Doppler broadening of scattering resonance and the PCR are clearly improved. (authors)« less

Hybrid function projective synchronization in complex dynamical networks

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

Wei, Qiang; Wang, Xing-yuan, E-mail: wangxy@dlut.edu.cn; Hu, Xiao-peng

2014-02-15

This paper investigates hybrid function projective synchronization in complex dynamical networks. When the complex dynamical networks could be synchronized up to an equilibrium or periodic orbit, a hybrid feedback controller is designed to realize the different component of vector of node could be synchronized up to different desired scaling function in complex dynamical networks with time delay. Hybrid function projective synchronization (HFPS) in complex dynamical networks with constant delay and HFPS in complex dynamical networks with time-varying coupling delay are researched, respectively. Finally, the numerical simulations show the effectiveness of theoretical analysis.

Safety in construction--a comprehensive description of the characteristics of high safety standards in construction work, from the combined perspective of supervisors and experienced workers.

PubMed

Törner, Marianne; Pousette, Anders

2009-01-01

The often applied engineering approach to safety management in the construction industry needs to be supplemented by organizational measures and measures based on how people conceive and react to their social environment. This requires in-depth knowledge of the broad preconditions for high safety standards in construction. The aim of the study was to comprehensively describe the preconditions and components of high safety standards in the construction industry from the perspective of both experienced construction workers and first-line managers. Five worker safety representatives and 19 first-line managers were interviewed, all strategically selected from within a large Swedish construction project. Phenomenographic methodology was used for data acquisition and analysis and to categorize the information. Nine informants verified the results. The study identified four main categories of work safety preconditions and components: (1) Project characteristics and nature of the work, which set the limits of safety management; (2) Organization and structures, with the subcategories planning, work roles, procedures, and resources; (3) Collective values, norms, and behaviors, with the subcategories climate and culture, and interaction and cooperation; and (4) Individual competence and attitudes, with the subcategories knowledge, ability and experience, and individual attitudes. The results comprehensively describe high safety standards in construction, incorporating organizational, group, individual, and technical aspects. High-quality interaction between different organizational functions and hierarchical levels stood out as important aspects of safety. The results are discussed in relation to previous research into safety and into the social-psychological preconditions for other desired outcomes in occupational settings. The results can guide construction companies in planning and executing construction projects to a high safety standard.

Phonon Mapping in Flowing Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruff, J. P. C.

2015-03-01

When a material conducts heat, a modification of the phonon population occurs. The equilibrium Bose-Einstein distribution is perturbed towards flowing-equilibrium, for which the distribution function is not analytically known. Here I argue that the altered phonon population can be efficiently mapped over broad regions of reciprocal space, via diffuse x-ray scattering or time-of-flight neutron scattering, while a thermal gradient is applied across a single crystal sample. When compared to traditional transport measurements, this technique offers a superior, information-rich new perspective on lattice thermal conductivity, wherein the band and momentum dependences of the phonon thermal current are directly resolved. The proposed method is benchmarked using x-ray thermal diffuse scattering measurements of single crystal diamond under transport conditions. CHESS is supported by the NSF & NIH/NIGMS via NSF Award DMR-1332208.

Effect of electronic device use on pedestrian safety : a literature review.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-01

This literature review on the effect of electronic device use on pedestrian safety is part of a research project sponsored by the Office of Behavioral Safety Research in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). An extensive literat...

Calibration factors handbook : safety prediction models calibrated with Texas highway system.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-10-01

Highway safety is an ongoing concern to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project developm...

Asymptotic stability estimates near an equilibrium point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumas, H. Scott; Meyer, Kenneth R.; Palacián, Jesús F.; Yanguas, Patricia

2017-07-01

We use the error bounds for adiabatic invariants found in the work of Chartier, Murua and Sanz-Serna [3] to bound the solutions of a Hamiltonian system near an equilibrium over exponentially long times. Our estimates depend only on the linearized system and not on the higher order terms as in KAM theory, nor do we require any steepness or convexity conditions as in Nekhoroshev theory. We require that the equilibrium point where our estimate applies satisfy a type of formal stability called Lie stability.

Computing Properties Of Chemical Mixtures At Equilibrium

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcbride, B. J.; Gordon, S.

1995-01-01

Scientists and engineers need data on chemical equilibrium compositions to calculate theoretical thermodynamic properties of chemical systems. Information essential in design and analysis of such equipment as compressors, turbines, nozzles, engines, shock tubes, heat exchangers, and chemical-processing equipment. CET93 is general program that calculates chemical equilibrium compositions and properties of mixtures for any chemical system for which thermodynamic data are available. Includes thermodynamic data for more than 1,300 gaseous and condensed species and thermal-transport data for 151 gases. Written in FORTRAN 77.

Global dynamics of non-equilibrium gliding in animals.

PubMed

Yeaton, Isaac J; Socha, John J; Ross, Shane D

2017-03-17

Gliding flight-moving horizontally downward through the air without power-has evolved in a broad diversity of taxa and serves numerous ecologically relevant functions such as predator escape, expanding foraging locations, and finding mates, and has been suggested as an evolutionary pathway to powered flight. Historically, gliding has been conceptualized using the idealized conditions of equilibrium, in which the net aerodynamic force on the glider balances its weight. While this assumption is appealing for its simplicity, recent studies of glide trajectories have shown that equilibrium gliding is not the norm for most species. Furthermore, equilibrium theory neglects the aerodynamic differences between species, as well as how a glider can modify its glide path using control. To investigate non-equilibrium glide behavior, we developed a reduced-order model of gliding that accounts for self-similarity in the equations of motion, such that the lift and drag characteristics alone determine the glide trajectory. From analysis of velocity polar diagrams of horizontal and vertical velocity from several gliding species, we find that pitch angle, the angle between the horizontal and chord line, is a control parameter that can be exploited to modulate glide angle and glide speed. Varying pitch results in changing locations of equilibrium glide configurations in the velocity polar diagram that govern passive glide dynamics. Such analyses provide a new mechanism of interspecies comparison and tools to understand experimentally-measured kinematics data and theory. In addition, this analysis suggests that the lift and drag characteristics of aerial and aquatic autonomous gliders can be engineered to passively alter glide trajectories with minimal control effort.

18 CFR 12.10 - Reporting safety-related incidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... report of any death or serious injury considered or alleged to be project related must also describe any... be verified in accordance with § 12.13. (3) Accidents that are not project-related may be reported by... COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT SAFETY OF WATER POWER PROJECTS AND...

An Updated Equilibrium Machine