Internal mechanisms underlying anticipatory language processing: Evidence from event-related-potentials and neural oscillations.

PubMed

Li, Xiaoqing; Zhang, Yuping; Xia, Jinyan; Swaab, Tamara Y

2017-07-28

Although numerous studies have demonstrated that the language processing system can predict upcoming content during comprehension, there is still no clear picture of the anticipatory stage of predictive processing. This electroencephalograph study examined the cognitive and neural oscillatory mechanisms underlying anticipatory processing during language comprehension, and the consequences of this prediction for bottom-up processing of predicted/unpredicted content. Participants read Mandarin Chinese sentences that were either strongly or weakly constraining and that contained critical nouns that were congruent or incongruent with the sentence contexts. We examined the effects of semantic predictability on anticipatory processing prior to the onset of the critical nouns and on integration of the critical nouns. The results revealed that, at the integration stage, the strong-constraint condition (compared to the weak-constraint condition) elicited a reduced N400 and reduced theta activity (4-7Hz) for the congruent nouns, but induced beta (13-18Hz) and theta (4-7Hz) power decreases for the incongruent nouns, indicating benefits of confirmed predictions and potential costs of disconfirmed predictions. More importantly, at the anticipatory stage, the strongly constraining context elicited an enhanced sustained anterior negativity and beta power decrease (19-25Hz), which indicates that strong prediction places a higher processing load on the anticipatory stage of processing. The differences (in the ease of processing and the underlying neural oscillatory activities) between anticipatory and integration stages of lexical processing were discussed with regard to predictive processing models. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Merged beam laser design for reduction of gain-saturation and two-photon absorption in high power single mode semiconductor lasers.

PubMed

Lysevych, M; Tan, H H; Karouta, F; Fu, L; Jagadish, C

2013-04-08

In this paper we report a method to overcome the limitations of gain-saturation and two-photon absorption faced by developers of high power single mode InP-based lasers and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) including those based on wide-waveguide or slab-coupled optical waveguide laser (SCOWL) technology. The method is based on Y-coupling design of the laser cavity. The reduction in gain-saturation and two-photon absorption in the merged beam laser structures (MBL) are obtained by reducing the intensity of electromagnetic field in the laser cavity. Standard ridge-waveguide lasers and MBLs were fabricated, tested and compared. Despite a slightly higher threshold current, the reduced gain-saturation in MBLs results in higher output power. The MBLs also produced a single spatial mode, as well as a strongly dominating single spectral mode which is the inherent feature of MBL-type cavity.

Health benefits, ecological threats of low-carbon electricity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibon, Thomas; Hertwich, Edgar G.; Arvesen, Anders; Singh, Bhawna; Verones, Francesca

2017-03-01

Stabilizing global temperature will require a shift to renewable or nuclear power from fossil power and the large-scale deployment of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) for remaining fossil fuel use. Non-climate co-benefits of low-carbon energy technologies, especially reduced mortalities from air pollution and decreased ecosystem damage, have been important arguments for policies to reduce CO2 emissions. Taking into account a wide range of environmental mechanisms and the complex interactions of the supply chains of different technologies, we conducted the first life cycle assessment of potential human health and ecological impacts of a global low-carbon electricity scenario. Our assessment indicates strong human health benefits of low-carbon electricity. For ecosystem quality, there is a significant trade-off between reduced pollution and climate impacts and potentially significant ecological impacts from land use associated with increased biopower utilization. Other renewables, nuclear power and CCS show clear ecological benefits, so that the climate mitigation scenario with a relatively low share of biopower has lower ecosystem impacts than the baseline scenario. Energy policy can maximize co-benefits by supporting other renewable and nuclear power and developing biomass supply from sources with low biodiversity impact.

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Flammulina velutipes polysaccharides and polysaccharide-iron(III) complex [corrected].

PubMed

Dong, Ya-Ru; Cheng, Shu-Jie; Qi, Guo-Hong; Yang, Zhi-Ping; Yin, Shi-Yu; Chen, Gui-Tang

2017-04-01

FVP is polysacchrides obtained from Flammulina velutipes. A polysacchride named FVP2 was isolated from FVP by DEAE cellulose-52 chromatography and Sephadex G-100 size-exclusion chromatography. FVP-Fe and FVP2-Fe were synthesized by neutralization of FeCl 3 carbohydrate solution. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of FVP, FVP2, FVP-Fe, FVP2-Fe were investigated and their antioxidant effects on hydroxyl, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide anion, 2,2'-azobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals, reducing power, inhibition of malondialdehyde (MDA) were assessed in vitro. The results suggested that FVP-Fe and FVP2-Fe significantly suppressed the growth of bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis, and have relatively strong antioxidant activity to scavenge superoxide anion radical. In addition, FVP exhibited strong antioxidant activity to eliminate hydroxyl, DPPH, ABTS radicals, had high reducing power and inhibited the MDA production of health mice liver homogenate induced by auto-oxidation and Fe 2+ -H 2 O 2 system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenolic acids inhibit the formation of advanced glycation end products in food simulation systems depending on their reducing powers and structures.

PubMed

Chen, Hengye; Virk, Muhammad Safiullah; Chen, Fusheng

2016-06-01

The concentration of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in foods, which are formed by Maillard reaction, has demonstrated as risk factors associated with many chronic diseases. The AGEs inhibitory activities of five common phenolic acids (protocatechuic acid, dihydroferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid and salicylic acid) with different chemical properties had been investigated in two food simulation systems (glucose-bovine serum albumin (BSA) and oleic acid-BSA). The results substantiated that the AGEs inhibitory abilities of phenolic acids in the oleic acid BSA system were much better than the glucose-BSA system for their strong reducing powers and structures. Among them, dihydrogenferulic acid showed strong inhibition of AGEs formation in oleic acid-BSA system at 0.01 mg/mL compared to nonsignificant AGEs inhibitory effect in oleic acid-BSA system at 10-fold higher concentration (0.1 mg/mL). This study suggests that edible plants rich in phenolic acids may be used as AGEs inhibitor during high-fat cooking.

Hiding the Tobacco Power Wall Reduces Cigarette Smoking Risk in Adolescents: Using an Experimental Convenience Store to Assess Tobacco Regulatory Options at Retail Point-of-Sale

PubMed Central

Shadel, William G.; Martino, Steven; Setodji, Claude; Scharf, Deborah; Kusuke, Daniela; Sicker, Angela; Gong, Min

2015-01-01

Objectives This experiment tested whether changing the location or visibility of the tobacco power wall in a life sized replica of a convenience store had any effect on adolescents’ susceptibility to future cigarette smoking. Methods The study was conducted in the RAND StoreLab (RSL), a life sized replica of a convenience store that was developed to experimentally evaluate how changing aspects of tobacco advertising displays in retail point-of-sale environments influences tobacco use risk and behavior. A randomized, between-subjects experimental design with three conditions that varied the location or visibility of the tobacco power wall within the RSL was used. The conditions were: cashier (the tobacco power wall was located in its typical position behind the cash register counter); sidewall (the tobacco power wall was located on a sidewall away from the cash register); or hidden (the tobacco power wall was located behind the cashier but was hidden behind an opaque wall). The sample included 241 adolescents. Results Hiding the tobacco power wall significantly reduced adolescents’ susceptibility to future cigarette smoking compared to leaving it exposed (i.e., the cashier condition; p = .02). Locating the tobacco power wall on a sidewall away from the cashier had no effect on future cigarette smoking susceptibility compared to the cashier condition (p = 0.80). Conclusions Hiding the tobacco power wall at retail point-of-sale locations is a strong regulatory option for reducing the impact of the retail environment on cigarette smoking risk in adolescents. PMID:26598502

Relationship Power and Sexual Violence Among HIV-Positive Women in Rural Uganda

PubMed Central

Tsai, Alexander C.; Clark, Gina M.; Boum, Yap; Hatcher, Abigail M.; Kawuma, Annet; Hunt, Peter W.; Martin, Jeffrey N.; Bangsberg, David R.; Weiser, Sheri D.

2016-01-01

Gender-based power imbalances place women at significant risk for sexual violence, however, little research has examined this association among women living with HIV/AIDS. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of relationship power and sexual violence among HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy in rural Uganda. Relationship power was measured using the Sexual Relationship Power Scale (SRPS), a validated measure consisting of two subscales: relationship control (RC) and decision-making dominance. We used multivariable logistic regression to test for associations between the SRPS and two dependent variables: recent forced sex and transactional sex. Higher relationship power (full SRPS) was associated with reduced odds of forced sex (AOR = 0.24; 95 % CI 0.07–0.80; p = 0.020). The association between higher relationship power and transactional sex was strong and in the expected direction, but not statistically significant (AOR = 0.47; 95 % CI 0.18–1.22; p = 0.119). Higher RC was associated with reduced odds of both forced sex (AOR = 0.18; 95 % CI 0.06–0.59; p < 0.01) and transactional sex (AOR = 0.38; 95 % CI 0.15–0.99; p = 0.048). Violence prevention interventions with HIV-positive women should consider approaches that increase women’s power in their relationships. PMID:27052844

Psychopathy and community violence among civil psychiatric patients: results from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study.

PubMed

Skeem, J L; Mulvey, E P

2001-06-01

Although psychopathy is recognized as a relatively strong risk factor for violence among inmates and mentally disordered offenders, few studies have examined the extent to which its predictive power generalizes to civil psychiatric samples. Using data on 1,136 patients from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment project, this study examined whether the 2 scales that underlie the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) measure a unique personality construct that predicts violence among civil patients. The results indicate that the PCL:SV is a relatively strong predictor of violence. The PCL:SV's predictive power is substantially reduced, but remains significant, after controlling for a host of covariates that reflect antisocial behavior and personality disorders other than psychopathy. However, the predictive power of the PCL:SV is not based on its assessment of the core traits of psychopathy, as traditionally construed. Implications for the 2-factor model that underlies the PCL measures and for risk assessment practice are discussed.

Energy Efficient Real-Time Scheduling Using DPM on Mobile Sensors with a Uniform Multi-Cores

PubMed Central

Kim, Youngmin; Lee, Chan-Gun

2017-01-01

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), sensor nodes are deployed for collecting and analyzing data. These nodes use limited energy batteries for easy deployment and low cost. The use of limited energy batteries is closely related to the lifetime of the sensor nodes when using wireless sensor networks. Efficient-energy management is important to extending the lifetime of the sensor nodes. Most effort for improving power efficiency in tiny sensor nodes has focused mainly on reducing the power consumed during data transmission. However, recent emergence of sensor nodes equipped with multi-cores strongly requires attention to be given to the problem of reducing power consumption in multi-cores. In this paper, we propose an energy efficient scheduling method for sensor nodes supporting a uniform multi-cores. We extend the proposed T-Ler plane based scheduling for global optimal scheduling of a uniform multi-cores and multi-processors to enable power management using dynamic power management. In the proposed approach, processor selection for a scheduling and mapping method between the tasks and processors is proposed to efficiently utilize dynamic power management. Experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed approach compared to other existing methods. PMID:29240695

Photonic Crystal Microchip Laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gailevicius, Darius; Koliadenko, Volodymyr; Purlys, Vytautas; Peckus, Martynas; Taranenko, Victor; Staliunas, Kestutis

2016-09-01

The microchip lasers, being very compact and efficient sources of coherent light, suffer from one serious drawback: low spatial quality of the beam strongly reducing the brightness of emitted radiation. Attempts to improve the beam quality, such as pump-beam guiding, external feedback, either strongly reduce the emission power, or drastically increase the size and complexity of the lasers. Here it is proposed that specially designed photonic crystal in the cavity of a microchip laser, can significantly improve the beam quality. Experiments show that a microchip laser, due to spatial filtering functionality of intracavity photonic crystal, improves the beam quality factor M2 reducing it by a factor of 2, and increase the brightness of radiation by a factor of 3. This comprises a new kind of laser, the “photonic crystal microchip laser”, a very compact and efficient light source emitting high spatial quality high brightness radiation.

Photonic Crystal Microchip Laser

PubMed Central

Gailevicius, Darius; Koliadenko, Volodymyr; Purlys, Vytautas; Peckus, Martynas; Taranenko, Victor; Staliunas, Kestutis

2016-01-01

The microchip lasers, being very compact and efficient sources of coherent light, suffer from one serious drawback: low spatial quality of the beam strongly reducing the brightness of emitted radiation. Attempts to improve the beam quality, such as pump-beam guiding, external feedback, either strongly reduce the emission power, or drastically increase the size and complexity of the lasers. Here it is proposed that specially designed photonic crystal in the cavity of a microchip laser, can significantly improve the beam quality. Experiments show that a microchip laser, due to spatial filtering functionality of intracavity photonic crystal, improves the beam quality factor M2 reducing it by a factor of 2, and increase the brightness of radiation by a factor of 3. This comprises a new kind of laser, the “photonic crystal microchip laser”, a very compact and efficient light source emitting high spatial quality high brightness radiation. PMID:27683066

Tests of Transport Theory and Reduced Impurity Influx with Highly Radiative Plasmas in TFTR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, K. W.

1997-11-01

The electron and ion temperature profiles in beam-heated plasmas were observed to be remarkably invariant when radiative losses were increased significantly through gas puffing of high-Z impurities (argon, krypton, xenon) in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor. Without impurity puffing, radiative losses accounted for typically only ~ 25\\char'45 of the input power and the radiation profile was strongly peaked at the plasma edge, where the dominant carbon impurity was not fully stripped. At central electron temperatures, T_eo, of ~ 6 keV, trace concentrations of krypton and xenon (n_z/ne ~ 10-3) generated flat and centrally peaked radiation profiles respectively, and a significant fraction of the input power (45-100\\char'45 ) was lost through radiation. This loss provided a nearly ideal technique for studying local heat transport in tokamaks because it perturbed the net heating profile strongly and in a measureable way, with little effect on the density and the beam deposition profiles. In supershot plasmas, Ti >> T_e, the ion temperature profile remained constant, or even increased modestly, as the radiated power fraction was increased to 75-90\\char'45 with krypton and xenon. This observation is surprising because ion-electron coupling is the dominant power loss term for the ions in the core of supershot plasmas, and the central Ti would have decreased a factor of two if the local ion thermal diffusivity had remained constant at its value without impurity puffing. In L-mode plasmas where ion-electron power coupling is a smaller term in the power balance, the electron temperature during impurity puffing also changed only ~ 10-15\\char'45 even as the net power flow through the electrons was decreased by a factor of ~ 3. The ``stiffness" of the temperature profiles to net input power is supportive of transport mechanisms which have a marginal-stability character. Preliminary comparisons of the temperature changes with predictions of the IFS/PPPL transport model,(M. Kotschenreuther, W. Dorland, M. A. Beer, and G. W. Hammett, Phys. Plasmas 2, 2381 (1995)) which has strong marginal-stability behavior, are reasonable; more detailed comparisons are in progress. Use of high-Z radiators did not impair fusion performance, confirming they can be used to reduce the heat flux to the plasma facing components with minimal ion dilution. At input power level s of 30-33 MW, enhanced radiation through krypton and xenon puffing eliminated serious carbon influx (carbon ``blooms") which occurred in comparable plasmas without impurity puffing.

Synthesis and strong photooxidation power of a supramolecular hybrid comprising a polyoxometalate and Ru(II) polypyridyl complex with zinc(II).

PubMed

Ohashi, Kenji; Takeda, Hiroyuki; Koike, Kazuhide; Ishitani, Osamu

2015-01-01

A novel method for constructing supramolecular hybrids composed of polyoxometalates and photofunctional metal complexes was developed. A Ru(II) complex with phosphonate groups (RuP) strongly interacted with Zn(II) to afford a 2 : 1 trinuclear metal complex ([(RuP)2Zn](3+)). In dimethylsulfoxide, [(RuP)2Zn](3+) strongly interacted with a Keggin-type heteropolyoxometalate (Si-WPOM) to form a 1 : 1 hybrid ([(RuP)2Zn]-POM). Irradiation of [(RuP)2Zn]-POM in the presence of diethanolamine caused rapid accumulation of the one-electron reduced hybrid with a quantum yield of 0.99.

Power Balance and Impurity Studies in TCS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grossnickle, J. A.; Pietrzyk, Z. A.; Vlases, G. C.

2003-10-01

A "zero-dimension" power balance model was developed based on measurements of absorbed power, radiated power, absolute D_α, temperature, and density for the TCS device. Radiation was determined to be the dominant source of power loss for medium to high density plasmas. The total radiated power was strongly correlated with the Oxygen line radiation. This suggests Oxygen is the dominant radiating species, which was confirmed by doping studies. These also extrapolate to a Carbon content below 1.5%. Determining the source of the impurities is an important question that must be answered for the TCS upgrade. Preliminary indications are that the primary sources of Oxygen are the stainless steel end cones. A Ti gettering system is being installed to reduce this Oxygen source. A field line code has been developed for use in tracking where open field lines terminate on the walls. Output from this code is also used to generate grids for an impurity tracking code.

Hiding the tobacco power wall reduces cigarette smoking risk in adolescents: using an experimental convenience store to assess tobacco regulatory options at retail point-of-sale.

PubMed

Shadel, William G; Martino, Steven C; Setodji, Claude M; Scharf, Deborah M; Kusuke, Daniela; Sicker, Angela; Gong, Min

2015-11-23

This experiment tested whether changing the location or visibility of the tobacco power wall in a life sized replica of a convenience store had any effect on adolescents' susceptibility to future cigarette smoking. The study was conducted in the RAND StoreLab (RSL), a life sized replica of a convenience store that was developed to experimentally evaluate how changing aspects of tobacco advertising displays in retail point-of-sale environments influences tobacco use risk and behaviour. A randomised, between-subjects experimental design with three conditions that varied the location or visibility of the tobacco power wall within the RSL was used. The conditions were: cashier (the tobacco power wall was located in its typical position behind the cash register counter); sidewall (the tobacco power wall was located on a sidewall away from the cash register); or hidden (the tobacco power wall was located behind the cashier but was hidden behind an opaque wall). The sample included 241 adolescents. Hiding the tobacco power wall significantly reduced adolescents' susceptibility to future cigarette smoking compared to leaving it exposed (ie, the cashier condition; p=0.02). Locating the tobacco power wall on a sidewall away from the cashier had no effect on future cigarette smoking susceptibility compared to the cashier condition (p=0.80). Hiding the tobacco power wall at retail point-of-sale locations is a strong regulatory option for reducing the impact of the retail environment on cigarette smoking risk in adolescents. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

The influence of magnetic fields on the wake field and stopping power of an ion-beam pulse in plasmas

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

Zhao, Xiao-ying; Zhang, Ya-ling; Duan, Wen-shan

2015-09-15

We performed two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to investigate how a magnetic field affects the wake field and stopping power of an ion-beam pulse moving in plasmas. The corresponding density of plasma electrons is investigated. At a weak magnetic field, the wakes exhibit typical V-shaped cone structures. As the magnetic field strengthens, the wakes spread and lose their typical V-shaped structures. At a sufficiently strong magnetic field, the wakes exhibit conversed V-shaped structures. Additionally, strengthening the magnetic field reduces the stopping power in regions of low and high beam density. However, the influence of the magnetic field becomes complicated in regions ofmore » moderate beam density. The stopping power increases in a weak magnetic field, but it decreases in a strong magnetic field. At high beam density and moderate magnetic field, two low-density channels of plasma electrons appear on both sides of the incident beam pulse trajectory. This is because electrons near the beam pulses will be attracted and move along with the beam pulses, while other electrons nearby are restricted by the magnetic field and cannot fill the gap.« less

Evaluation of the antioxidant activity of four edible mushrooms from the Central Anatolia, Eskisehir - Turkey: Lactarius deterrimus, Suillus collitinus, Boletus edulis, Xerocomus chrysenteron.

PubMed

Sarikurkcu, Cengiz; Tepe, Bektas; Yamac, Mustafa

2008-09-01

The methanolic extracts of Lactarius deterrimus, Suillus collitinus, Boletus edulis, Xerocomus chrysenteron were analyzed for their antioxidant activities in different test systems namely beta-carotene/linoleic acid, DPPH free radical scavenging, reducing power and metal chelating activities in addition to their total phenolic and flavonoid contents. In beta-carotene/linoleic acid and DPPH systems, L. deterrimus and B. edulis showed the strongest activity patterns. Their activities were as strong as the positive controls. The reducing power of the species was excellent. Chelating capacity of the extracts was increased with the increasing concentration. On the other hand, B. edulis found to have the highest phenolic content. Total flavonoid content of S. collitinus found the superior to the other mushrooms.

Performance Improvement of Diagonal Type MHD Generator by Modification of PTO Electrode Configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Toru; Fujino, Takayasu; Ishikawa, Motoo

Time dependent three-dimensional numerical analysis is carried out in order to clarify causes of voltage loss occurring near power takeoff regions and to suggest how to reduce the voltage loss for the scramjet engine driven MHD generator which was developed under the hypersonic vehicle electric power system program in USA. The numerical results under the experimental condition show that the local positive electric field is induced near the power takeoff electrodes. The phenomenon is due to the electric field loss by the high electric current through the weakly ionized plasma with low temperature and also by the low electromotive force near the power takeoff electrodes. When the configuration of power takeoff electrodes is modified, the current density near the power takeoff electrodes becomes small and the electromotive force becomes strong. The electric power output under the optimum electrode configuration of power takeoff is improved by 22 percent, compared with the value under the experimental condition.

Efficient Biomass Fuel Cell Powered by Sugar with Photo- and Thermal-Catalysis by Solar Irradiation.

PubMed

Liu, Wei; Gong, Yutao; Wu, Weibing; Yang, Weisheng; Liu, Congmin; Deng, Yulin; Chao, Zi-Sheng

2018-06-19

The utilization of biomass sugars has received great interesting recently. Herein, we present a highly efficient hybrid solar biomass fuel cell that utilizes thermal- and photocatalysis of solar irradiation and converts biomass sugars into electricity with high power output. The fuel cell uses polyoxometalates (POMs) as photocatalyst to decompose sugars and capture their electrons. The reduced POMs have strong visible and near-infrared light adsorption, which can significantly increase the temperature of the reaction system and largely promotes the thermal oxidation of sugars by the POM. In addition, the reduced POM functions as charge carrier that can release electrons at the anode in the fuel cell to generate electricity. The electron-transfer rates from glucose to POM under thermal and light-irradiation conditions were investigated in detail. The power outputs of this solar biomass fuel cell are investigated by using different types of sugars as fuels, with the highest power density reaching 45 mW cm -2 . © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Relationship Power and Sexual Violence Among HIV-Positive Women in Rural Uganda.

PubMed

Conroy, Amy A; Tsai, Alexander C; Clark, Gina M; Boum, Yap; Hatcher, Abigail M; Kawuma, Annet; Hunt, Peter W; Martin, Jeffrey N; Bangsberg, David R; Weiser, Sheri D

2016-09-01

Gender-based power imbalances place women at significant risk for sexual violence, however, little research has examined this association among women living with HIV/AIDS. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of relationship power and sexual violence among HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy in rural Uganda. Relationship power was measured using the Sexual Relationship Power Scale (SRPS), a validated measure consisting of two subscales: relationship control (RC) and decision-making dominance. We used multivariable logistic regression to test for associations between the SRPS and two dependent variables: recent forced sex and transactional sex. Higher relationship power (full SRPS) was associated with reduced odds of forced sex (AOR = 0.24; 95 % CI 0.07-0.80; p = 0.020). The association between higher relationship power and transactional sex was strong and in the expected direction, but not statistically significant (AOR = 0.47; 95 % CI 0.18-1.22; p = 0.119). Higher RC was associated with reduced odds of both forced sex (AOR = 0.18; 95 % CI 0.06-0.59; p < 0.01) and transactional sex (AOR = 0.38; 95 % CI 0.15-0.99; p = 0.048). Violence prevention interventions with HIV-positive women should consider approaches that increase women's power in their relationships.

Sympathovagal imbalance in hyperthyroidism.

PubMed

Burggraaf, J; Tulen, J H; Lalezari, S; Schoemaker, R C; De Meyer, P H; Meinders, A E; Cohen, A F; Pijl, H

2001-07-01

We assessed sympathovagal balance in thyrotoxicosis. Fourteen patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism were studied before and after 7 days of treatment with propranolol (40 mg 3 times a day) and in the euthyroid state. Data were compared with those obtained in a group of age-, sex-, and weight-matched controls. Autonomic inputs to the heart were assessed by power spectral analysis of heart rate variability. Systemic exposure to sympathetic neurohormones was estimated on the basis of 24-h urinary catecholamine excretion. The spectral power in the high-frequency domain was considerably reduced in hyperthyroid patients, indicating diminished vagal inputs to the heart. Increased heart rate and mid-frequency/high-frequency power ratio in the presence of reduced total spectral power and increased urinary catecholamine excretion strongly suggest enhanced sympathetic inputs in thyrotoxicosis. All abnormal features of autonomic balance were completely restored to normal in the euthyroid state. beta-Adrenoceptor antagonism reduced heart rate in hyperthyroid patients but did not significantly affect heart rate variability or catecholamine excretion. This is in keeping with the concept of a joint disruption of sympathetic and vagal inputs to the heart underlying changes in heart rate variability. Thus thyrotoxicosis is characterized by profound sympathovagal imbalance, brought about by increased sympathetic activity in the presence of diminished vagal tone.

Renewing VET Provision: Understanding Feedback Mechanisms between Initial VET and the Labour Market. Research Paper No 37

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, 2013

2013-01-01

A strong VET system is increasingly seen as essential to overcoming the current economic crisis in Europe. VET is seen as a powerful tool to assist in balancing labour market inefficiencies, increasing youth employment possibilities, and reducing skills mismatch. Its inherent flexibility and closeness to the labour market place VET in a good…

Infer More, Describe Less: More Powerful Survey Conclusions through Easy Inferential Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hightower, Christy; Scott, Kerry

2012-01-01

Many librarians use data from surveys to make decisions about how to spend money or allocate staff, often making use of popular online tools like Survey Monkey. In this era of reduced budgets, low staffing, stiff competition for new resources, and increasingly complex choices, it is especially important that librarians know how to get strong,…

The flow field investigations of no load conditions in axial flow fixed-blade turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, J.; Gao, L.; Wang, Z. W.; Zhou, X. Z.; Xu, H. X.

2014-03-01

During the start-up process, the strong instabilities happened at no load operation in a low head axial flow fixed-blade turbine, with strong pressure pulsation and vibration. The rated speed can not reach until guide vane opening to some extent, and stable operation could not be maintained under the rated speed at some head, which had a negative impact on the grid-connected operation of the unit. In order to find the reason of this phenomenon, the unsteady flow field of the whole flow passage at no load conditions was carried out to analyze the detailed fluid field characteristics including the pressure pulsation and force imposed on the runner under three typical heads. The main hydraulic cause of no load conditions instability was described. It is recommended that the power station should try to reduce the no-load running time and go into the high load operation as soon as possible when connected to grid at the rated head. Following the recommendations, the plant operation practice proved the unstable degree of the unit was reduced greatly during start up and connect to the power grid.

Introduced predators transform subarctic islands from grassland to tundra

USGS Publications Warehouse

Croll, D.A.; Maron, J.L.; Estes, J.A.; Danner, E.M.; Byrd, G.V.

2005-01-01

Top predators often have powerful direct effects on prey populations, but whether these direct effects propagate to the base of terrestrial food webs is debated. There are few examples of trophic cascades strong enough to alter the abundance and composition of entire plant communities. We show that the introduction of arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) to the Aleutian archipelago induced strong shifts in plant productivity and community structure via a previously unknown pathway. By preying on seabirds, foxes reduced nutrient transport from ocean to land, affecting soil fertility and transforming grasslands to dwarf shrub/forb-dominated ecosystems.

Functional Ginger Extracts from Supercritical Fluid Carbon Dioxide Extraction via In Vitro and In Vivo Assays: Antioxidation, Antimicroorganism, and Mice Xenografts Models

PubMed Central

Lee, Chih-Chen; Chiou, Li-Yu; Wang, Jheng-Yang; Chou, Sin-You; Lan, John Chi-Wei; Huang, Tsi-Shu; Huang, Kuo-Chuan

2013-01-01

Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction technology was developed to gain the active components from a Taiwan native plant, Zingiber officinale (ginger). We studied the biological effects of ginger extracts via multiple assays and demonstrated the biofunctions in each platform. Investigations of ginger extracts indicated antioxidative properties in dose-dependant manners on radical scavenging activities, reducing powers and metal chelating powers. We found that ginger extracts processed moderate scavenging values, middle metal chelating levels, and slight ferric reducing powers. The antibacterial susceptibility of ginger extracts on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sobrinus, S. mutans, and Escherichia coli was determined with the broth microdilution method technique. The ginger extracts had operative antimicroorganism potentials against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We further discovered the strong inhibitions of ginger extracts on lethal carcinogenic melanoma through in vivo xenograft model. To sum up, the data confirmed the possible applications as medical cosmetology agents, pharmaceutical antibiotics, and food supplements. PMID:23983624

Anchors weigh more than power: why absolute powerlessness liberates negotiators to achieve better outcomes.

PubMed

Schaerer, Michael; Swaab, Roderick I; Galinsky, Adam D

2015-02-01

The current research shows that having no power can be better than having a little power. Negotiators prefer having some power (weak negotiation alternatives) to having no power (no alternatives). We challenge this belief that having any alternative is beneficial by demonstrating that weak alternatives create low anchors that reduce the value of first offers. In contrast, having no alternatives is liberating because there is no anchor to weigh down first offers. In our experiments, negotiators with no alternatives felt less powerful but made higher first offers and secured superior outcomes compared with negotiators who had weak alternatives. We established the role of anchoring through mediation by first offers and through moderation by showing that weak alternatives no longer led to worse outcomes when negotiators focused on a countervailing anchor or when negotiators faced an opponent with a strong alternative. These results demonstrate that anchors can have larger effects than feelings of power. Absolute powerlessness can be psychologically liberating. © The Author(s) 2014.

Effects of laser power density on static and dynamic mechanical properties of dissimilar stainless steel welded joints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yan-Peng; Li, Mao-Hui; Yu, Gang; Wu, Xian-Qian; Huang, Chen-Guang; Duan, Zhu-Ping

2012-10-01

The mechanical properties of laser welded joints under impact loadings such as explosion and car crash etc. are critical for the engineering designs. The hardness, static and dynamic mechanical properties of AISI304 and AISI316 L dissimilar stainless steel welded joints by CO2 laser were experimentally studied. The dynamic strain-stress curves at the strain rate around 103 s-1 were obtained by the split Hopkinson tensile bar (SHTB). The static mechanical properties of the welded joints have little changes with the laser power density and all fracture occurs at 316 L side. However, the strain rate sensitivity has a strong dependence on laser power density. The value of strain rate factor decreases with the increase of laser power density. The welded joint which may be applied for the impact loading can be obtained by reducing the laser power density in the case of welding quality assurance.

ATF neutral beam injection: optimization of beam alignment and aperturing

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

Morris, R.N.; Fowler, R.H.; Rome, J.A.

1985-12-01

The application of the existing Impurity Study Experiment (ISX-B) neutral beam injectors for the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) is studied. It is determined that with the practical considerations of beam aperturing, ATF vacuum vessel complexity, and realistic beam modeling, the power absorbed by the plasma will be approximately 57% of the extracted neutral beam power, which corresponds to an injected power of about 1.5 MW. By reducing the beam divergence to a 1/sup 0/ Gaussian distribution, the absorbed power could be increased to 93%. The power delivered to the plasma is found to be a strong function of the beammore » divergence but only a weak function of the beam focal length. Shinethrough can be a serious problem if very low density startups are necessary. Preliminary calculations indicate that there will be no excessive fast-ion losses. 12 refs., 17 figs., 1 tab.« less

Integration of conductive reduced graphene oxide into microstructured optical fibres for optoelectronics applications.

PubMed

Ruan, Yinlan; Ding, Liyun; Duan, Jingjing; Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Heike; Monro, Tanya M

2016-02-22

Integration of conductive materials into optical fibres can largely expand functions of fibre devices including surface plasmon resonator/metamaterial, modulators/detectors, or biosensors. Some early attempts have been made to incorporate metals such as tin into fibres during the fibre drawing process. Due to the restricted range of materials that have compatible melting temperatures with that of silica glass, the methods to incorporate metals along the length of the fibres are very challenging. Moreover, metals are nontransparent with strong light absorption, which causes high fibre loss. This article demonstrates a novel but simple method for creating transparent conductive reduced graphene oxide film onto microstructured silica fibres for potential optoelectronic applications. The strongly confined evanescent field of the suspended core fibres with only 2 μW average power was creatively used to transform graphene oxide into reduced graphene oxide with negligible additional loss. Existence of reduced graphene oxide was confirmed by their characteristic Raman signals, shifting of their fluorescence peaks as well as largely decreased resistance of the bulk GO film after laser beam exposure.

Secondary electron emission yield from high aspect ratio carbon velvet surfaces

DOE PAGES

Jin, Chenggang; Ottaviano, Angelica; Raitses, Yevgeny

2017-11-01

The plasma electrons bombarding a plasma-facing wall surface can induce secondary electron emission (SEE) from the wall. A strong SEE can enhance the power losses by reducing the wall sheath potential and thereby increasing the electron flux from the plasma to the wall. The use of the materials with surface roughness and the engineered materials with surface architecture is known to reduce the effective SEE by trapping the secondary electrons. In this work, we demonstrate a 65% reduction of SEE yield using a velvet material consisting of high aspect ratio carbon fibers. The measurements of SEE yield for different velvetmore » samples using the electron beam in vacuum demonstrate the dependence of the SEE yield on the fiber length and the packing density, which is strongly affected by the alignment of long velvet fibers with respect to the electron beam impinging on the velvet sample. Furthermore, the results of SEE measurements support the previous observations of the reduced SEE measured in Hall thrusters.« less

Secondary electron emission yield from high aspect ratio carbon velvet surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Chenggang; Ottaviano, Angelica; Raitses, Yevgeny

2017-11-01

The plasma electrons bombarding a plasma-facing wall surface can induce secondary electron emission (SEE) from the wall. A strong SEE can enhance the power losses by reducing the wall sheath potential and thereby increasing the electron flux from the plasma to the wall. The use of the materials with surface roughness and the engineered materials with surface architecture is known to reduce the effective SEE by trapping the secondary electrons. In this work, we demonstrate a 65% reduction of SEE yield using a velvet material consisting of high aspect ratio carbon fibers. The measurements of SEE yield for different velvet samples using the electron beam in vacuum demonstrate the dependence of the SEE yield on the fiber length and the packing density, which is strongly affected by the alignment of long velvet fibers with respect to the electron beam impinging on the velvet sample. The results of SEE measurements support the previous observations of the reduced SEE measured in Hall thrusters.

Long-lived coherences: Improved dispersion in the frequency domain using continuous-wave and reduced-power windowed sustaining irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadet, A.; Fernandes, L.; Kateb, F.; Balzan, R.; Vasos, P. R.

2014-08-01

Long-lived coherences (LLC's) are detectable magnetisation modes with favourable relaxation times that translate as sharp resonances upon Fourier transform. The frequency domain of LLC's was previously limited to the range of J-couplings within pairs of homonuclear spins. LLC evolution at high magnetic fields needs to be sustained by radio-frequency irradiation. We show that LLC-based spectral dispersion can be extended beyond the J-couplings domain using adapted carrier offsets and introduce a new reduced-power sustaining method to preserve LLC's within the required range of offsets. Spectral resolution is enhanced as the natively narrow lines of LLC's are further dispersed, making them potential probes for the study of biomolecules featuring strong resonance overlap and for media where NMR spectroscopy is commonly hindered by line broadening.

Mushrooms as possible antioxidant and antimicrobial agents.

PubMed

Kosanić, Marijana; Ranković, Branislav; Dašić, Marko

2012-01-01

The aim of the study is to examine in-vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the acetonic and methanolic extracts of the mushrooms Boletus aestivalis, Boletus edulis and Leccinum carpini. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by using free radical scavenging activity and reducing power. In addition, total content of phenol and flavonoid in extracts were determined as pyrocatechol equivalent, and as rutin equivalent, respectively. As a result of the study acetonic extracts from Boletus edulis was more powerful antioxidant activity with IC50 value of 4.72 μg/mL which was similar or greater than the standard antioxidants, ascorbic acid (IC50 = 4.22 μg/mL), BHA (IC50 = 6.42 μg/mL) and α-tocopherol (IC50 = 62.43 μg/mL). Moreover, the tested extracts had effective reducing power. A significant relationship between total phenolic and flavonoid contents and their antioxidative activities was significantly observed. The antimicrobial activity of each extract was estimated by determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration by using microdilution plate method against five species of bacteria and five species of fungi. Generally, the tested mushroom extracts had relatively strong antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms. The minimum inhibitory concentration for both extracts related to the tested bacteria and fungi were 1.25 - 10 mg/ mL. The present study shows that tested mushroom species demonstrated a strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. It suggests that mushroom may be used as good sources of natural antioxidants and for pharmaceutical purposes in treating of various deseases.

Links between atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere from two decades of microseism observations on the Antarctic Peninsula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anthony, Robert E.; Aster, Richard C.; McGrath, Daniel

2017-01-01

The lack of landmasses, climatological low pressure, and strong circumpolar westerly winds between the latitudes of 50°S to 65°S produce exceptional storm-driven wave conditions in the Southern Ocean. This combination makes the Antarctic Peninsula one of Earth's most notable regions of high-amplitude wave activity and thus, ocean-swell-driven microseism noise in both the primary (direct wave-coastal region interactions) and secondary (direct ocean floor forcing due to interacting wave trains) period bands. Microseism observations are examined across 23 years (1993-2015) from Palmer Station (PMSA), on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and from East Falkland Island (EFI). These records provide a spatially integrative measure of both Southern Ocean wave amplitudes and the interactions between ocean waves and the solid Earth in the presence of sea ice, which can reduce wave coupling with the continental shelf. We utilize a spatiotemporal correlation-based approach to illuminate how the distribution of sea ice influences seasonal microseism power. We characterize primary and secondary microseism power due to variations in sea ice and find that primary microseism energy is both more sensitive to sea ice and more capable of propagating across ocean basins than secondary microseism energy. During positive phases of the Southern Annular Mode, sea ice is reduced in the Bellingshausen Sea and overall storm activity in the Drake Passage increases, thus strongly increasing microseism power levels.

Measuring Behavioral Outcomes Associated with Comprehensive Character Education Programs: A Practical Approach to Using Fewer Schools in School-Randomized Controlled Trials While Maintaining Adequate Statistical Power

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holtzapple, Carol K.

2011-01-01

Character education programs support the development of positive character traits in children and adults. Effective violence prevention programs improve pro-social competencies and reduce negative behaviors in students by enhancing protective factors (strong bonds with teachers; clear rules of conduct that are consistently enforced) and targeting…

Power brokering, empowering, and educating: the role of home-based care professionals in the reduction of HIV-related stigma in Kenya.

PubMed

Waterman, Heather; Griffiths, Jane; Gellard, Len; O'Keefe, Catherine; Olang, Grace; Ayuyo, James; Obwanda, Elly; Ogwethe, Vitalis; Ondiege, Joshua

2007-10-01

In this article the authors report on how home-based care (HBC) professionals reduce stigmatizing behavior in Kenya. This study was part of an action research project that evaluated the introduction of HBC. HBC professionals coordinate the delivery of HIV/AIDS services at a district level and educate community-based health workers in HBC. Understanding how HBC professionals reduce stigma is crucial to reduce, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS. Fifty HBC professionals participated in 27 focus group interviews over 18 months. Stigma featured strongly when they discussed barriers to the introduction of HBC. Using sociological theory, the authors organized the data into five themes: Power broking and mobilization, Stigma as a social construction, Community and structural interventions, Educating and training people, and Historical context. The HBC professionals appear to operate at mostly individual and community levels in their efforts to challenge stigma, and in spite of the difficulties they appear to be having some impact.

Multi-scale gyrokinetic simulation of Alcator C-Mod tokamak discharges

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

Howard, N. T., E-mail: nthoward@psfc.mit.edu; White, A. E.; Greenwald, M.

2014-03-15

Alcator C-Mod tokamak discharges have been studied with nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation simultaneously spanning both ion and electron spatiotemporal scales. These multi-scale simulations utilized the gyrokinetic model implemented by GYRO code [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J. Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] and the approximation of reduced electron mass (μ = (m{sub D}/m{sub e}){sup .5} = 20.0) to qualitatively study a pair of Alcator C-Mod discharges: a low-power discharge, previously demonstrated (using realistic mass, ion-scale simulation) to display an under-prediction of the electron heat flux and a high-power discharge displaying agreement with both ion and electron heat flux channels [N. T. Howard et al.,more » Nucl. Fusion 53, 123011 (2013)]. These multi-scale simulations demonstrate the importance of electron-scale turbulence in the core of conventional tokamak discharges and suggest it is a viable candidate for explaining the observed under-prediction of electron heat flux. In this paper, we investigate the coupling of turbulence at the ion (k{sub θ}ρ{sub s}∼O(1.0)) and electron (k{sub θ}ρ{sub e}∼O(1.0)) scales for experimental plasma conditions both exhibiting strong (high-power) and marginally stable (low-power) low-k (k{sub θ}ρ{sub s} < 1.0) turbulence. It is found that reduced mass simulation of the plasma exhibiting marginally stable low-k turbulence fails to provide even qualitative insight into the turbulence present in the realistic plasma conditions. In contrast, multi-scale simulation of the plasma condition exhibiting strong turbulence provides valuable insight into the coupling of the ion and electron scales.« less

A study of operational cycle of terminal distributed power supply based on Big-data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nie, Erbao; Liu, Zhoubin; He, Jinhong; Li, Chao

2018-01-01

In China, the distributed power supply industry enjoys a rapid development trend. For the users’ side of the distributed power mode of operation, there are various types. This paper, take rural as an example, mainly studies the all round life cycle operation mode of rural distributed solar power plant, including the feasibility study plan and investment suggestion of the initial construction of the rural power station, and the operation and maintenance in the middle period. China’s vast rural areas, areas per capita is large, average households have independent housing and courtyards, available building area is no problem. Compared with the urban areas, the return rate of investment is low, the investment options is rare, the collective is strong, the risk tolerance is weak and so on. Aiming at the characteristics of the rural areas in the above rural areas, three kinds of investment schemes of rural distributed photovoltaic power plants are put forward, and their concrete implementation plans are analyzed in detail. Especially the second option, for the farmers to consider the risk of investment, given their principal security, which greatly reduces the farmers into the power plant loss of funds risk. At the same time, according to the respective risk of farmers, given the corresponding investment advice. Rural income is generally low, the expected benefits of distributed photovoltaic power plant can significantly improve the income of farmers, improve the quality of life of farmers, coupled with the strong rural collective farmers, rural distributed photovoltaic power plants will mushroom, which On China’s photovoltaic construction and even the supply of clean energy is of great significance, so as to truly benefit the national energy strategy and rural construction.

Ion cyclotron resonance heating for tungsten control in various JET H-mode scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goniche, M.; Dumont, R. J.; Bobkov, V.; Buratti, P.; Brezinsek, S.; Challis, C.; Colas, L.; Czarnecka, A.; Drewelow, P.; Fedorczak, N.; Garcia, J.; Giroud, C.; Graham, M.; Graves, J. P.; Hobirk, J.; Jacquet, P.; Lerche, E.; Mantica, P.; Monakhov, I.; Monier-Garbet, P.; Nave, M. F. F.; Noble, C.; Nunes, I.; Pütterich, T.; Rimini, F.; Sertoli, M.; Valisa, M.; Van Eester, D.; Contributors, JET

2017-05-01

Ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) in the hydrogen minority scheme provides central ion heating and acts favorably on the core tungsten transport. Full wave modeling shows that, at medium power level (4 MW), after collisional redistribution, the ratio of power transferred to the ions and the electrons vary little with the minority (hydrogen) concentration n H/n e but the high-Z impurity screening provided by the fast ions temperature increases with the concentration. The power radiated by tungsten in the core of the JET discharges has been analyzed on a large database covering the 2013-2014 campaign. In the baseline scenario with moderate plasma current (I p = 2.5 MA) ICRH modifies efficiently tungsten transport to avoid its accumulation in the plasma centre and, when the ICRH power is increased, the tungsten radiation peaking evolves as predicted by the neo-classical theory. At higher current (3-4 MA), tungsten accumulation can be only avoided with 5 MW of ICRH power with high gas injection rate. For discharges in the hybrid scenario, the strong initial peaking of the density leads to strong tungsten accumulation. When this initial density peaking is slightly reduced, with an ICRH power in excess of 4 MW,very low tungsten concentration in the core (˜10-5) is maintained for 3 s. MHD activity plays a key role in tungsten transport and modulation of the tungsten radiation during a sawtooth cycle is correlated to the fishbone activity triggered by the fast ion pressure gradient.

Condensation to a strongly correlated dark fluid of two dimensional dipolar excitons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazuz-Harpaz, Yotam; Cohen, Kobi; Rapaport, Ronen

2017-08-01

Recently we reported on the condensation of cold, electrostatically trapped dipolar excitons in GaAs bilayer heterostructure into a new, dense and dark collective phase. Here we analyze and discuss in detail the experimental findings and the emerging evident properties of this collective liquid-like phase. We show that the phase transition is characterized by a sharp increase of the number of non-emitting dipoles, by a clear contraction of the fluid spatial extent into the bottom of the parabolic-like trap, and by spectral narrowing. We extract the total density of the condensed phase which we find to be consistent with the expected density regime of a quantum liquid. We show that there are clear critical temperature and excitation power onsets for the phase transition and that as the power further increases above the critical power, the strong darkening is reduced down until no clear darkening is observed. At this point another transition appears which we interpret as a transition to a strongly repulsive yet correlated e-h plasma. Based on the experimental findings, we suggest that the physical mechanism that may be responsible for the transition is a dynamical final-state stimulation of the dipolar excitons to their dark spin states, which have a long lifetime and thus support the observed sharp increase in density. Further experiments and modeling will hopefully be able to unambiguously identify the physical mechanism behind these recent observations.

Optimal cycling time trial position models: aerodynamics versus power output and metabolic energy.

PubMed

Fintelman, D M; Sterling, M; Hemida, H; Li, F-X

2014-06-03

The aerodynamic drag of a cyclist in time trial (TT) position is strongly influenced by the torso angle. While decreasing the torso angle reduces the drag, it limits the physiological functioning of the cyclist. Therefore the aims of this study were to predict the optimal TT cycling position as function of the cycling speed and to determine at which speed the aerodynamic power losses start to dominate. Two models were developed to determine the optimal torso angle: a 'Metabolic Energy Model' and a 'Power Output Model'. The Metabolic Energy Model minimised the required cycling energy expenditure, while the Power Output Model maximised the cyclists׳ power output. The input parameters were experimentally collected from 19 TT cyclists at different torso angle positions (0-24°). The results showed that for both models, the optimal torso angle depends strongly on the cycling speed, with decreasing torso angles at increasing speeds. The aerodynamic losses outweigh the power losses at cycling speeds above 46km/h. However, a fully horizontal torso is not optimal. For speeds below 30km/h, it is beneficial to ride in a more upright TT position. The two model outputs were not completely similar, due to the different model approaches. The Metabolic Energy Model could be applied for endurance events, while the Power Output Model is more suitable in sprinting or in variable conditions (wind, undulating course, etc.). It is suggested that despite some limitations, the models give valuable information about improving the cycling performance by optimising the TT cycling position. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing lithium-sulphur battery performance by strongly binding the discharge products on amino-functionalized reduced graphene oxide.

PubMed

Wang, Zhiyu; Dong, Yanfeng; Li, Hongjiang; Zhao, Zongbin; Wu, Hao Bin; Hao, Ce; Liu, Shaohong; Qiu, Jieshan; Lou, Xiong Wen David

2014-09-25

Lithium-sulphur batteries are one very appealing power source with high energy density. But their practical use is still hindered by several issues including short lifespan, low efficiency and safety concern from the lithium anode. Polysulphide dissolution and insulating nature of sulphur are generally considered responsible for the capacity degradation. However, the detachment of discharge products, that is, highly polar lithium sulphides, from nonpolar carbon matrix (for example, graphene) has been rarely studied as one critical factor. Here we report the strongly covalent stabilization of sulphur and its discharge products on amino-functionalized reduced graphene oxide that enables stable capacity retention of 80% for 350 cycles with high capacities and excellent high-rate response up to 4 C. The present study demonstrates a feasible and effective strategy to solve the long-term cycling difficulty for lithium-sulphur batteries and also helps to understand the capacity decay mechanism involved.

Electromagnetic Interaction between the Component Coils of Multi-Plex Magnets

DOE PAGES

Nguyen, Quyen V. M.; Torrez, Lynette; Nguyen, Doan Ngoc

2017-12-04

Ultra-high field pulsed magnets are usually designed as a group of nested, concentric coils driven by separated power sources to reduce the required driving voltages and to distribute the mechanical load and to reduce the driving voltages. Since the magnet operates in a fast transient mode, there will be strong and complicated electromagnetic couplings between the component coils. The high eddy currents generated in the reinforcement shells of the component coils during the pulses also strongly affect these couplings. Therefore, understanding the electromagnetic interaction between the component coils will allow safer, more optimized design and operation of our magnets. Asmore » a result, this paper will focus on our finite element modeling and experimental results for the electromagnetic interactions between the component coils of the 100-T nondestructive magnet and 80-T duplex magnet at our facility.« less

Electromagnetic Interaction between the Component Coils of Multi-Plex Magnets

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

Nguyen, Quyen V. M.; Torrez, Lynette; Nguyen, Doan Ngoc

Ultra-high field pulsed magnets are usually designed as a group of nested, concentric coils driven by separated power sources to reduce the required driving voltages and to distribute the mechanical load and to reduce the driving voltages. Since the magnet operates in a fast transient mode, there will be strong and complicated electromagnetic couplings between the component coils. The high eddy currents generated in the reinforcement shells of the component coils during the pulses also strongly affect these couplings. Therefore, understanding the electromagnetic interaction between the component coils will allow safer, more optimized design and operation of our magnets. Asmore » a result, this paper will focus on our finite element modeling and experimental results for the electromagnetic interactions between the component coils of the 100-T nondestructive magnet and 80-T duplex magnet at our facility.« less

Does NASA SMAP Improve the Accuracy of Power Outage Models?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quiring, S. M.; McRoberts, D. B.; Toy, B.; Alvarado, B.

2016-12-01

Electric power utilities make critical decisions in the days prior to hurricane landfall that are primarily based on the estimated impact to their service area. For example, utilities must determine how many repair crews to request from other utilities, the amount of material and equipment they will need to make repairs, and where in their geographically expansive service area to station crews and materials. Accurate forecasts of the impact of an approaching hurricane within their service area are critical for utilities in balancing the costs and benefits of different levels of resources. The Hurricane Outage Prediction Model (HOPM) are a family of statistical models that utilize predictions of tropical cyclone windspeed and duration of strong winds, along with power system and environmental variables (e.g., soil moisture, long-term precipitation), to forecast the number and location of power outages. This project assesses whether using NASA SMAP soil moisture improves the accuracy of power outage forecasts as compared to using model-derived soil moisture from NLDAS-2. A sensitivity analysis is employed since there have been very few tropical cyclones making landfall in the United States since SMAP was launched. The HOPM is used to predict power outages for 13 historical tropical cyclones and the model is run using twice, once with NLDAS soil moisture and once with SMAP soil moisture. Our results demonstrate that using SMAP soil moisture can have a significant impact on power outage predictions. SMAP has the potential to enhance the accuracy of power outage forecasts. Improved outage forecasts reduce the duration of power outages which reduces economic losses and accelerates recovery.

What Do Animal Studies Tell Us about the Mechanism of Myopia-Protection by Light?

PubMed

Norton, Thomas T

2016-09-01

: Human studies have provided strong evidence that exposure to time outdoors is protective against the onset of myopia. A causal factor may be that the light levels outdoors (30,000-130,000 lux) are much higher than light levels indoors (typically less than 500 lux). Studies using animal models have found that normal animals exposed to low illuminance levels (50 lux) can develop myopia. The myopia and axial elongation, produced in animals by monocular form deprivation, is reduced by light levels in the 15,000 to 25,000 range. Myopia induced with a negative-power lens seems less affected, perhaps because the lens provides a powerful target for the emmetropization mechanism. Animal studies suggest that raising the light levels may have their effect by increasing retinal dopamine activity, probably via the D2 receptor pathway, altering gene expression in the retina and reducing the signals that produce axial elongation.

Smoking in movies: impact on adolescent smoking.

PubMed

Sargent, James D

2005-06-01

This article examines the evidence that supports an association between seeing smoking depictions in movies and adolescent smoking. The portrayal of tobacco use is common in movies and often is modeled by stars, who, from a social influences standpoint, should be powerful behavior change agents. The results of studies that assess audience responses to tobacco portrayal in movies are remarkably consistent in showing a moderate to strong association between seeing movie smoking and more positive attitudes toward smoking and adolescent smoking initiation. The two published longitudinal studies show an independent link between exposure to movie smoking at baseline and initiation in the future, with estimates of the effect size being remarkably consistent with their cross-sectional counterparts. Pediatricians should support public health campaigns to pressure the movie industry to voluntarily reduce smoking in movies and encourage parents to adhere to the Motion Picture Ratings System to reduce adolescent exposure to this powerful social influence to smoke.

Effect of Microwave Irradiation on the Physicochemical and Digestive Properties of Lotus Seed Starch.

PubMed

Zeng, Shaoxiao; Chen, Bingyan; Zeng, Hongliang; Guo, Zebin; Lu, Xu; Zhang, Yi; Zheng, Baodong

2016-03-30

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of microwave irradiation on the physicochemical and digestive properties of lotus seed starch. The physicochemical properties of lotus seed starch were characterized by light microscopy, (1)H NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, and HPSEC-MALLS-RI. The starch-water interaction and crystalline region increased due to the changed water distribution of starch granules and the increase of the double-helix structure. The swelling power, amylose leaching, molecular properties, and radius of gyration reduced with the increasing microwave power, which further affected the sensitivity of lotus seed starch to enzymatic degradation. Furthermore, the resistant starch and slowly digestible starch increased with the increasing microwave irradiation, which further resulted in their decreasing hydrolysis index and glycemic index. The digestive properties of lotus seed starch were mainly influenced by the reduced branching degree of amylopectin and the strong amylose-amylose interaction.

Antioxidant Properties of Water-Soluble Gum from Flaxseed Hulls

PubMed Central

Bouaziz, Fatma; Koubaa, Mohamed; Barba, Francisco J.; Roohinejad, Shahin; Chaabouni, Semia Ellouz

2016-01-01

Soluble flaxseed gum (SFG) was extracted from flax (Linum usitatissimum) hulls using hot water, and its functional groups and antioxidant properties were investigated using infrared spectroscopy and different antioxidant assays (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS), reducing power capacity, and β-carotene bleaching inhibition assay), respectively. The antioxidant capacity of SFG showed interesting DPPH radical-scavenging capacity (IC50 SFG = 2.5 mg·mL−1), strong ABTS radical scavenging activity (% inhibition ABTS = 75.6% ± 2.6% at 40 mg·mL−1), high reducing power capacity (RPSFG = 5 mg·mL−1), and potent β-carotene bleaching inhibition activity (IC50 SFG = 10 mg·mL−1). All of the obtained results demonstrate the promising potential use of SFG in numerous industrial applications, and a way to valorize flaxseed hulls. PMID:27490574

A Statistical Method for Reducing Sidelobe Clutter for the Ku-Band Precipitation Radar on Board the GPM Core Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kubota, Takuji; Iguchi, Toshio; Kojima, Masahiro; Liao, Liang; Masaki, Takeshi; Hanado, Hiroshi; Meneghini, Robert; Oki, Riko

2016-01-01

A statistical method to reduce the sidelobe clutter of the Ku-band precipitation radar (KuPR) of the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on board the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is described and evaluated using DPR observations. The KuPR sidelobe clutter was much more severe than that of the Precipitation Radar on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and it has caused the misidentification of precipitation. The statistical method to reduce sidelobe clutter was constructed by subtracting the estimated sidelobe power, based upon a multiple regression model with explanatory variables of the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of surface, from the received power of the echo. The saturation of the NRCS at near-nadir angles, resulting from strong surface scattering, was considered in the calculation of the regression coefficients.The method was implemented in the KuPR algorithm and applied to KuPR-observed data. It was found that the received power from sidelobe clutter over the ocean was largely reduced by using the developed method, although some of the received power from the sidelobe clutter still remained. From the statistical results of the evaluations, it was shown that the number of KuPR precipitation events in the clutter region, after the method was applied, was comparable to that in the clutter-free region. This confirms the reasonable performance of the method in removing sidelobe clutter. For further improving the effectiveness of the method, it is necessary to improve the consideration of the NRCS saturation, which will be explored in future work.

rpe v5: an emulator for reduced floating-point precision in large numerical simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Andrew; Düben, Peter D.

2017-06-01

This paper describes the rpe (reduced-precision emulator) library which has the capability to emulate the use of arbitrary reduced floating-point precision within large numerical models written in Fortran. The rpe software allows model developers to test how reduced floating-point precision affects the result of their simulations without having to make extensive code changes or port the model onto specialized hardware. The software can be used to identify parts of a program that are problematic for numerical precision and to guide changes to the program to allow a stronger reduction in precision.The development of rpe was motivated by the strong demand for more computing power. If numerical precision can be reduced for an application under consideration while still achieving results of acceptable quality, computational cost can be reduced, since a reduction in numerical precision may allow an increase in performance or a reduction in power consumption. For simulations with weather and climate models, savings due to a reduction in precision could be reinvested to allow model simulations at higher spatial resolution or complexity, or to increase the number of ensemble members to improve predictions. rpe was developed with a particular focus on the community of weather and climate modelling, but the software could be used with numerical simulations from other domains.

Exploring a strongly non-Markovian behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alba, Vasyl; Berman, Gordon; Bialek, William; Shaevitz, Joshua

Is there some simplicity or universality underlying the complexities of natural animal behavior? Using the walking fruit fly as a model system, we have shown that unconstrained behaviors can be categorized into roughly one hundred discrete states, which all individuals from a single species visit repeatedly. In each state, the fly executes stereotyped movements, and the transitions between states are organized hierarchically. The sequences of states, however, are strongly non-Markovian: correlations persist for orders of magnitude longer than expected from the state-to-state transition probabilities, and there are hints of power law decay. But with 100 states, further analysis is difficult. Here we develop a generalization of the information bottleneck method to compress these states into a more compact description that preserves as much of the temporal correlations as possible. We find that, even on compressing down to just two states, this coarse grained description of behavior captures the long ranged correlations. Power law decays are clearer in this reduced representation, which opens the way for more quantitative analysis.

High-power and highly reliable 638-nm band BA-LD for CW operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishida, Takehiro; Kuramoto, Kyosuke; Abe, Shinji; Kusunoki, Masatsugu; Miyashita, Motoharu; Yagi, Tetsuya

2018-02-01

High-power laser diodes (LDs) are strongly demanded as light sources of display applications. In multiple spatial light modulator-type projectors or liquid crystal displays, the light source LDs are operated under CW condition. The high-power 638-nm band broad-area LD for CW operation was newly developed. The LD consisted of two stripes with each width of 75 μm to reduce both an optical power density at a front facet and a threshold current. The newly improved epitaxial technology was also applied to the LD to suppress an electron overflow from an active layer. The LD showed superior output characteristics, such as output of 1.77 W at case temperature of 55 °C with wall plug efficiency (WPE) of 23%, which was improved by 40% compared with the current product. The peak WPE at 25 °C reached 40.6% under the output power of 2.37 W, CW, world highest.

Accelerating 21st Century Economic Growth by Implementation of the Lunar Solar Power System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Criswell, D. R.

2002-01-01

The World Energy Council (1) makes this declaration. "Given this dramatically uneven distribution and the limited evidence of improvement in economic growth in many developing countries, WEC at the 17th World Congress in Houston in September 1998 concluded that the number one priority in sustainable energy development today for all decision-makers in all countries is to extend access to commercial energy services to the people who do not now have it and to those who will come into the world in the next two decades, largely in developing countries, without such access." By ~2050 the global systems should supply 10 billion people approximately 6.7 kilowatts of thermal power per person or 61,360 kWt-h/y-person of energy. The economic equivalent is ~2 - 3 kWe of electric power per person. The energy must be environmentally clean. The energy must be sufficiently low in cost that the 2 billion poorest people, who now make 1,000 /y-person, can be provided with the new power. A survey of twenty-five options for providing adequate commercial electric power, including solar power satellites in orbit about Earth, concludes that only the Lunar Solar Power System can meet the WEC challenge (2, 3, 4, 5). Maurice Strong is the former CEO of Ontario Hydro and organizer of the 1992 Rio Environmental Summit. Quoting Strong - "I have checked it (LSP System) out with a number of experts, all of whom confirmed that the idea, which has been mooted for some time, may now be ripe to carry forward. --- The project would deliver net new energy to the Earth that is independent of the biosphere, would produce no CO2 or other polluting emissions and have minimal environmental impact compared with other energy sources." (6). Electric energy provided by the LSP System can accelerate terrestrial economic growth in several ways. A cost of less than 1 cent per kilowatt electric hour seems achievable. This allows poor nations to buy adequate energy. Increasing per capita use of electric power is associated with better human health and longer life. This increases the economic value of human capital in developing nations (7). The power can be abundant and clean. This reduces the environmental cost of commercial power and greatly reduces the economic uncertainties associated with using the power. The net new power enables creation of a greater range of goods from common materials and the recycling of products without depletion of other terrestrial resources (8). Rectennas can enable dual use of land and reduce the total land area devoted to the production and delivery of commercial power. All these factors work together to accelerate net new economic growth on Earth. 1. World Energy Council (2000) Energy for Tomorrow's World - Acting Now!, 175pp., Atalink Projects Ltd, London. 2. Criswell, D. R. (2001) Characteristics of commercial power systems to support a prosperous global economy, IAF-01- R.1.03, 7PP., Toulouse, France. 3. Criswell, David R. (2001) Lunar Solar Power System: Industrial Research, Development, and Demonstration, Session 1.2.2: Hydroelectricity, Nuclear Energy and New Renewables, 18th World Energy Congress. [http://www.wec.co.uk] 4. Criswell, David R. (2002) Energy Prosperity within the 21st Century and Beyond: Options and the Unique Roles of the Sun and the Moon. Chapter 9: Innovative Solutions To CO2 Stabilization, R. Watts (editor), Cambridge Un. Press 5. National Research Council (2001) Laying the Foundation for Space Solar Power: An assessment of NASA's Space Solar Power Investment Strategy, 80pp., National Academy Press. 6. Strong, Marice (2001) Where on Earth are We Going?, (See p. 351-352), 419pp., Random House (forward by Kofi Annan) 7. Criswell, D. R. (2000) Human wealth and evolving requirements on large-scale commercial power systems, IAF-00- R.1.03, 6pp., (Rio de Janeiro). 8. Criswell, D. R. (1994) Net growth in the two-planet economy, IAA-94-IAA.8.1.704, 10pp.

Sample size and power calculations for detecting changes in malaria transmission using antibody seroconversion rate.

PubMed

Sepúlveda, Nuno; Paulino, Carlos Daniel; Drakeley, Chris

2015-12-30

Several studies have highlighted the use of serological data in detecting a reduction in malaria transmission intensity. These studies have typically used serology as an adjunct measure and no formal examination of sample size calculations for this approach has been conducted. A sample size calculator is proposed for cross-sectional surveys using data simulation from a reverse catalytic model assuming a reduction in seroconversion rate (SCR) at a given change point before sampling. This calculator is based on logistic approximations for the underlying power curves to detect a reduction in SCR in relation to the hypothesis of a stable SCR for the same data. Sample sizes are illustrated for a hypothetical cross-sectional survey from an African population assuming a known or unknown change point. Overall, data simulation demonstrates that power is strongly affected by assuming a known or unknown change point. Small sample sizes are sufficient to detect strong reductions in SCR, but invariantly lead to poor precision of estimates for current SCR. In this situation, sample size is better determined by controlling the precision of SCR estimates. Conversely larger sample sizes are required for detecting more subtle reductions in malaria transmission but those invariantly increase precision whilst reducing putative estimation bias. The proposed sample size calculator, although based on data simulation, shows promise of being easily applicable to a range of populations and survey types. Since the change point is a major source of uncertainty, obtaining or assuming prior information about this parameter might reduce both the sample size and the chance of generating biased SCR estimates.

Mushrooms as Possible Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Agents

PubMed Central

Kosanić, Marijana; Ranković, Branislav; Dašić, Marko

2012-01-01

The aim of the study is to examine in-vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the acetonic and methanolic extracts of the mushrooms Boletus aestivalis, Boletus edulis and Leccinum carpini. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by using free radical scavenging activity and reducing power. In addition, total content of phenol and flavonoid in extracts were determined as pyrocatechol equivalent, and as rutin equivalent, respectively. As a result of the study acetonic extracts from Boletus edulis was more powerful antioxidant activity with IC50 value of 4.72 μg/mL which was similar or greater than the standard antioxidants, ascorbic acid (IC50 = 4.22 μg/mL), BHA (IC50 = 6.42 μg/mL) and α-tocopherol (IC50 = 62.43 μg/mL). Moreover, the tested extracts had effective reducing power. A significant relationship between total phenolic and flavonoid contents and their antioxidative activities was significantly observed. The antimicrobial activity of each extract was estimated by determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration by using microdilution plate method against five species of bacteria and five species of fungi. Generally, the tested mushroom extracts had relatively strong antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms. The minimum inhibitory concentration for both extracts related to the tested bacteria and fungi were 1.25 - 10 mg/ mL. The present study shows that tested mushroom species demonstrated a strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. It suggests that mushroom may be used as good sources of natural antioxidants and for pharmaceutical purposes in treating of various deseases. PMID:24250542

Measuring the power spectrum of dark matter substructure using strong gravitational lensing

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

Hezaveh, Yashar; Dalal, Neal; Holder, Gilbert

2016-11-01

In recent years, it has become possible to detect individual dark matter subhalos near images of strongly lensed extended background galaxies. Typically, only the most massive subhalos in the strong lensing region may be detected this way. In this work, we show that strong lenses may also be used to constrain the much more numerous population of lower mass subhalos that are too small to be detected individually. In particular, we show that the power spectrum of projected density fluctuations in galaxy halos can be measured using strong gravitational lensing. We develop the mathematical framework of power spectrum estimation, andmore » test our method on mock observations. We use our results to determine the types of observations required to measure the substructure power spectrum with high significance. We predict that deep observations (∼10 hours on a single target) with current facilities can measure this power spectrum at the 3σ level, with no apparent degeneracy with unknown clumpiness in the background source structure or fluctuations from detector noise. Upcoming ALMA measurements of strong lenses are capable of placing strong constraints on the abundance of dark matter subhalos and the underlying particle nature of dark matter.« less

Weak beacon detection for air-to-ground optical wireless link establishment.

PubMed

Han, Yaoqiang; Dang, Anhong; Tang, Junxiong; Guo, Hong

2010-02-01

In an air-to-ground free-space optical communication system, strong background interference seriously affects the beacon detection, which makes it difficult to establish the optical link. In this paper, we propose a correlation beacon detection scheme under strong background interference conditions. As opposed to traditional beacon detection schemes, the beacon is modulated by an m-sequence at the transmitting terminal with a digital differential matched filter (DDMF) array introduced at the receiving end to detect the modulated beacon. This scheme is capable of suppressing both strong interference and noise by correlation reception of the received image sequence. In addition, the DDMF array enables each pixel of the image sensor to have its own DDMF of the same structure to process its received image sequence in parallel, thus it makes fast beacon detection possible. Theoretical analysis and an outdoor experiment have been demonstrated and show that the proposed scheme can realize fast and effective beacon detection under strong background interference conditions. Consequently, the required beacon transmission power can also be reduced dramatically.

A High-Efficiency Organic Solar Cell Enabled by the Strong Intramolecular Electron Push-Pull Effect of the Nonfullerene Acceptor.

PubMed

Li, Wanning; Ye, Long; Li, Sunsun; Yao, Huifeng; Ade, Harald; Hou, Jianhui

2018-04-01

Besides broadening of the absorption spectrum, modulating molecular energy levels, and other well-studied properties, a stronger intramolecular electron push-pull effect also affords other advantages in nonfullerene acceptors. A strong push-pull effect improves the dipole moment of the wings in IT-4F over IT-M and results in a lower miscibility than IT-M when blended with PBDB-TF. This feature leads to higher domain purity in the PBDB-TF:IT-4F blend and makes a contribution to the better photovoltaic performance. Moreover, the strong push-pull effect also decreases the vibrational relaxation, which makes IT-4F more promising than IT-M in reducing the energetic loss of organic solar cells. Above all, a power conversion efficiency of 13.7% is recorded in PBDB-TF:IT-4F-based devices. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Wind Energy Deployment in Isolated Islanded Power Systems: Challenges & Realities (Poster)

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

Baring-Gould, I.

Rising costs of fuels, energy surety, and the carbon impacts of diesel fuel are driving remote and islanded communities dependent on diesel power generation to look for alternatives. Over the past few years, interest in using wind energy to reduce diesel fuel consumption has increased dramatically, potentially providing economic, environmental, social, and security benefits to the energy supply of isolated and islanded communities. However, the task of implementing such systems has remained elusive and subject to many cases of lower-than-expected performance. This poster describes the current status of integrating higher contribution wind technology into islanded power systems, the progress ofmore » recent initiatives implemented by the U.S. Department of Energy and Interior, and some of the lingering technical and commercial challenges. Operating experience from a number of power systems is described. The worldwide market for wind development in islanded communities (some of these supplying large domestic loads) provides a strong market niche for the wind industry, even in the midst of a slow global recovery.« less

Drunk, Powerful, and in the Dark: How General Processes of Disinhibition Produce Both Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior.

PubMed

Hirsh, Jacob B; Galinsky, Adam D; Zhong, Chen-Bo

2011-09-01

Social power, alcohol intoxication, and anonymity all have strong influences on human cognition and behavior. However, the social consequences of each of these conditions can be diverse, sometimes producing prosocial outcomes and other times enabling antisocial behavior. We present a general model of disinhibition to explain how these seemingly contradictory effects emerge from a single underlying mechanism: The decreased salience of competing response options prevents activation of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS). As a result, the most salient response in any given situation is expressed, regardless of whether it has prosocial or antisocial consequences. We review three distinct routes through which power, alcohol intoxication, and anonymity reduce the salience of competing response options, namely, through Behavioral Approach System (BAS) activation, cognitive depletion, and reduced social desirability concerns. We further discuss how these states can both reveal and shape the person. Overall, our approach allows for multiple domain-specific models to be unified within a common conceptual framework that explains how both situational and dispositional factors can influence the expression of disinhibited behavior, producing both prosocial and antisocial outcomes. © Association for Psychological Science 2011.

Antioxidant and analgesic activities of turpentine of Pinus nigra Arn. subsp. pallsiana (Lamb.) Holmboe.

PubMed

Gülçin, Ilhami; Büyükokuroglu, M Emin; Oktay, Münir; Küfrevioglu, O Irfan

2003-05-01

The aim of this study is to examine possible antioxidant and analgesic activities of turpentine exudes from Pinus nigra Arn. subsp. pallsiana (Lamb.) Holmboe (TPN). Total antioxidant activity, reducing power, superoxide anion radical scavenging, free radical scavenging, metal chelating, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities were studied. The total antioxidant activity increased with the increasing amount of extracts (100, 300, and 500 microg) added to linoleic acid emulsion. All of the doses of TPN showed higher antioxidant activity than alpha-tocopherol. The samples showed 49, 70, and 91% inhibition on peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion, respectively. On the other hand, the 300 microg of alpha-tocopherol showed 40% inhibition on peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion. There is correlation between antioxidant activity and the reducing power, superoxide anion radical scavenging, free radical scavenging, metal chelating, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities. Like antioxidant activity, the reducing power, superoxide anion radical scavenging, free radical scavenging, metal chelating, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities of TPN depending on concentration and increasing with increased concentration of TPN. These properties may be the major reasons for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the TPN has a potential source of natural antioxidant. In addition, analgesic effect of TPN was investigated in present study and TPN had strong analgesic effect. The analgesic effect of TPN compared with metamizol as a standard analgesic compound.

EMFs: cutting through the controversy.

PubMed Central

Wartenberg, D

1996-01-01

SOME SCIENTISTS ALLEGE that exposure to electric and magnetic fields generated by electric power delivery systems is responsible for certain cancers (particularly among children), reproductive dysfunction, birth defects, neurological disorders, and Alzheimer's disease. Some activist groups believe the hazard to be so great that they are calling for closure of schools and other public facilities near power lines and restructuring of the entire electric power delivery system. Some utilities, with equally strong beliefs, claim that there is no proof of risk. They argue that the science is sufficient to confirm the alleged associations and that no action is warranted. This article provides a broad overview of the current scientific data on the association between magnetic fields and disease, providing summary risk estimates and highlighting the uncertainties in the data. Building on this information, three complementary policy perspectives are presented. From a fiscally conservative perspective, the cost of mitigation already instituted far exceeds the health protection offered and mitigation of other environmental risks is more important. From a cost-benefit view, only limited, low-cost mitigation should be considered. These measures, however, would substantially reduce many exposures. From an aggressive exposure reduction perspective, much can be done to reduce exposure by personal and societal actions. If the suggested association is validated, substantially reducing magnetic field exposure could lower health risks. Images p205-a p207-a PMID:8643811

The impact of range anxiety and home, workplace, and public charging infrastructure on simulated battery electric vehicle lifetime utility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neubauer, Jeremy; Wood, Eric

2014-07-01

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) offer the potential to reduce both oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions, but have a limited utility due to factors including driver range anxiety and access to charging infrastructure. In this paper we apply NREL's Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool for Vehicles (BLAST-V) to examine the sensitivity of BEV utility to range anxiety and different charging infrastructure scenarios, including variable time schedules, power levels, and locations (home, work, and public installations). We find that the effects of range anxiety can be significant, but are reduced with access to additional charging infrastructure. We also find that (1) increasing home charging power above that provided by a common 15 A, 120 V circuit offers little added utility, (2) workplace charging offers significant utility benefits to select high mileage commuters, and (3) broadly available public charging can bring many lower mileage drivers to near-100% utility while strongly increasing the achieved miles of high mileage drivers.

Optimisation of pressurised water extraction of polysaccharides from blackcurrant and its antioxidant activity.

PubMed

Xu, Yaqin; Cai, Fei; Yu, Zeyuan; Zhang, Ling; Li, Xingguo; Yang, Yu; Liu, Gaijie

2016-03-01

Pressurised water extraction (PWE) of polysaccharides from blackcurrant fruits was investigated using a response surface methodology (RSM). The optimal conditions for PWE were: time 51min, pressure 1.6MPa, and temperature 52°C. Under these conditions, the experimental yield of Ribes nigrum L. polysaccharides (RNLP) was 11.68±0.12%, which closely agreed with the predicted value (11.77%). After preliminary purification with D4006 macroporous resin, RNLP I was obtained and its chemical characterisation was undertaken by GC, HPLC, and IR spectroscopy. RNLP I was composed of rhamnose, arabinose, xylose, mannose, galactose, and glucose with a molar ratio of 2.89:14.82:1.02:1.00:2.53:6.39 and its molecular weight was 1.49×10(4)kDa. The antioxidant activity of RNLP I was evaluated by free radical scavenging assays and a reducing power assay in vitro. RNLP I showed strong DPPH and superoxide radical scavenging activities and reducing power. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Idiosyncratic reality claims, relaxation dispositions, and ABC relaxation theory: happiness, literal christianity, miraculous powers, metaphysics, and the paranormal.

PubMed

Smith, Jonathan C; Karmin, Aaron D

2002-12-01

This study examined idiosyncratic reality claims, that is, irrational or paranormal beliefs often claimed to enhance relaxation and happiness and reduce stress. The Smith Idiosyncratic Reality Claims Inventory and the Smith Relaxation Dispositions Inventory (which measures relaxation and stress dispositions, or enduring states of mind frequently associated with relaxation or stress) were given to 310 junior college student volunteers. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation identified five idiosyncratic reality claim factors: belief in Literal Christianity; Magic; Space Aliens: After Death experiences; and Miraculous Powers of Meditation, Prayer, and Belief. No factor correlated with increased relaxation dispositions Peace, Energy, or Joy, or reduced dispositional somatic stress, worry, or negative emotion on the Smith Relaxation Dispositions Inventory. It was concluded that idiosyncratic reality claims may not be associated with reported relaxation, happiness, or stress. In contrast, previous research strongly supported self-affirming beliefs with few paranormal assumptions display such an association.

Performance characteristics of ring-cusp thrusters with xenon propellant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, M. J.

1986-01-01

The performance characteristics and operating envelope of several 30-cm ring-cusp ion thrusters with xenon propellant were investigated. Results indicate a strong performance dependence on the discharge chamber boundary magnetic fields and resultant distribution of electron currents. Significant improvements in discharge performance over J-series divergent-field thrusters were achieved for large throttling ranges, which translate into reduced cathode emission currents and reduced power dissipation which should be of significant benefit for operation at thruster power levels in excess of 10 kW. Mass spectrometry of the ion beam was documented for both the ring-cusp and J-series thrusters with xenon propellant for determination of overall thruster efficiency, and lifetime. Based on the lower centerline values of doubly charged ions in the ion beam and the lower operating discharge voltage, the screen grid erosion rate of the ring-cusp thruster is expected to be lower than the divergent-field J-series thruster by a factor of 2.

Performance characteristics of ring-cusp thrusters with xenon propellant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, M. J.

1986-01-01

The performance characteristics and operating envelope of several 30-cm ring-cusp ion thrusters with xenon propellant were investigated. Results indicate a strong performance dependence on the discharge chamber boundary magnetic fields and resultant distribution of electron currents. Significant improvements in discharge performance over J-series divergent-field thrusters were achieved for large throttling ranges, which translate into reduced cathode emission currents and reduced power dissipation which should be of significant benefit for operation at thruster power levels in excess of 10 kW. Mass spectrometer of the ion beam was documented for both the ring-cusp and J-series thrusters with xenon propellant for determination of overall thruster efficiency, and lifetime. Based on the lower centerline values of doubly charged ions in the ion beam and the lower operating discharge voltage, the screen grid erosion rate of the ring-cusp thruster is expected to be lower than the divergent-field J-series thruster by a factor of 2.

Modeling the Ocean Tide for Tidal Power Generation Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawase, M.; Gedney, M.

2014-12-01

Recent years have seen renewed interest in the ocean tide as a source of energy for electrical power generation. Unlike in the 1960s, when the tidal barrage was the predominant method of power extraction considered and implemented, the current methodology favors operation of a free-stream turbine or an array of them in strong tidal currents. As tidal power generation moves from pilot-scale projects to actual array implementations, numerical modeling of tidal currents is expected to play an increasing role in site selection, resource assessment, array design, and environmental impact assessment. In this presentation, a simple, coupled ocean/estuary model designed for research into fundamental aspects of tidal power generation is described. The model consists of a Pacific Ocean-size rectangular basin and a connected fjord-like embayment with dimensions similar to that of Puget Sound, Washington, one of the potential power generation sites in the United States. The model is forced by an idealized lunar tide-generating potential. The study focuses on the energetics of a tidal system including tidal power extraction at both global and regional scales. The hyperbolic nature of the governing shallow water equations means consequence of tidal power extraction cannot be limited to the local waters, but is global in extent. Modeling power extraction with a regional model with standard boundary conditions introduces uncertainties of 3 ~ 25% in the power extraction estimate depending on the level of extraction. Power extraction in the model has a well-defined maximum (~800 MW in a standard case) that is in agreement with previous theoretical studies. Natural energy dissipation and tidal power extraction strongly interact; for a turbine array of a given capacity, the higher the level of natural dissipation the lower the power the array can extract. Conversely, power extraction leads to a decrease in the level of natural dissipation (Figure) as well as the tidal range and the current speed. In the standard case considered, at the maximum power extraction the tidal range in the estuary is reduced by 37% and the natural dissipation by 78% from the unperturbed state. Thus, environmental consequences of power generation are likely to become the limiting factor on the scale of resource development before the physical maximum is reached.

Efficiency of autonomous soft nanomachines at maximum power.

PubMed

Seifert, Udo

2011-01-14

We consider nanosized artificial or biological machines working in steady state enforced by imposing nonequilibrium concentrations of solutes or by applying external forces, torques, or electric fields. For unicyclic and strongly coupled multicyclic machines, efficiency at maximum power is not bounded by the linear response value 1/2. For strong driving, it can even approach the thermodynamic limit 1. Quite generally, such machines fall into three different classes characterized, respectively, as "strong and efficient," "strong and inefficient," and "balanced." For weakly coupled multicyclic machines, efficiency at maximum power has lost any universality even in the linear response regime.

Nuclear energy and security

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

BLEJWAS,THOMAS E.; SANDERS,THOMAS L.; EAGAN,ROBERT J.

2000-01-01

Nuclear power is an important and, the authors believe, essential component of a secure nuclear future. Although nuclear fuel cycles create materials that have some potential for use in nuclear weapons, with appropriate fuel cycles, nuclear power could reduce rather than increase real proliferation risk worldwide. Future fuel cycles could be designed to avoid plutonium production, generate minimal amounts of plutonium in proliferation-resistant amounts or configurations, and/or transparently and efficiently consume plutonium already created. Furthermore, a strong and viable US nuclear infrastructure, of which nuclear power is a large element, is essential if the US is to maintain a leadershipmore » or even participatory role in defining the global nuclear infrastructure and controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons. By focusing on new fuel cycles and new reactor technologies, it is possible to advantageously burn and reduce nuclear materials that could be used for nuclear weapons rather than increase and/or dispose of these materials. Thus, the authors suggest that planners for a secure nuclear future use technology to design an ideal future. In this future, nuclear power creates large amounts of virtually atmospherically clean energy while significantly lowering the threat of proliferation through the thoughtful use, physical security, and agreed-upon transparency of nuclear materials. The authors must develop options for policy makers that bring them as close as practical to this ideal. Just as Atoms for Peace became the ideal for the first nuclear century, they see a potential nuclear future that contributes significantly to power for peace and prosperity.« less

The Early Prevention of Mathematics Difficulty: Its Power and Limitations

PubMed Central

Fuchs, Lynn S.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.

2012-01-01

In this article, the authors consider the power and limitations of responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) for reducing the need for ongoing and intensive services for the segment of the school population traditionally identified as having a learning disability in mathematics. To assess the robustness of RTI, the authors describe four studies with strong demonstrations of efficacy, as they considered the percentage of students who failed to respond, the post-tutoring achievement gap between tutored and not-at-risk students, and the extent of transfer across components of the mathematics curriculum. The authors then discuss implications and additional research questions pertaining to mathematics intervention generally and within the context of RTI. They conclude with a proposal for an expanded conceptualization of RTI. PMID:22491809

Structural cost optimization of photovoltaic central power station modules and support structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutton, P. D.; Stolte, W. J.; Marsh, R. O.

1979-01-01

The results of a comprehensive study of photovoltaic module structural support concepts for photovoltaic central power stations and their associated costs are presented. The objective of the study has been the identification of structural cost drivers. Parametric structural design and cost analyses of complete array systems consisting of modules, primary support structures, and foundations were performed. Area related module cost was found to be constant with design, size, and loading. A curved glass module concept was evaluated and found to have the potential to significantly reduce panel structural costs. Conclusions of the study are: array costs do not vary greatly among the designs evaluated; panel and array costs are strongly dependent on design loading; and the best support configuration is load dependent

The early prevention of mathematics difficulty: its power and limitations.

PubMed

Fuchs, Lynn S; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L

2012-01-01

In this article, the authors consider the power and limitations of responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) for reducing the need for ongoing and intensive services for the segment of the school population traditionally identified as having a learning disability in mathematics. To assess the robustness of RTI, the authors describe four studies with strong demonstrations of efficacy, as they considered the percentage of students who failed to respond, the post-tutoring achievement gap between tutored and not-at-risk students, and the extent of transfer across components of the mathematics curriculum. The authors then discuss implications and additional research questions pertaining to mathematics intervention generally and within the context of RTI. They conclude with a proposal for an expanded conceptualization of RTI.

Towards feasible and effective predictive wavefront control for adaptive optics

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

Poyneer, L A; Veran, J

We have recently proposed Predictive Fourier Control, a computationally efficient and adaptive algorithm for predictive wavefront control that assumes frozen flow turbulence. We summarize refinements to the state-space model that allow operation with arbitrary computational delays and reduce the computational cost of solving for new control. We present initial atmospheric characterization using observations with Gemini North's Altair AO system. These observations, taken over 1 year, indicate that frozen flow is exists, contains substantial power, and is strongly detected 94% of the time.

Continuum strong-coupling expansion of Yang-Mills theory: quark confinement and infra-red slavery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansfield, Paul

1994-04-01

We solve Schrödinger's equation for the ground-state of four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory as an expansion in inverse powers of the coupling. Expectation values computed with the leading-order approximation are reduced to a calculation in two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory which is known to confine. Consequently the Wilson loop in the four-dimensional theory obeys an area law to leading order and the coupling becomes infinite as the mass scale goes to zero.

The problem is not just sample size: the consequences of low base rates in policing experiments in smaller cities.

PubMed

Hinkle, Joshua C; Weisburd, David; Famega, Christine; Ready, Justin

2013-01-01

Hot spots policing is one of the most influential police innovations, with a strong body of experimental research showing it to be effective in reducing crime and disorder. However, most studies have been conducted in major cities, and we thus know little about whether it is effective in smaller cities, which account for a majority of police agencies. The lack of experimental studies in smaller cities is likely in part due to challenges designing statistically powerful tests in such contexts. The current article explores the challenges of statistical power and "noise" resulting from low base rates of crime in smaller cities and provides suggestions for future evaluations to overcome these limitations. Data from a randomized experimental evaluation of broken windows policing in hot spots are used to illustrate the challenges that low base rates present for evaluating hot spots policing programs in smaller cities. Analyses show low base rates make it difficult to detect treatment effects. Very large effect sizes would be required to reach sufficient power, and random fluctuations around low base rates make detecting treatment effects difficult, irrespective of power, by masking differences between treatment and control groups. Low base rates present strong challenges to researchers attempting to evaluate hot spots policing in smaller cities. As such, base rates must be taken directly into account when designing experimental evaluations. The article offers suggestions for researchers attempting to expand the examination of hot spots policing and other microplace-based interventions to smaller jurisdictions.

The effects of stress on nuclear power plant operational decision making and training approaches to reduce stress effects

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

Mumaw, R.J.

1994-08-01

Operational personnel may be exposed to significant levels of stress during unexpected changes in plant state an plant emergencies. The decision making that identifies operational actions, which is strongly determined by procedures, may be affected by stress, and performance may be impaired. ER report analyzes potential effects of stress in nuclear power plant (NPP) settings, especially in the context of severe accident management (SAM). First, potential sources of stress in the NPP setting are identified. This analysis is followed by a review of the ways in which stress is likely to affect performance, with an emphasis on performance of cognitivemore » skills that are linked to operational decision making. Finally, potential training approaches for reducing or eliminating stress effects are identified. Several training approaches have the potential to eliminate or mitigate stress effects on cognitive skill performance. First, the use of simulated events for training can reduce the novelty and uncertainty that can lead to stress and performance impairments. Second, training to make cognitive processing more efficient and less reliant on attention and memory resources can offset the reductions in these resources that occur under stressful conditions. Third, training that targets crew communications skills can reduce the likelihood that communications will fail under stress.« less

Power requirements reducing of FBG based all-optical switching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scholtz, Ľubomír.; Solanská, Michaela; Ladányi, Libor; Müllerová, Jarmila

2017-12-01

Although Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are well known devices, their using as all-optical switching elements has been still examined. Current research is focused on optimization of their properties for their using in future all-optical networks. The main problem are high switching intensities needed for achieving the changes of the transmission state. Over several years switching intensities have been reduced from hundreds of GW/cm2 to tens of MW/cm2 by selecting appropriate gratings and signal parameters or using suitable materials. Two principal nonlinear effects with similar power requirements can result in the bistable transmission/reflection of an input optical pulse. In the self-phase modulation (SPM) regime switching is achieved by the intense probe pulse itself. Using cross-phase modulation (XPM) a strong pump alters the FBG refractive index experienced by a weak probe pulse. As a result of this the detuning of the probe pulse from the center of the photonic band gap occurs. Using of XPM the effect of modulation instability is reduced. Modulation instability which is the main SPM degradation mechanism. We focused on nonlinear FBGs based on chalcogenide glasses which are very often used in various applications. Thanks to high nonlinear parameters chalcogenide glasses are suitable candidates for reducing switching intensities of nonlinear FBGs.

Polyphenolic content and antioxidant properties of Moringa oleifera leaf extracts and enzymatic activity of liver from goats supplemented with Moringa oleifera leaves/sunflower seed cake.

PubMed

Moyo, B; Oyedemi, S; Masika, P J; Muchenje, V

2012-08-01

The study investigated antioxidant potency of Moringa oleifera leaves in different in vitro systems using standard phytochemical methods. The antioxidative effect on the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were investigated in goats supplemented with M. oleifera (MOL) or sunflower seed cake (SC). The acetone extract had higher concentrations of total flavonoids (295.01 ± 1.89 QE/g) followed by flavonols (132.74 ± 0.83 QE/g), phenolics (120.33 ± 0.76 TE/g) and then proanthocyanidins (32.59 ± 0.50 CE/g) than the aqueous extract. The reducing power of both solvent extracts showed strong antioxidant activity in a concentration dependent manner. The acetone extract depicted higher percentage inhibition against DPPH, ABTS and nitric oxide radicals which were comparable with reference standard antioxidants (vitamin C and BHT). MOL increased the antioxidant activity of GSH (186%), SOD (97.8%) and catalase (0.177%). Lipid peroxidation was significantly reduced by MOL. The present study suggests that M. oleifera could be a potential source of compounds with strong antioxidant potential. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variability of stratification according to operation of the tidal power plant in Lake Sihwa, South Korea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woo, S. B.; Song, J. I.; Jang, T. H.; Park, C. J.; Kwon, H. K.

2017-12-01

Artificial forcing according to operation of the tidal power plant (TPP) affects the physical environmental changes near the power plant. Strong turbulence by generation is expected to change the stratification structure of the Lake Sihwa inside. In order to examine the stratification changes by the power plant operation, ship bottom mounted observation were performed for 13 hours using an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) in Lake Sihwa at near TPP. The strong stratification in Sihwa Lake is maintained before TPP operation. The absence of external forces and freshwater inflow from the land forms the stratification in the Lake. Strong winds in a stratification statement lead to two-layer circulation. After wind event, multi-layer velocity structure is formed which lasted for approximately 4 h. After TPP operation, the jet flow was observed in entire water column at the beginning of the power generation. Vortex is formed by strong jet flow and maintained throughout during power generation period. Strong turbulence flow is generated by the turbine blades, enhancing vertical mixing. External forces, which dominantly affect Lake Sihwa, have changed from the wind to the turbulent flow. The stratification was extinguished by strong turbulent flow and becomes fully-mixed state. Changes in stratification structure are expected to affect material transport and ecological environment change continuously.

Vulnerability of US and European electricity supply to climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Vliet, Michelle T. H.; Yearsley, John R.; Ludwig, Fulco; Vögele, Stefan; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.; Kabat, Pavel

2012-09-01

In the United States and Europe, at present 91% and 78% (ref. ) of the total electricity is produced by thermoelectric (nuclear and fossil-fuelled) power plants, which directly depend on the availability and temperature of water resources for cooling. During recent warm, dry summers several thermoelectric power plants in Europe and the southeastern United States were forced to reduce production owing to cooling-water scarcity. Here we show that thermoelectric power in Europe and the United States is vulnerable to climate change owing to the combined impacts of lower summer river flows and higher river water temperatures. Using a physically based hydrological and water temperature modelling framework in combination with an electricity production model, we show a summer average decrease in capacity of power plants of 6.3-19% in Europe and 4.4-16% in the United States depending on cooling system type and climate scenario for 2031-2060. In addition, probabilities of extreme (>90%) reductions in thermoelectric power production will on average increase by a factor of three. Considering the increase in future electricity demand, there is a strong need for improved climate adaptation strategies in the thermoelectric power sector to assure futureenergy security.

US power plant sites at risk of future sea-level rise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bierkandt, R.; Auffhammer, M.; Levermann, A.

2015-12-01

Unmitigated greenhouse gas emissions may increase global mean sea-level by about 1 meter during this century. Such elevation of the mean sea-level enhances the risk of flooding of coastal areas. We compute the power capacity that is currently out-of-reach of a 100-year coastal flooding but will be exposed to such a flood by the end of the century for different US states, if no adaptation measures are taken. The additional exposed capacity varies strongly among states. For Delaware it is 80% of the mean generated power load. For New York this number is 63% and for Florida 43%. The capacity that needs additional protection compared to today increases by more than 250% for Texas, 90% for Florida and 70% for New York. Current development in power plant building points towards a reduced future exposure to sea-level rise: proposed and planned power plants are less exposed than those which are currently operating. However, power plants that have been retired or canceled were less exposed than those operating at present. If sea-level rise is properly accounted for in future planning, an adaptation to sea-level rise may be costly but possible.

Control of mercury emissions from stationary coal combustion sources in China: Current status and recommendations.

PubMed

Hu, Yuanan; Cheng, Hefa

2016-11-01

Coal burning in power plants and industrial boilers is the largest combustion source of mercury emissions in China. Together, power plants and industrial boilers emit around 250 tonnes of mercury each year, or around half of atmospheric mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources in the country. Power plants in China are generally equipped with multi-pollutant control technologies, which offer the co-benefit of mercury removal, while mercury-specific control technologies have been installed in some facilities. In contrast, most industrial boilers have only basic or no flue gas cleaning. A combination of measures, including energy conservation, coal switching and blending, reducing the mercury contents of coals through washing, combustion controls, and flue gas cleaning, can be used to reduce mercury emissions from these stationary combustion sources. More stringent emission standards for the major air pollutants from coal-fired power plants and industrial boiler, along with standards for the previously unregulated mercury, were implemented recently, which is expected to bring significant reduction in their mercury emissions through the necessary upgrades of multi-pollutant and mercury-specific control technologies. Meanwhile, strong monitoring capacity and strict enforcement are necessary to ensure that the combustion sources operate in compliance with the new emission standards and achieve significant reduction in the emissions of mercury and other air pollutants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activities and Tyrosinase Inhibitory Property from Mycelium Culture Extracts

PubMed Central

Park, Ki Moon; Kwon, Kyung Min; Lee, Seung Ho

2015-01-01

Since mushrooms have many bioactive components, they have been used as components in folk medicine. Because mycelium has an advantage when it comes to large-scale production, this study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant properties and anti-tyrosinase activity from 55 mycelia in culture media. Relatively high 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging capacity was detected from the ethanol extract of culture media including mycelium (EECiM) of Morchella esculenta var. esculenta (MEVE), Auricularia polytricha (APO), Tremella aurantia (TAU), Volvariella bombycina (VBO), and Oudemansiella sp. (Osp), which also showed strong reducing power and inhibitory activity in relation to the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value. On the other hand, relatively high tyrosinase inhibitory activity was detected in Inonotus mikadoi (IMI), Coriolus versicolor (CVE), Volvariella volvacea (VVO), Panellus serotinus (PSE), Auricularia auricula (AAU), and Fomitopsis sp. (Fsp). Interestingly, the APO EECiM exhibited the highest DPPH radical scavenging rate (77.5 ± 4.3%) and reducing power (1.18 ± 0.041), while the highest inhibitory power of the TBA value and antityrosinase activity were detected in that of TAU (64.5 ± 4.1%) and IMI (46.0 ± 7.5%), respectively. Overall, our study suggested potential candidates for EECiMs that exhibited powerful antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibitory properties and might be used as natural antioxidant tyrosinase inhibitor. PMID:26345142

MAGNETIC SCALING LAWS FOR THE ATMOSPHERES OF HOT GIANT EXOPLANETS

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

Menou, Kristen

2012-02-01

We present scaling laws for advection, radiation, magnetic drag, and ohmic dissipation in the atmospheres of hot giant exoplanets. In the limit of weak thermal ionization, ohmic dissipation increases with the planetary equilibrium temperature (T{sub eq} {approx}> 1000 K) faster than the insolation power does, eventually reaching values {approx}> 1% of the insolation power, which may be sufficient to inflate the radii of hot Jupiters. At higher T{sub eq} values still magnetic drag rapidly brakes the atmospheric winds, which reduces the associated ohmic dissipation power. For example, for a planetary field strength B = 10 G, the fiducial scaling lawsmore » indicate that ohmic dissipation exceeds 1% of the insolation power over the equilibrium temperature range T{sub eq} {approx} 1300-2000 K, with a peak contribution at T{sub eq} {approx} 1600 K. Evidence for magnetically dragged winds at the planetary thermal photosphere could emerge in the form of reduced longitudinal offsets for the dayside infrared hotspot. This suggests the possibility of an anticorrelation between the amount of hotspot offset and the degree of radius inflation, linking the atmospheric and interior properties of hot giant exoplanets in an observationally testable way. While providing a useful framework to explore the magnetic scenario, the scaling laws also reveal strong parameter dependencies, in particular with respect to the unknown planetary magnetic field strength.« less

LPS-induced NO inhibition and antioxidant activities of ethanol extracts and their solvent partitioned fractions from four brown seaweeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Myoung Lae; Lee, Dong-Jin; Lee, Hyi-Seung; Lee, Yeon-Ju; You, Sang Guan

2013-12-01

The nitric oxide inhibitory (NOI) and antioxidant (ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging effects with reducing power) activities of the ethanol (EtOH) extracts and solvent partitioned fractions from Scytosiphon lomentaria, Chorda filum, Agarum cribrosum, and Desmarestia viridis were investigated, and the correlation between biological activity and total phenolic (TP) and phlorotannin (TPT) content was determined by PCA analysis. The yield of EtOH extracts from four brown seaweeds ranged from 2.6 to 6.6% with the highest yield from D. viridis, and the predominant compounds in their solvent partitioned fractions had medium and/or less polarity. The TP and TPT content of the EtOH extracts were in the ranges of 25.0-44.1 mg GAE/g sample and 0.2-4.6 mg PG/g sample, respectively, which were mostly included in the organic solvent partitioned fractions. Strong NOI activity was observed in the EtOH extracts and their solvent partitioned fractions from D. viridis and C. filum. In addition, the EtOH extract and its solvent partitioned fractions of D. viridis exhibited little cytotoxicity to Raw 264.7 cells. The most potent ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging capacity was shown in the EtOH extracts and their solvent partitioned fractions from S. lomentaria and C. filum, and both also exhibited strong reducing ability. In the PCA analysis the content of TPT had a good correlation with DPPH ( r = 0.62), ABTS ( r = 0.69) and reducing power ( r = 0.65), however, an unfair correlation was observed between the contents of TP and TPT and NOI, suggesting that the phlorotannins might be responsible for the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities.

Muscle power is an important measure to detect deficits in muscle function in hip osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Bieler, Theresa; Magnusson, Stig Peter; Christensen, Helle Elisabeth; Kjaer, Michael; Beyer, Nina

2017-07-01

To investigate between-leg differences in hip and thigh muscle strength and leg extensor power in patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis. Further, to compare between-leg differences in knee extensor strength and leg extensor power between patients and healthy peers. Seventy-two patients (60-87 years) with radiographic and symptomatic hip osteoarthritis not awaiting hip replacement and 35 healthy peers (63-82 years) were included. Hip and thigh muscle strength and leg extensor power were measured in patients and knee extensor strength and leg extensor power in healthy. The symptomatic extremity in patients was significantly (p < 0.05, paired t-test) weaker compared with the non-symptomatic extremity for five hip muscles (8-17%), knee extensors (11%) and leg extensor power (19%). Healthy older adults had asymmetry in knee extensor strength (6%, p < 0.05) comparable to that found in patients, but had no asymmetry in leg extensor power. Patients had generalized weakening of the affected lower extremity and numerically the largest asymmetry was evident for leg extensor power. In contrast, healthy peers had no asymmetry in leg extensor power. These results indicate that exercise interventions focusing on improving leg extensor power of the symptomatic lower extremity and reducing asymmetry may be beneficial for patients with hip osteoarthritis. Implications for Rehabilitation Even in patients with mild symptoms not awaiting hip replacement a generalized muscle weakening of the symptomatic lower extremity seems to be present. Between-leg differences in leg extensor power (force × velocity) appears to be relatively large (19%) in patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis in contrast to healthy peers who show no asymmetry. Compared to muscle strength the relationship between functional performance and leg extensor power seems to be stronger, and more strongly related to power of the symptomatic lower extremity. Our results indicate that exercise interventions focusing on improving leg extensor power of the symptomatic lower extremity and reducing asymmetry may be beneficial for patients with mild symptoms not awaiting hip replacement.

Effect of low level laser therapy and high intensity laser therapy on endothelial cell proliferation in vitro: preliminary communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukowicz, Malgorzata; Szymanska, Justyna; Goralczyk, Krzysztof; Zajac, Andrzej; Rość, Danuta

2013-01-01

Background: The main purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of power intensity and wavelength of Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) and HILT (High Intensity Laser Therapy) on endothelial cell proliferation. Material and methods: The tests were done on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Cultures were exposed to laser irradiation of 660 nm and 670 nm at different dosages, power output was 10 - 40 mW as well as 820 nm with power 100 mW and 808 nm with power 1500 mW. Energy density was from 0.28 to 11,43 J/cm2. Cell proliferation of a control and tested culture was evaluated with a colorimetric device to detect live cells. The tests were repeated 8 times. Results: We observed good effects of LLLT on live isolated ECs and no effects in experiments on previous deep-frozen cultures. Also HILT stimulated the proliferation of HUVEC. Conclusion: Endothelial cells play a key role in vascular homeostasis in humans. We observed the stimulatory effect of LLLT and HILT on proliferation of HUVEC. Many factors influence the proliferation of EC, so is it necessary to continue the experiment with different doses, intensity and cell concentration.

Highly Efficient Wireless Powering for Autonomous Structural Health Monitoring and Test/Evaluation Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-27

ADDRESS (ES) U.S. Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211 Wireless Power Transfer , Structural Health Monitoring...efficient strongly coupled magnetic resonant systems, Wireless Power Transfer , (03 2014): 0. doi: 10.1017/wpt.2014.3 TOTAL: 1 Received Paper TOTAL...2016 Received Paper . Miniaturized Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonant Systems for Wireless Power Transfer , 2016 IEEE Antennas Propagat. Society

An electromagnetic induced transparency-like scheme for wireless power transfer using dielectric resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elnaggar, Sameh Y.

2017-02-01

Similar to the hybridization of three atoms, three coupled resonators interact to form bonding, anti-bonding, and non-bonding modes. The non-bonding mode enables an electromagnetic induced transparency like transfer of energy. Here, the non-bonding mode, resulting from the strong electric coupling of two dielectric resonators and an enclosure, is exploited to show that it is feasible to transfer power over a distance comparable to the operating wavelength. In this scheme, the enclosure acts as a mediator. The strong coupling permits the excitation of the non-bonding mode with high purity. This approach is different from resonant inductive coupling, which works in the sub-wavelength regime. Optimal loads and the corresponding maximum efficiency are determined using two independent methods: Coupled Mode Theory and Circuit modelling. It is shown that, unlike resonant inductive coupling, the figure of merit depends on the enclosure quality and not on the load, which emphasizes the role of the enclosure as a mediator. Briefly after the input excitation is turned on, the energy in the receiver builds up via all coupled and spurious modes. As time elapses, all modes except the non-bonding cease to sustain. Due to the strong coupling between the dielectrics and the enclosure, such systems have unique properties such as high and uniform efficiency over large distances and minimal fringing fields. These properties suggest that electromagnetic induced transparency like schemes that rely on the use of dielectric resonators can be used to power autonomous systems inside an enclosure or find applications when exposure to the fields needs to be minimal. Finite Element computations are used to verify the theoretical predictions by determining the transfer efficiency, field profile, and coupling coefficients for two different systems. It is shown that the three resonators must be present for efficient power transfer; if one or more are removed, the transfer efficiency reduces significantly.

Equilibrium and ultrafast kinetic studies manipulating electron transfer: A short-lived flavin semiquinone is not sufficient for electron bifurcation

DOE PAGES

Hoben, John P.; Lubner, Carolyn E.; Ratzloff, Michael W.; ...

2017-06-14

Flavin-based electron transfer bifurcation is emerging as a fundamental and powerful mechanism for conservation and deployment of electrochemical energy in enzymatic systems. In this process, a pair of electrons is acquired at intermediate reduction potential (i.e. intermediate reducing power) and each electron is passed to a different acceptor, one with lower and the other with higher reducing power, leading to 'bifurcation'. It is believed that a strongly reducing semiquinone species is essential for this process, and it is expected that this species should be kinetically short-lived. We now demonstrate that presence of a short-lived anionic flavin semiquinone (ASQ) is notmore » sufficient to infer existence of bifurcating activity, although such a species may be necessary for the process. We have used transient absorption spectroscopy to compare the rates and mechanisms of decay of ASQ generated photochemically in bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase and the non-bifurcating flavoproteins nitroreductase, NADH oxidase and flavodoxin. We found that different mechanisms dominate ASQ decay in the different protein environments, producing lifetimes ranging over two orders of magnitude. Capacity for electron transfer among redox cofactors vs. charge recombination with nearby donors can explain the range of ASQ lifetimes we observe. In conclusion, our results support a model wherein efficient electron propagation can explain the short lifetime of the ASQ of bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase I, and can be an indication of capacity for electron bifurcation.« less

Equilibrium and ultrafast kinetic studies manipulating electron transfer: A short-lived flavin semiquinone is not sufficient for electron bifurcation

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

Hoben, John P.; Lubner, Carolyn E.; Ratzloff, Michael W.

Flavin-based electron transfer bifurcation is emerging as a fundamental and powerful mechanism for conservation and deployment of electrochemical energy in enzymatic systems. In this process, a pair of electrons is acquired at intermediate reduction potential (i.e. intermediate reducing power) and each electron is passed to a different acceptor, one with lower and the other with higher reducing power, leading to 'bifurcation'. It is believed that a strongly reducing semiquinone species is essential for this process, and it is expected that this species should be kinetically short-lived. We now demonstrate that presence of a short-lived anionic flavin semiquinone (ASQ) is notmore » sufficient to infer existence of bifurcating activity, although such a species may be necessary for the process. We have used transient absorption spectroscopy to compare the rates and mechanisms of decay of ASQ generated photochemically in bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase and the non-bifurcating flavoproteins nitroreductase, NADH oxidase and flavodoxin. We found that different mechanisms dominate ASQ decay in the different protein environments, producing lifetimes ranging over two orders of magnitude. Capacity for electron transfer among redox cofactors vs. charge recombination with nearby donors can explain the range of ASQ lifetimes we observe. In conclusion, our results support a model wherein efficient electron propagation can explain the short lifetime of the ASQ of bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase I, and can be an indication of capacity for electron bifurcation.« less

Equilibrium and ultrafast kinetic studies manipulating electron transfer: A short-lived flavin semiquinone is not sufficient for electron bifurcation.

PubMed

Hoben, John P; Lubner, Carolyn E; Ratzloff, Michael W; Schut, Gerrit J; Nguyen, Diep M N; Hempel, Karl W; Adams, Michael W W; King, Paul W; Miller, Anne-Frances

2017-08-25

Flavin-based electron transfer bifurcation is emerging as a fundamental and powerful mechanism for conservation and deployment of electrochemical energy in enzymatic systems. In this process, a pair of electrons is acquired at intermediate reduction potential ( i.e. intermediate reducing power), and each electron is passed to a different acceptor, one with lower and the other with higher reducing power, leading to "bifurcation." It is believed that a strongly reducing semiquinone species is essential for this process, and it is expected that this species should be kinetically short-lived. We now demonstrate that the presence of a short-lived anionic flavin semiquinone (ASQ) is not sufficient to infer the existence of bifurcating activity, although such a species may be necessary for the process. We have used transient absorption spectroscopy to compare the rates and mechanisms of decay of ASQ generated photochemically in bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase and the non-bifurcating flavoproteins nitroreductase, NADH oxidase, and flavodoxin. We found that different mechanisms dominate ASQ decay in the different protein environments, producing lifetimes ranging over 2 orders of magnitude. Capacity for electron transfer among redox cofactors versus charge recombination with nearby donors can explain the range of ASQ lifetimes that we observe. Our results support a model wherein efficient electron propagation can explain the short lifetime of the ASQ of bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase I and can be an indication of capacity for electron bifurcation.

Asymmetric Dual-Band Tracking Technique for Optimal Joint Processing of BDS B1I and B1C Signals

PubMed Central

Wang, Chuhan; Cui, Xiaowei; Ma, Tianyi; Lu, Mingquan

2017-01-01

Along with the rapid development of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), satellite navigation signals have become more diversified, complex, and agile in adapting to increasing market demands. Various techniques have been developed for processing multiple navigation signals to achieve better performance in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, and robustness. This paper focuses on a technique for processing two signals with separate but adjacent center frequencies, such as B1I and B1C signals in the BeiDou global system. The two signals may differ in modulation scheme, power, and initial phase relation and can be processed independently by user receivers; however, the propagation delays of the two signals from a satellite are nearly identical as they are modulated on adjacent frequencies, share the same reference clock, and undergo nearly identical propagation paths to the receiver, resulting in strong coherence between the two signals. Joint processing of these signals can achieve optimal measurement performance due to the increased Gabor bandwidth and power. In this paper, we propose a universal scheme of asymmetric dual-band tracking (ASYM-DBT) to take advantage of the strong coherence, the increased Gabor bandwidth, and power of the two signals in achieving much-reduced thermal noise and more accurate ranging results when compared with the traditional single-band algorithm. PMID:29035350

Asymmetric Dual-Band Tracking Technique for Optimal Joint Processing of BDS B1I and B1C Signals.

PubMed

Wang, Chuhan; Cui, Xiaowei; Ma, Tianyi; Zhao, Sihao; Lu, Mingquan

2017-10-16

Along with the rapid development of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), satellite navigation signals have become more diversified, complex, and agile in adapting to increasing market demands. Various techniques have been developed for processing multiple navigation signals to achieve better performance in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, and robustness. This paper focuses on a technique for processing two signals with separate but adjacent center frequencies, such as B1I and B1C signals in the BeiDou global system. The two signals may differ in modulation scheme, power, and initial phase relation and can be processed independently by user receivers; however, the propagation delays of the two signals from a satellite are nearly identical as they are modulated on adjacent frequencies, share the same reference clock, and undergo nearly identical propagation paths to the receiver, resulting in strong coherence between the two signals. Joint processing of these signals can achieve optimal measurement performance due to the increased Gabor bandwidth and power. In this paper, we propose a universal scheme of asymmetric dual-band tracking (ASYM-DBT) to take advantage of the strong coherence, the increased Gabor bandwidth, and power of the two signals in achieving much-reduced thermal noise and more accurate ranging results when compared with the traditional single-band algorithm.

Plasma wall interaction and its implication in an all tungsten divertor tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neu, R.; Balden, M.; Bobkov, V.; Dux, R.; Gruber, O.; Herrmann, A.; Kallenbach, A.; Kaufmann, M.; Maggi, C. F.; Maier, H.; Müller, H. W.; Pütterich, T.; Pugno, R.; Rohde, V.; Sips, A. C. C.; Stober, J.; Suttrop, W.; Angioni, C.; Atanasiu, C. V.; Becker, W.; Behler, K.; Behringer, K.; Bergmann, A.; Bertoncelli, T.; Bilato, R.; Bottino, A.; Brambilla, M.; Braun, F.; Buhler, A.; Chankin, A.; Conway, G.; Coster, D. P.; de Marné, P.; Dietrich, S.; Dimova, K.; Drube, R.; Eich, T.; Engelhardt, K.; Fahrbach, H.-U.; Fantz, U.; Fattorini, L.; Fink, J.; Fischer, R.; Flaws, A.; Franzen, P.; Fuchs, J. C.; Gál, K.; García Muñoz, M.; Gemisic-Adamov, M.; Giannone, L.; Gori, S.; da Graca, S.; Greuner, H.; Gude, A.; Günter, S.; Haas, G.; Harhausen, J.; Heinemann, B.; Hicks, N.; Hobirk, J.; Holtum, D.; Hopf, C.; Horton, L.; Huart, M.; Igochine, V.; Kálvin, S.; Kardaun, O.; Kick, M.; Kocsis, G.; Kollotzek, H.; Konz, C.; Krieger, K.; Kurki-Suonio, T.; Kurzan, B.; Lackner, K.; Lang, P. T.; Lauber, P.; Laux, M.; Likonen, J.; Liu, L.; Lohs, A.; Mank, K.; Manini, A.; Manso, M.-E.; Maraschek, M.; Martin, P.; Martin, Y.; Mayer, M.; McCarthy, P.; McCormick, K.; Meister, H.; Meo, F.; Merkel, P.; Merkel, R.; Mertens, V.; Merz, F.; Meyer, H.; Mlynek, M.; Monaco, F.; Murmann, H.; Neu, G.; Neuhauser, J.; Nold, B.; Noterdaeme, J.-M.; Pautasso, G.; Pereverzev, G.; Poli, E.; Püschel, M.; Raupp, G.; Reich, M.; Reiter, B.; Ribeiro, T.; Riedl, R.; Roth, J.; Rott, M.; Ryter, F.; Sandmann, W.; Santos, J.; Sassenberg, K.; Scarabosio, A.; Schall, G.; Schirmer, J.; Schmid, A.; Schneider, W.; Schramm, G.; Schrittwieser, R.; Schustereder, W.; Schweinzer, J.; Schweizer, S.; Scott, B.; Seidel, U.; Serra, F.; Sertoli, M.; Sigalov, A.; Silva, A.; Speth, E.; Stäbler, A.; Steuer, K.-H.; Strumberger, E.; Tardini, G.; Tichmann, C.; Treutterer, W.; Tröster, C.; Urso, L.; Vainonen-Ahlgren, E.; Varela, P.; Vermare, L.; Wagner, D.; Wischmeier, M.; Wolfrum, E.; Würsching, E.; Yadikin, D.; Yu, Q.; Zasche, D.; Zehetbauer, T.; Zilker, M.; Zohm, H.

2007-12-01

ASDEX Upgrade has recently finished its transition towards an all-W divertor tokamak, by the exchange of the last remaining graphite tiles to W-coated ones. The plasma start-up was performed without prior boronization. It was found that the large He content in the plasma, resulting from DC glow discharges for conditioning, leads to a confinement reduction. After the change to D glow for inter-shot conditioning, the He content quickly dropped and, in parallel, the usual H-Mode confinement with H factors close to one was achieved. After the initial conditioning phase, oxygen concentrations similar to that in previous campaigns with boronizations could be achieved. Despite the removal of all macroscopic carbon sources, no strong change in C influxes and C content could be observed so far. The W concentrations are similar to the ones measured previously in discharges with old boronization and only partial coverage of the surfaces with W. Concomitantly it is found that although the W erosion flux in the divertor is larger than the W sources in the main chamber in most of the scenarios, it plays only a minor role for the W content in the main plasma. For large antenna distances and strong gas puffing, ICRH power coupling could be optimized to reduce the W influxes. This allowed a similar increase of stored energy as yielded with comparable beam power. However, a strong increase of radiated power and a loss of H-Mode was observed for conditions with high temperature edge plasma close to the antennas. The use of ECRH allowed keeping the central peaking of the W concentration low and even phases of improved H-modes have already been achieved.

Contribution of strong discontinuities to the power spectrum of the solar wind.

PubMed

Borovsky, Joseph E

2010-09-10

Eight and a half years of magnetic field measurements (2(22) samples) from the ACE spacecraft in the solar wind at 1 A.U. are analyzed. Strong (large-rotation-angle) discontinuities in the solar wind are collected and measured. An artificial time series is created that preserves the timing and amplitudes of the discontinuities. The power spectral density of the discontinuity series is calculated and compared with the power spectral density of the solar-wind magnetic field. The strong discontinuities produce a power-law spectrum in the "inertial subrange" with a spectral index near the Kolmogorov -5/3 index. The discontinuity spectrum contains about half of the power of the full solar-wind magnetic field over this "inertial subrange." Warnings are issued about the significant contribution of discontinuities to the spectrum of the solar wind, complicating interpretation of spectral power and spectral indices.

Flight directors for STOl aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rabin, U. H.

1983-01-01

Flight director logic for flight path and airspeed control of a powered-lift STOL aircraft in the approach, transition, and landing configurations are developed. The methods for flight director design are investigated. The first method is based on the Optimal Control Model (OCM) of the pilot. The second method, proposed here, uses a fixed dynamic model of the pilot in a state space formulation similar to that of the OCM, and includes a pilot work-load metric. Several design examples are presented with various aircraft, sensor, and control configurations. These examples show the strong impact of throttle effectiveness on the performance and pilot work-load associated with manual control of powered-lift aircraft during approach. Improved performed and reduced pilot work-load can be achieved by using direct-lift-control to increase throttle effectiveness.

Modeling study of radiation characteristics with different impurity species seeding in EAST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X. J.; Deng, G. Z.; Wang, L.; Liu, S. C.; Zhang, L.; Li, G. Q.; Gao, X.

2017-12-01

A critical issue for EAST and future tokamak machines such as ITER and China Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor is the handling of excessive heat load on the divertor target plates. As an effective means of actively reducing and controlling the power fluxes to the target plates, localized impurity (N, Ne, and Ar) gas puffing from the lower dome is investigated by using SOLPS5.0 for an L-mode discharge on EAST with double null configuration. The radiative efficiency and distribution of different impurities are compared. The effect of N, Ne, and Ar seeding on target power load, the power entering into scrape-off layer (SOL), Psep, and their concentration in SOL along the poloidal length and edge effective ion charge number (Zeff) which are closely related to core plasma performance are presented. The simulation results indicate that N, Ne, and Ar seeding can effectively reduce the peak heat load and electron temperature at divertor targets similarly. N seeding can reach the highest radiative loss fraction and both N and Ar strongly radiate power in the divertor region, while the radiative power inside the separatrix for Ar seeding is also significant. Ne radiates power mainly around the separatrix and X-point. Ne and Ar impurities' puffing results in a faster decrease of Psep than N seeding case; the reduction of Psep can eventually degrade the core performance of fusion plasma. Additionally, seeding with Ne has a totally larger concentration at the outer midplane and edge Zeff than those in N and Ar seeding cases; it suggests that N and Ar impurities are more acceptable than Ne in terms of fuel dilution for this discharge.

Exploring Complex Systems Aspects of Blackout Risk and Mitigation

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

Newman, David E; Carreras, Benjamin A; Lynch, Vickie E

2011-01-01

Electric power transmission systems are a key infrastructure, and blackouts of these systems have major consequences for the economy and national security. Analyses of blackout data suggest that blackout size distributions have a power law form over much of their range. This result is an indication that blackouts behave as a complex dynamical system. We use a simulation of an upgrading power transmission system to investigate how these complex system dynamics impact the assessment and mitigation of blackout risk. The mitigation of failures in complex systems needs to be approached with care. The mitigation efforts can move the system tomore » a new dynamic equilibrium while remaining near criticality and preserving the power law region. Thus, while the absolute frequency of blackouts of all sizes may be reduced, the underlying forces can still cause the relative frequency of large blackouts to small blackouts to remain the same. Moreover, in some cases, efforts to mitigate small blackouts can even increase the frequency of large blackouts. This result occurs because the large and small blackouts are not mutually independent, but are strongly coupled by the complex dynamics.« less

Dark states and delocalization: Competing effects of quantum coherence on the efficiency of light harvesting systems.

PubMed

Hu, Zixuan; Engel, Gregory S; Alharbi, Fahhad H; Kais, Sabre

2018-02-14

Natural light harvesting systems exploit electronic coupling of identical chromophores to generate efficient and robust excitation transfer and conversion. Dark states created by strong coupling between chromophores in the antenna structure can significantly reduce radiative recombination and enhance energy conversion efficiency. Increasing the number of the chromophores increases the number of dark states and the associated enhanced energy conversion efficiency yet also delocalizes excitations away from the trapping center and reduces the energy conversion rate. Therefore, a competition between dark state protection and delocalization must be considered when designing the optimal size of a light harvesting system. In this study, we explore the two competing mechanisms in a chain-structured antenna and show that dark state protection is the dominant mechanism, with an intriguing dependence on the parity of the number of chromophores. This dependence is linked to the exciton distribution among eigenstates, which is strongly affected by the coupling strength between chromophores and the temperature. Combining these findings, we propose that increasing the coupling strength between the chromophores can significantly increase the power output of the light harvesting system.

The CANDELLE experiment for characterization of neutron sensitivity of LiF TLDs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guillou, M. Le; Billebaud, A.; Gruel, A.; Kessedjian, G.; Méplan, O.; Destouches, C.; Blaise, P.

2018-01-01

As part of the design studies conducted at CEA for future power and research nuclear reactors, the validation of neutron and photon calculation schemes related to nuclear heating prediction are strongly dependent on the implementation of nuclear heating measurements. Such measurements are usually performed in low-power reactors, whose core dimensions are accurately known and where irradiation conditions (power, flux and temperature) are entirely controlled. Due to the very low operating power of such reactors (of the order of 100 W), nuclear heating is assessed by using dosimetry techniques such as thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs). However, although they are highly sensitive to gamma radiation, such dosimeters are also, to a lesser extent, sensitive to neutrons. The neutron dose depends strongly on the TLD composition, typically contributing to 10-30% of the total measured dose in a mixed neutron/gamma field. The experimental determination of the neutron correction appears therefore to be crucial to a better interpretation of doses measured in reactor with reduced uncertainties. A promising approach based on the use of two types of LiF TLDs respectively enriched with lithium-6 and lithium-7, precalibrated both in photon and neutron fields, has been recently developed at INFN (Milan, Italy) for medical purposes. The CANDELLE experiment is dedicated to the implementation of a pure neutron field "calibration" of TLDs by using the GENEPI-2 neutron source of LPSC (Grenoble, France). Those irradiation conditions allowed providing an early assessment of the neutron components of doses measured in EOLE reactor at CEA Cadarache with 10% uncertainty at 1σ.

Investigation of various cavity configurations for metamaterial-enhanced field-localizing wireless power transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bui, Huu Nguyen; Pham, Thanh Son; Ngo, Viet; Lee, Jong-Wook

2017-09-01

Controlling power to an unintended area is an important issue for enabling wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. The control allows us to enhance efficiency as well as suppress unnecessary flux leakage. The flux leakage from WPT can be reduced effectively via selective field localization. To realize field localization, we propose the use of cavities formed on a single metamaterial slab that acts as a defected metasurface. The cavity is formed by strong field confinement using a hybridization bandgap (HBG), which is created by wave interaction with a two-dimensional array of local resonators on the metasurface. This approach using an HBG demonstrates strong field localization around the cavity regions. Motivated by this result, we further investigate various cavity configurations for different sizes of the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) resonators. Experiments show that the area of field localization increases with the number of cavities, confirming the successful control of different cavity configurations on the metasurface. Transmission measurements of different cavities show that the number of cavities is an important parameter for efficiency, and excess cavities do not enhance the efficiency but increase unnecessary power leakage. Thus, there exists an optimum number of cavities for a given size ratio between the Tx and Rx resonators. For a 6:1 size ratio, this approach achieves efficiency improvements of 3.69× and 1.59× compared to free space and a uniform metasurface, respectively. For 10:1 and 10:2 size ratios, the efficiency improvements are 3.26× and 1.98× compared to free space and a uniform metasurface, respectively.

Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace: Person-Job Fit, Job Burnout, and Physical Symptoms.

PubMed

Brandstätter, Veronika; Job, Veronika; Schulze, Beate

2016-01-01

Person-environment fit has been identified as a key prerequisite for employee well-being. We investigated to what extent a misfit between motivational needs and supplies at the workplace affects two key health outcomes: burnout and physical symptoms. Individual needs (implicit affiliation and power motives) and environment supplies (motive specific job characteristics) were assessed in an online survey of full time employees (n = 97), using a picture story exercise measuring implicit motives and a scale listing affiliation and power related job characteristics. Outcomes were assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a checklist of physical symptoms. We conducted polynomial regressions with response surface analysis. Results reveal that motivational incongruence with respect to the affiliation motive was related to high job burnout, while motivational incongruence concerning the power motive predicted increased physical symptoms. This was true for both those with a strong affiliation or power motive and low corresponding job characteristics and those with a weak affiliation or power motive and job characteristics demanding the respective motive. Results hint at potential interventions toward preventing or remedying a lack of needs-supply fit and reducing the risk of impairments of well-being.

Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace: Person-Job Fit, Job Burnout, and Physical Symptoms

PubMed Central

Brandstätter, Veronika; Job, Veronika; Schulze, Beate

2016-01-01

Person–environment fit has been identified as a key prerequisite for employee well-being. We investigated to what extent a misfit between motivational needs and supplies at the workplace affects two key health outcomes: burnout and physical symptoms. Individual needs (implicit affiliation and power motives) and environment supplies (motive specific job characteristics) were assessed in an online survey of full time employees (n = 97), using a picture story exercise measuring implicit motives and a scale listing affiliation and power related job characteristics. Outcomes were assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a checklist of physical symptoms. We conducted polynomial regressions with response surface analysis. Results reveal that motivational incongruence with respect to the affiliation motive was related to high job burnout, while motivational incongruence concerning the power motive predicted increased physical symptoms. This was true for both those with a strong affiliation or power motive and low corresponding job characteristics and those with a weak affiliation or power motive and job characteristics demanding the respective motive. Results hint at potential interventions toward preventing or remedying a lack of needs-supply fit and reducing the risk of impairments of well-being. PMID:27570513

Finite coupling corrections to holographic predictions for hot QCD

DOE PAGES

Waeber, Sebastian; Schafer, Andreas; Vuorinen, Aleksi; ...

2015-11-13

Finite ’t Hooft coupling corrections to multiple physical observables in strongly coupled N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma are examined, in an attempt to assess the stability of the expansion in inverse powers of the ’t Hooft coupling λ. Observables considered include thermodynamic quantities, transport coefficients, and quasinormal mode frequencies. Furthermore large λ expansions for quasinormal mode frequencies are notably less well behaved than the expansions of other quantities, we find that a partial resummation of higher order corrections can significantly reduce the sensitivity of the results to the value of λ.

Does power corrupt or enable? When and why power facilitates self-interested behavior.

PubMed

DeCelles, Katherine A; DeRue, D Scott; Margolis, Joshua D; Ceranic, Tara L

2012-05-01

Does power corrupt a moral identity, or does it enable a moral identity to emerge? Drawing from the power literature, we propose that the psychological experience of power, although often associated with promoting self-interest, is associated with greater self-interest only in the presence of a weak moral identity. Furthermore, we propose that the psychological experience of power is associated with less self-interest in the presence of a strong moral identity. Across a field survey of working adults and in a lab experiment, individuals with a strong moral identity were less likely to act in self-interest, yet individuals with a weak moral identity were more likely to act in self-interest, when subjectively experiencing power. Finally, we predict and demonstrate an explanatory mechanism behind this effect: The psychological experience of power enhances moral awareness among those with a strong moral identity, yet decreases the moral awareness among those with a weak moral identity. In turn, individuals' moral awareness affects how they behave in relation to their self-interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

A Drosophila model of dominant inclusion body myopathy type 3 shows diminished myosin kinetics that reduce muscle power and yield myofibrillar defects

PubMed Central

Suggs, Jennifer A.; Melkani, Girish C.; Glasheen, Bernadette M.; Detor, Mia M.; Melkani, Anju; Marsan, Nathan P.; Swank, Douglas M.

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Individuals with inclusion body myopathy type 3 (IBM3) display congenital joint contractures with early-onset muscle weakness that becomes more severe in adulthood. The disease arises from an autosomal dominant point mutation causing an E706K substitution in myosin heavy chain type IIa. We have previously expressed the corresponding myosin mutation (E701K) in homozygous Drosophila indirect flight muscles and recapitulated the myofibrillar degeneration and inclusion bodies observed in the human disease. We have also found that purified E701K myosin has dramatically reduced actin-sliding velocity and ATPase levels. Since IBM3 is a dominant condition, we now examine the disease state in heterozygote Drosophila in order to gain a mechanistic understanding of E701K pathogenicity. Myosin ATPase activities in heterozygotes suggest that approximately equimolar levels of myosin accumulate from each allele. In vitro actin sliding velocity rates for myosin isolated from the heterozygotes were lower than the control, but higher than for the pure mutant isoform. Although sarcomeric ultrastructure was nearly wild type in young adults, mechanical analysis of skinned indirect flight muscle fibers revealed a 59% decrease in maximum oscillatory power generation and an approximately 20% reduction in the frequency at which maximum power was produced. Rate constant analyses suggest a decrease in the rate of myosin attachment to actin, with myosin spending decreased time in the strongly bound state. These mechanical alterations result in a one-third decrease in wing beat frequency and marginal flight ability. With aging, muscle ultrastructure and function progressively declined. Aged myofibrils showed Z-line streaming, consistent with the human heterozygote phenotype. Based upon the mechanical studies, we hypothesize that the mutation decreases the probability of the power stroke occurring and/or alters the degree of movement of the myosin lever arm, resulting in decreased in vitro motility, reduced muscle power output and focal myofibrillar disorganization similar to that seen in individuals with IBM3. PMID:28258125

Physicochemical properties and in vitro antioxidant activities of polysaccharide from Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. pulp.

PubMed

Zhu, Kexue; Zhang, Yanjun; Nie, Shaoping; Xu, Fei; He, Shuzhen; Gong, Deming; Wu, Gang; Tan, Lehe

2017-01-02

A water-soluble polysaccharide from Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (jackfruit) pulp (JFP-Ps) was purified and its physicochemical properties were investigated. The in vitro antioxidant activities of JFP-Ps was evaluated by measuring DPPH and OH radicals scavenging activities, as well as reducing power. The results showed that JFP-Ps contained 79.12% of total sugar, 5.83% of protein, 15.65% of uronic acid, and 15 kinds of amino acids with high levels of Asp, Glu, Val, Leu and Lys. JFP-Ps was mainly composed of Rha, Ara, Gal, Glc, Xyl and GalA, with an average molecular weight of 1668kDa. FT-IR results showed the bands at the range of 1200-850cm -1 suggested the presence of carbohydrates in JFP-Ps. The results of antioxidant activities showed that JFP-Ps exhibited strong DPPH and OH radical scavenging activities, with a relatively lower reducing power, suggesting that JFP-Ps can be exploited as effective natural antioxidant applications in medical and food industries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Efficient Data Compression Model Based on Spatial Clustering and Principal Component Analysis in Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Yin, Yihang; Liu, Fengzheng; Zhou, Xiang; Li, Quanzhong

2015-08-07

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been widely used to monitor the environment, and sensors in WSNs are usually power constrained. Because inner-node communication consumes most of the power, efficient data compression schemes are needed to reduce the data transmission to prolong the lifetime of WSNs. In this paper, we propose an efficient data compression model to aggregate data, which is based on spatial clustering and principal component analysis (PCA). First, sensors with a strong temporal-spatial correlation are grouped into one cluster for further processing with a novel similarity measure metric. Next, sensor data in one cluster are aggregated in the cluster head sensor node, and an efficient adaptive strategy is proposed for the selection of the cluster head to conserve energy. Finally, the proposed model applies principal component analysis with an error bound guarantee to compress the data and retain the definite variance at the same time. Computer simulations show that the proposed model can greatly reduce communication and obtain a lower mean square error than other PCA-based algorithms.

Artificial neural network optimization of Althaea rosea seeds polysaccharides and its antioxidant activity.

PubMed

Liu, Feng; Liu, Wenhui; Tian, Shuge

2014-09-01

A combination of an orthogonal L16(4)4 test design and a three-layer artificial neural network (ANN) model was applied to optimize polysaccharides from Althaea rosea seeds extracted by hot water method. The highest optimal experimental yield of A. rosea seed polysaccharides (ARSPs) of 59.85 mg/g was obtained using three extraction numbers, 113 min extraction time, 60.0% ethanol concentration, and 1:41 solid-liquid ratio. Under these optimized conditions, the ARSP experimental yield was very close to the predicted yield of 60.07 mg/g and was higher than the orthogonal test results (40.86 mg/g). Structural characterizations were conducted using physicochemical property and FTIR analysis. In addition, the study of ARSP antioxidant activity demonstrated that polysaccharides exhibited high superoxide dismutase activity, strong reducing power, and positive scavenging activity on superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, and reducing power. Our results indicated that ANNs were efficient quantitative tools for predicting the total ARSP content. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative studies on extracts from Hericium erinaceus by different polarity reagents to gain higher antioxidant activities.

PubMed

Jiang, Shengjuan; Wang, Yuliang; Zhang, Xiaolong

2016-07-01

Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus) is a source of exogenous antioxidants that has been traditionally used in China for the prevention and treatment of oxidative stress-associated disease. In the present study, the bioactive compounds of H. erinaceus were extracted with the following eight representative reagents: n-Hexane, xylene, chloroform, anhydrous ether, ethyl acetate, acetone, anhydrous ethanol and distilled water. The in vitro antioxidant activities were also evaluated. All of the extracted compounds exhibited reducing power and scavenging activity against 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and superoxide anion free radicals. In addition, the antioxidant capacities varied with the used chemical reagents and exhibited dose-dependent effects. Extracts from anhydrous ethanol, chloroform and acetone were capable of inhibiting lipid peroxidation. The anhydrous ethanol extracts were observed to have significant levels of antioxidant compounds since they had a strong reducing power, high scavenging rates against DPPH and superoxide anion-free radicals (>90%), and high inhibition rates on lipid peroxidation (>60%). The present study will provide reference data for the antioxidant applications of H. erinaceus in pharmaceutical use and disease prevention.

Comparative studies on extracts from Hericium erinaceus by different polarity reagents to gain higher antioxidant activities

PubMed Central

JIANG, SHENGJUAN; WANG, YULIANG; ZHANG, XIAOLONG

2016-01-01

Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus) is a source of exogenous antioxidants that has been traditionally used in China for the prevention and treatment of oxidative stress-associated disease. In the present study, the bioactive compounds of H. erinaceus were extracted with the following eight representative reagents: n-Hexane, xylene, chloroform, anhydrous ether, ethyl acetate, acetone, anhydrous ethanol and distilled water. The in vitro antioxidant activities were also evaluated. All of the extracted compounds exhibited reducing power and scavenging activity against 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and superoxide anion free radicals. In addition, the antioxidant capacities varied with the used chemical reagents and exhibited dose-dependent effects. Extracts from anhydrous ethanol, chloroform and acetone were capable of inhibiting lipid peroxidation. The anhydrous ethanol extracts were observed to have significant levels of antioxidant compounds since they had a strong reducing power, high scavenging rates against DPPH and superoxide anion-free radicals (>90%), and high inhibition rates on lipid peroxidation (>60%). The present study will provide reference data for the antioxidant applications of H. erinaceus in pharmaceutical use and disease prevention. PMID:27347087

Antioxidant activity and optimization of extraction of polysaccharide from the roots of Dipsacus asperoides.

PubMed

Tan, Li-Hong; Zhang, Dan; Yu, Bao; Zhao, Sheng-Ping; Wang, Jian-Wei; Yao, Ling; Cao, Wei-Guo

2015-11-01

Polysaccharide extraction from Dipsacus asperoides roots (DAP) was proved to possess strong antioxidant activities, including 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-Azobis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activities, inhibiting β-carotene bleaching and strong reducing power. Cell assay demonstrated that the crude DAP possessed antioxidant activity and were effective against H2O2-induced L02 cells injury. Then, response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the ultrasonic extraction of DAP. The optimum variables given by central composite design (CCD) were as follows: ratio of water to raw material, 38.61mL/g; ultrasonic power, 308.68W; extraction time, 38.61min; and extraction temperature, 89°C. Under these conditions, the maximum yield of DAP obtained was 7.12±0.45%. Moreover, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis suggested that the monosaccharide compositions of DAP contained primarily mannose, ribose, glucose, galactose, xylose and arabinose, with a molar ratio of 0.22:0.48:2.29:0.34:1.39:1.41. The results of the present study showed that DAP could be considered as potential sources of natural antioxidants. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption of Marcellus shale gas.

PubMed

Laurenzi, Ian J; Jersey, Gilbert R

2013-05-07

We present results of a life cycle assessment (LCA) of Marcellus shale gas used for power generation. The analysis employs the most extensive data set of any LCA of shale gas to date, encompassing data from actual gas production and power generation operations. Results indicate that a typical Marcellus gas life cycle yields 466 kg CO2eq/MWh (80% confidence interval: 450-567 kg CO2eq/MWh) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 224 gal/MWh (80% CI: 185-305 gal/MWh) of freshwater consumption. Operations associated with hydraulic fracturing constitute only 1.2% of the life cycle GHG emissions, and 6.2% of the life cycle freshwater consumption. These results are influenced most strongly by the estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of the well and the power plant efficiency: increase in either quantity will reduce both life cycle freshwater consumption and GHG emissions relative to power generated at the plant. We conclude by comparing the life cycle impacts of Marcellus gas and U.S. coal: The carbon footprint of Marcellus gas is 53% (80% CI: 44-61%) lower than coal, and its freshwater consumption is about 50% of coal. We conclude that substantial GHG reductions and freshwater savings may result from the replacement of coal-fired power generation with gas-fired power generation.

Nutrition for power sports: middle-distance running, track cycling, rowing, canoeing/kayaking, and swimming.

PubMed

Stellingwerff, Trent; Maughan, Ronald J; Burke, Louise M

2011-01-01

Contemporary training for power sports involves diverse routines that place a wide array of physiological demands on the athlete. This requires a multi-faceted nutritional strategy to support both general training needs--tailored to specific training phases--as well as the acute demands of competition. Elite power sport athletes have high training intensities and volumes for most of the training season, so energy intake must be sufficient to support recovery and adaptation. Low pre-exercise muscle glycogen reduces high-intensity performance, so daily carbohydrate intake must be emphasized throughout training and competition phases. There is strong evidence to suggest that the timing, type, and amount of protein intake influence post-exercise recovery and adaptation. Most power sports feature demanding competition schedules, which require aggressive nutritional recovery strategies to optimize muscle glycogen resynthesis. Various power sports have different optimum body compositions and body weight requirements, but increasing the power-to-weight ratio during the championship season can lead to significant performance benefits for most athletes. Both intra- and extracellular buffering agents may enhance performance, but more research is needed to examine the potential long-term impact of buffering agents on training adaptation. Interactions between training, desired physiological adaptations, competition, and nutrition require an individual approach and should be continuously adjusted and adapted.

Order of magnitude improvement of nano-contact spin torque nano-oscillator performance.

PubMed

Banuazizi, Seyed Amir Hossein; Sani, Sohrab R; Eklund, Anders; Naiini, Maziar M; Mohseni, Seyed Majid; Chung, Sunjae; Dürrenfeld, Philipp; Malm, B Gunnar; Åkerman, Johan

2017-02-02

Spin torque nano-oscillators (STNO) represent a unique class of nano-scale microwave signal generators and offer a combination of intriguing properties, such as nano sized footprint, ultrafast modulation rates, and highly tunable microwave frequencies from 100 MHz to close to 100 GHz. However, their low output power and relatively high threshold current still limit their applicability and must be improved. In this study, we investigate the influence of the bottom Cu electrode thickness (t Cu ) in nano-contact STNOs based on Co/Cu/NiFe GMR stacks and with nano-contact diameters ranging from 60 to 500 nm. Increasing t Cu from 10 to 70 nm results in a 40% reduction of the threshold current, an order of magnitude higher microwave output power, and close to two orders of magnitude better power conversion efficiency. Numerical simulations of the current distribution suggest that these dramatic improvements originate from a strongly reduced lateral current spread in the magneto-dynamically active region.

Assessment and Implication of Prognostic Imbalance in Randomized Controlled Trials with a Binary Outcome – A Simulation Study

PubMed Central

Chu, Rong; Walter, Stephen D.; Guyatt, Gordon; Devereaux, P. J.; Walsh, Michael; Thorlund, Kristian; Thabane, Lehana

2012-01-01

Background Chance imbalance in baseline prognosis of a randomized controlled trial can lead to over or underestimation of treatment effects, particularly in trials with small sample sizes. Our study aimed to (1) evaluate the probability of imbalance in a binary prognostic factor (PF) between two treatment arms, (2) investigate the impact of prognostic imbalance on the estimation of a treatment effect, and (3) examine the effect of sample size (n) in relation to the first two objectives. Methods We simulated data from parallel-group trials evaluating a binary outcome by varying the risk of the outcome, effect of the treatment, power and prevalence of the PF, and n. Logistic regression models with and without adjustment for the PF were compared in terms of bias, standard error, coverage of confidence interval and statistical power. Results For a PF with a prevalence of 0.5, the probability of a difference in the frequency of the PF≥5% reaches 0.42 with 125/arm. Ignoring a strong PF (relative risk = 5) leads to underestimating the strength of a moderate treatment effect, and the underestimate is independent of n when n is >50/arm. Adjusting for such PF increases statistical power. If the PF is weak (RR = 2), adjustment makes little difference in statistical inference. Conditional on a 5% imbalance of a powerful PF, adjustment reduces the likelihood of large bias. If an absolute measure of imbalance ≥5% is deemed important, including 1000 patients/arm provides sufficient protection against such an imbalance. Two thousand patients/arm may provide an adequate control against large random deviations in treatment effect estimation in the presence of a powerful PF. Conclusions The probability of prognostic imbalance in small trials can be substantial. Covariate adjustment improves estimation accuracy and statistical power, and hence should be performed when strong PFs are observed. PMID:22629322

Reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) by Building Community Capacity: A Summary of Washington Family Policy Council Research Findings

PubMed Central

Hall, Judy; Porter, Laura; Longhi, Dario; Becker-Green, Jody; Dreyfus, Susan

2012-01-01

Community capacity for organization and collaboration has been shown to be a powerful tool for improving the health and well-being of communities. Since 1994 the Washington State Family Policy Council has supported the development of community capacity in 42 community public health and safety networks. Community networks bring local communities together to restructure natural supports and local resources to meet the needs of families and children, and increase cross-system coordination and flexible funding streams to improve local services and policy. In this study, researchers sought to demonstrate the strong impact of the community networks’ capacity to interrupt health and social problems. Findings suggest that community networks reduce health and safety problems for the entire community population. Further, community networks with high community capacity reduced adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in young adults ages 18–34. PMID:22970785

Strong cellulase inhibitors from the hydrothermal pretreatment of wheat straw

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The use of the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose with subsequent fermentation to ethanol provides a green alternative for the production of transportation fuels. Because of its recalcitrant nature, the lignocellulosic biomass must be pretreated before enzymatic hydrolysis. However, the pretreatment often results in the formation of compounds that are inhibitory for the enzymes or fermenting organism. Although well recognized, little quantitative information on the inhibition of individual cellulase components by identified inhibitors is available. Results Strong cellulase inhibitors were separated from the liquid fraction of the hydrothermal pretreatment of wheat straw. HPLC and mass-spectroscopy analyses confirmed that the inhibitors were oligosaccharides (inhibitory oligosaccharides, IOS) with a degree of polymerization from 7 to 16. The IOS are composed of a mixture of xylo- (XOS) and gluco-oligosaccharides (GOS). We propose that XOS and GOS are the fragments of the xylan backbone and mixed-linkage β-glucans, respectively. The IOS were approximately 100 times stronger inhibitors for Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolases (CBHs) than cellobiose, which is one of the strongest inhibitors of these enzymes reported to date. Inhibition of endoglucanases (EGs) by IOS was weaker than that of CBHs. Most of the tested cellulases and hemicellulases were able to slowly degrade IOS and reduce the inhibitory power of the liquid fraction to some extent. The most efficient single enzyme component here was T. reesei EG TrCel7B. Although reduced by the enzyme treatment, the residual inhibitory power of IOS and the liquid fraction was strong enough to silence the major component of the T. reesei cellulase system, CBH TrCel7A. Conclusions The cellulase inhibitors described here may be responsible for the poor yields from the enzymatic conversion of the whole slurries from lignocellulose pretreatment under conditions that do not favor complete degradation of hemicellulose. Identification of the inhibitory compounds helps to design better enzyme mixtures for their degradation and to optimize the pretreatment regimes to minimize their formation. PMID:24053778

Selective DNA Pooling for Determination of Linkage between a Molecular Marker and a Quantitative Trait Locus

PubMed Central

Darvasi, A.; Soller, M.

1994-01-01

Selective genotyping is a method to reduce costs in marker-quantitative trait locus (QTL) linkage determination by genotyping only those individuals with extreme, and hence most informative, quantitative trait values. The DNA pooling strategy (termed: ``selective DNA pooling'') takes this one step further by pooling DNA from the selected individuals at each of the two phenotypic extremes, and basing the test for linkage on marker allele frequencies as estimated from the pooled samples only. This can reduce genotyping costs of marker-QTL linkage determination by up to two orders of magnitude. Theoretical analysis of selective DNA pooling shows that for experiments involving backcross, F(2) and half-sib designs, the power of selective DNA pooling for detecting genes with large effect, can be the same as that obtained by individual selective genotyping. Power for detecting genes with small effect, however, was found to decrease strongly with increase in the technical error of estimating allele frequencies in the pooled samples. The effect of technical error, however, can be markedly reduced by replication of technical procedures. It is also shown that a proportion selected of 0.1 at each tail will be appropriate for a wide range of experimental conditions. PMID:7896115

Accessible magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed

Kaufman, L; Arakawa, M; Hale, J; Rothschild, P; Carlson, J; Hake, K; Kramer, D; Lu, W; Van Heteren, J

1989-10-01

The cost of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is driven by magnetic field strength. Misperceptions as to the impact of field strength on performance have led to systems that are more expensive than they need to be. Careful analysis of all the factors that affect diagnostic quality lead to the conclusion that field strength per se is not a strong determinant of system performance. Freed from the constraints imposed by high-field operation, it is possible to exploit a varied set of opportunities afforded by low-field operation. In addition to lower costs and easier siting, we can take advantage of shortened T1 times, higher contrast, reduced sensitivity to motion, and reduced radiofrequency power deposition. These conceptual advantages can be made to coalesce onto practical imaging systems. We describe a low-cost MRI system that utilizes a permanent magnet of open design. Careful optimization of receiving antennas and acquisition sequences permit performance levels consistent with those needed for an effective diagnostic unit. Ancillary advantages include easy access to the patient, reduced claustrophobia, quiet and comfortable operation, and absence of a missile effect. The system can be sited in 350 sq ft and consumes a modest amount of electricity. MRI equipment of this kind can widen the population base than can access this powerful and beneficial diagnostic modality.

Strongly nonlinear composite dielectrics: A perturbation method for finding the potential field and bulk effective properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blumenfeld, Raphael; Bergman, David J.

1991-10-01

A class of strongly nonlinear composite dielectrics is studied. We develop a general method to reduce the scalar-potential-field problem to the solution of a set of linear Poisson-type equations in rescaled coordinates. The method is applicable for a large variety of nonlinear materials. For a power-law relation between the displacement and the electric fields, it is used to solve explicitly for the value of the bulk effective dielectric constant ɛe to second order in the fluctuations of its local value. A simlar procedure for the vector potential, whose curl is the displacement field, yields a quantity analogous to the inverse dielectric constant in linear dielectrics. The bulk effective dielectric constant is given by a set of linear integral expressions in the rescaled coordinates and exact bounds for it are derived.

Analysis of impact of “strong DC and weak AC” on receiving-end power system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiang; Li, Tianran; Yang, Pengcheng

2018-02-01

The rapid development of UHVDC transmission project has brought abundant power supply to the receiving-end power system area, but also many security and stability problems. This paper summarizes four elements that affect the strength of AC system, and then simulates the most basic two-terminal single-pole UHV transmission system by MATLAB/Simulink. It analyses the impact of receiving-end AC power system strength on real-time power, frequency and voltage. Finally, in view of operation risk of “strong DC and weak AC”, this paper puts forward three countermeasures.

Isolation and identification of phenolic compounds from rum aged in oak barrels by high-speed countercurrent chromatography/high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and screening for antioxidant activity.

PubMed

Regalado, Erik L; Tolle, Sebastian; Pino, Jorge A; Winterhalter, Peter; Menendez, Roberto; Morales, Ana R; Rodríguez, José L

2011-10-14

Beverages, especially wines are well-known to contain a variety of health-beneficial bioactive substances, mainly of phenolic nature which frequently exhibit antioxidant activity. Significant information is available about the separation and identification of polyphenols from some beverages by chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, but considerably poor is chemical data related to the polyphenolic content in rums. In this paper, a method involving the all-liquid chromatographic technique of high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS(n)) has been successfully applied for separation and identification of phenolic compounds in an aged rum. Besides, the phenolic fraction (PF) was assayed for its antioxidant effects using three different free radical in vitro assays (DPPH·, RO(2)· and spontaneous lipid peroxidation (LPO) on brain homogenates) and on ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Results showed that PF potently scavenged DPPH and strongly scavenged peroxyl radicals compared to ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT); and almost equally inhibited LPO on brain homogenates subjected to spontaneous LPO when compared to quercetin. Moreover, PF also exhibited strong reducing power. This chemical analysis illustrates the rich array of phenols in the aged rum and represents a rapid and suitable method for the isolation and identification of phenolic compounds from mixtures of considerable complexity, achieving high purity and reproducibility with the use of two separation steps. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spiral spectrum of Airy beams propagation through moderate-to-strong turbulence of maritime atmosphere.

PubMed

Zhu, Yun; Zhang, Yixin; Hu, Zhengda

2016-05-16

The spatial coherence radius in moderate-to-strong maritime turbulence is derived on the basis of the modified Rytov approximation. Models are developed to simulate the spiral spectrum of Airy beams propagating through moderate-to-strong maritime turbulence. In the moderate-to-strong irradiance fluctuation region, we analyze the effects of maritime turbulence on the spread of the spiral spectrum of Airy beams in a horizontal propagation path. Results indicate that the increment in the inner-scale significantly increases the received power. By contrast, the outer-scale elicits a negligible effect on the received power if the ratio of the inner-scale to the outer-scale is less than 0.01. The outer-scale affects the received power only if the ratio is greater than 0.01. The performance of a light source is essential for the received power of Airy beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) through moderate-to-strong maritime turbulence. Airy beams with longer wavelengths, smaller OAM numbers, larger radii of the main ring, and smaller diameters of the circular aperture are less affected by maritime turbulence. Autofocusing of Airy beams is beneficial for the propagation of the spiral spectrum in a certain propagation distance. These results contribute to the design of optical communication systems with OAM encoding for moderate-to-strong maritime turbulence.

Comparison of efficiency and feedback characteristics of techniques of coupling semiconductor lasers into single-mode fiber.

PubMed

Wenke, G; Zhu, Y

1983-12-01

The coupling of CSP lasers to single-mode fibers with different coupling structures made on the fiber face is investigated. In this case easy to make coupling arrangements such as tapers and microlenses, result in a high launching efficiency (approximately 2-dB loss), in contrast to launching from gain-guided lasers with strong astigmatism and a broader far-field pattern. Index-guiding lasers exhibit, however, a higher sensitivity to optical feedback. Laser output power and wavelength are changed due to reflections from the fiber tip. Critical distances exist which lead to a highly unstable laser spectrum. A comparison of the influence of various fiber faces on laser power and wavelength stability is presented. It is concluded that a tapered fiber end with a large working distance reduces the influence on the laser's performance.

Model calculations of kinetic and fluid dynamic processes in diode pumped alkali lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barmashenko, Boris D.; Rosenwaks, Salman; Waichman, Karol

2013-10-01

Kinetic and fluid dynamic processes in diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) are analyzed in detail using a semianalytical model, applicable to both static and flowing-gas devices. The model takes into account effects of temperature rise, excitation of neutral alkali atoms to high lying electronic states and their losses due to ionization and chemical reactions, resulting in a decrease of the pump absorption, slope efficiency and lasing power. Effects of natural convection in static DPALs are also taken into account. The model is applied to Cs DPALs and the results are in good agreement with measurements in a static [B.V. Zhdanov, J. Sell and R.J. Knize, Electron. Lett. 44, 582 (2008)] and 1-kW flowing-gas [A.V. Bogachev et al., Quantum Electron. 42, 95 (2012)] DPALs. It predicts the dependence of power on the flow velocity in flowing-gas DPALs and on the buffer gas composition. The maximum values of the laser power can be substantially increased by optimization of the flowing-gas DPAL parameters. In particular for the aforementioned 1 kW DPAL, 6 kW maximum power is achievable just by increasing the pump power and the temperature of the wall and the gas at the flow inlet (resulting in increase of the alkali saturated vapor density). Dependence of the lasing power on the pump power is non-monotonic: the power first increases, achieves its maximum and then decreases. The decrease of the lasing power with increasing pump power at large values of the latter is due to the rise of the aforementioned losses of the alkali atoms as a result of ionization. Work in progress applying two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modeling of flowing-gas DPALs is also reported.

Social motives and cognitive power-sex associations: predictors of aggressive sexual behavior.

PubMed

Zurbriggen, E L

2000-03-01

The present study investigated whether implicit social motives and cognitive power-sex associations would predict self-reports of aggressive sexual behavior. Participants wrote stories in response to Thematic Apperception Test pictures, which were scored for power and affiliation-intimacy motives. They also completed a lexical-decision priming task that provided an index of the strength of the cognitive association between the concepts of "power" and "sexuality." For men, high levels of power motivation and strong power-sex associations predicted more frequent aggression. There was also an interaction: Power motivation was unrelated to aggression for men with the weakest power-sex associations. For women, high levels of affiliation-intimacy motivation were associated with more frequent aggression. Strong power-sex associations were also predictive for women but only when affiliation-intimacy motivation was high.

Characterization, antibacterial, antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antityrosinase activity of green synthesized silver nanoparticles using Calophyllum tomentosum leaves extract

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Govindappa, M.; Hemashekhar, B.; Arthikala, Manoj-Kumar; Ravishankar Rai, V.; Ramachandra, Y. L.

2018-06-01

The current research study is to develop an easy and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of AgNPs using aqueous leaf extract of Calophyllum tomentosum (CtAgNPs) and evaluated the extract to know the effects of anti-bacterial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-tyrosinase activity. Using UV-vis spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) characterized the Calophyllum tomentosum mediated silver nanoparticles. The leaf extract of C. tomentosum yielded flavonoids, saponins, tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, phenols, terpenoids and coumarins. AgNPs formation was confirmed by UV-vis spectra at 438 nm. Crystalline structure with a face centered cubic (fcc) of AgNPs was observed in XRD. FTIR had shown that the phytochemicals were responsible for the reduction and capping material of silver nanoparticles. The size and shape of the AgNPs were determined using SEM. From EDX study analysed the strong absorption property of AgNPs. The CtAgNPs have showed significant antibacterial activity on multi drug resistance bacteria. The CtAgNPs had shown strong antioxidant (DPPH, H2O2 scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging power, reducing power) activities. The CtAgNPs had strongly inhibited the α-glucosidase and DPPIV compared to α-amylase. The CtAgNPs exhibited strong anti-inflammatory activity (albumin denaturation, membrane stabilization, heat haemolytic, protein inhibitory, lipoxygenase, xanthine oxidase) and tyrosinase inhibitory activity. To our best knowledge, this is the first attempt on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Calophyllum tomentosum leaves extract. Hence, to validate our results the in vivo studies at molecular level are needed to develop an antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory agent.

Smart Power: New power integrated circuit technologies and their applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuivalainen, Pekka; Pohjonen, Helena; Yli-Pietilae, Timo; Lenkkeri, Jaakko

1992-05-01

Power Integrated Circuits (PIC) is one of the most rapidly growing branches of the semiconductor technology. The PIC markets has been forecast to grow from 660 million dollars in 1990 to 1658 million dollars in 1994. It has even been forecast that at the end of the 1990's the PIC markets would correspond to the value of the whole semiconductor production in 1990. Automotive electronics will play the leading role in the development of the standard PIC's. Integrated motor drivers (36 V/4 A), smart integrated switches (60 V/30 A), solenoid drivers, integrated switch-mode power supplies and regulators are the latest standard devices of the PIC manufactures. ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) PIC solutions are needed for the same reasons as other ASIC devices: there are no proper standard devices, a company has a lot of application knowhow, which should be kept inside the company, the size of the product must be reduced, and assembly costs are wished to be reduced by decreasing the number of discrete devices. During the next few years the most probable ASIC PIC applications in Finland will be integrated solenoid and motor drivers, an integrated electronic lamp ballast circuit and various sensor interface circuits. Application of the PIC technologies to machines and actuators will strongly be increased all over the world. This means that various PIC's, either standard PIC's or full custom ASIC circuits, will appear in many products which compete with the corresponding Finnish products. Therefore the development of the PIC technologies must be followed carefully in order to immediately be able to apply the latest development in the smart power technologies and their design methods.

Replication of association of DENND1A and THADA variants with polycystic ovary syndrome in European cohorts.

PubMed

Goodarzi, Mark O; Jones, Michelle R; Li, Xiaohui; Chua, Angela K; Garcia, Obed A; Chen, Yii-Der I; Krauss, Ronald M; Rotter, Jerome I; Ankener, Wendy; Legro, Richard S; Azziz, Ricardo; Strauss, Jerome F; Dunaif, Andrea; Urbanek, Margrit

2012-02-01

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder with a strong familial component. PCOS is characterised by hyperandrogenaemia and irregular menses. A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) of PCOS in a Chinese cohort identified three reproducible PCOS susceptibility loci mapping to 2p16.3 (luteinising hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor; LHCGR), 2p21 (thyroid associated protein; THADA), and 9q33.3 (DENN/MADD domain containing 1A; DENNDIA). The impact of these loci in non-Chinese PCOS cohorts remains to be determined. The study tested association with PCOS of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms mapping to the three Chinese PCOS loci in two European derived PCOS cohorts (cohort A = 939 cases and 957 controls; cohort B = 535 cases and 845 controls). Cases fulfilled the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development criteria for PCOS. Variation in DENND1A was strongly associated with PCOS in the study cohort (p(combined cohorts)=10(-8)); multiple variants in THADA were also associated with PCOS, while there was no significant evidence for association of LHCGR variation with PCOS. The present study had >80% power to detect an effect of similar size as was observed by Chen et al for DENND1A and THADA, but reduced power (at <40%) for LHCGR at p=0.0001. The study had sufficient power (57-88%) for LHCGR at p=0.01. At least two of the PCOS susceptibility loci identified in the Chinese PCOS GWAS (DENND1A and THADA) are also associated with PCOS in European derived populations, and are therefore likely to be important in the aetiology of PCOS regardless of ethnicity. The analysis of the LHCGR gene was not sufficiently powered to detect modest effects.

A Compact and Low Power RO PUF with High Resilience to the EM Side-Channel Attack and the SVM Modelling Attack of Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Cao, Yuan; Ye, Wenbin; Han, Qingbang; Pan, Xiaofang

2018-01-01

Authentication is a crucial security service for the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in versatile domains. The deployment of WSN devices in the untrusted open environment and the resource-constrained nature make the on-chip authentication an open challenge. The strong physical unclonable function (PUF) came in handy as light-weight authentication security primitive. In this paper, we present the first ring oscillator (RO) based strong physical unclonable function (PUF) with high resilience to both the electromagnetic (EM) side-channel attack and the support vector machine (SVM) modelling attack. By employing an RO based PUF architecture with the current starved inverter as the delay cell, the oscillation power is significantly reduced to minimize the emitted EM signal, leading to greatly enhanced immunity to the EM side-channel analysis attack. In addition, featuring superior reconfigurability due to the conspicuously simplified circuitries, the proposed implementation is capable of withstanding the SVM modelling attack by generating and comparing a large number of RO frequency pairs. The reported experimental results validate the prototype of a 9-stage RO PUF fabricated using standard 65 nm complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. Operating at the supply voltage of 1.2 V and the frequency of 100 KHz, the fabricated RO PUF occupies a compact silicon area of 250 μm2 and consumes a power as low as 5.16 μW per challenge-response pair (CRP). Furthermore, the uniqueness and the worst-case reliability are measured to be 50.17% and 98.30% for the working temperature range of −40∼120 ∘C and the supply voltage variation of ±2%, respectively. Thus, the proposed PUF is applicable for the low power, low cost and secure WSN communications. PMID:29360790

A Compact and Low Power RO PUF with High Resilience to the EM Side-Channel Attack and the SVM Modelling Attack of Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Cao, Yuan; Zhao, Xiaojin; Ye, Wenbin; Han, Qingbang; Pan, Xiaofang

2018-01-23

Authentication is a crucial security service for the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in versatile domains. The deployment of WSN devices in the untrusted open environment and the resource-constrained nature make the on-chip authentication an open challenge. The strong physical unclonable function (PUF) came in handy as light-weight authentication security primitive. In this paper, we present the first ring oscillator (RO) based strong physical unclonable function (PUF) with high resilience to both the electromagnetic (EM) side-channel attack and the support vector machine (SVM) modelling attack. By employing an RO based PUF architecture with the current starved inverter as the delay cell, the oscillation power is significantly reduced to minimize the emitted EM signal, leading to greatly enhanced immunity to the EM side-channel analysis attack. In addition, featuring superior reconfigurability due to the conspicuously simplified circuitries, the proposed implementation is capable of withstanding the SVM modelling attack by generating and comparing a large number of RO frequency pairs. The reported experimental results validate the prototype of a 9-stage RO PUF fabricated using standard 65 nm complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. Operating at the supply voltage of 1.2 V and the frequency of 100 KHz, the fabricated RO PUF occupies a compact silicon area of 250 μ m 2 and consumes a power as low as 5.16 μ W per challenge-response pair (CRP). Furthermore, the uniqueness and the worst-case reliability are measured to be 50.17% and 98.30% for the working temperature range of -40∼120 ∘ C and the supply voltage variation of ±2%, respectively. Thus, the proposed PUF is applicable for the low power, low cost and secure WSN communications.

α-Terpineol reduces cancer pain via modulation of oxidative stress and inhibition of iNOS.

PubMed

Gouveia, Daniele Nascimento; Costa, Janara Santos; Oliveira, Marlange Almeida; Rabelo, Thallita Kelly; Silva, Ana Mara de Oliveira E; Carvalho, Adriana Andrade; Miguel-Dos-Santos, Rodrigo; Lauton-Santos, Sandra; Scotti, Luciana; Scotti, Marcus Tullius; Santos, Márcio Roberto Viana Dos; Quintans-Júnior, Lucindo José; Albuquerque Junior, Ricardo Luiz Cavalcanti De; Guimarães, Adriana Gibara

2018-06-11

α-Terpineol (TP) is present in a wide range of essential oils of the genus Eucalyptus, with recognized potential for a range of biological effects, such as analgesic. Hence, our study aimed to investigate the effect of TP on cancer pain induced by sarcoma 180 in Swiss mice. Our results showed that TP reduced significantly mechanical hyperalgesia and spontaneous and palpation-induced nociception, improved paw use without reducing tumor growth and grip strength. Importantly, no evident biochemical and hematological toxicity was oberved. Furthermore, TP increased the tissue antioxidant capacity due to ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and glutathione (GSH). TP also reduced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) immunocontent in the tumors. Molecular docking estimated that TP binds within the same range of iNOS regions (other iNOS inhibitors), such as N-Nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME). These data provide strong evidence that TP may be an interesting candidate for the development of new safe analgesic drugs that are effective for cancer pain control. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Effects of Grid-Scale Electricity Storage in a Decarbonizing Power System

DOE PAGES

Craig, Michael T.; Jaramillo, Paulina; Hodge, Bri-Mathias

2018-01-03

While grid-scale electricity storage (hereafter 'storage') could be crucial for deeply decarbonizing the electric power system, it would increase carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in current systems across the United States. To better understand how storage transitions from increasing to decreasing system CO 2 emissions, we quantify the effect of storage on operational CO 2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO 2 emission reduction target through 2045. Under each target, we compare the effect of storage on CO 2 emissions when storage participates in only energy, only reserve, and energy and reserve markets. Wemore » conduct our study in the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system and use a capacity expansion model to forecast generator fleet changes and a unit commitment and economic dispatch model to quantify system CO 2 emissions with and without storage. We find that storage would increase CO 2 emissions in the current ERCOT system, but would decrease CO 2 emissions in 2025 through 2045 under both decarbonization targets. Storage reduces CO 2 emissions primarily by enabling gas-fired generation to displace coal-fired generation, but also by reducing wind and solar curtailment. We further find that the market in which storage participates drives large differences in the magnitude, but not the direction, of the effect of storage on CO 2 emissions.« less

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Effects of Grid-Scale Electricity Storage in a Decarbonizing Power System

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

Craig, Michael T.; Jaramillo, Paulina; Hodge, Bri-Mathias

While grid-scale electricity storage (hereafter 'storage') could be crucial for deeply decarbonizing the electric power system, it would increase carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in current systems across the United States. To better understand how storage transitions from increasing to decreasing system CO 2 emissions, we quantify the effect of storage on operational CO 2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO 2 emission reduction target through 2045. Under each target, we compare the effect of storage on CO 2 emissions when storage participates in only energy, only reserve, and energy and reserve markets. Wemore » conduct our study in the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system and use a capacity expansion model to forecast generator fleet changes and a unit commitment and economic dispatch model to quantify system CO 2 emissions with and without storage. We find that storage would increase CO 2 emissions in the current ERCOT system, but would decrease CO 2 emissions in 2025 through 2045 under both decarbonization targets. Storage reduces CO 2 emissions primarily by enabling gas-fired generation to displace coal-fired generation, but also by reducing wind and solar curtailment. We further find that the market in which storage participates drives large differences in the magnitude, but not the direction, of the effect of storage on CO 2 emissions.« less

Carbon dioxide emissions effects of grid-scale electricity storage in a decarbonizing power system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craig, Michael T.; Jaramillo, Paulina; Hodge, Bri-Mathias

2018-01-01

While grid-scale electricity storage (hereafter ‘storage’) could be crucial for deeply decarbonizing the electric power system, it would increase carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in current systems across the United States. To better understand how storage transitions from increasing to decreasing system CO2 emissions, we quantify the effect of storage on operational CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO2 emission reduction target through 2045. Under each target, we compare the effect of storage on CO2 emissions when storage participates in only energy, only reserve, and energy and reserve markets. We conduct our study in the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system and use a capacity expansion model to forecast generator fleet changes and a unit commitment and economic dispatch model to quantify system CO2 emissions with and without storage. We find that storage would increase CO2 emissions in the current ERCOT system, but would decrease CO2 emissions in 2025 through 2045 under both decarbonization targets. Storage reduces CO2 emissions primarily by enabling gas-fired generation to displace coal-fired generation, but also by reducing wind and solar curtailment. We further find that the market in which storage participates drives large differences in the magnitude, but not the direction, of the effect of storage on CO2 emissions.

Tailoring light-sound interactions in a single mode fiber for the high-power transmission or sensing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulistan, Aamir; Rahman, M. M.; Ghosh, Souvik; Rahman, B. M. A.

2018-03-01

A full-vectorial numerically efficient Finite Element Method (FEM) based computer code is developed to study complex light-sound interactions in a single mode fiber (SMF). The SBS gain or SBS threshold in a fiber is highly related to the overlap between the optical and acoustic modes. For a typical SMF the acoustic-optic overlap strongly depends on the optical and acoustic mode profiles and it is observed that the acoustic mode is more confined in the core than the optical mode and reported overlap is around 94 % between these fundamental optical and acoustic modes. However, it is shown here that selective co-doping of Aluminum and Germanium in core reduces the acoustic index while keeping the optical index of the same value and thus results in increased acoustic- optic overlap of 99.7%. On the other hand, a design of acoustic anti-guide fiber for high-power transmission systems is also proposed, where the overlap between acoustic and optical modes is reduced. Here, we show that by keeping the optical properties same as a standard SMF and introducing a Boron doped 2nd layer in the cladding, a very low value of 2.7% overlap is achieved. Boron doping in cladding 2nd layer results in a high acoustic index and acoustic modes shifts in the cladding from the core, allowing much high power delivery through this SMF.

Magnetic Random Access Memory based non-volatile asynchronous Muller cell for ultra-low power autonomous applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Pendina, G.; Zianbetov, E.; Beigne, E.

2015-05-01

Micro and nano electronic integrated circuit domain is today mainly driven by the advent of the Internet of Things for which the constraints are strong, especially in terms of power consumption and autonomy, not only during the computing phases but also during the standby or idle phases. In such ultra-low power applications, the circuit has to meet new constraints mainly linked to its changing energetic environment: long idle phases, automatic wake up, data back-up when the circuit is sporadically turned off, and ultra-low voltage power supply operation. Such circuits have to be completely autonomous regarding their unstable environment, while remaining in an optimum energetic configuration. Therefore, we propose in this paper the first MRAM-based non-volatile asynchronous Muller cell. This cell has been simulated and characterized in a very advanced 28 nm CMOS fully depleted silicon-on-insulator technology, presenting good power performance results due to an extremely efficient body biasing control together with ultra-wide supply voltage range from 160 mV up to 920 mV. The leakage current can be reduced to 154 pA thanks to reverse body biasing. We also propose an efficient standard CMOS bulk version of this cell in order to be compatible with different fabrication processes.

Genes for elite power and sprint performance: ACTN3 leads the way.

PubMed

Eynon, Nir; Hanson, Erik D; Lucia, Alejandro; Houweling, Peter J; Garton, Fleur; North, Kathryn N; Bishop, David J

2013-09-01

The ability of skeletal muscles to produce force at a high velocity, which is crucial for success in power and sprint performance, is strongly influenced by genetics and without the appropriate genetic make-up, an individual reduces his/her chances of becoming an exceptional power or sprinter athlete. Several genetic variants (i.e. polymorphisms) have been associated with elite power and sprint performance in the last few years and the current paradigm is that elite performance is a polygenic trait, with minor contributions of each variant to the unique athletic phenotype. The purpose of this review is to summarize the specific knowledge in the field of genetics and elite power performance, and to provide some future directions for research in this field. Of the polymorphisms associated with elite power and sprint performance, the α-actinin-3 R577X polymorphism provides the most consistent results. ACTN3 is the only gene that shows a genotype and performance association across multiple cohorts of elite power athletes, and this association is strongly supported by mechanistic data from an Actn3 knockout mouse model. The angiotensin-1 converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism (ACE I/D, registered single nucleotide polymorphism [rs]4646994), angiotensinogen (AGT Met235Thr rs699), skeletal adenosine monophosphate deaminase (AMPD1) Gln(Q)12Ter(X) [also termed C34T, rs17602729], interleukin-6 (IL-6 -174 G/C, rs1800795), endothelial nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3 -786 T/C, rs2070744; and Glu298Asp, rs1799983), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPARA Intron 7 G/C, rs4253778), and mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2 Ala55Val, rs660339) polymorphisms have also been associated with elite power performance, but the findings are less consistent. In general, research into the genetics of athletic performance is limited by a small sample size in individual studies and the heterogeneity of study samples, often including athletes from multiple-difference sporting disciplines. In the future, large, homogeneous, strictly defined elite power athlete cohorts need to be established though multinational collaboration, so that meaningful genome-wide association studies can be performed. Such an approach would provide unbiased identification of potential genes that influence elite athletic performance.

Department of Defense high power laser program guidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller, Clifford H.

1994-06-01

The DoD investment of nominally $200 million per year is focused on four high power laser (HPL) concepts: Space-Based Laser (SBL), a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization effort that addresses boost-phase intercept for Theater Missile Defense and National Missile Defense; Airborne Laser (ABL), an Air Force effort that addresses boost-phase intercept for Theater Missile Defense; Ground-Based Laser (GBL), an Air Force effort addressing space control; and Anti-Ship Missile Defense (ASMD), a Navy effort addressing ship-based defense. Each organization is also supporting technology development with the goal of achieving less expensive, brighter, and lighter high power laser systems. These activities represent the building blocks of the DoD program to exploit the compelling characteristics of the high power laser. Even though DoD's HPL program are focused and moderately strong, additional emphasis in a few technical areas could help reduce risk in these programs. In addition, a number of options are available for continuing to use the High-Energy Laser System Test Facility (HELSTF) at White Sands Missile Range. This report provides a brief overview and guidance for the five efforts which comprise the DoD HPL program (SBL, ABL, GBL, ASMD, HELSTF).

On phaser-based processing of impulse radio UWB over fiber systems employing SOA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taki, H.; Azou, S.; Hamie, A.; Al Housseini, A.; Alaeddine, A.; Sharaiha, A.

2017-07-01

In this study, we adopt a phaser-based processing to enhance the performance of impulse radio over fiber system utilizing SOA. The amplifier has been placed at a distance in the optical link, so as to extend the coverage area of proposed transceiver. Operating in the linear or saturation region for SOA, adds ASE noise or strong nonlinearities acting on the propagated pulses, respectively. Both lead to a degradation in the power efficiency and bit error rate performance. By applying up and down analog chirping technique, we have reduced the ASE power and nonlinearity simultaneously. Based on the 5th Gaussian pulse and Abraha's combination of doublets, a significant improvement has been achieved at extremely low and high input powers entering the amplifier (<-15 dBm and 0 dBm), recording a very good bit error rate performance and power efficiency. Better signal quality was observed after photo-detector, due to the fact that waveforms with lower frequency components are less affected by SOA nonlinearity. Our scheme has proved to be effective for 1 Gbps OOK and 0.5 Gbps PPM transmissions, while reaching a distance of 160 km in the optical fiber.

Fading-free transmission of 124-Gb/s PDM-DMT signal over 100-km SSMF using digital carrier regeneration.

PubMed

Li, Cai; Hu, Rong; Yang, Qi; Luo, Ming; Li, Wei; Yu, Shaohua

2016-01-25

The coherent reception of intensity modulated signal has been recently widely investigated, in which the signal is recovered by the envelop detection. High linewidth tolerance is achieved with such scheme. However, strong optical carrier exists during the transmission, which degrades the optical power efficiency. In this paper, an efficient modulation scheme for discrete multi-tone (DMT) signal is proposed based on the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM). Different from the traditional intensity modulation, the proposed method employs both intensity and phase domain. Thus, the optical carrier power can be greatly reduced by adjusting the bias of MZM around the null point. By employing coherent detection and digital carrier regeneration (DCR), the carrier suppressed DMT signal can be recovered using envelop detection. No carrier frequency or phase estimation is required. Numerical investigations are made to demonstrate the feasibility, in which significant improvements are found for the proposed DCR method, showing great tolerance against laser linewidth and carrier power reduction. Finally, a 124-Gb/s transmission of polarization-division multiplexed DMT (PDM-DMT) signal is demonstrated over 100-km SSMF, with only -8 dB optical carrier to signal power ratio (CSPR).

Rotor Current Control of DFIG for Improving Fault Ride - Through Using a Novel Sliding Mode Control Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Guowei; Liu, Cheng; Yang, Deyou

2013-11-01

The doubly fed induction generators (DFIG) have been recognized as the dominant technology used in wind power generation systems with the rapid development of wind power. However, continuous operation of DFIG may cause a serious wind turbine generators tripping accident, due to destructive over-current in the rotor winding which is caused by the power system fault or inefficient fault ride-through (FRT) strategy. A new rotor current control scheme in the rotor-side converter (RSC) ispresented to enhance FRT capacities of grid-connected DFIG. Due to the strongly nonlinear nature of DFIG and insensitive to DFIG parameter's variations, a novel sliding mode controller was designed. The controller combines extended state observer (ESO) with sliding model variable structure control theory. The simulation is carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control approach under various types of grid disturbances. It is shown that the proposed controller provides enhanced transient features than the classic proportional-integral control. The proposed control method can effectively reduce over-current in the RSC, and the transient pulse value of electromagnetic torque is too large under power grid fault.

The influence of power and reason on young Maya children's endorsement of testimony.

PubMed

Castelain, Thomas; Bernard, Stéphane; Van der Henst, Jean-Baptiste; Mercier, Hugo

2016-11-01

Two important parenting strategies are to impose one's power and to use reasoning. The effect of these strategies on children's evaluation of testimony has received very little attention. Using the epistemic vigilance framework, we predict that when the reasoning cue is strong enough it should overcome the power cue. We test this prediction in a population for which anthropological data suggest that power is the prominent strategy while reasoning is rarely relied on in the interactions with children. In Experiment 1, 4- to 6-year-old children from a traditional Maya population are shown to endorse the testimony supported by a strong argument over that supported by a weak argument. In Experiment 2, the same participants are shown to follow the testimony of a dominant over that of a subordinate. The participants are then shown to endorse the testimony of a subordinate who provides a strong argument over that of a dominant who provides either a weak argument (Experiment 3) or no argument (Experiment 4). Thus, when the power and reasoning cues conflict, reasoning completely trumps power. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Windpower gusts in Holland

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

Seeley, R.S.

1994-04-01

The wind power industry blows strongly in Holland these days. The Netherlands topped 100 MW capacity at the beginning of this year. Most of this capacity consists of utility-run wind power plants, and a lesser number of small turbines, mainly operated by farmers. An ambitious government program pushes for 1,000 MW installed capacity by the year 2000. By then, 30 to 40 windpower plants, with more than 700 wind turbines, will crank out electricity along the coastal areas and dikes. With limited land space and dense population, planners see maximum room for 1,000 MW, of large turbines, to conserve space.more » For this reason, the market does not favor a wide range of turbine sizes. Currently, the 10 largest wind power plants in the Netherlands turn out 71.5 MW. The largest wind farm, in Noordoostpolder, southwest of Groningen, whips out 15 MW. To bolster wind power development, government subsidies shorten paybacks. Any many Dutch utilities apparently pay a good rate for wind-generated electricity. The rates are said to be better than those in the United States. Under the government plan, utilities will stimulate further development of technology to improve quality, lower costs, and introduce larger turbines. As this progresses, the government subsidy is expected to decrease. The second oil crisis of the late 1970s fanned Holland's wind energy surge. Since then, wind-electricity costs have fallen by half. The current government push is driven by the desire to reduce dependence on gas and oil, and reduce CO[sub 2] and coal emissions by increasing clean energy sources.« less

Effect of Different Parts (Leaf, Stem and Stalk) and Seasons (Summer and Winter) on the Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activity of Moringa oleifera

PubMed Central

Shih, Ming-Chih; Chang, Cheng-Ming; Kang, Sue-Ming; Tsai, Min-Lang

2011-01-01

Moringa oleifera, Lam. (Moringaceae) is grown world-wide in the tropics and sub-tropics of Asia and Africa and contains abundant various nutrients. This study describes the effect of different parts (leaf, stem and stalk) and seasons (summer and winter) on the chemical compositions and antioxidant activity of M. oleifera grown in Taiwan. The results showed that the winter samples of Moringa had higher ash (except the stalk part), calcium and phenolic compounds (except the leaf part) and stronger antioxidative activity than summer samples. The methanolic extract of Moringa showed strong scavenging effect of DPPH radicals and reducing power. The trend of antioxidative activity as a function of the part of Moringa was: leaf > stem > stalk for samples from both seasons investigated. The Moringa extract showed strong hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity and high Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) activity except the stalk part. PMID:22016645

Reduction of biselenites into polyselenides in interlayer space of layered double hydroxides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Myeong Shin; Lee, Yongju; Park, Yong-Min; Cha, Ji-Hyun; Jung, Duk-Young

2018-06-01

A selenous acid (H2SeO3) precursor was intercalated as biselenite (HSeO3-) ions into the interlayer gallery of carbonated magnesium aluminum layered double hydroxide (MgAl-LDH) in aqueous solution. Reduction reaction of selenous ions by aqueous hydrazine solution produced polyselenide intercalated LDHs which were consecutively exchanged with iodide through redox reaction under iodine vapor. The polyselenide containing LDHs adsorbed iodine vapor spontaneously and triiodide was incorporated in the interlayer space followed by formation of selenium polycrystalline phase. Two dimensional framework of MgAl-LDH is strong enough to resist against the reducing power of hydrazine as well as oxidation condition of iodine. The SEM data demonstrated that the shapes of LDH polycrystalline have little changed after the above redox reactions. The polyselenide and iodide LDH products were analyzed by XRD, Infrared and Raman spectra which strongly suggested the horizontal arrangement of polyselenide and triiodide in gallery space of LDHs.

Synthesis of some metallophthalocyanines with dimethyl 5-(phenoxy)-isophthalate substituents and evaluation of their antioxidant-antibacterial activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salih Ağırtaş, M.; Karataş, Ceyhun; Özdemir, Sadin

2015-01-01

The synthesis, characterization, spectral, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of dimethyl 5-(phenoxy)-isophthalate substituted Zinc, Cobalt, Copper, and Nickel phthalocyanines are reported. The novel compounds have been characterized by using electronic absorption, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared, elemental analysis and mass spectrometry. The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of newly synthesized phthalocyanines and its starting material are tested. The DPPH free radical scavenging ability of phthalocyanine Co(II) and Zn(II) complexes on DPPH are 44.8% and 40.1% at 100 mg/L concentration, respectively. The phthalocyanine Co(II) and Cu(II) complexes show very strong ferrous ion chelating activity of 91.2% and 89.3% at concentration of 100 mg/L, respectively. Compound 3 displays strong reducing power like α-tocopherol. Antibacterial activities of phthalocyanine Co(II) and Amikacin (30 μg/disk) against Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 9341) are 16 mm in diameter.

Disrupting the Myosin Converter-Relay Interface Impairs Drosophila Indirect Flight Muscle Performance

PubMed Central

Ramanath, Seemanti; Wang, Qian; Bernstein, Sanford I.; Swank, Douglas M.

2011-01-01

Structural interactions between the myosin converter and relay domains have been proposed to be critical for the myosin power stroke and muscle power generation. We tested this hypothesis by mutating converter residue 759, which interacts with relay residues I508, N509, and D511, to glutamate (R759E) and determined the effect on Drosophila indirect flight muscle mechanical performance. Work loop analysis of mutant R759E indirect flight muscle fibers revealed a 58% and 31% reduction in maximum power generation (PWL) and the frequency at which maximum power (fWL) is generated, respectively, compared to control fibers at 15°C. Small amplitude sinusoidal analysis revealed a 30%, 36%, and 32% reduction in mutant elastic modulus, viscous modulus, and mechanical rate constant 2πb, respectively. From these results, we infer that the mutation reduces rates of transitions through work-producing cross-bridge states and/or force generation during strongly bound states. The reductions in muscle power output, stiffness, and kinetics were physiologically relevant, as mutant wing beat frequency and flight index decreased about 10% and 45% compared to control flies at both 15°C and 25°C. Thus, interactions between the relay loop and converter domain are critical for lever-arm and catalytic domain coordination, high muscle power generation, and optimal Drosophila flight performance. PMID:21889448

Does a Relationship Exist Between Lower Body Power and Balance Scores Among Older Adults?

PubMed

Shim, Andrew; Harr, Brady; Waller, Mike

2018-03-12

Falls are the second-leading cause of unintentional injury and death worldwide. To determine if a relationship exists between lower body power scores and center of pressure (CoP) and limits of stability (LoS) scores. A one-shot case study design (n = 13) was selected for the investigation. All participants were assessed stability scores via computerized posturography to determine CoP and LoS balance scores. Participants stood on a perturbed surface with their eyes open and closed. An experimental stair ramp with a switch mat timing device was used to determine lower body power scores in watts. There was a strong correlation (r = 0.725, p = 0.005) between the posterior (LoS) plane and relative peak power. An intraclass R revealed a strong correlation among the three trials (R = 0.831) performed on the stair ramp. Muscle power output and LoS scores have moderate to strong correlations with balance scores in older adults.

Characterization of electrically-active defects in ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with laser-based failure analysis techniques

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

Miller, Mary A.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon; Cole, Edward I.

2016-01-14

Laser-based failure analysis techniques demonstrate the ability to quickly and non-intrusively screen deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for electrically-active defects. In particular, two laser-based techniques, light-induced voltage alteration and thermally-induced voltage alteration, generate applied voltage maps (AVMs) that provide information on electrically-active defect behavior including turn-on bias, density, and spatial location. Here, multiple commercial LEDs were examined and found to have dark defect signals in the AVM indicating a site of reduced resistance or leakage through the diode. The existence of the dark defect signals in the AVM correlates strongly with an increased forward-bias leakage current. This increased leakage ismore » not present in devices without AVM signals. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of a dark defect signal site revealed a dislocation cluster through the pn junction. The cluster included an open core dislocation. Even though LEDs with few dark AVM defect signals did not correlate strongly with power loss, direct association between increased open core dislocation densities and reduced LED device performance has been presented elsewhere [M. W. Moseley et al., J. Appl. Phys. 117, 095301 (2015)].« less

Characterization of electrically-active defects in ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with laser-based failure analysis techniques

DOE PAGES

Miller, Mary A.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon; Edward I. Cole, Jr.

2016-01-12

In this study, laser-based failure analysis techniques demonstrate the ability to quickly and non-intrusively screen deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes(LEDs) for electrically-active defects. In particular, two laser-based techniques, light-induced voltage alteration and thermally-induced voltage alteration, generate applied voltage maps (AVMs) that provide information on electrically-active defect behavior including turn-on bias, density, and spatial location. Here, multiple commercial LEDs were examined and found to have dark defect signals in the AVM indicating a site of reduced resistance or leakage through the diode. The existence of the dark defect signals in the AVM correlates strongly with an increased forward-bias leakage current. This increasedmore » leakage is not present in devices without AVM signals. Transmission electron microscopyanalysis of a dark defect signal site revealed a dislocation cluster through the pn junction. The cluster included an open core dislocation. Even though LEDs with few dark AVM defect signals did not correlate strongly with power loss, direct association between increased open core dislocation densities and reduced LED device performance has been presented elsewhere [M. W. Moseley et al., J. Appl. Phys. 117, 095301 (2015)].« less

PLASMA TURBULENCE AND KINETIC INSTABILITIES AT ION SCALES IN THE EXPANDING SOLAR WIND

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

Hellinger, Petr; Trávnícek, Pavel M.; Matteini, Lorenzo

The relationship between a decaying strong turbulence and kinetic instabilities in a slowly expanding plasma is investigated using two-dimensional (2D) hybrid expanding box simulations. We impose an initial ambient magnetic field perpendicular to the simulation box, and we start with a spectrum of large-scale, linearly polarized, random-phase Alfvénic fluctuations that have energy equipartition between kinetic and magnetic fluctuations and vanishing correlation between the two fields. A turbulent cascade rapidly develops; magnetic field fluctuations exhibit a power-law spectrum at large scales and a steeper spectrum at ion scales. The turbulent cascade leads to an overall anisotropic proton heating, protons are heatedmore » in the perpendicular direction, and, initially, also in the parallel direction. The imposed expansion leads to generation of a large parallel proton temperature anisotropy which is at later stages partly reduced by turbulence. The turbulent heating is not sufficient to overcome the expansion-driven perpendicular cooling and the system eventually drives the oblique firehose instability in a form of localized nonlinear wave packets which efficiently reduce the parallel temperature anisotropy. This work demonstrates that kinetic instabilities may coexist with strong plasma turbulence even in a constrained 2D regime.« less

Auditory Power-Law Activation Avalanches Exhibit a Fundamental Computational Ground State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoop, Ruedi; Gomez, Florian

2016-07-01

The cochlea provides a biological information-processing paradigm that we are only beginning to understand in its full complexity. Our work reveals an interacting network of strongly nonlinear dynamical nodes, on which even a simple sound input triggers subnetworks of activated elements that follow power-law size statistics ("avalanches"). From dynamical systems theory, power-law size distributions relate to a fundamental ground state of biological information processing. Learning destroys these power laws. These results strongly modify the models of mammalian sound processing and provide a novel methodological perspective for understanding how the brain processes information.

CaMn 2Al 10: Itinerant Mn magnetism on the verge of magnetic order

DOE PAGES

Steinke, L.; Simonson, J. W.; Yin, W. -G.; ...

2015-07-24

We report the discovery of CaMn 2Al 10, a metal with strong magnetic anisotropy and moderate electronic correlations. Magnetization measurements find a Curie-Weiss moment of 0.83 μB/Mn, significantly reduced from the Hund's rule value, and the magnetic entropy obtained from specific heat measurements is correspondingly small, only ≈ 9% of Rln2. These results imply that the Mn magnetism is highly itinerant, a conclusion supported by density functional theory calculations that find strong Mn-Al hybridization. Consistent with the layered nature of the crystal structure, the magnetic susceptibility χ is anisotropic below 20 K, with a maximum ratio of χ [010]/χ [001]more » ≈ 3.5. A strong power-law divergence χ(T) ~ T –1.2 below 20 K implies incipient ferromagnetic order, an Arrott plot analysis of the magnetization suggests a vanishing low Curie temperature T C ~ 0. Our experiments indicate that CaMn 2Al 10 is a rare example of a system where the weak and itinerant Mn-based magnetism is poised on the verge of order.« less

Late Holocene climate variability from Lake Pupuke maar, Auckland, New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Striewski, B.; Shulmeister, J.; Augustinus, P. C.; Soderholm, J.

2013-10-01

Spectral analyses of quasi-annual organo-diatomaceous laminae couplets in an Auckland maar lake indicate brief (sub-decadal scale) episodes with strong spectral power and long periods of weak to no spectral power between c. 1700 to c. 550 cal. yr BP. Laminae couplet thickness appears to be a function of changes in wind flow over the basin, with enhanced wind flow deepening the mixing zone and providing additional nutrients for laminae formation. Aeolian dust from Australia amplifies the wind signal. Spectral signals in the high power episodes are focused in <4 years and 6-8 years windows. These are consistent with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) periodicity. This climate system is known to play a major role in the modern Auckland climate whereby strongly negative (positive) ENSO are associated with enhanced (diminished) SW airflow over Auckland. ENSO events interact in the modern climate and the spectral results indicate that this is the case when spectral power is strong in the laminae. These results highlight strong but intermittent ENSO activity between 600 and 1400 cal. yr BP.

Thermal imaging of high power diode lasers subject to back-irradiance

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

Li, C.; Pipe, K. P.; Cao, C.

In this study, CCD-based thermoreflectance imaging and finite element modeling are used to study the two-dimensional (2D) temperature profile of a junction-down broad-area diode laser facet subject to back-irradiance. By determining the temperature rise in the active region (ΔΤAR) at different diode laser optical powers, back-irradiance reflectance levels, and back-irradiance spot locations, we find that ΔΤAR increases by nearly a factor of three when the back-irradiance spot is centered in the absorbing substrate approximately 5 μm away from the active region, a distance roughly equal to half of the back-irradiance spot FWHM (9 μm). This corroborates prior work studying themore » relationship between the back-irradiance spot location and catastrophic optical damage, suggesting a strong thermal basis for reduced laser lifetime in the presence of back-irradiance for diode lasers fabricated on absorbing substrates.« less

System design of an optical interferometer based on compressive sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Gang; Wen, De-Sheng; Song, Zong-Xi

2018-07-01

In this paper, we develop a new optical interferometric telescope architecture based on compressive sensing (CS) theory. Traditional optical telescopes with large apertures must be large in size, heavy and have high-power consumption, which limits the development of space-based telescopes. A turning point has occurred in the advent of imaging technology that utilizes Fourier-domain interferometry. This technology can reduce the system size, weight and power consumption by an order of magnitude compared to traditional optical telescopes at the same resolution. CS theory demonstrates that incomplete and noisy Fourier measurements may suffice for the exact reconstruction of sparse or compressible signals. Our proposed architecture combines advantages from the two frameworks, and the performance is evaluated through simulations. The results indicate the ability to efficiently sample spatial frequencies, while being lightweight and compact in size. Another attractive property of our architecture is the strong denoising ability for Gaussian noise.

Intrinsic and environmental effects on the interference properties of a high-performance quantum dot single-photon source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhardt, Stefan; Iles-Smith, Jake; McCutcheon, Dara P. S.; He, Yu-Ming; Unsleber, Sebastian; Betzold, Simon; Gregersen, Niels; Mørk, Jesper; Höfling, Sven; Schneider, Christian

2018-05-01

We report a joint experimental and theoretical study of the interference properties of a single-photon source based on a In(Ga)As quantum dot embedded in a quasiplanar GaAs microcavity. Using resonant laser excitation with a pulse separation of 2 ns, we find near-perfect interference of the emitted photons, and a corresponding indistinguishability of I =(99.6 -1.4+0.4)% . For larger pulse separations, quasiresonant excitation conditions, increasing pump power, or with increasing temperature, the interference contrast is progressively and notably reduced. We present a systematic study of the relevant dephasing mechanisms and explain our results in the framework of a microscopic model of our system. For strictly resonant excitation, we show that photon indistinguishability is independent of pump power, but strongly influenced by virtual phonon-assisted processes which are not evident in excitonic Rabi oscillations.

Thermal imaging of high power diode lasers subject to back-irradiance

DOE PAGES

Li, C.; Pipe, K. P.; Cao, C.; ...

2018-03-07

In this study, CCD-based thermoreflectance imaging and finite element modeling are used to study the two-dimensional (2D) temperature profile of a junction-down broad-area diode laser facet subject to back-irradiance. By determining the temperature rise in the active region (ΔΤAR) at different diode laser optical powers, back-irradiance reflectance levels, and back-irradiance spot locations, we find that ΔΤAR increases by nearly a factor of three when the back-irradiance spot is centered in the absorbing substrate approximately 5 μm away from the active region, a distance roughly equal to half of the back-irradiance spot FWHM (9 μm). This corroborates prior work studying themore » relationship between the back-irradiance spot location and catastrophic optical damage, suggesting a strong thermal basis for reduced laser lifetime in the presence of back-irradiance for diode lasers fabricated on absorbing substrates.« less

Promoting cooperation and trust in "noisy" situations: the power of generosity.

PubMed

Klapwijk, Anthon; Van Lange, Paul A M

2009-01-01

The authors present an interdependence theoretical framework and advance the argument that generosity serves the important purpose of communicating trust, which is assumed to be of utmost importance to coping with incidents of negative noise (i.e., when the other every now and then behaves less cooperatively than intended). Using a new social dilemma task (the parcel delivery paradigm), it was hypothesized that incidents of negative noise would exert detrimental effects on trust and trust-related judgments and experiences, as well as cooperation, and that relative to tit for tat and self-regarding strategies (stingy or unconditionally cooperative strategies), other-regarding strategies (i.e., unconditional cooperation and generosity) would be more effective at reducing such as detrimental effects. Results from 2 studies provided strong support for these hypotheses, suggesting that the power of generosity is underestimated in the extant literature, especially in its ability to maintain or build trust, which is essential for coping with noise.

Monitoring of Overhead Transmission Lines: A Review from the Perspective of Contactless Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khawaja, Arsalan Habib; Huang, Qi; Khan, Zeashan Hameed

2017-12-01

This paper describes a comprehensive review of non-contact technologies for overhead power transmission lines. Due to ever increasing emphasis on reducing accidents and speeding up diagnosis for automatically controlled grids, real time remote sensing and actuation is the new horizon for smart grid implementation. The technology overview with emphasis on the practical implementation of advanced non-contact technologies is discussed in this paper while considering optimization of the high voltage transmission lines parameters. In case of fault, the voltage and the current exceed limits of operation and hence real time reporting for control and diagnosis is a critical requirement. This paper aims to form a strong foundation for control and diagnosis of future power distribution systems so that a practitioner or researcher can make choices for a workable solution in smart grid implementation based on non-contact sensing.

Thermal imaging of high power diode lasers subject to back-irradiance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, C.; Pipe, K. P.; Cao, C.; Thiagarajan, P.; Deri, R. J.; Leisher, P. O.

2018-03-01

CCD-based thermoreflectance imaging and finite element modeling are used to study the two-dimensional (2D) temperature profile of a junction-down broad-area diode laser facet subject to back-irradiance. By determining the temperature rise in the active region (ΔΤAR) at different diode laser optical powers, back-irradiance reflectance levels, and back-irradiance spot locations, we find that ΔΤAR increases by nearly a factor of three when the back-irradiance spot is centered in the absorbing substrate approximately 5 μm away from the active region, a distance roughly equal to half of the back-irradiance spot FWHM (9 μm). This corroborates prior work studying the relationship between the back-irradiance spot location and catastrophic optical damage, suggesting a strong thermal basis for reduced laser lifetime in the presence of back-irradiance for diode lasers fabricated on absorbing substrates.

Hot Electrons from Two-Plasmon Decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, D. A.; Dubois, D. F.

2000-10-01

We solve, self-consistently, the relativistic quasilinear diffusion equation and Zakharov's model equations of Langmuir wave (LW) and ion acoustic wave (IAW) turbulence, in two dimensions, for saturated states of the Two-Plasmon Decay instability. Parameters are those of the shorter gradient scale-length (50 microns) high temperature (4 keV) inhomogeneous plasmas anticipated at LLE’s Omega laser facility. We calculate the fraction of incident laser power absorbed in hot electron production as a function of laser intensity for a plane-wave laser field propagating parallel to the background density gradient. Two distinct regimes are identified: In the strong-turbulent regime, hot electron bursts occur intermittently in time, well correlated with collapse in the LW and IAW fields. A significant fraction of the incident laser power ( ~10%) is absorbed by hot electrons during a single burst. In the weak or convective regime, relatively constant rates of hot electron production are observed at much reduced intensities.

Basal Ganglia Beta Oscillations Accompany Cue Utilization

PubMed Central

Leventhal, Daniel K.; Gage, Gregory J.; Schmidt, Robert; Pettibone, Jeffrey R.; Case, Alaina C.; Berke, Joshua D.

2012-01-01

SUMMARY Beta oscillations in cortical-basal ganglia (BG) circuits have been implicated in normal movement suppression and motor impairment in Parkinson’s disease. To dissect the functional correlates of these rhythms we compared neural activity during four distinct variants of a cued choice task in rats. Brief beta (~20 Hz) oscillations occurred simultaneously throughout the cortical-BG network, both spontaneously and at precise moments of task performance. Beta phase was rapidly reset in response to salient cues, yet increases in beta power were not rigidly linked to cues, movements, or movement suppression. Rather, beta power was enhanced after cues were used to determine motor output. We suggest that beta oscillations reflect a postdecision stabilized state of cortical-BG networks, which normally reduces interference from alternative potential actions. The abnormally strong beta seen in Parkinson’s Disease may reflect overstabilization of these networks, producing pathological persistence of the current motor state. PMID:22325204

Radiative properties of ceramic metal-halide high intensity discharge lamps containing additives in argon plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cressault, Yann; Teulet, Philippe; Zissis, Georges

2016-07-01

The lighting represents a consumption of about 19% of the world electricity production. We are thus searching new effective and environment-friendlier light sources. The ceramic metal-halide high intensity lamps (C-MHL) are one of the options for illuminating very high area. The new C-MHL lamps contain additives species that reduce mercury inside and lead to a richer spectrum in specific spectral intervals, a better colour temperature or colour rendering index. This work is particularly focused on the power radiated by these lamps, estimated using the net emission coefficient, and depending on several additives (calcium, sodium, tungsten, dysprosium, and thallium or strontium iodides). The results show the strong influence of the additives on the power radiated despite of their small quantity in the mixtures and the increase of visible radiation portion in presence of dysprosium.

Self-tuning wireless power transmission scheme based on on-line scattering parameters measurement and two-side power matching.

PubMed

Luo, Yanting; Yang, Yongmin; Chen, Zhongsheng

2014-04-10

Sub-resonances often happen in wireless power transmission (WPT) systems using coupled magnetic resonances (CMR) due to environmental changes, coil movements or component degradations, which is a serious challenge for high efficiency power transmission. Thus self-tuning is very significant to keep WPT systems following strongly magnetic resonant conditions in practice. Traditional coupled-mode ways is difficult to solve this problem. In this paper a two-port power wave model is presented, where power matching and the overall systemic power transmission efficiency are firstly defined by scattering (S) parameters. Then we propose a novel self-tuning scheme based on on-line S parameters measurements and two-side power matching. Experimental results testify the feasibility of the proposed method. These findings suggest that the proposed method is much potential to develop strongly self-adaptive WPT systems with CMR.

Cortical Alpha Activity in Schizoaffective Patients

PubMed Central

Moeini, Mahdi; Khaleghi, Ali; Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza; Zarafshan, Hadi; Fazio, Rachel L.; Majidi, Hamid

2017-01-01

Objective: Electrophysiological studies have identified abnormal oscillatory activities in the cerebral cortex in schizophrenia and mood disorders. Biological and pathophysiological evidence suggests specific deficits in serotonin (5-HT) receptor function in schizoaffective disorder (SA), a clinical syndrome with characteristics of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This study investigated alpha oscillations in patients with SA. Method: Electroencephalography was used to measure ongoing and evoked alpha oscillations in 38 adults meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fourth Edition (DSM–IV) criteria for SA, and in 39 healthy controls. Results: Spontaneous alpha power of the participants with SA was significantly lower than that of healthy participants [F (1, 75) = 8.81, P < 0.01]. Evoked alpha activity was also decreased in SA compared to controls [F (1, 75) = 5.67, P = 0.025]. Conclusion: A strong reduction of alpha power in the posterior regions may reflect abnormality in the thalamocortical circuits. It is shown that hypoxia and reduced cerebral blood flow is associated with reduced alpha activity among different regions of the brain. Therefore, it can be concluded that greatly decreased alpha activity, particularly in centro-parietal and occipital regions, is related to SA symptoms such as hallucinations. PMID:28496495

Cortical Alpha Activity in Schizoaffective Patients.

PubMed

Moeini, Mahdi; Khaleghi, Ali; Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza; Zarafshan, Hadi; Fazio, Rachel L; Majidi, Hamid

2017-01-01

Objective: Electrophysiological studies have identified abnormal oscillatory activities in the cerebral cortex in schizophrenia and mood disorders. Biological and pathophysiological evidence suggests specific deficits in serotonin (5-HT) receptor function in schizoaffective disorder (SA), a clinical syndrome with characteristics of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This study investigated alpha oscillations in patients with SA. Method: Electroencephalography was used to measure ongoing and evoked alpha oscillations in 38 adults meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for SA, and in 39 healthy controls. Results: Spontaneous alpha power of the participants with SA was significantly lower than that of healthy participants [F (1, 75) = 8.81, P < 0.01]. Evoked alpha activity was also decreased in SA compared to controls [F (1, 75) = 5.67, P = 0.025]. Conclusion : A strong reduction of alpha power in the posterior regions may reflect abnormality in the thalamocortical circuits. It is shown that hypoxia and reduced cerebral blood flow is associated with reduced alpha activity among different regions of the brain. Therefore, it can be concluded that greatly decreased alpha activity, particularly in centro-parietal and occipital regions, is related to SA symptoms such as hallucinations.

Strengthened MILP formulation for certain gas turbine unit commitment problems

DOE PAGES

Pan, Kai; Guan, Yongpei; Watson, Jean -Paul; ...

2015-05-22

In this study, we derive a strengthened MILP formulation for certain gas turbine unit commitment problems, in which the ramping rates are no smaller than the minimum generation amounts. This type of gas turbines can usually start-up faster and have a larger ramping rate, as compared to the traditional coal-fired power plants. Recently, the number of this type of gas turbines increases significantly due to affordable gas prices and their scheduling flexibilities to accommodate intermittent renewable energy generation. In this study, several new families of strong valid inequalities are developed to help reduce the computational time to solve these typesmore » of problems. Meanwhile, the validity and facet-defining proofs are provided for certain inequalities. Finally, numerical experiments on a modified IEEE 118-bus system and the power system data based on recent studies verify the effectiveness of applying our formulation to model and solve this type of gas turbine unit commitment problems, including reducing the computational time to obtain an optimal solution or obtaining a much smaller optimality gap, as compared to the default CPLEX, when the time limit is reached with no optimal solutions obtained.« less

Graphene-coated materials using silica particles as a framework for highly efficient removal of aromatic pollutants in water

PubMed Central

Yang, Kaijie; Chen, Baoliang; Zhu, Lizhong

2015-01-01

The substantial aggregation of pristine graphene nanosheets decreases its powerful adsorption capacity and diminishes its practical applications. To overcome this shortcoming, graphene-coated materials (GCMs) were prepared by loading graphene onto silica nanoparticles (SiO2). With the support of SiO2, the stacked interlamination of graphene was held open to expose the powerful adsorption sites in the interlayers. The adsorption of phenanthrene, a model aromatic pollutant, onto the loaded graphene nanosheets increased up to 100 fold compared with pristine graphene at the same level. The adsorption of GCMs increased with the loading amount of the graphene nanosheets and dramatically decreased with the introduction of oxygen-containing groups in the graphene nanosheets. The highly hydrophobic effect and the strong π-π stacking interactions of the exposed graphene nanosheets contributed to their superior adsorption of GCMs. An unusual GCM peak adsorption coefficient (Kd) was observed with the increase in sorbate concentration. The sorbate concentration at peak Kd shifted to lower values for the reduced graphene oxide and graphene relative to the graphene oxide. Therefore, the replacement of water nanodroplets attached to the graphene nanosheets through weak non-hydrogen bonding with phenanthrene molecules via strong π-π stacking interactions is hypothesized to be an additional adsorption mechanism for GCMs. PMID:26119007

Graphene-coated materials using silica particles as a framework for highly efficient removal of aromatic pollutants in water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Kaijie; Chen, Baoliang; Zhu, Lizhong

2015-06-01

The substantial aggregation of pristine graphene nanosheets decreases its powerful adsorption capacity and diminishes its practical applications. To overcome this shortcoming, graphene-coated materials (GCMs) were prepared by loading graphene onto silica nanoparticles (SiO2). With the support of SiO2, the stacked interlamination of graphene was held open to expose the powerful adsorption sites in the interlayers. The adsorption of phenanthrene, a model aromatic pollutant, onto the loaded graphene nanosheets increased up to 100 fold compared with pristine graphene at the same level. The adsorption of GCMs increased with the loading amount of the graphene nanosheets and dramatically decreased with the introduction of oxygen-containing groups in the graphene nanosheets. The highly hydrophobic effect and the strong π-π stacking interactions of the exposed graphene nanosheets contributed to their superior adsorption of GCMs. An unusual GCM peak adsorption coefficient (Kd) was observed with the increase in sorbate concentration. The sorbate concentration at peak Kd shifted to lower values for the reduced graphene oxide and graphene relative to the graphene oxide. Therefore, the replacement of water nanodroplets attached to the graphene nanosheets through weak non-hydrogen bonding with phenanthrene molecules via strong π-π stacking interactions is hypothesized to be an additional adsorption mechanism for GCMs.

Graphene-coated materials using silica particles as a framework for highly efficient removal of aromatic pollutants in water.

PubMed

Yang, Kaijie; Chen, Baoliang; Zhu, Lizhong

2015-06-29

The substantial aggregation of pristine graphene nanosheets decreases its powerful adsorption capacity and diminishes its practical applications. To overcome this shortcoming, graphene-coated materials (GCMs) were prepared by loading graphene onto silica nanoparticles (SiO2). With the support of SiO2, the stacked interlamination of graphene was held open to expose the powerful adsorption sites in the interlayers. The adsorption of phenanthrene, a model aromatic pollutant, onto the loaded graphene nanosheets increased up to 100 fold compared with pristine graphene at the same level. The adsorption of GCMs increased with the loading amount of the graphene nanosheets and dramatically decreased with the introduction of oxygen-containing groups in the graphene nanosheets. The highly hydrophobic effect and the strong π-π stacking interactions of the exposed graphene nanosheets contributed to their superior adsorption of GCMs. An unusual GCM peak adsorption coefficient (Kd) was observed with the increase in sorbate concentration. The sorbate concentration at peak Kd shifted to lower values for the reduced graphene oxide and graphene relative to the graphene oxide. Therefore, the replacement of water nanodroplets attached to the graphene nanosheets through weak non-hydrogen bonding with phenanthrene molecules via strong π-π stacking interactions is hypothesized to be an additional adsorption mechanism for GCMs.

Effects of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis on Kinematics and Kinetics of the Lower Extremities Call for Consequences in Physical Activities Recommendations

PubMed Central

Hartmann, M.; Kreuzpointner, F.; Haefner, R.; Michels, H.; Schwirtz, A.; Haas, J. P.

2010-01-01

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients (n = 36) with symmetrical polyarticular joint involvement of the lower extremities and healthy controls (n = 20) were compared concerning differences in kinematic, kinetic, and spatio-temporal parameters with 3D gait analysis. The aims of this study were to quantify the differences in gait between JIA patients and healthy controls and to provide data for more detailed sport activities recommendations. JIA-patients showed reduced walking speed and step length, strongly anterior tilted pelvis, reduced maximum hip extension, reduced knee extension during single support phase and reduced plantar flexion in push off. Additionally the roll-off procedure of the foot was slightly decelerated. The reduced push off motion in the ankle was confirmed by lower peaks in ankle moment and power. The gait of JIA-patients can be explained as a crouch-like gait with hyperflexion in hip and knee joints and less plantar flexion in the ankle. A preventive mobility workout would be recommendable to reduce these restrictions in the future. Advisable are sports with emphasis on extension in hip, knee, and ankle plantar flexion. PMID:20862334

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of cardiac pacemaker batteries with reduced heat input

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

Fuerschbach, P.W.; Hinkley, D.A.

1997-03-01

The effects of Nd:YAG laser beam welding process parameters on the resulting heat input in 304L stainless steel cardiac pacemaker batteries have been studied. By careful selection of process parameters, the results can be used to reduce temperatures near glass-to-metal seals and assure hermeticity in laser beam welding of high reliability components. Three designed response surface experiments were used to compare welding performance with lenses of varying focal lengths. The measured peak temperatures at the glass-to-metal seals varied from 65 to 140 C (149 to 284 F) and depended strongly on the levels of the experimental factors. It was foundmore » that welds of equivalent size can be made with significantly reduced temperatures. The reduction in battery temperatures has been attributed to an increase in the melting efficiency. This increase is thought to be due primarily to increased travel speeds, which were facilitated by high peak powers and low pulse energies. For longer focal length lenses, weld fusion zone widths were found to be greater even without a corresponding increase in the size of the weld. It was also found that increases in laser beam irradiance either by higher peak powers or smaller spot sizes created deeper and larger welds. These gains were attributed to an increase in the laser energy transfer efficiency.« less

Infusing fundamental cause theory with features of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of symbolic power.

PubMed

Veenstra, Gerry

2018-02-01

The theory of fundamental causes is one of the more influential attempts to provide a theoretical infrastructure for the strong associations between indicators of socioeconomic status (education, income, occupation) and health. It maintains that people of higher socioeconomic status have greater access to flexible resources such as money, knowledge, prestige, power, and beneficial social connections that they can use to reduce their risks of morbidity and mortality and minimize the consequences of disease once it occurs. However, several key aspects of the theory remain underspecified, compromising its ability to provide truly compelling explanations for socioeconomic health inequalities. In particular, socioeconomic status is an assembly of indicators that do not necessarily cohere in a straightforward way, the flexible resources that disproportionately accrue to higher status people are not clearly defined, and the distinction between socioeconomic status and resources is ambiguous. I attempt to address these definitional issues by infusing fundamental cause theory with features of a well-known theory of socioeconomic stratification in the sociological literature-Pierre Bourdieu's theory of symbolic power.

A low-power high-sensitivity analog front-end for PPG sensor.

PubMed

Binghui Lin; Atef, Mohamed; Guoxing Wang

2017-07-01

This paper presents a low-power analog front-end (AFE) photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor fabricated in 0.35 μm CMOS process. The AFE amplifies the weak photocurrent from the photodiode (PD) and converts it to a strong voltage at the output. In order to decrease the power consumption, the circuits are designed in subthreshold region; so the total biasing current of the AFE is 10 μ A. Since the large input DC photocurrent is a big issue for the PPG sensing circuit, we apply a DC photocurrent rejection technique by adding a DC current-cancellation loop to reject the large DC photocurrent up to 10 μA. In addition, a pseudo resistor is used to reduce the high-pass corner frequency below 0.5 Hz and Gm-C filter is adapted to reject the out-of-band noise higher than 16 Hz. For the whole sensor, the amplifier chain can achieve a total gain of 140 dBμ and an input integrated noise current of 68.87 pA rms up to 16 Hz.

Ultrastrong Graphene-Copper Core-Shell Wires for High-Performance Electrical Cables.

PubMed

Kim, Sang Jin; Shin, Dong Heon; Choi, Yong Seok; Rho, Hokyun; Park, Min; Moon, Byung Joon; Kim, Youngsoo; Lee, Seuoung-Ki; Lee, Dong Su; Kim, Tae-Wook; Lee, Sang Hyun; Kim, Keun Soo; Hong, Byung Hee; Bae, Sukang

2018-03-27

Recent development in mobile electronic devices and electric vehicles requires electrical wires with reduced weight as well as enhanced stability. In addition, since electric energy is mostly generated from power plants located far from its consuming places, mechanically stronger and higher electric power transmission cables are strongly demanded. However, there has been no alternative materials that can practically replace copper materials. Here, we report a method to prepare ultrastrong graphene fibers (GFs)-Cu core-shell wires with significantly enhanced electrical and mechanical properties. The core GFs are synthesized by chemical vapor deposition, followed by electroplating of Cu shells, where the large surface area of GFs in contact with Cu maximizes the mechanical toughness of the core-shell wires. At the same time, the unique electrical and thermal characteristics of graphene allow a ∼10 times higher current density limit, providing more efficient and reliable delivery of electrical energies through the GFs-Cu wires. We believe that our results would be useful to overcome the current limit in electrical wires and cables for lightweight, energy-saving, and high-power applications.

Low Power Magnetic Bearing Design for High Speed Rotating Machinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allaire, P. E.; Maslen, E. H.; Humphris, R. R.; Sortore, C. K.; Studer, P. A.

1992-01-01

Magnetic suspension technology has advanced to the point of being able to offer a number of advantages to a variety of applications in the rotating machinery and aerospace fields. One strong advantage is the decrease in power consumption. The design and construction of a set of permanent magnet biased, actively controlled magnetic bearing for a flexible rotor are presented. Both permanent magnets and electromagnets are used in a configuration which effectively provides the necessary fluxes in the appropriate air gaps, while simultaneously keeping the undesirable destabilizing forces to a minimum. The design includes two radial bearings and a thrust bearing. The theoretical development behind the design is briefly discussed. Experimental performance results for a set of operating prototype bearings is presented. The results include measurements of load capacity, bearing stiffness and damping, and the dynamic response of the rotor. With few exceptions, the experimental results matched very well with the predicted performance. The power consumption of these bearings was found to be significantly reduced from that for a comparable set of all electromagnetic bearings.

Tuner of a Second Harmonic Cavity of the Fermilab Booster

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

Terechkine, I.; Duel, K.; Madrak, R.

2015-05-17

Introducing a second harmonic cavity in the accelerating system of the Fermilab Booster promises significant reduc-tion of the particle beam loss during the injection, transi-tion, and extraction stages. To follow the changing energy of the beam during acceleration cycles, the cavity is equipped with a tuner that employs perpendicularly biased AL800 garnet material as the frequency tuning media. The required tuning range of the cavity is from 75.73 MHz at injection to 105.64 MHz at extraction. This large range ne-cessitates the use of a relatively low bias magnetic field at injection, which could lead to high RF loss power densitymore » in the garnet, or a strong bias magnetic field at extraction, which could result in high power consumption in the tuner’s bias magnet. The required 15 Hz repetition rate of the device and high sensitivity of the local RF power loss to the level of the magnetic field added to the challenges of the bias system design. In this report, the main features of a proposed prototype of the second harmonic cavity tuner are presented.« less

Field enhancement in plasmonic nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piltan, Shiva; Sievenpiper, Dan

2018-05-01

Efficient generation of charge carriers from a metallic surface is a critical challenge in a wide variety of applications including vacuum microelectronics and photo-electrochemical devices. Replacing semiconductors with vacuum/gas as the medium of electron transport offers superior speed, power, and robustness to radiation and temperature. We propose a metallic resonant surface combining optical and electrical excitations of electrons and significantly reducing powers required using plasmon-induced enhancement of confined electric field. The properties of the device are modeled using the exact solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation at the barrier. Measurement results exhibit strong agreement with an analytical solution, and allow us to extract the field enhancement factor at the surface. Significant photocurrents are observed using combination of {{W}} {{{c}}{{m}}}-2 optical power and 10 V DC excitation on the surface. The model suggests optical field enhancement of 3 orders of magnitude at the metal interface due to plasmonic resonance. This simple planar structure provides valuable evidence on the electron emission mechanisms involved and it can be used for implementation of semiconductor compatible vacuum devices.

Liquid metals as a divertor plasma-facing material explored using the Pilot-PSI and Magnum-PSI linear devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morgan, T. W.; Rindt, P.; van Eden, G. G.; Kvon, V.; Jaworksi, M. A.; Lopes Cardozo, N. J.

2018-01-01

For DEMO and beyond, liquid metal plasma-facing components are considered due to their resilience to erosion through flowed replacement, potential for cooling beyond conduction and inherent immunity to many of the issues of neutron loading compared to solid materials. The development curve of liquid metals is behind that of e.g. tungsten however, and tokamak-based research is currently somewhat limited in scope. Therefore, investigation into linear plasma devices can provide faster progress under controlled and well-diagnosed conditions in assessing many of the issues surrounding the use of liquid metals. The linear plasma devices Magnum-PSI and Pilot-PSI are capable of producing DEMO-relevant plasma fluxes, which well replicate expected divertor conditions, and the exploration of physics issues for tin (Sn) and lithium (Li) such as vapour shielding, erosion under high particle flux loading and overall power handling are reviewed here. A deeper understanding of erosion and deposition through this work indicates that stannane formation may play an important role in enhancing Sn erosion, while on the other hand the strong hydrogen isotope affinity reduces the evaporation rate and sputtering yields for Li. In combination with the strong redeposition rates, which have been observed under this type of high-density plasma, this implies that an increase in the operational temperature range, implying a power handling range of 20-25 MW m-2 for Sn and up to 12.5 MW m-2 for Li could be achieved. Vapour shielding may be expected to act as a self-protection mechanism in reducing the heat load to the substrate for off-normal events in the case of Sn, but may potentially be a continual mode of operation for Li.

Social class and policy preferences: implications for economic inequality and interclass relations.

PubMed

Bullock, Heather E

2017-12-01

Record-setting levels of income and wealth inequality are deepening social class divisions. The adoption of strong progressive redistributive policies is crucial to reducing class inequities, yet many barriers to doing so exist. This review examines class-based policy preferences, focusing on the effects of economic self-interest, system justification, and classist, racist, and sexist stereotypes on policy support. The impact of broader economic conditions is also considered. Collectively, this body of research makes clear that building stronger cross-class support for redistributive policies and programs will prove difficult without addressing both class-based power differences and beliefs that justify inequality. Reducing stereotypes and developing a shared sense of societal responsibility that cuts across class lines can help advance these goals. Social psychological research is vital to informing these efforts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ensemble Data Assimilation of Photovoltaic Power Information in the Convection-permitting High-Resolution Model COSMO-DE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Declair, Stefan; Saint-Drenan, Yves-Marie; Potthast, Roland

2017-04-01

Determining the amount of weather dependent renewable energy is a demanding task for transmission system operators (TSOs) and wind and photovoltaic (PV) prediction errors require the use of reserve power, which generate costs and can - in extreme cases - endanger the security of supply. In the project EWeLiNE funded by the German government, the German Weather Service and the Fraunhofer Institute on Wind Energy and Energy System Technology develop innovative weather- and power forecasting models and tools for grid integration of weather dependent renewable energy. The key part in energy prediction process chains is the numerical weather prediction (NWP) system. Irradiation forecasts from NWP systems are however subject to several sources of error. For PV power prediction, weaknesses of the NWP model to correctly forecast i.e. low stratus, absorption of condensed water or aerosol optical depths are the main sources of errors. Inaccurate radiation schemes (i.e. the two-stream parametrization) are also known as a deficit of NWP systems with regard to irradiation forecast. To mitigate errors like these, latest observations can be used in a pre-processing technique called data assimilation (DA). In DA, not only the initial fields are provided, but the model is also synchronized with reality - the observations - and hence forecast errors are reduced. Besides conventional observation networks like radiosondes, synoptic observations or air reports of wind, pressure and humidity, the number of observations measuring meteorological information indirectly by means of remote sensing such as satellite radiances, radar reflectivities or GPS slant delays strongly increases. Numerous PV plants installed in Germany potentially represent a dense meteorological network assessing irradiation through their power measurements. Forecast accuracy may thus be enhanced by extending the observations in the assimilation by this new source of information. PV power plants can provide information on clouds, aerosol optical depth or low stratus in terms of remote sensing: the power output is strongly dependent on perturbations along the slant between sun position and PV panel. Since these data are not limited to the vertical column above or below the detector, it may thus complement satellite data and compensate weaknesses in the radiation scheme. In this contribution, the used DA technique (Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter, LETKF) is shortly sketched. Furthermore, the computation of the model power equivalents is described and first results are presented and discussed.

Factors related to burnout among Chinese female hospital nurses: cross-sectional survey in Liaoning Province of China.

PubMed

Wu, Hui; Liu, Li; Sun, Wei; Zhao, Xue; Wang, Jiana; Wang, Lie

2014-07-01

To explore the factors associated with burnout among female hospital nurses in China. Burnout has been a major concern in the field of occupational health, and yet there has been little research exploring the factors related to burnout among Chinese nurses. Exploring the factors associated with burnout is important in improving nurses' health and the quality of health care services in China. The study population consisted of 1845 female hospital nurses in the Liaoning Province of China. Burnout was measured using the Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey; occupational stress was measured using the Chinese versions of the Job Content Questionnaire and Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire. A general linear regression model was applied to analyse the factors associated with burnout. Mean scores (±SD) were 11.74 (7.14) for emotional exhaustion, 7.12 (5.67) for cynicism and 23.34 (9.60) for self-efficacy. Strong extrinsic effort was the most powerful predictor of emotional exhaustion and cynicism; strong psychological job demands were the most robust predictor of low self-efficacy. The findings suggest that occupational stress was strongly related to burnout among female hospital nurses in China. Occupational stress was identified as the most robust predictor of burnout among Chinese female hospital nurses. Reducing burnout among nurses working in China may require health education, health promotion and occupational training programmes aimed at improving work situations and reducing occupational stress. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Characterization of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Torch and the Surface Interaction for Material Removal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McWilliams, Anthony Joseph

An atmospheric pressure plasma torch has been developed and characterized for removal of organic based coatings. The focus of the Strategic Environmental Research & Development Program (SERDP) project WP-1762, that funded the bulk of this dissertation work, is removal of paint from US Navy vessels. The goal is to develop a novel technology for coating removal that is capable of reducing the amount of environmental waste produced during the commonly used grit blasting process. The atmospheric pressure air plasma torch was identified as having the capacity to remove the paint systems while using only compressed air and electricity as a media-less removal system with drastically reduced waste generation. Any improvements to the existing technology need to be based on scientific knowledge and thus the plasma removal mechanisms or material warranted investigation. The removal of material does not show a strong relation to the plasma parameters of power, frequency, and gas flow, nor is there a strong relation to the presences of inorganic fillers impeding or altering the removal rates. The underlying removal mechanisms also do not show a strong correlation to the rotational temperature of the plasma but do show a strong correlation to the optical emission intensity. Primarily, the emission from atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen were identified significant contributors and were investigated further. The plasma feed gas was then varied from the nitrogen and oxygen ratio present in ambient air to pure nitrogen to identify the effect of oxygen on the removal mechanism. From these experiments it was concluded that the oxygen present in air does contribute to the overall removal mechanism; however, it is not the sole contributing factor with the other major factor being nitrogen.

Quantifying the Economic and Grid Reliability Impacts of Improved Wind Power Forecasting

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

Wang, Qin; Martinez-Anido, Carlo Brancucci; Wu, Hongyu

Wind power forecasting is an important tool in power system operations to address variability and uncertainty. Accurately doing so is important to reducing the occurrence and length of curtailment, enhancing market efficiency, and improving the operational reliability of the bulk power system. This research quantifies the value of wind power forecasting improvements in the IEEE 118-bus test system as modified to emulate the generation mixes of Midcontinent, California, and New England independent system operator balancing authority areas. To measure the economic value, a commercially available production cost modeling tool was used to simulate the multi-timescale unit commitment (UC) and economicmore » dispatch process for calculating the cost savings and curtailment reductions. To measure the reliability improvements, an in-house tool, FESTIV, was used to calculate the system's area control error and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Control Performance Standard 2. The approach allowed scientific reproducibility of results and cross-validation of the tools. A total of 270 scenarios were evaluated to accommodate the variation of three factors: generation mix, wind penetration level, and wind fore-casting improvements. The modified IEEE 118-bus systems utilized 1 year of data at multiple timescales, including the day-ahead UC, 4-hour-ahead UC, and 5-min real-time dispatch. The value of improved wind power forecasting was found to be strongly tied to the conventional generation mix, existence of energy storage devices, and the penetration level of wind energy. The simulation results demonstrate that wind power forecasting brings clear benefits to power system operations.« less

Thermal energy storage for power generation applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drost, M. K.; Antoniak, Zen I.; Brown, D. R.

1990-03-01

Studies strongly indicate that the United States will face widespread electrical power constraints in the 1990s. In many cases, the demand for increased power will occur during peak and intermediate demand periods. While natural gas is currently plentiful and economically attractive for meeting peak and intermediate loads, the development of a coal-fired peaking option would give utilities insurance against unexpected supply shortages or cost increases. This paper discusses a conceptual evaluation of using thermal energy storage (TES) to improve the economics of coal-fired peak and intermediate load power generation. The use of TES can substantially improve the economic attractiveness of meeting peak and intermediate loads with coal-fired power generation. In this case, conventional pulverized coal combustion equipment is continuously operated to heat molten nitrate salt, which is then stored. During peak demand periods, hot salt is withdrawn from storage and used to generate steam for a Rankine steam power cycle. This allows the coal-fired salt heater to be approximately one-third the size of a coal-fired boiler in a conventional cycling plant. The general impact is to decouple the generation of thermal energy from its conversion to electricity. The present study compares a conventional cycling pulverized coal-fired power plant to a pulverized coal-fired plant using nitrate salt TES. The study demonstrates that a coal-fired salt heater is technically feasible and should be less expensive than a similar coal-fired boiler. The results show the use of nitrate salt TES reduced the levelized cost of power by between 5 and 24 percent, depending on the operating schedule.

Deformation processed Al/Ca nano-filamentary composite conductors for HVDC applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czahor, C. F.; Anderson, I. E.; Riedemann, T. M.; Russell, A. M.

2017-07-01

Efficient long-distance power transmission is necessary as the world continues to implement renewable energy sources, often sited in remote areas. Light, strong, high-conductivity materials are desirable for this application to reduce both construction and operational costs. In this study an Al/Ca (11.5% vol.) composite with nano-filamentary reinforcement was produced by powder metallurgy then extruded, swaged, and wire drawn to a maximum true strain of 12.7. The tensile strength increased exponentially as the filament size was reduced to the sub-micron level. In an effort to improve the conductor’s ability to operate at elevated temperatures, the deformation-processed wires were heat-treated at 260°C to transform the Ca-reinforcing filaments to Al2Ca. Such a transformation raised the tensile strength by as much as 28%, and caused little change in ductility, while the electrical conductivity was reduced by only 1% to 3%. Al/Al2Ca composites are compared to existing conductor materials to show how implementation could affect installation and performance.

Reducing flicker due to ambient illumination in camera captured images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Minwoong; Bengtson, Kurt; Li, Lisa; Allebach, Jan P.

2013-02-01

The flicker artifact dealt with in this paper is the scanning distortion arising when an image is captured by a digital camera using a CMOS imaging sensor with an electronic rolling shutter under strong ambient light sources powered by AC. This type of camera scans a target line-by-line in a frame. Therefore, time differences exist between the lines. This mechanism causes a captured image to be corrupted by the change of illumination. This phenomenon is called the flicker artifact. The non-content area of the captured image is used to estimate a flicker signal that is a key to being able to compensate the flicker artifact. The average signal of the non-content area taken along the scan direction has local extrema where the peaks of flicker exist. The locations of the extrema are very useful information to estimate the desired distribution of pixel intensities assuming that the flicker artifact does not exist. The flicker-reduced images compensated by our approach clearly demonstrate the reduced flicker artifact, based on visual observation.

Decryption-decompression of AES protected ZIP files on GPUs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duong, Tan Nhat; Pham, Phong Hong; Nguyen, Duc Huu; Nguyen, Thuy Thanh; Le, Hung Duc

2011-10-01

AES is a strong encryption system, so decryption-decompression of AES encrypted ZIP files requires very large computing power and techniques of reducing the password space. This makes implementations of techniques on common computing system not practical. In [1], we reduced the original very large password search space to a much smaller one which surely containing the correct password. Based on reduced set of passwords, in this paper, we parallel decryption, decompression and plain text recognition for encrypted ZIP files by using CUDA computing technology on graphics cards GeForce GTX295 of NVIDIA, to find out the correct password. The experimental results have shown that the speed of decrypting, decompressing, recognizing plain text and finding out the original password increases about from 45 to 180 times (depends on the number of GPUs) compared to sequential execution on the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66 GHz. These results have demonstrated the potential applicability of GPUs in this cryptanalysis field.

Good Health: The Power of Power

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corbin, Charles B.; Janz, Kathleen F.; Baptista, Fátima

2017-01-01

Power has long been considered to be a skill-related fitness component. However, based on recent evidence, a strong case can be made for the classification of power as a health-related fitness component. Additionally, the evidence indicates that performing physical activities that build power is associated with the healthy development of bones…

Mean-field modeling of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical system. II Dynamics of parkinsonian oscillations.

PubMed

van Albada, S J; Gray, R T; Drysdale, P M; Robinson, P A

2009-04-21

Neuronal correlates of Parkinson's disease (PD) include a shift to lower frequencies in the electroencephalogram (EEG) and enhanced synchronized oscillations at 3-7 and 7-30 Hz in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cortex. This study describes the dynamics of a recent physiologically based mean-field model of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical system, and shows how it accounts for many key electrophysiological correlates of PD. Its detailed functional connectivity comprises partially segregated direct and indirect pathways through two populations of striatal neurons, a hyperdirect pathway involving a corticosubthalamic projection, thalamostriatal feedback, and local inhibition in striatum and external pallidum (GPe). In a companion paper, realistic steady-state firing rates were obtained for the healthy state, and after dopamine loss modeled by weaker direct and stronger indirect pathways, reduced intrapallidal inhibition, lower firing thresholds of the GPe and subthalamic nucleus (STN), a stronger projection from striatum to GPe, and weaker cortical interactions. Here it is shown that oscillations around 5 and 20 Hz can arise with a strong indirect pathway, which also causes increased synchronization throughout the basal ganglia. Furthermore, increased theta power with progressive nigrostriatal degeneration is correlated with reduced alpha power and peak frequency, in agreement with empirical results. Unlike the hyperdirect pathway, the indirect pathway sustains oscillations with phase relationships that coincide with those found experimentally. Alterations in the responses of basal ganglia to transient stimuli accord with experimental observations. Reduced cortical gains due to both nigrostriatal and mesocortical dopamine loss lead to slower changes in cortical activity and may be related to bradykinesia. Finally, increased EEG power found in some studies may be partly explained by a lower effective GPe firing threshold, reduced GPe-GPe inhibition, and/or weaker intracortical connections in parkinsonian patients. Strict separation of the direct and indirect pathways is not necessary to obtain these results.

Divestment prevails over the green paradox when anticipating strong future climate policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, Nico; McGlade, Christophe; Hilaire, Jérôme; Ekins, Paul

2018-01-01

Fossil fuel market dynamics will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of climate policies1. Both fossil fuel owners and investors in fossil fuel infrastructure are sensitive to climate policies that threaten their natural resource endowments and production capacities2-4, which will consequently affect their near-term behaviour. Although weak in near-term policy commitments5,6, the Paris Agreement on climate7 signalled strong ambitions in climate change stabilization. Many studies emphasize that the 2 °C target can still be achieved even if strong climate policies are delayed until 20308-10. However, sudden implementation will have severe consequences for fossil fuel markets and beyond and these studies ignore the anticipation effects of owners and investors. Here we use two energy-economy models to study the collective influence of the two central but opposing anticipation arguments, the green paradox11 and the divestment effect12, which have, to date, been discussed only separately. For a wide range of future climate policies, we find that anticipation effects, on balance, reduce CO2 emissions during the implementation lag. This is because of strong divestment in coal power plants starting ten years ahead of policy implementation. The green paradox effect is identified, but is small under reasonable assumptions.

High Capacity Battery Cell Flight Qualified

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McKissock, Barbara I.

1997-01-01

The High Capacity Battery Cell project is an effort equally funded by the NASA Lewis Research Center and Hughes Space and Communications Company (a unit of Hughes Aircraft Company) to develop and flight qualify a higher capacity nickel hydrogen battery for continuing use on commercial spacecraft. The larger diameter, individual pressure vessel cell will provide approximately twice the power, while occupying the same volume, as the current state-of-the-art nickel hydrogen cell. These cells are also anticipated to reduce battery cost by 20 percent. The battery is currently booked for use on 26 spacecraft, with the first flight scheduled in 1997. A strong requirement for batteries with higher power levels (6 to 12 kW), long life, and reduced cost was identified in studies of the needs of commercial communications spacecraft. With the design developed in this effort, the higher power level was accommodated without having to modify the rest of the existing spacecraft bus. This design scaled-up the existing state-of-the-art nickel hydrogen battery cell from a 3.5-in., 50-Ahr cell to a 5.5-in., 350-Ahr cell. An improvement in cycle life was also achieved by the use of the 26-percent KOH electrolyte design developed by NASA Lewis. The cell design was completed, and flight batteries were built and flight qualified by Hughes Space and Communications Company with input from NASA Lewis. Two batteries were shipped in September 1996 to undergo life cycle testing under the purview of NASA Lewis.

Neural synchronization deficits linked to cortical hyper-excitability and auditory hypersensitivity in fragile X syndrome.

PubMed

Ethridge, Lauren E; White, Stormi P; Mosconi, Matthew W; Wang, Jun; Pedapati, Ernest V; Erickson, Craig A; Byerly, Matthew J; Sweeney, John A

2017-01-01

Studies in the fmr1 KO mouse demonstrate hyper-excitability and increased high-frequency neuronal activity in sensory cortex. These abnormalities may contribute to prominent and distressing sensory hypersensitivities in patients with fragile X syndrome (FXS). The current study investigated functional properties of auditory cortex using a sensory entrainment task in FXS. EEG recordings were obtained from 17 adolescents and adults with FXS and 17 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Participants heard an auditory chirp stimulus generated using a 1000-Hz tone that was amplitude modulated by a sinusoid linearly increasing in frequency from 0-100 Hz over 2 s. Single trial time-frequency analyses revealed decreased gamma band phase-locking to the chirp stimulus in FXS, which was strongly coupled with broadband increases in gamma power. Abnormalities in gamma phase-locking and power were also associated with theta-gamma amplitude-amplitude coupling during the pre-stimulus period and with parent reports of heightened sensory sensitivities and social communication deficits. This represents the first demonstration of neural entrainment alterations in FXS patients and suggests that fast-spiking interneurons regulating synchronous high-frequency neural activity have reduced functionality. This reduced ability to synchronize high-frequency neural activity was related to the total power of background gamma band activity. These observations extend findings from fmr1 KO models of FXS, characterize a core pathophysiological aspect of FXS, and may provide a translational biomarker strategy for evaluating promising therapeutics.

"Words So Strong": Maxine Hong Kingston's "No Name Woman" Introduces Students to the Power of Words.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petit, Angela

2003-01-01

Presents a powerful story that helps students to realize that words can order the world around them and form realities of their own. Attempts to capture the rich reading experiences that Kingston's "No Name Woman" offers to students developing an understanding of words so strong. Concludes that reflecting on Kingston's experiences,…

Effects of Coulomb Coupling on the Stopping Power of Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, David; Daligault, Jerome; Baalrud, Scott

2017-10-01

Stopping power of charged particles in plasma is important for a detailed understanding of particle and energy transport in plasmas, such as those found in fusion applications. Although stopping power is rather well understood for weakly coupled plasmas, this is less the case for strongly coupled plasmas. In order to shed light on the effects of strong Coulomb coupling, we have conducted detailed molecular dynamics simulations of the stopping power of a One-Component Plasma (OCP) across a wide range of conditions. The OCP allows first-principle computations that are not possible with more complex models, enabling rigorous tests of analytical theories. The molecular dynamics simulations were compared to two analytical theories that attempt to extend traditional weakly-coupled theories into the strong coupling regime. The first is based on the binary approximation, which accounts for strong coupling via an effective scattering cross section derived from the effective potential theory. The second is based on the dielectric function formulation with the inclusion of a local field corrections. Work supported by LANL LDRD project 20150520ER and ir Force Office of Scientific Research under Award Number FA9550-16-1-0221.

Use of high temperature superconductors in magnetoplasmadynamic systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reed, C. B.; Sovey, J. S.

1988-01-01

The use of Tesla-class high-temperature superconducting magnets may have an extremely large impact on critical development issues (erosion, heat transfer, and performance) related to magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters and also may provide significant benefits in reducing the mass of magnetics used in the power processing system. These potential performance improvements, coupled with additional benefits of high-temperature superconductivity, provide a very strong motivation to develop high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) applied-field MPD thruster propulsion systems. The application of HTS to MPD thruster propulsion systems may produce an enabling technology for these electric propulsion systems. This paper summarizes the impact that HTS may have upon MPD propulsion systems.

Terahertz wave manipulation based on multi-bit coding artificial electromagnetic surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiu-Sheng; Zhao, Ze-Jiang; Yao, Jian-Quan

2018-05-01

A polarization insensitive multi-bit coding artificial electromagnetic surface is proposed for terahertz wave manipulation. The coding artificial electromagnetic surfaces composed of four-arrow-shaped particles with certain coding sequences can generate multi-bit coding in the terahertz frequencies and manipulate the reflected terahertz waves to the numerous directions by using of different coding distributions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our coding artificial electromagnetic surfaces have strong abilities to reduce the radar cross section with polarization insensitive for TE and TM incident terahertz waves as well as linear-polarized and circular-polarized terahertz waves. This work offers an effectively strategy to realize more powerful manipulation of terahertz wave.

Examination for optimization of synchrotron radiation spectrum for the x ray depth lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dany, Raimund

1992-06-01

The effect of reducing the vertical distribution of synchrotron radiation on its spectral distribution is examined through resin irradiation. The resulting filter effect is compared to that of absorption filters. Transmission coefficients of titanium, gold, and polyamide were calculated from linear absorption coefficients with the Beer law. The use of a diaphragm in X-ray depth lithography, which is the first step of the LIGA (Lithography Galvanoforming Molding) process, is discussed. A calorimetric device for determining the synchrotron radiation power and distribution was developed and tested. Measurements at the ELSA storage ring show a strong dependence of the vertical emittance on the electron current.

Phosphate and acidosis act synergistically to depress peak power in rat muscle fibers.

PubMed

Nelson, Cassandra R; Debold, Edward P; Fitts, Robert H

2014-11-15

Skeletal muscle fatigue is characterized by the buildup of H(+) and inorganic phosphate (Pi), metabolites that are thought to cause fatigue by inhibiting muscle force, velocity, and power. While the individual effects of elevated H(+) or Pi have been well characterized, the effects of simultaneously elevating the ions, as occurs during fatigue in vivo, are still poorly understood. To address this, we exposed slow and fast rat skinned muscle fibers to fatiguing levels of H(+) (pH 6.2) and Pi (30 mM) and determined the effects on contractile properties. At 30°C, elevated Pi and low pH depressed maximal shortening velocity (Vmax) by 15% (4.23 to 3.58 fl/s) in slow and 31% (6.24 vs. 4.55 fl/s) in fast fibers, values similar to depressions from low pH alone. Maximal isometric force dropped by 36% in slow (148 to 94 kN/m(2)) and 46% in fast fibers (148 to 80 kN/m(2)), declines substantially larger than what either ion exerted individually. The strong effect on force combined with the significant effect on velocity caused peak power to decline by over 60% in both fiber types. Force-stiffness ratios significantly decreased with pH 6.2 + 30 mM Pi in both fiber types, suggesting these ions reduced force by decreasing the force per bridge and/or increasing the number of low-force bridges. The data indicate the collective effects of elevating H(+) and Pi on maximal isometric force and peak power are stronger than what either ion exerts individually and suggest the ions act synergistically to reduce muscle function during fatigue. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Knowledge elicitation techniques and application to nuclear plant maintenance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doyle, E. Kevin

The new millennium has brought with it the opportunity of global trade which in turn requires the utmost in efficiency from each individual industry. This includes the nuclear power industry, a point which was emphasized when the electrical generation industry began to be de regulated across North America the late 1990s and re-emphasized when the northeast power grid of North America collapsed in the summer of 2003. This dissertation deals with reducing the cost of the maintenance function of Candu nuclear power plants and initiating a strong link between universities and the Canadian nuclear industry. Various forms of RCM (reliability-centred maintenance) have been the tools of choice in industry for improving the maintenance function during the last 20 years. In this project, pilot studies, conducted at Bruce Power between 1999 and 2005, and reported on in this dissertation, lay out a path to implement statistical improvements as the next step after RCM in reducing the cost of the maintenance. Elicitation protocols, designed for the age group being elicited, address the much-documented issue of a lack of data. Clear, graphical, inferential statistical interfaces are accentuated and developed to aid in building the teams required to implement the various methodologies and to help in achieving funding targets. Graphical analysis and Crow/AMSAA (army materials systems analysis activity) plots are developed and demonstrated from the point of view of justifying the expenditures of cost reduction efforts. This dissertation ultimately speaks to the great opportunity being presented by this approach at this time: of capturing the baby-boom generation's huge pool of knowledge before those people retire. It is expected that the protocols and procedures referenced here will have applicability across the many disciplines where collecting expert information from a similar age group is required.

Wind speed reductions by large-scale wind turbine deployments lower turbine efficiencies and set low generation limits.

PubMed

Miller, Lee M; Kleidon, Axel

2016-11-29

Wind turbines generate electricity by removing kinetic energy from the atmosphere. Large numbers of wind turbines are likely to reduce wind speeds, which lowers estimates of electricity generation from what would be presumed from unaffected conditions. Here, we test how well wind power limits that account for this effect can be estimated without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. We first use simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) that explicitly simulates the effects of wind turbines to derive wind power limits (GCM estimate), and compare them to a simple approach derived from the climatological conditions without turbines [vertical kinetic energy (VKE) estimate]. On land, we find strong agreement between the VKE and GCM estimates with respect to electricity generation rates (0.32 and 0.37 W e m -2 ) and wind speed reductions by 42 and 44%. Over ocean, the GCM estimate is about twice the VKE estimate (0.59 and 0.29 W e m -2 ) and yet with comparable wind speed reductions (50 and 42%). We then show that this bias can be corrected by modifying the downward momentum flux to the surface. Thus, large-scale limits to wind power use can be derived from climatological conditions without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. Consistent with the GCM simulations, the approach estimates that only comparatively few land areas are suitable to generate more than 1 W e m -2 of electricity and that larger deployment scales are likely to reduce the expected electricity generation rate of each turbine. We conclude that these atmospheric effects are relevant for planning the future expansion of wind power.

Wind speed reductions by large-scale wind turbine deployments lower turbine efficiencies and set low generation limits

PubMed Central

Miller, Lee M.; Kleidon, Axel

2016-01-01

Wind turbines generate electricity by removing kinetic energy from the atmosphere. Large numbers of wind turbines are likely to reduce wind speeds, which lowers estimates of electricity generation from what would be presumed from unaffected conditions. Here, we test how well wind power limits that account for this effect can be estimated without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. We first use simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) that explicitly simulates the effects of wind turbines to derive wind power limits (GCM estimate), and compare them to a simple approach derived from the climatological conditions without turbines [vertical kinetic energy (VKE) estimate]. On land, we find strong agreement between the VKE and GCM estimates with respect to electricity generation rates (0.32 and 0.37 We m−2) and wind speed reductions by 42 and 44%. Over ocean, the GCM estimate is about twice the VKE estimate (0.59 and 0.29 We m−2) and yet with comparable wind speed reductions (50 and 42%). We then show that this bias can be corrected by modifying the downward momentum flux to the surface. Thus, large-scale limits to wind power use can be derived from climatological conditions without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. Consistent with the GCM simulations, the approach estimates that only comparatively few land areas are suitable to generate more than 1 We m−2 of electricity and that larger deployment scales are likely to reduce the expected electricity generation rate of each turbine. We conclude that these atmospheric effects are relevant for planning the future expansion of wind power. PMID:27849587

A closed-loop compressive-sensing-based neural recording system.

PubMed

Zhang, Jie; Mitra, Srinjoy; Suo, Yuanming; Cheng, Andrew; Xiong, Tao; Michon, Frederic; Welkenhuysen, Marleen; Kloosterman, Fabian; Chin, Peter S; Hsiao, Steven; Tran, Trac D; Yazicioglu, Firat; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph

2015-06-01

This paper describes a low power closed-loop compressive sensing (CS) based neural recording system. This system provides an efficient method to reduce data transmission bandwidth for implantable neural recording devices. By doing so, this technique reduces a majority of system power consumption which is dissipated at data readout interface. The design of the system is scalable and is a viable option for large scale integration of electrodes or recording sites onto a single device. The entire system consists of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with 4 recording readout channels with CS circuits, a real time off-chip CS recovery block and a recovery quality evaluation block that provides a closed feedback to adaptively adjust compression rate. Since CS performance is strongly signal dependent, the ASIC has been tested in vivo and with standard public neural databases. Implemented using efficient digital circuit, this system is able to achieve >10 times data compression on the entire neural spike band (500-6KHz) while consuming only 0.83uW (0.53 V voltage supply) additional digital power per electrode. When only the spikes are desired, the system is able to further compress the detected spikes by around 16 times. Unlike other similar systems, the characteristic spikes and inter-spike data can both be recovered which guarantes a >95% spike classification success rate. The compression circuit occupied 0.11mm(2)/electrode in a 180nm CMOS process. The complete signal processing circuit consumes <16uW/electrode. Power and area efficiency demonstrated by the system make it an ideal candidate for integration into large recording arrays containing thousands of electrode. Closed-loop recording and reconstruction performance evaluation further improves the robustness of the compression method, thus making the system more practical for long term recording.

Magnetic Random Access Memory based non-volatile asynchronous Muller cell for ultra-low power autonomous applications

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

Di Pendina, G., E-mail: gregory.dipendina@cea.fr, E-mail: eldar.zianbetov@cea.fr, E-mail: edith.beigne@cea.fr; Zianbetov, E., E-mail: gregory.dipendina@cea.fr, E-mail: eldar.zianbetov@cea.fr, E-mail: edith.beigne@cea.fr; CNRS, SPINTEC, F-38000 Grenoble

2015-05-07

Micro and nano electronic integrated circuit domain is today mainly driven by the advent of the Internet of Things for which the constraints are strong, especially in terms of power consumption and autonomy, not only during the computing phases but also during the standby or idle phases. In such ultra-low power applications, the circuit has to meet new constraints mainly linked to its changing energetic environment: long idle phases, automatic wake up, data back-up when the circuit is sporadically turned off, and ultra-low voltage power supply operation. Such circuits have to be completely autonomous regarding their unstable environment, while remainingmore » in an optimum energetic configuration. Therefore, we propose in this paper the first MRAM-based non-volatile asynchronous Muller cell. This cell has been simulated and characterized in a very advanced 28 nm CMOS fully depleted silicon-on-insulator technology, presenting good power performance results due to an extremely efficient body biasing control together with ultra-wide supply voltage range from 160 mV up to 920 mV. The leakage current can be reduced to 154 pA thanks to reverse body biasing. We also propose an efficient standard CMOS bulk version of this cell in order to be compatible with different fabrication processes.« less

Advanced access: reducing waiting and delays in primary care.

PubMed

Murray, Mark; Berwick, Donald M

2003-02-26

Delay of care is a persistent and undesirable feature of current health care systems. Although delay seems to be inevitable and linked to resource limitations, it often is neither. Rather, it is usually the result of unplanned, irrational scheduling and resource allocation. Application of queuing theory and principles of industrial engineering, adapted appropriately to clinical settings, can reduce delay substantially, even in small practices, without requiring additional resources. One model, sometimes referred to as advanced access, has increasingly been shown to reduce waiting times in primary care. The core principle of advanced access is that patients calling to schedule a physician visit are offered an appointment the same day. Advanced access is not sustainable if patient demand for appointments is permanently greater than physician capacity to offer appointments. Six elements of advanced access are important in its application balancing supply and demand, reducing backlog, reducing the variety of appointment types, developing contingency plans for unusual circumstances, working to adjust demand profiles, and increasing the availability of bottleneck resources. Although these principles are powerful, they are counter to deeply held beliefs and established practices in health care organizations. Adopting these principles requires strong leadership investment and support.

Five-minute Oscillation Power within Magnetic Elements in the Solar Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Rekha; Gascoyne, Andrew; Hindman, Bradley W.; Greer, Benjamin

2014-12-01

It has long been known that magnetic plage and sunspots are regions in which the power of acoustic waves is reduced within the photospheric layers. Recent observations now suggest that this suppression of power extends into the low chromosphere and is also present in small magnetic elements far from active regions. In this paper we investigate the observed power suppression in plage and magnetic elements, by modeling each as a collection of vertically aligned magnetic fibrils and presuming that the velocity within each fibril is the response to buffeting by incident p modes in the surrounding field-free atmosphere. We restrict our attention to modeling observations made near the solar disk center, where the line-of-sight velocity is nearly vertical and hence, only the longitudinal component of the motion within the fibril contributes. Therefore, we only consider the excitation of axisymmetric sausage waves and ignore kink oscillations as their motions are primarily horizontal. We compare the vertical motion within the fibril with the vertical motion of the incident p mode by constructing the ratio of their powers. In agreement with observational measurements we find that the total power is suppressed within strong magnetic elements for frequencies below the acoustic cut-off frequency. However, further physical effects need to be examined for understanding the observed power ratios for stronger magnetic field strengths and higher frequencies. We also find that the magnitude of the power deficit increases with the height above the photosphere at which the measurement is made. Furthermore, we argue that the area of the solar disk over which the power suppression extends increases as a function of height.

Fatigue in repeated-sprint exercise is related to muscle power factors and reduced neuromuscular activity.

PubMed

Mendez-Villanueva, Alberto; Hamer, Peter; Bishop, David

2008-07-01

The purpose of this study was (1) to determine the relationship between each individual's anaerobic power reserve (APR) [i.e., the difference between the maximum anaerobic (Pana) and aerobic power (Paer)] and fatigability during repeated-sprint exercise and (2) to examine the acute effects of repeated sprints on neuromuscular activity, as evidenced by changes in the surface electromyogram (EMG) signals. Eight healthy males carried out tests to determine Pana (defined as the highest power output attained during a 6-s cycling sprint), Paer (defined as the highest power output achieved during a progressive, discontinuous cycling test to failure) and a repeated cycling sprint test (10 x 6-s max sprints with 30 s rest). Peak power output (PPO) and mean power output (MPO) were calculated for each maximal 6-s cycling bout. Root mean square (RMS) was utilized to quantify EMG activity from the vastus lateralis (VL) muscle of the right leg. Over the ten sprints, PPO and MPO decreased by 24.6 and 28.3% from the maximal value (i.e., sprint 1), respectively. Fatigue index during repeated sprints was significantly correlated with APR (R = 0.87; P < 0.05). RMS values decreased over the ten sprints by 14.6% (+/-6.3%). There was a strong linear relationship (R2 = 0.97; P < 0.05) between the changes in MPO and EMG RMS from the vastus lateralis muscle during the ten sprints. The individual advantage in fatigue-resistance when performing a repeated sprint task was related with a lower anaerobic power reserve. Additionally, a suboptimal net motor unit activity might also impair the ability to repeatedly generate maximum power outputs.

Reduction technique of drop voltage and power losses to improve power quality using ETAP Power Station simulation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satrio, Reza Indra; Subiyanto

2018-03-01

The effect of electric loads growth emerged direct impact in power systems distribution. Drop voltage and power losses one of the important things in power systems distribution. This paper presents modelling approach used to restructrure electrical network configuration, reduce drop voltage, reduce power losses and add new distribution transformer to enhance reliability of power systems distribution. Restructrure electrical network was aimed to analyse and investigate electric loads of a distribution transformer. Measurement of real voltage and real current were finished two times for each consumer, that were morning period and night period or when peak load. Design and simulation were conduct by using ETAP Power Station Software. Based on result of simulation and real measurement precentage of drop voltage and total power losses were mismatch with SPLN (Standard PLN) 72:1987. After added a new distribution transformer and restructrured electricity network configuration, the result of simulation could reduce drop voltage from 1.3 % - 31.3 % to 8.1 % - 9.6 % and power losses from 646.7 watt to 233.29 watt. Result showed, restructrure electricity network configuration and added new distribution transformer can be applied as an effective method to reduce drop voltage and reduce power losses.

Buy Certified-Verified Green Power

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Green power products eligible to be certified by an independent third party against national standards. As a matter of best practice and consumer protection, EPA strongly encourages organizations to purchase these types of certified green power products.

Temporal Evolution of Chromospheric Oscillations in Flaring Regions: A Pilot Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monsue, T.; Hill, F.; Stassun, K. G.

2016-10-01

We have analyzed Hα intensity images obtained at a 1 minute cadence with the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) system to investigate the properties of oscillations in the 0-8 mHz frequency band at the location and time of strong M- and X-class flares. For each of three subregions within two flaring active regions, we extracted time series from multiple distinct positions, including the flare core and quieter surrounding areas. The time series were analyzed with a moving power-map analysis to examine power as a function of frequency and time. We find that, in the flare core of all three subregions, the low-frequency power (˜1-2 mHz) is substantially enhanced immediately prior to and after the flare, and that power at all frequencies up to 8 mHz is depleted at flare maximum. This depletion is both frequency- and time-dependent, which probably reflects the changing depths visible during the flare in the bandpass of the filter. These variations are not observed outside the flare cores. The depletion may indicate that acoustic energy is being converted into thermal energy at flare maximum, while the low-frequency enhancement may arise from an instability in the chromosphere and provide an early warning of the flare onset. Dark lanes of reduced wave power are also visible in the power maps, which may arise from the interaction of the acoustic waves and the magnetic field.

Cosmology of f(R) gravity in the metric variational approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Baojiu; Barrow, John D.

2007-04-01

We consider the cosmologies that arise in a subclass of f(R) gravity with f(R)=R+μ2n+2/(-R)n and n∈(-1,0) in the metric (as opposed to the Palatini) variational approach to deriving the gravitational field equations. The calculations of the isotropic and homogeneous cosmological models are undertaken in the Jordan frame and at both the background and the perturbation levels. For the former, we also discuss the connection to the Einstein frame in which the extra degree of freedom in the theory is associated with a scalar field sharing some of the properties of a “chameleon” field. For the latter, we derive the cosmological perturbation equations in general theories of f(R) gravity in covariant form and implement them numerically to calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and matter power spectra of the cosmological model. The CMB power is shown to reduce at low l’s, and the matter power spectrum is almost scale independent at small scales, thus having a similar shape to that in standard general relativity. These are in stark contrast with what was found in the Palatini f(R) gravity, where the CMB power is largely amplified at low l’s and the matter spectrum is strongly scale dependent at small scales. These features make the present model more adaptable than that arising from the Palatini f(R) field equations, and none of the data on background evolution, CMB power spectrum, or matter power spectrum currently rule it out.

TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF CHROMOSPHERIC OSCILLATIONS IN FLARING REGIONS: A PILOT STUDY

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

Monsue, T.; Stassun, K. G.; Hill, F., E-mail: teresa.monsue@vanderbilt.edu, E-mail: keivan.stassun@vanderbilt.edu, E-mail: hill@email.noao.edu

2016-10-01

We have analyzed H α intensity images obtained at a 1 minute cadence with the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) system to investigate the properties of oscillations in the 0–8 mHz frequency band at the location and time of strong M- and X-class flares. For each of three subregions within two flaring active regions, we extracted time series from multiple distinct positions, including the flare core and quieter surrounding areas. The time series were analyzed with a moving power-map analysis to examine power as a function of frequency and time. We find that, in the flare core of all threemore » subregions, the low-frequency power (∼1–2 mHz) is substantially enhanced immediately prior to and after the flare, and that power at all frequencies up to 8 mHz is depleted at flare maximum. This depletion is both frequency- and time-dependent, which probably reflects the changing depths visible during the flare in the bandpass of the filter. These variations are not observed outside the flare cores. The depletion may indicate that acoustic energy is being converted into thermal energy at flare maximum, while the low-frequency enhancement may arise from an instability in the chromosphere and provide an early warning of the flare onset. Dark lanes of reduced wave power are also visible in the power maps, which may arise from the interaction of the acoustic waves and the magnetic field.« less

A two-hop wireless power transfer system with an efficiency-enhanced power receiver for motion-free capsule endoscopy inspection.

PubMed

Sun, Tianjia; Xie, Xiang; Li, Guolin; Gu, Yingke; Deng, Yangdong; Wang, Zhihua

2012-11-01

This paper presents a wireless power transfer system for a motion-free capsule endoscopy inspection. Conventionally, a wireless power transmitter in a specifically designed jacket has to be connected to a strong power source with a long cable. To avoid the power cable and allow patients to walk freely in a room, this paper proposes a two-hop wireless power transfer system. First, power is transferred from a floor to a power relay in the patient's jacket via strong coupling. Next, power is delivered from the power relay to the capsule via loose coupling. Besides making patients much more conformable, the proposed techniques eliminate the sources of reliability issues arisen from the moving cable and connectors. In the capsule, it is critical to enhance the power conversion efficiency. This paper develops a switch-mode rectifier (rectifying efficiency of 93.6%) and a power combination circuit (enhances combining efficiency by 18%). Thanks to the two-hop transfer mechanism and the novel circuit techniques, this system is able to transfer an average power of 24 mW and a peak power of 90 mW from the floor to a 13 mm × 27 mm capsule over a distance of 1 m with the maximum dc-to-dc power efficiency of 3.04%.

Electrical load management at the Goldstone DSN Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rayburn, J. C.

1981-01-01

A Power Load Management Plan was deveoped which utilizes the unique power generating capabilities of the stations to reduce the stress on the local utility's reserve capacity and reduce the cost of electrical power at the stations. The plan has greatly reduced the cost of Goldstone electrical power by completely eliminating the use of commercial power during the local utility's high usage periods each day.

Assessment of compatibility of ICRF antenna operation with full W wall in ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobkov, Vl. V.; Braun, F.; Dux, R.; Herrmann, A.; Giannone, L.; Kallenbach, A.; Krivska, A.; Müller, H. W.; Neu, R.; Noterdaeme, J.-M.; Pütterich, T.; Rohde, V.; Schweinzer, J.; Sips, A.; Zammuto, I.; ASDEX Upgrade Team

2010-03-01

The compatibility of ICRF (ion cyclotron range of frequencies) antenna operation with high-Z plasma facing components is assessed in ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) with its tungsten (W) first wall. The mechanism of ICRF-related W sputtering was studied by various diagnostics including the local spectroscopic measurements of W sputtering yield YW on antenna limiters. Modification of one antenna with triangular shields, which cover the locations where long magnetic field lines pass only one out of two (0π)-phased antenna straps, did not influence the locally measured YW values markedly. In the experiments with antennas powered individually, poloidal profiles of YW on limiters of powered antennas show high YW close to the equatorial plane and at the very edge of the antenna top. The YW-profile on an unpowered antenna limiter peaks at the location projecting to the top of the powered antenna. An interpretation of the YW measurements is presented, assuming a direct link between the W sputtering and the sheath driving RF voltages deduced from parallel electric near-field (E||) calculations and this suggests a strong E|| at the antenna limiters. However, uncertainties are too large to describe the YW poloidal profiles. In order to reduce ICRF-related rise in W concentration CW, an operational approach and an approach based on calculations of parallel electric fields with new antenna designs are considered. In the operation, a noticeable reduction in YW and CW in the plasma during ICRF operation with W wall can be achieved by (a) increasing plasma-antenna clearance; (b) strong gas puffing; (c) decreasing the intrinsic light impurity content (mainly oxygen and carbon in AUG). In calculations, which take into account a realistic antenna geometry, the high E|| fields at the antenna limiters are reduced in several ways: (a) by extending the antenna box and the surrounding structures parallel to the magnetic field; (b) by increasing the average strap-box distance, e.g. by increasing the number of toroidally distributed straps; (c) by a better balance of (0π)-phased contributions to RF image currents.

Effect of p-GaN layer grown with H2 carrier gas on wall-plug efficiency of high-power LEDs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Kuan Fu; Lin, Tien Kun; Liou, Jian Kai; Yang, Chyi Da; Lee, Chong Yi; Tsai, Jeng Da

2017-06-01

The effect of employing different carrier gases (H2 only and 1:1 vol% N2:H2) in the p-type GaN (p-GaN) layer on the wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is studied. Since GaN crystal could be a two-dimension (2-D) growth mode in H2 ambient, better quality and smoother surface of the p-GaN were obtained. The current spreading performance of the p-GaN layer using H2 alone as the carrier gas was enhanced, resulting in advanced light output power (LOP). In addition, turn-on voltage and dynamic resistance at 500 mA, which can strongly contribute to the WPE, were also reduced by 0.12 V and 0.13 Ω, respectively. The studied device with H2 as the carrier gas in the p-GaN layer (p-H2 layer) exhibits 9.5% and 12.4% improvements in LOP and WPE at 500 mA over the device (N2/H2 = 1:1), as well as significantly better electrostatic discharge robustness. Therefore, the use of a p-H2 layer can effectively improve the performance of GaN-based LEDs for high power applications.

Fish population genetic structure shaped by hydroelectric power plants in the upper Rhine catchment.

PubMed

Gouskov, Alexandre; Reyes, Marta; Wirthner-Bitterlin, Lisa; Vorburger, Christoph

2016-02-01

The Rhine catchment in Switzerland has been transformed by a chain of hydroelectric power stations. We addressed the impact of fragmentation on the genetic structure of fish populations by focusing on the European chub (Squalius cephalus). This fish species is not stocked and copes well with altered habitats, enabling an assessment of the effects of fragmentation per se. Using microsatellites, we genotyped 2133 chub from 47 sites within the catchment fragmented by 37 hydroelectric power stations, two weirs and the Rhine Falls. The shallow genetic population structure reflected drainage topology and was affected significantly by barriers to migration. The effect of power stations equipped with fishpasses on genetic differentiation was detectable, albeit weaker than that of man-made barriers without fishpasses. The Rhine Falls as the only long-standing natural obstacle (formed 14 000 to 17 000 years ago) also had a strong effect. Man-made barriers also exacerbated the upstream decrease in allelic diversity in the catchment, particularly when lacking fishpasses. Thus, existing fishpasses do have the desired effect of mitigating fragmentation, but barriers still reduce population connectivity in a fish that traverses fishpasses better than many other species. Less mobile species are likely to be affected more severely.

Green Power Equivalency Calculator - Calculations and References

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Green power products eligible to be certified by an independent third party against national standards. As a matter of best practice and consumer protection, EPA strongly encourages organizations to purchase these types of certified green power products.

Effect of postharvest spray of apple polyphenols on the quality of fresh-cut red pitaya fruit during shelf life.

PubMed

Fan, Panhui; Huber, Donald J; Su, Zihan; Hu, Meijiao; Gao, Zhaoyin; Li, Min; Shi, Xuequn; Zhang, Zhengke

2018-03-15

Fresh-cut (FC) red pitaya fruit were treated with 5ga.i.l -1 apple polyphenols (APP) and then stored at 20°C for up to 4days to evaluate the effects on attributes. Results showed that FC pitaya fruit with APP treatment showed greater colour retention, delayed softening, reduced loss of soluble solids content, titratable acidity, betacyanin and total phenolics compared with untreated FC fruit. APP treatment also maintained antioxidant activity, as indicated by higher DPPH radical-scavenging activity and reducing power compared with untreated FC pitaya fruit. APP treatment strongly suppressed microbial growth, contributing to improvement of product safety. Because APP is a natural product, we propose that application of APP could be a convenient, safe and low-cost approach to maintain the quality and extend the shelf life of FC red pitaya fruit. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Assessment of Moringa oleifera Leaf and Fruit for Its Antistress, Antioxidant, and Scavenging Potential Using In Vitro and In Vivo Assays

PubMed Central

Luqman, Suaib; Srivastava, Suchita; Kumar, Ritesh; Maurya, Anil Kumar; Chanda, Debabrata

2012-01-01

We have investigated effect of Moringa oleifera leaf and fruit extracts on markers of oxidative stress, its toxicity evaluation, and correlation with antioxidant properties using in vitro and in vitro assays. The aqueous extract of leaf was able to increase the GSH and reduce MDA level in a concentration-dependent manner. The ethanolic extract of fruit showed highest phenolic content, strong reducing power and free radical scavenging capacity. The antioxidant capacity of ethanolic extract of both fruit and leaf was higher in the in vitro assay compared to aqueous extract which showed higher potential in vivo. Safety evaluation studies showed no toxicity of the extracts up to a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight. Our results support the potent antioxidant activity of aqueous and ethanolic extract of Moringa oleifera which adds one more positive attribute to its known pharmacological importance. PMID:22216055

Alumina plate containing photosystem I reaction center complex oriented inside plate-penetrating silica nanopores.

PubMed

Kamidaki, Chihiro; Kondo, Toru; Noji, Tomoyasu; Itoh, Tetsuji; Yamaguchi, Akira; Itoh, Shigeru

2013-08-22

The photosynthetic photosystem I reaction center complex (PSI-RC), which has a molecular diameter of 21 nm with 100 pigments, was incorporated into silica nanopores with a 100-nm diameter that penetrates an alumina plate of 60-μm thickness to make up an inorganic-biological hybrid photocell. PSI-RCs, purified from a thermophilic cyanobacterium, were stable inside the nanopores and rapidly photoreduced a mediator dye methyl viologen. The reduced dye was more stable inside nanopores suggesting the decrease of dissolved oxygen. The analysis by a cryogenic electron spin paramagnetic resonance indicated the oriented arrangement of RCs inside the 100-nm nanopores, with their surface parallel to the silica wall and perpendicular to the plane of the alumina plate. PSI RC complex in the semicrystalline orientation inside silica nanopores can be a new type of light energy conversion unit to supply strong reducing power selectively to other molecules inside or outside nanopores.

Towards a high thermoelectric performance in rare-earth substituted SrTiO3: effects provided by strongly-reducing sintering conditions.

PubMed

Kovalevsky, A V; Yaremchenko, A A; Populoh, S; Thiel, P; Fagg, D P; Weidenkaff, A; Frade, J R

2014-12-28

Donor-substituted strontium titanate ceramics demonstrate one of the most promising performances among n-type oxide thermoelectrics. Here we report a marked improvement of the thermoelectric properties in rare-earth substituted titanates Sr0.9R0.1TiO3±δ (R = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Y) to achieve maximal ZT values of as high as 0.42 at 1190 K < T < 1225 K, prepared via a conventional solid state route followed by sintering under strongly reducing conditions (10%H2-90%N2, 1773 K). As a result of complex defect chemistry, both electrical and thermal properties were found to be dependent on the nature of the rare-earth cation and exhibit an apparent correlation with the unit cell size. High power factors of 1350-1550 μW m(-1) K(-2) at 400-550 K were observed for R = Nd, Sm, Pr and Y, being among the largest reported so far for n-type conducting bulk-ceramic SrTiO3-based materials. Attractive ZT values at high temperatures arise primarily from low thermal conductivity, which, in turn, stem from effective phonon scattering in oxygen-deficient perovskite layers formed upon reduction. The results suggest that highly-reducing conditions are essential and should be employed, whenever possible, in other related micro/nanostructural engineering approaches to suppress the thermal conductivity in target titanate-based ceramics.

FELERION: a new approach for leakage power reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

R, Anjana; Somkuwar, Ajay

2014-12-01

The circuit proposed in this paper simultaneously reduces the sub threshold leakage power and saves the state of art aspect of the logic circuits. Sleep transistors and PMOS-only logic are used to further reduce the leakage power. Sleep transistors are used as the keepers to reduce the sub threshold leakage current providing the low resistance path to the output. PMOS-only logic is used between the pull up and pull down devices to mitigate the leakage power further. Our proposed fast efficient leakage reduction circuit not only reduces the leakage current but also reduces the power dissipation. Power and delay are analyzed at the 32 nm BSIM4 model for a chain of four inverters, NAND, NOR and ISCAS-85 c17 benchmark circuits using DSCH3 and the Microwind tool. The simulation results reveal that our proposed approach mitigates leakage power by 90%-94% as compared to the conventional approach.

Wealth, health and frailty in industrial-era London.

PubMed

DeWitte, Sharon N; Hughes-Morey, Gail; Bekvalac, Jelena; Karsten, Jordan

2016-05-01

Socioeconomic status is a powerful predictor of mortality in living populations, as status affects exposure or access to a variety of factors that impact health and survival, such as diet, healthcare, infectious disease and pollution. This study examines the effect of socioeconomic status on mortality and survival in London during a period spanning the early 18th through mid-19th centuries. During this period, London experienced rapid industrialization and heightened class distinctions. This study examines whether low-socioeconomic status was associated with reduced survival at a time when the distinctions between social strata were peaking. The samples for this study are drawn from three skeletal assemblages in London that represent lower and higher social strata. The upper socioeconomic status sample (n = 394) is from Chelsea Old Church and St Bride's Fleet Street (crypt assemblage). The low socioeconomic status sample (n = 474) is from St. Bride's Lower Churchyard (also known as St Bride's Farringdon Street). The effect of status on mortality and survival is assessed using hazard analysis and Kaplan-Meier analysis. The results reveal elevated mortality and reduced survival for lower socioeconomic status children, but no strong effect of status on adult mortality or survival. These results might indicate strong selective mortality operating during childhood or the effects of migration in the industrial-era population of London.

Motor Control of Human Spinal Cord Disconnected from the Brain and Under External Movement.

PubMed

Mayr, Winfried; Krenn, Matthias; Dimitrijevic, Milan R

2016-01-01

Motor control after spinal cord injury is strongly depending on residual ascending and descending pathways across the lesion. The individually altered neurophysiology is in general based on still intact sublesional control loops with afferent sensory inputs linked via interneuron networks to efferent motor outputs. Partial or total loss of translesional control inputs reduces and alters the ability to perform voluntary movements and results in motor incomplete (residual voluntary control of movement functions) or motor complete (no residual voluntary control) spinal cord injury classification. Of particular importance are intact functionally silent neural structures with residual brain influence but reduced state of excitability that inhibits execution of voluntary movements. The condition is described by the term discomplete spinal cord injury. There are strong evidences that artificial afferent input, e.g., by epidural or noninvasive electrical stimulation of the lumbar posterior roots, can elevate the state of excitability and thus re-enable or augment voluntary movement functions. This modality can serve as a powerful assessment technique for monitoring details of the residual function profile after spinal cord injury, as a therapeutic tool for support of restoration of movement programs and as a neuroprosthesis component augmenting and restoring movement functions, per se or in synergy with classical neuromuscular or muscular electrical stimulation.

Phase Locking of Multiple Single Neurons to the Local Field Potential in Cat V1.

PubMed

Martin, Kevan A C; Schröder, Sylvia

2016-02-24

The local field potential (LFP) is thought to reflect a temporal reference for neuronal spiking, which may facilitate information coding and orchestrate the communication between neural populations. To explore this proposed role, we recorded the LFP and simultaneously the spike activity of one to three nearby neurons in V1 of anesthetized cats during the presentation of drifting sinusoidal gratings, binary dense noise stimuli, and natural movies. In all stimulus conditions and during spontaneous activity, the average LFP power at frequencies >20 Hz was higher when neurons were spiking versus not spiking. The spikes were weakly but significantly phase locked to all frequencies of the LFP. The average spike phase of the LFP was stable across high and low levels of LFP power, but the strength of phase locking at low frequencies (≤10 Hz) increased with increasing LFP power. In a next step, we studied how strong stimulus responses of single neurons are reflected in the LFP and the LFP-spike relationship. We found that LFP power was slightly increased and phase locking was slightly stronger during strong compared with weak stimulus-locked responses. In summary, the coupling strength between high frequencies of the LFP and spikes was not strongly modulated by LFP power, which is thought to reflect spiking synchrony, nor was it strongly influenced by how strongly the neuron was driven by the stimulus. Furthermore, a comparison between neighboring neurons showed no clustering of preferred LFP phase. We argue that hypotheses on the relevance of phase locking in their current form are inconsistent with our findings. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/362494-09$15.00/0.

Social power facilitates the effect of prosocial orientation on empathic accuracy.

PubMed

Côté, Stéphane; Kraus, Michael W; Cheng, Bonnie Hayden; Oveis, Christopher; van der Löwe, Ilmo; Lian, Hua; Keltner, Dacher

2011-08-01

Power increases the tendency to behave in a goal-congruent fashion. Guided by this theoretical notion, we hypothesized that elevated power would strengthen the positive association between prosocial orientation and empathic accuracy. In 3 studies with university and adult samples, prosocial orientation was more strongly associated with empathic accuracy when distinct forms of power were high than when power was low. In Study 1, a physiological indicator of prosocial orientation, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, exhibited a stronger positive association with empathic accuracy in a face-to-face interaction among dispositionally high-power individuals. In Study 2, experimentally induced prosocial orientation increased the ability to accurately judge the emotions of a stranger but only for individuals induced to feel powerful. In Study 3, a trait measure of prosocial orientation was more strongly related to scores on a standard test of empathic accuracy among employees who occupied high-power positions within an organization. Study 3 further showed a mediated relationship between prosocial orientation and career satisfaction through empathic accuracy among employees in high-power positions but not among employees in lower power positions. Discussion concentrates upon the implications of these findings for studies of prosociality, power, and social behavior.

Mutagenicity of diesel engine exhaust is eliminated in the gas phase by an oxidation catalyst but only slightly reduced in the particle phase.

PubMed

Westphal, Götz A; Krahl, Jürgen; Munack, Axel; Ruschel, Yvonne; Schröder, Olaf; Hallier, Ernst; Brüning, Thomas; Bünger, Jürgen

2012-06-05

Concerns about adverse health effects of diesel engine emissions prompted strong efforts to minimize this hazard, including exhaust treatment by diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC). The effectiveness of such measures is usually assessed by the analysis of the legally regulated exhaust components. In recent years additional analytical and toxicological tests were included in the test panel with the aim to fill possible analytical gaps, for example, mutagenic potency of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their nitrated derivatives (nPAH). This investigation focuses on the effect of a DOC on health hazards from combustion of four different fuels: rapeseed methyl ester (RME), common mineral diesel fuel (DF), SHELL V-Power Diesel (V-Power), and ARAL Ultimate Diesel containing 5% RME (B5ULT). We applied the European Stationary Cycle (ESC) to a 6.4 L turbo-charged heavy load engine fulfilling the EURO III standard. The engine was operated with and without DOC. Besides regulated emissions we measured particle size and number distributions, determined the soluble and solid fractions of the particles and characterized the bacterial mutagenicity in the gas phase and the particles of the exhaust. The effectiveness of the DOC differed strongly in regard to the different exhaust constituents: Total hydrocarbons were reduced up to 90% and carbon monoxide up to 98%, whereas nitrogen oxides (NO(X)) remained almost unaffected. Total particle mass (TPM) was reduced by 50% with DOC in common petrol diesel fuel and by 30% in the other fuels. This effect was mainly due to a reduction of the soluble organic particle fraction. The DOC caused an increase of the water-soluble fraction in the exhaust of RME, V-Power, and B5ULT, as well as a pronounced increase of nitrate in all exhausts. A high proportion of ultrafine particles (10-30 nm) in RME exhaust could be ascribed to vaporizable particles. Mutagenicity of the exhaust was low compared to previous investigations. The DOC reduced mutagenic effects most effectively in the gas phase. Mutagenicity of particle extracts was less efficiently diminished. No significant differences of mutagenic effects were observed among the tested fuels. In conclusion, the benefits of the DOC concern regulated emissions except NO(X) as well as nonregulated emissions such as the mutagenicity of the exhaust. The reduction of mutagenicity was particularly observed in the condensates of the gas phase. This is probably due to better accessibility of gaseous mutagenic compounds during the passage of the DOC in contrast to the particle-bound mutagens. Concerning the particulate emissions DOC especially decreased ultrafine particles.

Cost and surface optimization of a remote photovoltaic system for two kinds of panels' technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avril, S.; Arnaud, G.; Colin, H.; Montignac, F.; Mansilla, C.; Vinard, M.

2011-10-01

Stand alone photovoltaic (PV) systems comprise one of the promising electrification solutions to cover the demand of remote consumers, especially when it is coupled with a storage solution that would both increase the productivity of power plants and reduce the areas dedicated to energy production. This short communication presents a multi-objective design of a remote PV system coupled to battery and hydrogen storages systems simultaneously minimizing the total levelized cost and the occupied area, while fulfilling a constraint of consumer satisfaction. For this task, a multi-objective code based on particle swarm optimization has been used to find the best combination of different energy devices. Both short and mid terms based on forecasts assumptions have been investigated. An application for the site of La Nouvelle in the French overseas island of La Réunion is proposed. It points up a strong cost advantage by using Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HIT) rather than crystalline silicon (c-Si) cells for the short term. However, the discrimination between these two PV cell technologies is less obvious for the mid term: a strong constraint on the occupied area will promote HIT, whereas a strong constraint on the cost will promote c-Si.

Optical speedup at transparency of the gain recovery in semiconductor optical amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hessler, T. P.; Dupertuis, M.-A.; Deveaud, B.; Emery, J.-Y.; Dagens, B.

2002-10-01

Experimental demonstration of optical speedup at transparency (OSAT) has been performed on a 1 mm long semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA). OSAT is a recently proposed scheme that decreases the recovery time of an SOA while maintaining the available gain. It is achieved by externally injecting into the SOA the beam of a separate high power laser at energies around the transparency point. Even though the experimental conditions were not optimal, a beam of 100 mW decreases the recovery time by a third when it is injected in the vicinity of the material transparency point of the device. This acceleration of the device response without detrimental reduction of the gain is found to be effective over a broad wavelength window of about 20 nm around transparency. The injection of the accelerating beam into the gain region is a less efficient solution not only because the gain is then strongly diminished but also because speeding is reduced. This originates from the reduction of the amplified spontaneous emission power in the device, which counterbalances the speeding capabilities of the external laser beam. Another advantage of the OSAT scheme is realized in relatively long SOAs, which suffer from gain overshoot under strong current injection. Simulations show that OSAT decreases the gain overshoot, which should enable us to use OSAT to further speedup the response of long SOAs.

Antioxidant, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of the methanolic extract of Piper betle leaves.

PubMed

Alam, Badrul; Akter, Fahima; Parvin, Nahida; Sharmin Pia, Rashna; Akter, Sharmin; Chowdhury, Jesmin; Sifath-E-Jahan, Kazi; Haque, Ekramul

2013-01-01

The present study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities of the methanolic extract of Piper betle leaves (MPBL). MPBL was evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity using carrageenan-induced hind paw edema model. Analgesic activity of MPBL was evaluated by hot plate, writhing, and formalin tests. Total phenolic and flavonoids content, total antioxidant activity, scavenging of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, peroxynitrate (ONOO) as well as inhibition of total ROS generation, and assessment of reducing power were used to evaluate antioxidant potential of MPBL. The extract of MPBL, at the dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg, produced a significant (p<0.05) increase in pain threshold in hot plate method whereas significantly (p<0.05) reduced the writhing caused by acetic acid and the number of licks induced by formalin in a dose-dependent manner. The same ranges of doses of MPBL caused significant (p<0.05) inhibition of carrageenan-induced paw edema after 4 h in a dose-dependent manner. In DPPH, ONOO(-), and total ROS scavenging method, MPBL showed good antioxidant potentiality with the IC50 value of 16.33±1.02, 25.16±0.61 , and 41.72±0.48 µg/ml, respectively with a significant (p<0.05) good reducing power. The findings of the study suggested that MPBL has strong analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects, conforming the traditional use of this plant for inflammatory pain alleviation to its antioxidant potentiality.

Evaluation of a monorail mine haulage system

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

Oguz, S.; Stefanko, R.

1971-02-01

The following advantages accrue to a monorail system compared to track haulage: Derailment is impossible; track and road maintenance is eliminated; higher gradient can be overcome with less power demand; equipment maintenance is reduced drastically; haulage cost per ton-mile is reduced because less power is consumed; it is not affected by a weak floor and back conditions; initial capital cost is much less than track haulage; and it is easily adopted to material and mantrip use. The basic conclusion to be derived from this study is that the monorail system is versatile. Besides its use in material handling and formore » mantrips in Europe and Great Britain, it can be used for ore haulage in small mines. The monorail requires a lower initial capital investment in addition to reduced operational and maintenance costs. Floor maintenance of haulage ways is completely eliminated. Haulage capacity of the system can be increased by eliminating waiting times, speeding up the monorail and adding more containers to the system. These facts establish the superiority of the monorail system over conventional equipment and should strongly be considered. For material handling very little clearance is required above the floor to move material either by hand or by rope hoist or even pushing it with a tractor. Therefore, a low seam is not a handicap to a monorail system in material handling. However, some modifications on the system may be necessary for different applications.« less

Propagation of hypergeometric Gaussian beams in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Bin; Bian, Lirong; Zhou, Xin; Chen, Kai

2018-01-01

Optical vortex beams have attracted lots of interest due to its potential application in image processing, optical trapping and optical communications, etc. In this work, we theoretically and numerically investigated the propagation properties of hypergeometric Gaussian (HyGG) beams in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media. Based on the Snyder-Mitchell model, analytical expressions for propagation of the HyGG beams in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media were obtained. The influence of input power and optical parameters on the evolutions of the beam width and radius of curvature is illustrated, respectively. The results show that the beam width and radius of curvature of the HyGG beams remain invariant, like a soliton when the input power is equal to the critical power. Otherwise, it varies periodically like a breather, which is the result of competition between the beam diffraction and nonlinearity of the medium.

Variation of antioxidant activity and the levels of bioactive compounds in lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts from hot pepper (Capsicum spp.) cultivars.

PubMed

Bae, Haejin; Jayaprakasha, G K; Jifon, John; Patil, Bhimanagouda S

2012-10-15

Peppers (Capsicum spp.) are a rich source of diverse bioactive compounds with potential health-promoting properties. This study investigated the extraction efficiency of five solvents on antioxidant activities from cayenne (CA408 and Mesilla), jalapeño (Ixtapa) and serrano (Tuxtlas) pepper cultivars. Freeze-dried peppers were extracted using a Soxhlet extractor with five solvents: hexane, ethyl acetate, acetone, methanol, and methanol:water (80:20). The levels of specific bioactive compounds (phenolics, capsaicinoids, carotenoids and flavonoids) were determined by HPLC and antioxidant activities were assayed by three methods. For all pepper cultivars tested, hexane extracts had the highest levels of capsaicinoids and carotenoids, but methanol extracts had the maximum levels of flavonoids. Hexane extracts showed higher 2,2-diphenyl-1-pricrylhydrozyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity and higher reducing power, and acetone extracts (from Mesilla pepper) had a high reducing power. All pepper extracts, except hexane, were effective in preventing deoxyribose degradation, and the inhibition was increased by high concentrations of extracts. The results of the present study indicated that, among the different measures of antioxidant activity, DPPH radical-scavenging activity was strongly correlated with total bioactive compounds (capsaicinoids, carotenoids, flavonoids and total phenolics) in pepper cultivars. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-Frequency ac Power-Distribution System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, Irving G.; Mildice, James

1987-01-01

Loads managed automatically under cycle-by-cycle control. 440-V rms, 20-kHz ac power system developed. System flexible, versatile, and "transparent" to user equipment, while maintaining high efficiency and low weight. Electrical source, from dc to 2,200-Hz ac converted to 440-V rms, 20-kHz, single-phase ac. Power distributed through low-inductance cables. Output power either dc or variable ac. Energy transferred per cycle reduced by factor of 50. Number of parts reduced by factor of about 5 and power loss reduced by two-thirds. Factors result in increased reliability and reduced costs. Used in any power-distribution system requiring high efficiency, high reliability, low weight, and flexibility to handle variety of sources and loads.

Optimal and Miniaturized Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonant Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Hao

Wireless power transfer (WPT) technologies for communication and recharging devices have recently attracted significant research attention. Conventional WPT systems based either on far-field or near-field coupling cannot provide simultaneously high efficiency and long transfer range. The Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) method was introduced recently, and it offers the possibility of transferring power with high efficiency over longer distances. Previous SCMR research has only focused on how to improve its efficiency and range through different methods. However, the study of optimal and miniaturized designs has been limited. In addition, no multiband and broadband SCMR WPT systems have been developed and traditional SCMR systems exhibit narrowband efficiency thereby imposing strict limitations on simultaneous wireless transmission of information and power, which is important for battery-less sensors. Therefore, new SCMR systems that are optimally designed and miniaturized in size will significantly enhance various technologies in many applications. The optimal and miniaturized SCMR systems are studied here. First, analytical models of the Conformal SCMR (CSCMR) system and thorough analysis and design methodology have been presented. This analysis specifically leads to the identification of the optimal design parameters, and predicts the performance of the designed CSCMR system. Second, optimal multiband and broadband CSCMR systems are designed. Two-band, three-band, and four-band CSCMR systems are designed and validated using simulations and measurements. Novel broadband CSCMR systems are also analyzed, designed, simulated and measured. The proposed broadband CSCMR system achieved more than 7 times larger bandwidth compared to the traditional SCMR system at the same frequency. Miniaturization methods of SCMR systems are also explored. Specifically, methods that use printable CSCMR with large capacitors, novel topologies including meandered, SRRs, and spiral topologies or 3-D structures, lower the operating frequency of SCMR systems, thereby reducing their size. Finally, SCMR systems are discussed and designed for various applications, such as biomedical devices and simultaneous powering of multiple devices.

Power of national economy, disease control and employment status in patients with RA-an analytical multi-site ecological study.

PubMed

Pieringer, Herwig; Puchner, Rudolf; Pohanka, Erich; Danninger, Kathrin

2016-02-01

In rheumatology, sufficient disease control is a central part of the treatment concept. However, modern treatment strategies are associated with a substantial economic burden for health care systems. Ecological studies offer the unique opportunity to analyse differences between groups as well as group level effects. In the present analytical multi-site ecological study, we investigated whether more powerful national economies as measured by the gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc) are associated with better disease control in RA patients as measured by the disease activity score 28 (DAS28). We used aggregated data on RA patients from the recently published COMORA study as well as the World Health Organization database. There was a strong negative correlation between DAS28 and GDPpc (r = -0.815; p = 0.0002). Adjustment for sex, smoking status, disease duration or current employment status did not significantly change this association. There was a strong, negative correlation between DAS28 and age (r = -0.870; p < 0.001) and a strong, positive correlation between GDPpc and age (r = 0.737; p = 0.002). Adjustment for age reduced the regression coefficient (DAS28/GDPpc) to -0.000018 (p = 0.054). There was a negative correlation between DAS28 and current employment status (r = -0.642; p = 0.008) and a positive correlation between GDPpc and employment status (r = 0.722; p = 0.002). In conclusion, there is evidence of an association between disease control and GDPpc. This association is alleviated after adjustment for age. Of note, in countries with higher GDPpc, a higher proportion of RA patients are currently employed. This is true despite the fact that RA patients in countries with higher GDPpc are also older.

Preionization Techniques in a kJ-Scale Dense Plasma Focus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Povilus, Alexander; Shaw, Brian; Chapman, Steve; Podpaly, Yuri; Cooper, Christopher; Falabella, Steve; Prasad, Rahul; Schmidt, Andrea

2016-10-01

A dense plasma focus (DPF) is a type of z-pinch device that uses a high current, coaxial plasma gun with an implosion phase to generate dense plasmas. These devices can accelerate a beam of ions to MeV-scale energies through strong electric fields generated by instabilities during the implosion of the plasma sheath. The formation of these instabilities, however, relies strongly on the history of the plasma sheath in the device, including the evolution of the gas breakdown in the device. In an effort to reduce variability in the performance of the device, we attempt to control the initial gas breakdown in the device by seeding the system with free charges before the main power pulse arrives. We report on the effectiveness of two techniques developed for a kJ-scale DPF at LLNL, a miniature primer spark gap and pulsed, 255nm LED illumination. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Applicability of Quantum Thermal Baths to Complex Many-Body Systems with Various Degrees of Anharmonicity.

PubMed

Hernández-Rojas, Javier; Calvo, Florent; Noya, Eva Gonzalez

2015-03-10

The semiclassical method of quantum thermal baths by colored noise thermostats has been used to simulate various atomic systems in the molecular and bulk limits, at finite temperature and in moderately to strongly anharmonic regimes. In all cases, the method performs relatively well against alternative approaches in predicting correct energetic properties, including in the presence of phase changes, provided that vibrational delocalization is not too strong-neon appearing already as an upper limiting case. In contrast, the dynamical behavior inferred from global indicators such as the root-mean-square bond length fluctuation index or the vibrational spectrum reveals more marked differences caused by zero-point energy leakage, except in the case of isolated molecules with well separated vibrational modes. To correct for such deficiencies and reduce the undesired transfer among modes, empirical modifications of the noise power spectral density were attempted to better describe thermal equilibrium but still failed when used as semiclassical preparation for microcanonical trajectories.

Issues with Strong Compression of Plasma Target by Stabilized Imploding Liner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turchi, Peter; Frese, Sherry; Frese, Michael

2017-10-01

Strong compression (10:1 in radius) of an FRC by imploding liquid metal liners, stabilized against Rayleigh-Taylor modes, using different scalings for loss based on Bohm vs 100X classical diffusion rates, predict useful compressions with implosion times half the initial energy lifetime. The elongation (length-to-diameter ratio) near peak compression needed to satisfy empirical stability criterion and also retain alpha-particles is about ten. The present paper extends these considerations to issues of the initial FRC, including stability conditions (S*/E) and allowable angular speeds. Furthermore, efficient recovery of the implosion energy and alpha-particle work, in order to reduce the necessary nuclear gain for an economical power reactor, is seen as an important element of the stabilized liner implosion concept for fusion. We describe recent progress in design and construction of the high energy-density prototype of a Stabilized Liner Compressor (SLC) leading to repetitive laboratory experiments to develop the plasma target. Supported by ARPA-E ALPHA Program.

Climate and southern Africa's water-energy-food nexus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conway, Declan; van Garderen, Emma Archer; Deryng, Delphine; Dorling, Steve; Krueger, Tobias; Landman, Willem; Lankford, Bruce; Lebek, Karen; Osborn, Tim; Ringler, Claudia; Thurlow, James; Zhu, Tingju; Dalin, Carole

2015-09-01

In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water-energy-food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial interdependence is also high, driven, for example, by the regional extent of many climate anomalies and river basins and aquifers that span national boundaries. There is now strong evidence of the effects of individual climate anomalies, but associations between national rainfall and gross domestic product and crop production remain relatively weak. The majority of climate models project decreases in annual precipitation for southern Africa, typically by as much as 20% by the 2080s. Impact models suggest these changes would propagate into reduced water availability and crop yields. Recognition of spatial and sectoral interdependencies should inform policies, institutions and investments for enhancing water, energy and food security. Three key political and economic instruments could be strengthened for this purpose: the Southern African Development Community, the Southern African Power Pool and trade of agricultural products amounting to significant transfers of embedded water.

Continuous Competition as an Approach to Maximize Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

for an entire program life-cycle often endows the winner with a very strong monopolistic power that lasts for decades. This paper describes...entrenched practice of one-time competition for an entire program life-cycle often endows the winner with a very strong monopolistic power that lasts for...contract award. Instead, the winning contractor often establishes monopolistic advantages and gains “vendor lock.” As a result, programs can experience

A theta rhythm in macaque visual cortex and its attentional modulation

PubMed Central

Spyropoulos, Georgios; Fries, Pascal

2018-01-01

Theta rhythms govern rodent sniffing and whisking, and human language processing. Human psychophysics suggests a role for theta also in visual attention. However, little is known about theta in visual areas and its attentional modulation. We used electrocorticography (ECoG) to record local field potentials (LFPs) simultaneously from areas V1, V2, V4, and TEO of two macaque monkeys performing a selective visual attention task. We found a ≈4-Hz theta rhythm within both the V1–V2 and the V4–TEO region, and theta synchronization between them, with a predominantly feedforward directed influence. ECoG coverage of large parts of these regions revealed a surprising spatial correspondence between theta and visually induced gamma. Furthermore, gamma power was modulated with theta phase. Selective attention to the respective visual stimulus strongly reduced these theta-rhythmic processes, leading to an unusually strong attention effect for V1. Microsaccades (MSs) were partly locked to theta. However, neuronal theta rhythms tended to be even more pronounced for epochs devoid of MSs. Thus, we find an MS-independent theta rhythm specific to visually driven parts of V1–V2, which rhythmically modulates local gamma and entrains V4–TEO, and which is strongly reduced by attention. We propose that the less theta-rhythmic and thereby more continuous processing of the attended stimulus serves the exploitation of this behaviorally most relevant information. The theta-rhythmic and thereby intermittent processing of the unattended stimulus likely reflects the ecologically important exploration of less relevant sources of information. PMID:29848632

Seismic reflection profile of the Blake Ridge near sites 994, 995, and 997: Chapter 4

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dillon, William P.; Hutchinson, Deborah R.; Drury, Rebecca M.

1996-01-01

Seismic reflection profiles near Sites 994, 995, and 997 were collected with seismic sources that provide maximum resolution with adequate power to image the zone of gas hydrate stability and the region direction beneath it. The overall structure of the sediment drift deposit that constitutes the Blake Ridge consists of southwestward-dipping strata. These strata are approximately conformal to the seafloor on the southwest side of the ridge and are truncated by erosion on the northeast side. A bottom-simulating reflection (BSR) marks the velocity contrast between gas hydrate-bearing sediment and regions containing free gas beneath the zone of gas hydrate stability. The BSR is strong and continuous near the ridge crest but becomes discontinuous on the flanks, where concentration of gas is reduced and dipping strata pass through the level of the base o fgas hydrate stability or the strata are disrupted by faults. Seismic reflection amplitudes appear to be reduced in the region of gas hydrate formation compared to normal amplitudes. A faulted zone ~0.5-0.6 s thick parallels reflections from strata. We infer that this may represent a formerly gas hydrate-bearing zone that was faulted because of a breakdown of hydrate near its phase limit (at the base of the zone). Strong reflections at the top of the faulted zone are caused by free-gas acccumulation at Site 994. Similar strong reflections probably are caused by free-gas accumulations where the top of the faulted zone rises above the BSR, although this would require local free gas within the hydrate-stable zone.

Preliminary assessment of a potassium-steam-gas vapor cycle for better fuel economy and reduced thermal pollution

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

Fraas, A.P.

1971-08-01

The facts of fuel supply limitations, environmental quality demands, and spiraling electric generating costs strongly favor development of electric power plants that simultaneously run at higher efficiency, i.e., higher temperature, use to advantage clean fuels, and have as low a capital cost as possible. Both fuel supply and thermal pollution considerations that are becoming progressively more important strongly favor the development of a higher temperature, and more efficient, thermodynamic cycle for electric power plants. About 200,000 hr of operation of boiling potassium systems, including over 15,000 hr of potassium vapor turbine operation under the space power plant program, suggest thatmore » a potassium vapor topping cycle with a turbine inlet temperature of approximately 1500/sup 0/F merits consideration. A design study has been carried out to indicate the size, cost, and development problems of the new types of equipment required. The results indicate that a potassium vapor cycle superimposed on a conventional 1050/sup 0/F steam cycle would give an overall thermal efficiency of about 54% as compared to only 40% from a conventional steam cycle. Thus the proposed system would have a fuel consumption only 75% and a heat rejection rate only 50% that of a conventional plant. The system requires clean fuel, and takes advantage of the present trend toward eliminating SO/sub 2/, NO/sub x/ and ash emissions. Surprisingly, at first sight, the assessment at this stage shows that the capital cost may be less than that of a conventional plant. The main reason for this is use of pressurized combustion, which leads to a much smaller combustor, and thin tube walls to contain potassium at about the same pressure.« less

Studies of High Power RF-induced Turbulence in the Ionosphere over HAARP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheerin, J. P.; Watkins, B. J.; Bristow, W. A.; Bernhardt, P. A.

2016-12-01

The HAARP phased-array HF transmitter at Gakona, AK delivers up to 3.6 GW (ERP) of HF power in the range of 2.8 - 10 MHz to the ionosphere with millisecond pointing, power modulation, and frequency agility. HAARP's unique features have enabled the conduct of a number of nonlinear plasma experiments in the interaction region of overdense ionospheric plasma including stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE), artificial aurora, artificial ionization layers, VLF wave-particle interactions in the magnetosphere, strong Langmuir turbulence (SLT) and suprathermal electron acceleration. Diagnostics include the Modular UHF Ionospheric Radar (MUIR) sited at HAARP, the SuperDARN-Kodiak HF radar, spacecraft radio beacons, HF receivers to record stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE) and telescopes and cameras for optical emissions. We report on short timescale ponderomotive overshoot effects, artificial field-aligned irregularities (AFAI), the aspect angle dependence of the intensity of the plasma line, and production of suprathermal electrons. For a narrow range of HF pointing between Spitze and magnetic zenith, a reduced threshold for AFAI is observed. Recent results of simulations of these experiments enable interpretation of many observed features. Applications are made to the study of irregularities relevant to spacecraft communication and navigation systems.

Testing the magnetar scenario for superluminous supernovae with circular polarimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cikota, Aleksandar; Leloudas, Giorgos; Bulla, Mattia; Inserra, Cosimo; Chen, Ting-Wan; Spyromilio, Jason; Patat, Ferdinando; Cano, Zach; Cikota, Stefan; Coughlin, Michael W.; Kankare, Erkki; Lowe, Thomas B.; Maund, Justyn R.; Rest, Armin; Smartt, Stephen J.; Smith, Ken W.; Wainscoat, Richard J.; Young, David R.

2018-05-01

Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are at least ˜5 times more luminous than common supernovae (SNe). Especially hydrogen-poor SLSN-I are difficult to explain with conventional powering mechanisms. One possible scenario that might explain such luminosities is that SLSNe-I are powered by an internal engine, such as a magnetar or an accreting black hole. Strong magnetic fields or collimated jets can circularly polarize light. In this work, we measured circular polarization of two SLSNe-I with the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS2) mounted at the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). PS17bek, a fast evolving SLSN-I, was observed around peak, while OGLE16dmu, a slowly evolving SLSN-I, was observed 100 days after maximum. Neither SLSN shows evidence of circularly polarized light, however, these non-detections do not rule out the magnetar scenario as the powering engine for SLSNe-I. We calculate the strength of the magnetic field and the expected circular polarization as a function of distance from the magnetar, which decreases very fast. Additionally, we observed no significant linear polarization for PS17bek at four epochs, suggesting that the photosphere near peak is close to spherical symmetry.

Emission mechanisms in stabilized iron-passivated porous silicon: Temperature and laser power dependences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahmani, M.; Moadhen, A.; Mabrouk Kamkoum, A.; Zaïbi, M.-A.; Chtourou, R.; Haji, L.; Oueslati, M.

2012-02-01

Photoluminescence (PL) measurements of porous silicon (PS) and iron-porous silicon nanocomposites (PS/Fe) with stable optical properties versus temperature and laser power density have been investigated. The presence of iron in PS matrix is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The PL intensity of PS and PS/Fe increases at low temperature, the evolution of integrated PL intensity follows the modified Arrhenius model. The incorporation of iron in PS matrix reduces the activation energy traducing the existence of shallow levels related to iron atoms. Also, the temperature dependence of the porous silicon PL peak position follows a linear evolution at high temperature and a quadratic one at low temperature. Such evolution is due to the thermal carriers' redistribution and an energy transfer. Similarly, we have compared the laser power dependence of the PL in PS and PS/Fe layers. The results prove that the recombination process in PS is realised through the lower energy traps localised in the electronic gap. However, the observed emission in PS/Fe is essentially due to direct transitions. So, we can conclude that the presence of iron in PS matrix induces a strong modification of the PL mechanisms.

Exploring aligned-carbon-nanotubes@polyaniline arrays on household Al as supercapacitors.

PubMed

Huang, Fan; Lou, Fengliu; Chen, De

2012-05-01

Herein, we demonstrate a new approach towards the construction of supercapacitors consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and conducting polymers (ECPs) with high specific power, high specific energy, and stable cycling performance through a 3D design of a thin film of polyaniline (PANI) on an aligned small carbon nanotube (ACNT) array on household Al foils. The thin-film strategy is used to fully exploit the specific capacitance of PANI, and obtain regular pores, strong interaction between PANI and CNTs, and reduced electrical resistance for the electrodes. A facile process is developed to fabricate a highly flexible supercapacitor using this binder-free composite on household Al foil as the current collector. It exhibits high specific energy of 18.9 Wh kg(-1) , high maximum specific power of 11.3 kW kg(-1) of the active material in an aqueous electrolyte at 1.0 A g(-1) , and excellent rate performance and cycling stability. A high specific energy of 72.4 Wh kg(-1) , a high maximum specific power of 24.9 kW kg(-1) , and a good cycling performance of the active material are obtained in an organic electrolyte. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Powering prolonged hydrothermal activity inside Enceladus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choblet, Gaël; Tobie, Gabriel; Sotin, Christophe; Běhounková, Marie; Čadek, Ondřej; Postberg, Frank; Souček, Ondřej

2017-12-01

Geophysical data from the Cassini spacecraft imply the presence of a global ocean underneath the ice shell of Enceladus1, only a few kilometres below the surface in the South Polar Terrain2-4. Chemical analyses indicate that the ocean is salty5 and is fed by ongoing hydrothermal activity6-8. In order to explain these observations, an abnormally high heat power (>20 billion watts) is required, as well as a mechanism to focus endogenic activity at the south pole9,10. Here, we show that more than 10 GW of heat can be generated by tidal friction inside the unconsolidated rocky core. Water transport in the tidally heated permeable core results in hot narrow upwellings with temperatures exceeding 363 K, characterized by powerful (1-5 GW) hotspots at the seafloor, particularly at the south pole. The release of heat in narrow regions favours intense interaction between water and rock, and the transport of hydrothermal products from the core to the plume sources. We are thus able to explain the main global characteristics of Enceladus: global ocean, strong dissipation, reduced ice-shell thickness at the south pole and seafloor activity. We predict that this endogenic activity can be sustained for tens of millions to billions of years.

Computationally inexpensive approach for pitch control of offshore wind turbine on barge floating platform.

PubMed

Zuo, Shan; Song, Y D; Wang, Lei; Song, Qing-wang

2013-01-01

Offshore floating wind turbine (OFWT) has gained increasing attention during the past decade because of the offshore high-quality wind power and complex load environment. The control system is a tradeoff between power tracking and fatigue load reduction in the above-rated wind speed area. In allusion to the external disturbances and uncertain system parameters of OFWT due to the proximity to load centers and strong wave coupling, this paper proposes a computationally inexpensive robust adaptive control approach with memory-based compensation for blade pitch control. The method is tested and compared with a baseline controller and a conventional individual blade pitch controller with the "NREL offshore 5 MW baseline wind turbine" being mounted on a barge platform run on FAST and Matlab/Simulink, operating in the above-rated condition. It is shown that the advanced control approach is not only robust to complex wind and wave disturbances but adaptive to varying and uncertain system parameters as well. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method performs better in reducing power fluctuations, fatigue loads and platform vibration as compared to the conventional individual blade pitch control.

Energy analysis of a combined solid oxide fuel cell with a steam turbine power plant for marine applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welaya, Yousri M. A.; Mosleh, M.; Ammar, Nader R.

2013-12-01

Strong restrictions on emissions from marine power plants (particularly SO x , NO x ) will probably be adopted in the near future. In this paper, a combined solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and steam turbine fuelled by natural gas is proposed as an attractive option to limit the environmental impact of the marine sector. The analyzed variant of the combined cycle includes a SOFC operated with natural gas fuel and a steam turbine with a single-pressure waste heat boiler. The calculations were performed for two types of tubular and planar SOFCs, each with an output power of 18 MW. This paper includes a detailed energy analysis of the combined system. Mass and energy balances are performed not only for the whole plant but also for each component in order to evaluate the thermal efficiency of the combined cycle. In addition, the effects of using natural gas as a fuel on the fuel cell voltage and performance are investigated. It has been found that a high overall efficiency approaching 60% may be achieved with an optimum configuration using the SOFC system. The hybrid system would also reduce emissions, fuel consumption, and improve the total system efficiency.

Computationally Inexpensive Approach for Pitch Control of Offshore Wind Turbine on Barge Floating Platform

PubMed Central

Zuo, Shan; Song, Y. D.; Wang, Lei; Song, Qing-wang

2013-01-01

Offshore floating wind turbine (OFWT) has gained increasing attention during the past decade because of the offshore high-quality wind power and complex load environment. The control system is a tradeoff between power tracking and fatigue load reduction in the above-rated wind speed area. In allusion to the external disturbances and uncertain system parameters of OFWT due to the proximity to load centers and strong wave coupling, this paper proposes a computationally inexpensive robust adaptive control approach with memory-based compensation for blade pitch control. The method is tested and compared with a baseline controller and a conventional individual blade pitch controller with the “NREL offshore 5 MW baseline wind turbine” being mounted on a barge platform run on FAST and Matlab/Simulink, operating in the above-rated condition. It is shown that the advanced control approach is not only robust to complex wind and wave disturbances but adaptive to varying and uncertain system parameters as well. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method performs better in reducing power fluctuations, fatigue loads and platform vibration as compared to the conventional individual blade pitch control. PMID:24453834

The Calm Methane Northern Seas of Titan from Cassini Radio Science Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marouf, Essam A.; French, Richard G.; Wong, Kwok; Anabtawi, Aseel; Schinder, Paul J.; Cassini Radio Science Team

2016-10-01

We report on results from 3 bistatic scattering observations of Titan northern seas conducted by the Cassini spacecraft in 2014 ( flybys T101, T102, and T106). The onboard Radio Science instrument transmits 3 sinusoidal signals of 0.94, 3.6, and 13 cm wavelengths. The spacecraft is continuously maneuvered to point in incidence direction so that mirror-like reflections from Titan's surface are observed at the ground stations of the NASA Deep Space Network. The corresponding ground-track in all 3 cases crossed different regions of Kraken Mare, and in the case of T101 also crossed Ligeia Mare. A nearly pure sinusoidal reflected signal was clearly detectable in the observed echoes spectra over surface regions identified in the Cassini RADAR images as potential liquid regions. Weaker quasi-specular echoes were also evident over some intermediate dry land and near sea shores. Cassini transmits right-circularly-polarized (RCP) signals and both the RCP and LCP echo components are observed. Their spectral shape, bandwidth, and total power are the observables used to infer/constrain physical surface properties. Presented results are limited to the 3.6 cm wavelength signal which has the largest SNR. The remarkably preserved sinusoidal echo spectral shape and the little detectable Doppler broadening strongly suggest surface that is smooth on scales large compared to 3.6 cm. If long wavelength gravity waves are present, they must be very subtle. The measured RCP/LCP echo power ratio provides direct measurement of the surface dielectric constant and is diagnostic of the liquid composition. The power ratio measurements eliminate possible significant ethane contribution and strongly imply predominantly liquid methane and nitrogen composition. Carefully calibrated measurements of the absolute echo power and the inferred dielectric constant constrain the presence of any capillary waves of wavelength << 3.6 cm. The latter affect wave coherence across the Fresnel region, reducing the reflected sinusoidal component power. When detectable, the reduction implies an RMS ripples height of about 2 mm, otherwise the measurements place an upper bound of about 1 mm. The results appear consistent among the two polarized echo components.

Kin Group Affiliation and Marital Violence Against Women in Ghana.

PubMed

Sedziafa, Alice Pearl; Tenkorang, Eric Y

2016-01-01

The socialization of men and women in Ghana often confers either patrilineal or matrilineal rights, privileges, and responsibilities. Yet, previous studies that explored domestic and marital violence in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ghana, paid less attention to kin group affiliation and how the power dynamics within such groups affect marital violence. Using the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and applying ordinary least squares (OLS) techniques, this study examined what influences physical, sexual, and emotional violence among matrilineal and patrilineal kin groups. Results indicate significant differences among matrilineal and patrilineal kin groups regarding marital violence. Socioeconomic variables that capture feminist and power theories were significantly related to sexual and emotional violence in matrilineal societies. Also, variables that tap both cultural and life course epistemologies of domestic violence were strongly related to physical, sexual, and emotional violence among married women in patrilineal kin groups. Policymakers must pay attention to kin group affiliation in designing policies aimed at reducing marital violence among Ghanaian women.

Exploding microbubbles driving a simple electrochemical micropump

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uvarov, Ilia V.; Lemekhov, Sergey S.; Melenev, Artem E.; Svetovoy, Vitaly B.

2017-10-01

Electrochemical microactuators and micropumps are too slow for many applications. The use of the alternating polarity electrolysis can strongly reduce the response time of such devices. We investigate a powerful pumping regime of a simple valveless micropump made from polydimethylsiloxane on a glass substrate. Microsecond dynamics of the gas bubbles in the chamber is monitored with fast cameras. After an incubation period of 10-100 ms a microbubble filling the entire chamber pops up in less than 100~μ s and disappears in 10 ms. This bubble pushes liquid out and drives the pump. The phenomenon is interpreted as an explosion of the microbubble containing a mixture of H2 and O2 gases. For higher amplitude of the driving pulses the incubation time can be as short as 1-2 ms but many uncorrelated microbubbles are formed in the chamber, and disappear in 1 ms. As the result a less powerful but faster pumping is possible. A few principles allowing further improve the micropump characteristics are formulated.

Two stage hydrolysis of corn stover at high solids content for mixing power saving and scale-up applications.

PubMed

Liu, Ke; Zhang, Jian; Bao, Jie

2015-11-01

A two stage hydrolysis of corn stover was designed to solve the difficulties between sufficient mixing at high solids content and high power input encountered in large scale bioreactors. The process starts with the quick liquefaction to convert solid cellulose to liquid slurry with strong mixing in small reactors, then followed the comprehensive hydrolysis to complete saccharification into fermentable sugars in large reactors without agitation apparatus. 60% of the mixing energy consumption was saved by removing the mixing apparatus in large scale vessels. Scale-up ratio was small for the first step hydrolysis reactors because of the reduced reactor volume. For large saccharification reactors in the second step, the scale-up was easy because of no mixing mechanism was involved. This two stage hydrolysis is applicable for either simple hydrolysis or combined fermentation processes. The method provided a practical process option for industrial scale biorefinery processing of lignocellulose biomass. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A skeptic's view of PLR effects in the magnetosphere. [Power Line Radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsurutani, B. T.; Thorne, R. M.

1981-01-01

A summary is provided of the current state of knowledge concerning the effects of man-made Power Line Harmonic Radiation (PLR) on the earth's magnetosphere and its energetic particle population. It is generally agreed that PLR is strongly attenuated as it propagates into the outer magnetosphere (outside the plasmasphere) and, other than rare cases where ducting occurs, the emissions either do not manage to propagate to the equatorial plane or are sufficiently reduced in amplitude to be below the sensitivity of currently orbiting plasma wave instrumentation. In either case PLR emissions are too weak to have a significant direct effect on scattering the trapped particle population; any possible effects must be indirect. It has, therefore, been postulated that PLR can act as an 'embryonic emission' for triggering intense whistler mode 'chorus', which then via cyclotron resonant interactions, cause particle pitch-angle scattering. Points of disagreement are related to the geographic distribution of chorus, the chorus starting frequency, the Sunday effect, and PLR effects within the plasmasphere.

Optimization of microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids from young barley leaves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Tian; Zhang, Min; Fang, Zhongxiang; Zhong, Qifeng

2017-01-01

A central composite design combined with response surface methodology was utilized to optimise microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids from young barley leaves. The results showed that using water as solvent, the optimum conditions of microwave-assisted extraction were extracted twice at 1.27 W g-1 microwave power and liquid-solid ratio 34.02 ml g-1 for 11.12 min. The maximum extraction yield of flavonoids (rutin equivalents) was 80.78±0.52%. Compared with conventional extraction method, the microwave-assisted extraction was more efficient as the extraction time was only 6.18% of conventional extraction, but the extraction yield of flavonoids was increased by 5.47%. The main flavonoid components from the young barley leaf extract were probably 33.36% of isoorientin-7-O-glueoside and 54.17% of isovitexin-7-O-glucoside, based on the HPLC-MS analysis. The barley leaf extract exhibited strong reducing power as well as the DPPH radical scavenging capacity.

Japanese RDF-fired power generation system and fundamental research on RDF combustion

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

Narukawa, Kimihito; Goto, Hidenori; Chen, Y.

1997-12-31

Power generation from refuse derived fuel (RDF) is one of the new technologies for municipal solid waste (MSW) management. This technology is strongly attracting the attention of the Japanese government. The results of a feasibility study of this system in Japan is presented. To develop this highly efficient RDF-fired CFB generating process, combustibility and dechlorination characteristics of RDF were investigated by both the thermo-balance technique and combustion tests with an electric furnace. RDF combustion tests by a bench scale CFBC were carried out and then the following experimental results were obtained: (1) RDF can be combusted almost completely even inmore » small scale CFBC; (2) HCl and N{sub 2}O emissions are quite low at any conditions; and (3) NO{sub x} emissions are a little higher in single stage combustion, however they are reduced at 50% air bias ratio. Some of the results can be explained by a RDF combustion model.« less

CMB and matter power spectra with non-linear dark-sector interactions

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

Marttens, R.F. vom; Casarini, L.; Zimdahl, W.

2017-01-01

An interaction between dark matter and dark energy, proportional to the product of their energy densities, results in a scaling behavior of the ratio of these densities with respect to the scale factor of the Robertson-Walker metric. This gives rise to a class of cosmological models which deviate from the standard model in an analytically tractable way. In particular, it becomes possible to quantify the role of potential dark-energy perturbations. We investigate the impact of this interaction on the structure formation process. Using the (modified) CAMB code we obtain the CMB spectrum as well as the linear matter power spectrum.more » It is shown that the strong degeneracy in the parameter space present in the background analysis is considerably reduced by considering Planck data. Our analysis is compatible with the ΛCDM model at the 2σ confidence level with a slightly preferred direction of the energy flow from dark matter to dark energy.« less

Lower hybrid wave edge power loss quantification on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faust, I. C.; Brunner, D.; LaBombard, B.; Parker, R. R.; Terry, J. L.; Whyte, D. G.; Baek, S. G.; Edlund, E.; Hubbard, A. E.; Hughes, J. W.; Kuang, A. Q.; Reinke, M. L.; Shiraiwa, S.; Wallace, G. M.; Walk, J. R.

2016-05-01

For the first time, the power deposition of lower hybrid RF waves into the edge plasma of a diverted tokamak has been systematically quantified. Edge deposition represents a parasitic loss of power that can greatly impact the use and efficiency of Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) at reactor-relevant densities. Through the use of a unique set of fast time resolution edge diagnostics, including innovative fast-thermocouples, an extensive set of Langmuir probes, and a Lyα ionization camera, the toroidal, poloidal, and radial structure of the power deposition has been simultaneously determined. Power modulation was used to directly isolate the RF effects due to the prompt ( t < τ E ) response of the scrape-off-layer (SOL) plasma to Lower Hybrid Radiofrequency (LHRF) power. LHRF power was found to absorb more strongly in the edge at higher densities. It is found that a majority of this edge-deposited power is promptly conducted to the divertor. This correlates with the loss of current drive efficiency at high density previously observed on Alcator C-Mod, and displaying characteristics that contrast with the local RF edge absorption seen on other tokamaks. Measurements of ionization in the active divertor show dramatic changes due to LHRF power, implying that divertor region can be a key for the LHRF edge power deposition physics. These observations support the existence of a loss mechanism near the edge for LHRF at high density ( n e > 1.0 × 10 20 (m-3)). Results will be shown addressing the distribution of power within the SOL, including the toroidal symmetry and radial distribution. These characteristics are important for deducing the cause of the reduced LHCD efficiency at high density and motivate the tailoring of wave propagation to minimize SOL interaction, for example, through the use of high-field-side launch.

Lower Hybrid wave edge power loss quantification on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faust, I. C.

2015-11-01

For the first time, the power deposition of Lower Hybrid RF waves into the edge plasma of a diverted tokamak has been systematically quantified. Edge deposition represents a parasitic loss of power that can greatly impact the use and efficiency of Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) at reactor-relevant densities. Through the use of a unique set of fast time resolution edge diagnostics, including innovative fast-thermocouples, an extensive set of Langmuir probes, and a Lyα ionization camera, the toroidal, poloidal and radial structure of the power deposition has been simultaneously determined. Power modulation was used to directly isolate the RF effects due to the prompt (t <τE) response of the scrape-off-layer (SOL) plasma to LHRF power. LHRF power was found to absorb more strongly in the edge at higher densities. It is found that a majority of this edge-deposited power is promptly conducted to the divertor. This correlates with the loss of current drive efficiency at high density previously observed on Alcator C-Mod, and displaying characteristics that contrast with the local RF edge absorption seen on other tokamaks. Measurements of ionization in the active divertor show dramatic changes due to LHRF power, implying that divertor region can be key for the LHRF edge power deposition physics. These observations support the existence a loss mechanism near the edge for LHRF at high density (ne > 1 . 0 .1020 [m-3]). Results will be shown addressing the distribution of power within the SOL, including the toroidal symmetry and radial distribution. These characteristics are important for deducing the cause of the reduced LHCD efficiency at high density and motivates the tailoring of wave propagation to minimize SOL interaction, for example, through the use of high-field-side launch. This work was performed on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, a DoE Office of Science user facility, and is supported by USDoE award DE-FC02-99ER54512.

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

DOEpatents

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

2012-06-05

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

Effects of oxygen chemical potential on the anisotropy of the adsorption properties of Zr surfaces.

PubMed

Zhang, Hai-Hui; Xie, Yao-Ping; Yao, Mei-Yi; Xu, Jing-Xiang; Zhang, Jin-Long; Hu, Li-Juan

2018-05-30

The anisotropy of metal oxidation is a fundamental issue, and the oxidation of Zr surfaces also attracts much attention due to the application of Zr alloys as cladding materials for nuclear fuels in nuclear power plants. In this study, we systematically investigate the diagram of O adsorption on low Miller index Zr surfaces by using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory calculations. We find that O adsorption on the basal surface, Zr(0001), is more favourable than that on the prism surfaces, Zr(112[combining macron]0) and Zr(101[combining macron]0), under strong O-reducing conditions, while O adsorption on the prism surface is more favourable than that of the basal surface under weak O-reducing conditions and the O-rich conditions. Our findings reveal that the anisotropy of adsorption properties of O on the Zr surfaces is dependent on the O chemical potential in the environment. Furthermore, the ability of the prism for O adsorption is stronger than that of the basal surface under the O-rich condition, which is consistent with the experimental observation that the oxidation of the prism Zr surface is easier than that of the basal surface. Systematic surveys show the adsorption ability of the surface under strong O-reducing conditions is determined by the low coordination numbers of surface atoms and surface geometrical structures, while the adsorption ability of the surface under weak O-reducing conditions and O-rich conditions is only determined by the low coordination number of surface atoms. These results can provide an atomic scale understanding of the initial oxidation of Zr surfaces, which inevitably affects the growth of protective passivation layers that play critical roles in the corrosion resistance of Zr cladding materials.

A Portable, Low-Power Analyzer and Automated Soil Flux Chamber System for Measuring Wetland GHG Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nickerson, Nick; Kim-Hak, David; McArthur, Gordon

2017-04-01

Preservation and restoration of wetlands has the potential to help sequester large amounts of carbon due to the naturally high primary productivity and slow turnover of stored soil carbon. However, the anoxic environmental conditions present in wetland soils are also the largest natural contributor to global methane emissions. While it is well known that wetlands are net carbon sinks over long time scales, given the high global warming potential of methane, the short-term balances between C uptake and storage and loss as CO2 and CH4 need to be carefully considered when evaluating the climate effects of land-use change. It is relatively difficult to measure methane emissions from wetlands with currently available techniques given the temporally and spatially sporadic nature of the processes involved (methanogenesis, methane oxidation, ebullition, etc.). For example, using manual soil flux chambers can often only capture a portion of either the spatial or temporal variability, and often have other disadvantages associated with soil atmosphere disturbance during deployment in these relatively compressible wetland soils. Automated chamber systems offer the advantage of collecting high-resolution time series of gaseous fluxes while reducing some human and method induced biases. Additionally, new laser-based analyzers that can be used in situ alongside automated chambers offer a greater minimum detectable flux than can be achieved using alternative methods such as Gas Chromatography. Until recently these types of automated measurements were limited to areas that had good power coverage, as laser based systems were power intensive and could not easily be supplemented with power from field-available sources such as solar. Recent advances in laser technology has reduced the power needed and made these systems less power intensive and more field portable in the process. Here we present data using an automated chamber system coupled to a portable laser based greenhouse gas analyzer (Picarro G4301). We will present on the methodological and field deployment benefits of the system with a strong emphasis on the enhanced minimum detectable flux limits offered by this fully automated design. These advantages will be demonstrated through two deployments of the system in wetland and peatland ecosystems in Nova Scotia, Canada.

COMMERCIALIZATION OF AN ATMOSPHERIC IRON-BASED CDCL PROCESS FOR POWER PRODUCTION. PHASE I: TECHNOECONOMIC ANALYSIS

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

Vargas, Luis

Coal Direct Chemical Looping (CDCL) is an advanced oxy-combustion technology that has potential to enable substantial reductions in the cost and energy penalty associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) capture from coal-fired power plants. Through collaborative efforts, the Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group (B&W) and The Ohio State University (OSU) developed a conceptual design for a 550 MWe (net) supercritical CDCL power plant with greater than 90% CO2 capture and compression. Process simulations were completed to enable an initial assessment of its technical performance. A cost estimate was developed following DOE’s guidelines as outlined in NETL’s report “Quality Guidelines formore » Energy System Studies: Cost Estimation Methodology for NETL Assessments of Power Plant Performance”, (2011/1455). The cost of electricity for the CDCL plant without CO2 Transportation and Storage cost resulted in $ $102.67 per MWh, which corresponds to a 26.8 % increase in cost of electricity (COE) when compared to an air-fired pulverized-coal supercritical power plant. The cost of electricity is strongly depending on the total plant cost and cost of the oxygen carrier particles. The CDCL process could capture further potential savings by increasing the performance of the particles and reducing the plant size. During the techno-economic analysis, the team identified technology and engineering gaps that need to be closed to bring the technology to commercialization. The technology gaps were focused in five critical areas: (i) moving bed reducer reactor, (ii) fluidized bed combustor, (iii) particle riser, (iv) oxygen-carrier particle properties, and (v) process operation. The key technology gaps are related to particle performance, particle manufacturing cost, and the operation of the reducer reactor. These technology gaps are to be addressed during Phase II of project. The project team is proposing additional lab testing to be completed on the particle and a 3MWth pilot facility be built to evaluate the reducer reactor performance among other aspects of the technology. A Phase II proposal was prepared and submitted to DOE. The project team proposed a three year program in Phase II. Year 1 includes lab testing and particle development work aimed at improving the chemical and mechanical properties of the oxygen carrier particle. In parallel, B&W will design the 3MWt pilot plant. Any improvements to the particle performance discovered in year 1 that would impact the design of the pilot will be incorporated into the final design. Year 2 will focus on procurement of materials and equipment, and construction of the pilot plant. Year 3 will include, commissioning, start-up, and testing in the pilot. Phase I work was successfully completed and a design and operating philosophy for a 550 MWe commercial scale coal-direct chemical looping power plant was developed. Based on the results of the techno-economic evaluation, B&W projects that the CDCL process can achieve 96.5% CO2 capture with a« less

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Scoparia dulcis L.

PubMed

Coulibaly, Ahmed Y; Kiendrebeogo, Martin; Kehoe, Patrick G; Sombie, Pierre A E D; Lamien, Charles E; Millogo, Jeanne F; Nacoulma, Odile G

2011-12-01

Different extracts were obtained from Scoparia dulcis L. (Scrophulariaceae) by successive extraction with hexane, chloroform, and methanol. These extracts exhibited significant antioxidant capacity in various antioxidant models mediated (xantine oxidase and lipoxygenase) or not mediated (2,2-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, β-carotene bleaching, lipid peroxidation) by enzymes. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was related to their phytochemical composition in terms of polyphenol and carotenoid contents. The chloroform extract was richest in phytochemicals and had the highest antioxidant activity in the different antioxidant systems. All the extracts exhibited less than 50% inhibition on xanthine oxidase but more than 50% inhibition on lipid peroxidation and lipoxygenase. The extracts strongly inhibited lipid peroxidation mediated by lipoxygenase.

Complexity Characteristics of Currency Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorski, A. Z.; Drozdz, S.; Kwapien, J.; Oswiecimka, P.

2006-11-01

A large set of daily FOREX time series is analyzed. The corresponding correlation matrices (CM) are constructed for USD, EUR and PLN used as the base currencies. The triangle rule is interpreted as constraints reducing the number of independent returns. The CM spectrum is computed and compared with the cases of shuffled currencies and a fictitious random currency taken as a base currency. The Minimal Spanning Tree (MST) graphs are calculated and the clustering effects for strong currencies are found. It is shown that for MSTs the node rank has power like, scale free behavior. Finally, the scaling exponents are evaluated and found in the range analogous to those identified recently for various complex networks.

Ketamine in the treatment of acute pain.

PubMed

Brinck, Elina; Kontinen, Vesa

2017-01-01

Ketamine is an old anesthetic agent that relieves pain by reducing central sensitization in the central nervous system. This is advantageous for patients suffering from severe pain prior to surgery or are using a strong opioid. The S enantiomer of ketamine used for anesthesia is more powerful than racemic ketamine. The ideal dose of ketamine for pain relief is not yet known, and its adverse effects on the central nervous system, including hallucinations, sedation, and diplopia have limited its use in pain management. The significance of these effects at low doses is probably less than expected, particularly if benzodiazepines or an alpha-2 agonist, such as dexmedetomidine, are administered in addition to ketamine.

Barium borate nanorod decorated reduced graphene oxide for optical power limiting applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muruganandi, G.; Saravanan, M.; Vinitha, G.; Jessie Raj, M. B.; Sabari Girisun, T. C.

2018-01-01

By simple hydrothermal method, nanorods of barium boate were successfully loaded on reduced graphene oxide sheets. Powder XRD confirms the incorporation of barium borate (2θ = 29°, (202)) along with the transition of graphene oxide (2θ = 12°, (001)) into reduced graphene oxide (2θ = 25°, (002)). In the FTIR spectra, presence of characteristic absorption peaks of rGO (1572 and 2928 cm-1) and barium borate (510, 760 and 856 cm-1) further evidences the formation of BBO:rGO nanocomposite. FESEM images potray the existence of graphene sheets as thin layers and growth of barium borate as nanorods on the sheets of reduced graphene oxide. Ground state absorption studies reveal the hypsochromic shift in the absorption maxima of the graphene layers due to reduction of graphene oxide and hypochromic shift in the absorbance intensity due to the inclusion of highly transparent barium bortae. The photoluminescence of BBO:rGO shows maximum emission in the UV region arising from the direct transitions involving the valence band and conduction band in the band gap region. Z-scan technique using CW diode pumped Nd:YAG laser (532 nm, 50 mW) exposes that both nanocomposite and individual counterpart possess saturable absorption and self-defocusing behavior. Third-order nonlinear optical coefficients of BBO:rGO nanocomposite is found to be higher than bare graphene oxide. In particular the nonlinear refractive index of nanocomposite is almost four times higher than GO which resulted in superior optical power limiting action. Strong nonlinear refraction (self-defocusing) and lower onset limiting thershold makes the BBO:rGO nanocomposite preferable candidate for laser safety devices.

Photoneutrino energy losses in strong magnetic fields.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Canuto, V.; Fassio-Canuto, L.

1973-01-01

Previously computed rates of energy losses (Petrosian et al., 1967) ignored the presence of strong magnetic fields, hence the change brought in when such a field (about 10 to the 12th to 10 to the 13th power G) is included is studied. The results indicate that for T about 10 to the 8th power K and densities rho of about 10,000 g/cu cm, the presence of a strong H field decreases the energy losses by at the most a factor between 10 and 100 in the region up to rho = 1,000,000 g/cu cm. At higher densities the neutrino emissivities are almost identical.

Analytical and experimental comparisons of electromechanical vibration response of a piezoelectric bimorph beam for power harvesting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lumentut, M. F.; Howard, I. M.

2013-03-01

Power harvesters that extract energy from vibrating systems via piezoelectric transduction show strong potential for powering smart wireless sensor devices in applications of health condition monitoring of rotating machinery and structures. This paper presents an analytical method for modelling an electromechanical piezoelectric bimorph beam with tip mass under two input base transverse and longitudinal excitations. The Euler-Bernoulli beam equations were used to model the piezoelectric bimorph beam. The polarity-electric field of the piezoelectric element is excited by the strain field caused by base input excitation, resulting in electrical charge. The governing electromechanical dynamic equations were derived analytically using the weak form of the Hamiltonian principle to obtain the constitutive equations. Three constitutive electromechanical dynamic equations based on independent coefficients of virtual displacement vectors were formulated and then further modelled using the normalised Ritz eigenfunction series. The electromechanical formulations include both the series and parallel connections of the piezoelectric bimorph. The multi-mode frequency response functions (FRFs) under varying electrical load resistance were formulated using Laplace transformation for the multi-input mechanical vibrations to provide the multi-output dynamic displacement, velocity, voltage, current and power. The experimental and theoretical validations reduced for the single mode system were shown to provide reasonable predictions. The model results from polar base excitation for off-axis input motions were validated with experimental results showing the change to the electrical power frequency response amplitude as a function of excitation angle, with relevance for practical implementation.

Socio-economic benefits of electric power

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

Clemente, F.

1979-01-01

Empirical evidence and actual experience strongly demonstrate that the socio-economic benefits of electric power have received less than adequate attention. In terms of the reliability issue, so much emphasis has been placed on the cost of having electricity that the cost of not having reliable power has been ignored. Apart from a few comments on jobs or taxes, the Environmental Impact Statements submitted by utilities generally ignore the broad range of socio-economic (quality of life) benefits the proposed facility will have for the local community, the region, and society at large. The author feels strongly that electric utilities should notmore » look askance at the soft sciences, but should begin to utilize them. Sociology, social welfare, and macroeconomics remain fertile ground for the electric-power industry. The techniques and concepts of the social sciences can be readily utilized to identify and document many heretofore unarticulated socio-economic benefits of electric power.« less

Enhanced Wireless Power Transmission Using Strong Paramagnetic Response.

PubMed

Ahn, Dukju; Kiani, Mehdi; Ghovanloo, Maysam

2014-03-01

A method of quasi-static magnetic resonant coupling has been presented for improving the power transmission efficiency (PTE) in near-field wireless power transmission, which improves upon the state of the art. The traditional source resonator on the transmitter side is equipped with an additional resonator with a resonance frequency that is tuned substantially higher than the magnetic field excitation frequency. This additional resonator enhances the magnetic dipole moment and the effective permeability of the power transmitter, owing to a phenomenon known as the strong paramagnetic response. Both theoretical calculations and experimental results show increased PTE due to amplification of the effective permeability. In measurements, the PTE was improved from 57.8% to 64.2% at the nominal distance of 15 cm when the effective permeability was 2.6. The power delivered to load was also improved significantly, with the same 10 V excitation voltage, from 0.38 to 5.26 W.

Vertically Emitting Indium Phosphide Nanowire Lasers.

PubMed

Xu, Wei-Zong; Ren, Fang-Fang; Jevtics, Dimitars; Hurtado, Antonio; Li, Li; Gao, Qian; Ye, Jiandong; Wang, Fan; Guilhabert, Benoit; Fu, Lan; Lu, Hai; Zhang, Rong; Tan, Hark Hoe; Dawson, Martin D; Jagadish, Chennupati

2018-06-13

Semiconductor nanowire (NW) lasers have attracted considerable research effort given their excellent promise for nanoscale photonic sources. However, NW lasers currently exhibit poor directionality and high threshold gain, issues critically limiting their prospects for on-chip light sources with extremely reduced footprint and efficient power consumption. Here, we propose a new design and experimentally demonstrate a vertically emitting indium phosphide (InP) NW laser structure showing high emission directionality and reduced energy requirements for operation. The structure of the laser combines an InP NW integrated in a cat's eye (CE) antenna. Thanks to the antenna guidance with broken asymmetry, strong focusing ability, and high Q-factor, the designed InP CE-NW lasers exhibit a higher degree of polarization, narrower emission angle, enhanced internal quantum efficiency, and reduced lasing threshold. Hence, this NW laser-antenna system provides a very promising approach toward the achievement of high-performance nanoscale lasers, with excellent prospects for use as highly localized light sources in present and future integrated nanophotonics systems for applications in advanced sensing, high-resolution imaging, and quantum communications.

Reducing the H0 and σ8 tensions with dark matter-neutrino interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Valentino, Eleonora; Bœhm, Céline; Hivon, Eric; Bouchet, François R.

2018-02-01

The introduction of dark matter-neutrino interactions modifies the cosmic microwave background (CMB) angular power spectrum at all scales, thus affecting the reconstruction of the cosmological parameters. Such interactions can lead to a slight increase of the value of H0 and a slight decrease of S8≡σ8√{Ωm/0.3 } , which can help reduce somewhat the tension between the CMB and weak lensing or Cepheids data sets. Here we show that it is impossible to solve both tensions simultaneously. While the 2015 Planck temperature and low multipole polarization data combined with the Cepheids data sets prefer large values of the Hubble rate (up to H0=72.1-1.7+1.5 km /s /Mpc , when Neff is free to vary), the σ8 parameter remains too large to reduce the σ8 tension. Adding high multipole Planck polarization data does not help since this data shows a strong preference for low values of H0, thus worsening current tensions, even though they also prefer smaller value of σ8.

Identifying Electricity Capacity at Risk to Changes in Climate and Water Resources in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miara, A.; Macknick, J.; Vorosmarty, C. J.; Corsi, F.; Fekete, B. M.; Newmark, R. L.; Tidwell, V. C.; Cohen, S. M.

2016-12-01

Thermoelectric plants supply 85% of electricity generation in the United States. Under a warming climate, the performance of these power plants may be reduced, as thermoelectric generation is dependent upon cool ambient temperatures and sufficient water supplies at adequate temperatures. In this study, we assess the vulnerability and reliability of 1,100 operational power plants (2015) across the contiguous United States under a comprehensive set of climate scenarios (five Global Circulation Models each with four Representative Concentration Pathways). We model individual power plant capacities using the Thermoelectric Power and Thermal Pollution model (TP2M) coupled with the Water Balance Model (WBM) at a daily temporal resolution and 5x5 km spatial resolution. Together, these models calculate power plant capacity losses that account for geophysical constraints and river network dynamics. Potential losses at the single-plant level are put into a regional energy security context by assessing the collective system-level reliability at the North-American Electricity Reliability Corporation (NERC) regions. Results show that the thermoelectric sector at the national level has low vulnerability under the contemporary climate and that system-level reliability in terms of available thermoelectric resources relative to thermoelectric demand is sufficient. Under future climates scenarios, changes in water availability and warm ambient temperatures lead to constraints on operational capacity and increased vulnerability at individual power plant sites across all regions in the United States. However, there is a strong disparity in regional vulnerability trends and magnitudes that arise from each region's climate, hydrology and technology mix. Despite increases in vulnerabilities at the individual power plant level, regional energy systems may still be reliable (with no system failures) due to sufficient back-up reserve capacities.

Global Alfvén eigenmodes in the H-1 heliac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hole, M. J.; Blackwell, B. D.; Bowden, G.; Cole, M.; Könies, A.; Michael, C.; Zhao, F.; Haskey, S. R.

2017-12-01

Recent upgrades in H-1 power supplies have enabled the operation of the H-1 experiment at higher heating powers than previously attainable. A heating power scan in mixed hydrogen/helium plasmas reveals a change in mode activity with increasing heating power. At low power (< 50 kW) modes with beta-induced Alfvén eigenmode frequency scaling are observed. At higher power modes consistent with an analysis of nonconventional global Alfvén eigenmodes (GAEs) are observed, the subject of this work. We have computed the mode continuum, and identified GAE structures using the ideal MHD solver CKA and the gyrokinetic code EUTERPE. An analytic model for ICRH-heated minority ions is used to estimate the fast ion temperature from the hydrogen species. Linear growth rate scans using a local flux surface stability calculation, LGRO, are performed. These studies demonstrate drive from the radial spatial gradient of circulating particles whose speed is significantly less than the Alfvén speed, and are resonant with the mode through harmonics of the Fourier decomposition of the strongly shaped heliac magnetic field. They reveal drive is possible with a small ({n}f/{n}0< 0.2) hot energetic tail of the hydrogen species, for which {T}f> 300 {eV}. Local linear growth rate scans are also complemented with global calculations from CKA and EUTERPE. These qualitatively confirm the findings from the LGRO study, and show that the inclusion of finite Larmor radius effects can reduce the growth rate by a factor of up to ten, and increases the marginal stability fast ion temperature by a factor of two. Finally, a study of damping of the global mode with the thermal plasma is conducted, computing continuum damping , and the damping arising from finite Larmor radius and parallel electric fields (via resistivity). We find that continuum damping is of order 0.1% for the configuration studied. A similar calculation in the cylindrical plasma model produces a frequency 35% higher and a damping 30% of the three-dimensional result: this confirms the importance of strong magnetic shaping to the frequency and damping. The inclusion of resistivity lifts the damping to γ /ω =-0.189. Such large damping is consistent with experimental observations that in absence of drive the mode decays rapidly (∼0.1 ms).

Space nuclear power: Key to outer solar system exploration

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

Bennett, G.L.; Allen, D.M.

1998-07-01

In 1995, in response to threatened budget cuts, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) approved a position paper supporting the maintenance of the technology base for space nuclear power. The position paper contained four recomemndations: (1) DOE, NASA, and DoD should develop and support an integrated program that maintains the nuclear option and develops the needed high-payoff technologies; (2) Congress should provide strong, continuing financial and political support for the agencies' program; (3) Government and industry leaders should voice their advocacy for a strong space nuclear power program to support future system requirements; and (4) The US shouldmore » continue to maintain its cooperation and technical interchanges with other countries to advance nuclear power source technology and to promote nuclear safety.« less

Low Power LDPC Code Decoder Architecture Based on Intermediate Message Compression Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, Kazunori; Togawa, Nozomu; Ikenaga, Takeshi; Goto, Satoshi

Reducing the power dissipation for LDPC code decoder is a major challenging task to apply it to the practical digital communication systems. In this paper, we propose a low power LDPC code decoder architecture based on an intermediate message-compression technique which features as follows: (i) An intermediate message compression technique enables the decoder to reduce the required memory capacity and write power dissipation. (ii) A clock gated shift register based intermediate message memory architecture enables the decoder to decompress the compressed messages in a single clock cycle while reducing the read power dissipation. The combination of the above two techniques enables the decoder to reduce the power dissipation while keeping the decoding throughput. The simulation results show that the proposed architecture improves the power efficiency up to 52% and 18% compared to that of the decoder based on the overlapped schedule and the rapid convergence schedule without the proposed techniques respectively.

Strong radial electric field shear and reduced fluctuations in a reversed-field pinch

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

Chapman, B.E.; Chiang, C.S.; Prager, S.C.

1997-05-01

A strongly sheared radial electric field is observed in enhanced confinement discharges in the MST reversed-field pinch. The strong shear develops in a narrow region in the plasma edge. Electrostatic fluctuations are reduced over the entire plasma edge with an extra reduction in the shear region. Magnetic fluctuations, resonant in the plasma core but global in extent, are also reduced. The reduction of fluctuations in the shear region is presumably due to the strong shear, but the causes of the reductions outside this region have not been established.

Effect of a powered drive on pushing and pulling forces when transporting bariatric hospital beds.

PubMed

Wiggermann, Neal

2017-01-01

Powered drives designed to assist with moving hospital beds are commercially available but no studies have evaluated whether they reduce the push and pull forces likely contributing to injury in caregivers. This study measured hand forces of 10 caregivers maneuvering a manual and powered bariatric bed through simulated hospital environments (hallway, elevator, and ramp). Peak push and pull forces exceeded previously established psychophysical limits for all activities with the manual bed. For the powered bed, peak forces were significantly (p < 0.05) lower for all tasks, and below psychophysical limits. Powered drive reduced peak forces between 38% (maneuvering into elevator) and 94% (descending ramp). Powered drive also reduced stopping distance by 55%. When maneuvering, the integral of hand force was 34% lower with powered drive, but average forces during straight-line pushing did not differ between beds. Powered drive may reduce the risk of injury or the number of caregivers needed for transport. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A research program to assess the impact of the electromagnetic pulse on electric power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McConnell, B. W.; Barnes, P. R.

A strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) with an electric-field component on the order of tens of kilovolts per meter is produced by a nuclear detonation in or above the atmosphere. This paper presents an overview and a summary of the results to date of a program formulated to address the research and development of technologies and systems required to assess and reduce the impact of EMP on electric power systems. The technologies and systems being considered include simulation models, methods of assessment, definition of required experiments and data, development of protective hardware, and the creation or revision of operating and control procedures. Results to date include the development of relatively simple unclassified EMP environment models, the development of methods for extending EMP coupling models to the large transmission and distribution network associated with the electric power system, and the performance of a parametric study of HEMP induced surges using an appropriate EMP environment. An experiment to investigate the effect of corona on the coupling of EMP to conductors has been defined and has been performed in an EMP simulator. Experiments to determine the response of key components to simulated EMP surges and an investigation of the impact of steep-front, short-duration impulse on a selected number of the insulation systems used in electric power systems apparatus are being performed.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Xiangdong; Liu, Guiqian

2015-01-01

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

Numerical analyses of baseline JT-60SA design concepts with the COREDIV code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zagórski, R.; Gałązka, K.; Ivanova-Stanik, I.; Stępniewski, W.; Garzotti, L.; Giruzzi, G.; Neu, R.; Romanelli, M.

2017-06-01

JT-60SA reference design scenarios at high (#3) and low (#2) density have been analyzed with the help of the self-consistent COREDIV code. Simulations results for a standard C wall and full W wall have been compared in terms of the influence of impurities, both intrinsic (C, W) and seeded (N, Ar, Ne, Kr), on the radiation losses and plasma parameters. For scenario #3 in a C environment, the regime of detachment on divertor plates can be achieved with N or Ne seeding, whereas for the low density and high power scenario (#2), the C and seeding impurity radiation does not effectively reduce power to the targets. In this case, only an increase of either average density or edge density together with Kr seeding might help to develop conditions with strong radiation losses and semi-detached conditions in the divertor. The calculations show that, in the case of a W divertor, the power load to the plate is mitigated by seeding and the central plasma dilution is smaller compared to the C divertor. For the high density case (#3) with Ne seeding, operation in full detachment mode is predicted. Ar seems to be an optimal choice for the low-density high-power scenario #2, showing a wide operating window, whereas Ne leads to high plasma dilution at high seeding levels albeit not achieving semi-detached conditions in the divertor.

Deep electromagnetic sounding of the lithosphere in the eastern Baltic (fennoscandian) shield with high-power controlled sources and industrial power transmission lines (FENICS experiment)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhamaletdinov, A. A.; Shevtsov, A. N.; Korotkova, T. G.; Kopytenko, Yu. A.; Ismagilov, V. S.; Petrishev, M. S.; Efimov, B. V.; Barannik, M. B.; Kolobov, V. V.; Prokopchuk, P. I.; Smirnov, M. Yu.; Vagin, S. A.; Pertel, M. I.; Tereshchenko, E. D.; Vasil'Ev, A. N.; Grigoryev, V. F.; Gokhberg, M. B.; Trofimchik, V. I.; Yampolsky, Yu. M.; Koloskov, A. V.; Fedorov, A. V.; Korja, T.

2011-01-01

The paper addresses the technique and the first results of a unique experiment on the deep tensor frequency electromagnetic sounding, the Fennoscandian Electrical conductivity from results of sounding with Natural and Controlled Sources (FENICS). In the experiment, Energy-1 and Energy-2 generators with power of up to 200 kW and two mutually orthogonal industrial 109- and 120-km-long power transmission lines were used. The sounding frequency range was 0.1-200 Hz. The signals were measured in the Kola-Karelian region, in Finland, on Svalbard, and in Ukraine at distances up to 2150 km from the source. The parameters of electric conductivity in the lithosphere are studied down to depths on the order of 50-70 km. A strong lateral homogeneity (the one-dimensionality) of a geoelectric section of the Earth's crust is revealed below depths of 10-15 km. At the same time, a region with reduced transverse crustal resistivity spread over about 80 000 square kilometers is identified within the depth interval from 20 to 40 km. On the southeast the contour of the anomaly borders the zone of deepening of the Moho boundary down to 60 km in Central Finland. The results are compared with the AMT-MT sounding data and a geodynamic interpretation of the obtained information is carried out.

Conceptual energy and water recovery system for self-sustained nano membrane toilet.

PubMed

Hanak, Dawid P; Kolios, Athanasios J; Onabanjo, Tosin; Wagland, Stuart T; Patchigolla, Kumar; Fidalgo, Beatriz; Manovic, Vasilije; McAdam, Ewan; Parker, Alison; Williams, Leon; Tyrrel, Sean; Cartmell, Elise

2016-10-15

With about 2.4 billion people worldwide without access to improved sanitation facilities, there is a strong incentive for development of novel sanitation systems to improve the quality of life and reduce mortality. The Nano Membrane Toilet is expected to provide a unique household-scale system that would produce electricity and recover water from human excrement and urine. This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of the conceptual energy and water recovery system for the Nano Membrane Toilet designed for a household of ten people and to assess its self-sustainability. A process model of the entire system, including the thermochemical conversion island, a Stirling engine and a water recovery system was developed in Aspen Plus®. The energy and water recovery system for the Nano Membrane Toilet was characterised with the specific net power output of 23.1 Wh/kg settledsolids and water recovery rate of 13.4 dm 3 /day in the nominal operating mode. Additionally, if no supernatant was processed, the specific net power output was increased to 69.2 Wh/kg settledsolids . Such household-scale system would deliver the net power output (1.9-5.8 W). This was found to be enough to charge mobile phones or power clock radios, or provide light for the household using low-voltage LED bulbs.

Effects of low-Z and high-Z impurities on divertor detachment and plasma confinement

DOE PAGES

Wang, H. Q.; Guo, Houyang Y.; Petrie, Thomas W.; ...

2017-03-18

The impurity-seeded detached divertor is essential for heat exhaust in ITER and other reactor-relevant devices. Dedicated experiments with injection of N 2, Ne and Ar have been performed in DIII-D to assess the impact of the different impurities on divertor detachment and confinement. Seeding with N 2, Ne and Ar all promote divertor detachment, greatly reducing heat flux near the strike point. The upstream plasma density at the onset of detachment decreases with increasing impurity-puffing flow rates. For all injected impurity species, the confinement and pedestal pressure are correlated with the impurity content and the ratio of separatrix loss powermore » to the L-H transition threshold power. As the divertor plasma approaches detachment, the high-Z impurity seeding tends to degrade the core confinement owing to the increased core radiation. In particular, Ar injection leads to an increase in core radiation, up to 50% of the injected power, and a reduction in pedestal temperature over 60%, thus significantly degrading the confinement, i.e., with H 98 reducing from 1.1 to below 0.7. As for Ne seeding, H 98 near 0.8 can be maintained during the detachment phase with the pedestal temperature being reduced by about 50%. In contrast, in the N 2 seeded plasmas, radiation is predominately confined in the boundary plasma, with up to 50% of heating power being radiated in the divertor region and less than 25% in the core at the onset of detachment. In the case of strong N 2 gas puffing, the confinement recovers during the detachment, from ~20% reduction at the onset of the detachment to greater than that before the seeding. The core and pedestal temperatures feature a reduction of 30% from the initial attached phase and remain nearly constant during the detachment phase. The improvement in confinement appears to arise from the increase in pedestal and core density despite the temperature reduction.« less

Development of an Agent Based Model to Estimate and Reduce Time to Restoration of Storm Induced Power Outages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, T.; Layton, T.; Mellor, J. E.

2017-12-01

Storm damage to the electric grid impacts 23 million electric utility customers and costs US consumers $119 billion annually. Current restoration techniques rely on the past experiences of emergency managers. There are few analytical simulation and prediction tools available for utility managers to optimize storm recovery and decrease consumer cost, lost revenue and restoration time. We developed an agent based model (ABM) for storm recovery in Connecticut. An ABM is a computer modeling technique comprised of agents who are given certain behavioral rules and operate in a given environment. It allows the user to simulate complex systems by varying user-defined parameters to study emergent, unpredicted behavior. The ABM incorporates the road network and electric utility grid for the state, is validated using actual storm event recoveries and utilizes the Dijkstra routing algorithm to determine the best path for repair crews to travel between outages. The ABM has benefits for both researchers and utility managers. It can simulate complex system dynamics, rank variable importance, find tipping points that could significantly reduce restoration time or costs and test a broad range of scenarios. It is a modular, scalable and adaptable technique that can simulate scenarios in silico to inform emergency managers before and during storm events to optimize restoration strategies and better manage expectations of when power will be restored. Results indicate that total restoration time is strongly dependent on the number of crews. However, there is a threshold whereby more crews will not decrease the restoration time, which depends on the total number of outages. The addition of outside crews is more beneficial for storms with a higher number of outages. The time to restoration increases linearly with increasing repair time, while the travel speed has little overall effect on total restoration time. Crews traveling to the nearest outage reduces the total restoration time, while crews going to the outage with most customers affected increases the overall restoration time but more quickly decreases the customers remaining without power. This model can give utility company managers the ability to optimize their restoration strategies before or during a storm event to reduce restoration times and costs.

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

DOEpatents

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

2012-01-10

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

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

DOEpatents

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

2012-04-17

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

Antioxidant, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of the methanolic extract of Piper betle leaves

PubMed Central

Alam, Badrul; Akter, Fahima; Parvin, Nahida; Sharmin Pia, Rashna; Akter, Sharmin; Chowdhury, Jesmin; Sifath-E-Jahan, Kazi; Haque, Ekramul

2013-01-01

Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities of the methanolic extract of Piper betle leaves (MPBL). Materials and Methods: MPBL was evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity using carrageenan-induced hind paw edema model. Analgesic activity of MPBL was evaluated by hot plate, writhing, and formalin tests. Total phenolic and flavonoids content, total antioxidant activity, scavenging of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, peroxynitrate (ONOO) as well as inhibition of total ROS generation, and assessment of reducing power were used to evaluate antioxidant potential of MPBL. Results: The extract of MPBL, at the dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg, produced a significant (p<0.05) increase in pain threshold in hot plate method whereas significantly (p<0.05) reduced the writhing caused by acetic acid and the number of licks induced by formalin in a dose-dependent manner. The same ranges of doses of MPBL caused significant (p<0.05) inhibition of carrageenan-induced paw edema after 4 h in a dose-dependent manner. In DPPH, ONOO-, and total ROS scavenging method, MPBL showed good antioxidant potentiality with the IC50 value of 16.33±1.02, 25.16±0.61 , and 41.72±0.48 µg/ml, respectively with a significant (p<0.05) good reducing power. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggested that MPBL has strong analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects, conforming the traditional use of this plant for inflammatory pain alleviation to its antioxidant potentiality. PMID:25050265

Antidiarrheal, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of the Musa sapientum Seed.

PubMed

Hossain, M Sarowar; Alam, M Badrul; Asadujjaman, M; Zahan, Ronok; Islam, M Monirul; Mazumder, M Ehsanul H; Haque, Md Ekramul

2011-04-01

Musa sapientum (M.sapientum) commonly known as 'banana' is widely used in Bangladeshi folk medicine for the treatment of various ailments including diarrhea. Hence, the present study was designed to investigate antidiarrheal, antioxidant and antibacterial potential of the methanolic extract of M.sapientum seed (MMSS). The extract was studied for antidiarrheal property using castor oil and magnesium sulfate induced diarrheal model and charcoal induced gastrointestinal motility test in mice. Total phenolic and flavonoids content, total antioxidant activity, scavenging of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, as well as nitric oxide (NO) and assessment of reducing power were used to evaluate antioxidant potential of MMSS. In addition, disc diffusion methods were used for antibacterial assay using various diarrheal induced bacterial strains. At the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight, the extract reduced the frequency and severity of diarrhea in test animals throughout the study period. At the same doses, the extracts significantly (p<0.001) delayed the intestinal transit of charcoal meal in test animals as compared to the control. In DPPH and NO scavenging method, MMSS showed good antioxidant potentiality in a dose dependent manner with the IC(50) value of 12.32±0.33 µg/ml and 18.96±1.01 µg/ml, respectively with a significant (p<0.001) good reducing power. The extract also displayed strong anti-bacterial effect against when tested against Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Altogether, these results suggest that the MMSS could be used as a potential antidiarrheal agent along with its antioxidant and antibacterial potentiality.

Antidiarrheal, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of the Musa sapientum Seed

PubMed Central

Hossain, M. Sarowar; Alam, M. Badrul; Asadujjaman, M.; Zahan, Ronok; Islam, M. Monirul; Mazumder, M. Ehsanul H.; Haque, Md. Ekramul

2011-01-01

Musa sapientum (M.sapientum) commonly known as ‘banana’ is widely used in Bangladeshi folk medicine for the treatment of various ailments including diarrhea. Hence, the present study was designed to investigate antidiarrheal, antioxidant and antibacterial potential of the methanolic extract of M.sapientum seed (MMSS). The extract was studied for antidiarrheal property using castor oil and magnesium sulfate induced diarrheal model and charcoal induced gastrointestinal motility test in mice. Total phenolic and flavonoids content, total antioxidant activity, scavenging of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, as well as nitric oxide (NO) and assessment of reducing power were used to evaluate antioxidant potential of MMSS. In addition, disc diffusion methods were used for antibacterial assay using various diarrheal induced bacterial strains. At the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight, the extract reduced the frequency and severity of diarrhea in test animals throughout the study period. At the same doses, the extracts significantly (p<0.001) delayed the intestinal transit of charcoal meal in test animals as compared to the control. In DPPH and NO scavenging method, MMSS showed good antioxidant potentiality in a dose dependent manner with the IC50 value of 12.32±0.33 µg/ml and 18.96±1.01 µg/ml, respectively with a significant (p<0.001) good reducing power. The extract also displayed strong anti-bacterial effect against when tested against Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Altogether, these results suggest that the MMSS could be used as a potential antidiarrheal agent along with its antioxidant and antibacterial potentiality. PMID:23407989

Using public health and community partnerships to reduce density of alcohol outlets.

PubMed

Jernigan, David H; Sparks, Michael; Yang, Evelyn; Schwartz, Randy

2013-04-11

Excessive alcohol use causes approximately 80,000 deaths in the United States each year. The Guide to Community Preventive Services recommends reducing the density of alcohol outlets - the number of physical locations in which alcoholic beverages are available for purchase either per area or per population - through the use of regulatory authority as an effective strategy for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. We briefly review the research on density of alcohol outlets and public health and describe the powers localities have to influence alcohol outlet density. We summarize Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide, which describes steps that local communities can take to reduce outlet density and the key competencies and resources of state and local health departments. These include expertise in public health surveillance and evaluation methods, identification and tracking of outcome measures, geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, community planning and development of multisector efforts, and education of community leaders and policy makers. We illustrate the potential for partnerships between public health agencies and local communities by presenting a contemporary case study from Omaha, Nebraska. Public health agencies have a vital and necessary role to play in efforts to reduce alcohol outlet density. They are often unaware of the potential of this strategy and have strong potential partners in the thousands of community coalitions nationwide that are focused on reducing alcohol-related problems.

Using Public Health and Community Partnerships to Reduce Density of Alcohol Outlets

PubMed Central

Sparks, Michael; Yang, Evelyn; Schwartz, Randy

2013-01-01

Excessive alcohol use causes approximately 80,000 deaths in the United States each year. The Guide to Community Preventive Services recommends reducing the density of alcohol outlets — the number of physical locations in which alcoholic beverages are available for purchase either per area or per population — through the use of regulatory authority as an effective strategy for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. We briefly review the research on density of alcohol outlets and public health and describe the powers localities have to influence alcohol outlet density. We summarize Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide, which describes steps that local communities can take to reduce outlet density and the key competencies and resources of state and local health departments. These include expertise in public health surveillance and evaluation methods, identification and tracking of outcome measures, geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, community planning and development of multisector efforts, and education of community leaders and policy makers. We illustrate the potential for partnerships between public health agencies and local communities by presenting a contemporary case study from Omaha, Nebraska. Public health agencies have a vital and necessary role to play in efforts to reduce alcohol outlet density. They are often unaware of the potential of this strategy and have strong potential partners in the thousands of community coalitions nationwide that are focused on reducing alcohol-related problems. PMID:23578401

Hydrodynamic effects of kinetic power extraction by in-stream tidal turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polagye, Brian L.

The hydrodynamic effects of extracting kinetic power from tidal streams presents unique challenges to the development of in-stream tidal power. In-stream tidal turbines superficially resemble wind turbines and extract kinetic power from the ebb and flood of strong tidal currents. Extraction increases the resistance to flow, leading to changes in tidal range, transport, mixing, and the kinetic resource itself. These far-field changes have environmental, social, and economic implications that must be understood to develop the in-stream resource. This dissertation describes the development of a one-dimensional numerical channel model and its application to the study of these effects. The model is applied to determine the roles played by site geometry, network topology, tidal regime, and device dynamics. A comparison is also made between theoretical and modeled predictions for the maximum amount of power which could be extracted from a tidal energy site. The model is extended to a simulation of kinetic power extraction from Puget Sound, Washington. In general, extracting tidal energy will have a number of far-field effects, in proportion to the level of power extraction. At the theoretical limit, these effects can be very significant (e.g., 50% reduction in transport), but are predicted to be immeasurably small for pilot-scale projects. Depending on the specifics of the site, far-field effects may either augment or reduce the existing tidal regime. Changes to the tide, in particular, have significant spatial variability. Since tidal streams are generally subcritical, effects are felt throughout the estuary, not just at the site of extraction. The one dimensional numerical modeling is supported by a robust theory for predicting the performance characteristics of in-stream devices. The far-field effects of tidal power depend on the total power dissipated by turbines, rather than the power extracted. When the low-speed wake downstream of a turbine mixes with the free-stream, power is lost, such that the total power dissipated by the turbine is significantly greater than the power extracted. This dissertation concludes with a framework for three-dimensional numerical modeling of near-field extraction effects.

47 CFR 80.80 - Operating controls for ship stations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...-162 MHz bands, reducing power output to one watt or less in accordance with § 80.215(e). 1 1 Ship... automatically reduce the carrier power to one watt or less when turned to the frequency 156.375 MHz or 156.650..., 1997, must automatically reduce power as described above. A manual override device must be provided...

Combined electrical and resonant optical excitation characterization of multi-quantum well InGaN-based light-emitting diodes

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

Presa, S., E-mail: silvino.presa@tyndall.ie; School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork; Maaskant, P. P.

We present a comprehensive study of the emission spectra and electrical characteristics of InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well light-emitting diode (LED) structures under resonant optical pumping and varying electrical bias. A 5 quantum well LED with a thin well (1.5 nm) and a relatively thick barrier (6.6 nm) shows strong bias-dependent properties in the emission spectra, poor photovoltaic carrier escape under forward bias and an increase in effective resistance when compared with a 10 quantum well LED with a thin (4 nm) barrier. These properties are due to a strong piezoelectric field in the well and associated reduced field in the thickermore » barrier. We compare the voltage ideality factors for the LEDs under electrical injection, light emission with current, photovoltaic mode (PV) and photoluminescence (PL) emission. The PV and PL methods provide similar values for the ideality which are lower than for the resistance-limited electrical method. Under optical pumping the presence of an n-type InGaN underlayer in a commercial LED sample is shown to act as a second photovoltaic source reducing the photovoltage and the extracted ideality factor to less than 1. The use of photovoltaic measurements together with bias-dependent spectrally resolved luminescence is a powerful method to provide valuable insights into the dynamics of GaN LEDs.« less

Strongly correlated perovskite fuel cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, You; Guan, Xiaofei; Zhou, Hua; Ramadoss, Koushik; Adam, Suhare; Liu, Huajun; Lee, Sungsik; Shi, Jian; Tsuchiya, Masaru; Fong, Dillon D.; Ramanathan, Shriram

2016-06-01

Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy with high efficiencies and environmental benefits, as compared with traditional heat engines. Yttria-stabilized zirconia is perhaps the material with the most potential as an electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), owing to its stability and near-unity ionic transference number. Although there exist materials with superior ionic conductivity, they are often limited by their ability to suppress electronic leakage when exposed to the reducing environment at the fuel interface. Such electronic leakage reduces fuel cell power output and the associated chemo-mechanical stresses can also lead to catastrophic fracture of electrolyte membranes. Here we depart from traditional electrolyte design that relies on cation substitution to sustain ionic conduction. Instead, we use a perovskite nickelate as an electrolyte with high initial ionic and electronic conductivity. Since many such oxides are also correlated electron systems, we can suppress the electronic conduction through a filling-controlled Mott transition induced by spontaneous hydrogen incorporation. Using such a nickelate as the electrolyte in free-standing membrane geometry, we demonstrate a low-temperature micro-fabricated SOFC with high performance. The ionic conductivity of the nickelate perovskite is comparable to the best-performing solid electrolytes in the same temperature range, with a very low activation energy. The results present a design strategy for high-performance materials exhibiting emergent properties arising from strong electron correlations.

Strongly correlated perovskite fuel cells

DOE PAGES

Zhou, You; Guan, Xiaofei; Zhou, Hua; ...

2016-05-16

Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy with high efficiencies and environmental benefits, as compared with traditional heat engines. Yttria-stabilized zirconia is perhaps the material with the most potential as an electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), owing to its stability and near-unity ionic transference number. Although there exist materials with superior ionic conductivity, they are often limited by their ability to suppress electronic leakage when exposed to the reducing environment at the fuel interface. Such electronic leakage reduces fuel cell power output and the associated chemo-mechanical stresses can also lead to catastrophic fracture of electrolyte membranes.more » Here we depart from traditional electrolyte design that relies on cation substitution to sustain ionic conduction. Instead, we use a perovskite nickelate as an electrolyte with high initial ionic and electronic conductivity. Since many such oxides are also correlated electron systems, we can suppress the electronic conduction through a filling-controlled Mott transition induced by spontaneous hydrogen incorporation. Using such a nickelate as the electrolyte in free-standing membrane geometry, we demonstrate a low-temperature micro-fabricated SOFC with high performance. The ionic conductivity of the nickelate perovskite is comparable to the best-performing solid electrolytes in the same temperature range, with a very low activation energy. The results present a design strategy for high-performance materials exhibiting emergent properties arising from strong electron correlations.« less

Strongly correlated perovskite fuel cells.

PubMed

Zhou, You; Guan, Xiaofei; Zhou, Hua; Ramadoss, Koushik; Adam, Suhare; Liu, Huajun; Lee, Sungsik; Shi, Jian; Tsuchiya, Masaru; Fong, Dillon D; Ramanathan, Shriram

2016-06-09

Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy with high efficiencies and environmental benefits, as compared with traditional heat engines. Yttria-stabilized zirconia is perhaps the material with the most potential as an electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), owing to its stability and near-unity ionic transference number. Although there exist materials with superior ionic conductivity, they are often limited by their ability to suppress electronic leakage when exposed to the reducing environment at the fuel interface. Such electronic leakage reduces fuel cell power output and the associated chemo-mechanical stresses can also lead to catastrophic fracture of electrolyte membranes. Here we depart from traditional electrolyte design that relies on cation substitution to sustain ionic conduction. Instead, we use a perovskite nickelate as an electrolyte with high initial ionic and electronic conductivity. Since many such oxides are also correlated electron systems, we can suppress the electronic conduction through a filling-controlled Mott transition induced by spontaneous hydrogen incorporation. Using such a nickelate as the electrolyte in free-standing membrane geometry, we demonstrate a low-temperature micro-fabricated SOFC with high performance. The ionic conductivity of the nickelate perovskite is comparable to the best-performing solid electrolytes in the same temperature range, with a very low activation energy. The results present a design strategy for high-performance materials exhibiting emergent properties arising from strong electron correlations.

In-well pumped mid-infrared PbTe/CdTe quantum well vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers

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

Khiar, A., E-mail: amir.khiar@jku.at; Witzan, M.; Hochreiner, A.

2014-06-09

Optical in-well pumped mid-infrared vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers based on PbTe quantum wells embedded in CdTe barriers are realized. In contrast to the usual ternary barrier materials of lead salt lasers such as PbEuTe of PbSrTe, the combination of narrow-gap PbTe with wide-gap CdTe offers an extremely large carrier confinement, preventing charge carrier leakage from the quantum wells. In addition, optical in-well pumping can be achieved with cost effective and readily available near infrared lasers. Free carrier absorption, which is a strong loss mechanism in the mid-infrared, is strongly reduced due to the insulating property of CdTe. Lasingmore » is observed from 85 K to 300 K covering a wavelength range of 3.3–4.2 μm. The best laser performance is achieved for quantum well thicknesses of 20 nm. At low temperature, the threshold power is around 100 mW{sub P} and the output power more than 700 mW{sub P}. The significance of various charge carrier loss mechanisms are analyzed by modeling the device performance. Although Auger losses are quite low in IV–VI semiconductors, an Auger coefficient of C{sub A} = 3.5 × 10{sup −27} cm{sup 6} s{sup −1} was estimated for the laser structure, which is attributed to the large conduction band offset.« less

Procurement Tools & Resources

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Green power products eligible to be certified by an independent third party against national standards. As a matter of best practice and consumer protection, EPA strongly encourages organizations to purchase these types of certified green power products.

An NFC on Two-Coil WPT Link for Implantable Biomedical Sensors under Ultra-Weak Coupling.

PubMed

Gong, Chen; Liu, Dake; Miao, Zhidong; Wang, Wei; Li, Min

2017-06-11

The inductive link is widely used in implantable biomedical sensor systems to achieve near-field communication (NFC) and wireless power transfer (WPT). However, it is tough to achieve reliable NFC on an inductive WPT link when the coupling coefficient is ultra-low (0.01 typically), since the NFC signal (especially for the uplink from the in-body part to the out-body part) could be too weak to be detected. Traditional load shift keying (LSK) requires strong coupling to pass the load modulation information to the power source. Instead of using LSK, we propose a dual-carrier NFC scheme for the weak-coupled inductive link; using binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation, its downlink data are modulated on the power carrier (2 MHz), while its uplink data are modulated on another carrier (125 kHz). The two carriers are transferred through the same coil pair. To overcome the strong interference of the power carrier, dedicated circuits are introduced. In addition, to minimize the power transfer efficiency decrease caused by adding NFC, we optimize the inductive link circuit parameters and approach the receiver sensitivity limit. In the prototype experiments, even though the coupling coefficient is as low as 0.008, the in-body transmitter costs only 0.61 mW power carrying 10 kbps of data, and achieves a 1 × 10 - 7 bit error rate under the strong interference of WPT. This dual-carrier NFC scheme could be useful for small-sized implantable biomedical sensor applications.

Constraint-Based Modeling Highlights Cell Energy, Redox Status and α-Ketoglutarate Availability as Metabolic Drivers for Anthocyanin Accumulation in Grape Cells Under Nitrogen Limitation

PubMed Central

Soubeyrand, Eric; Colombié, Sophie; Beauvoit, Bertrand; Dai, Zhanwu; Cluzet, Stéphanie; Hilbert, Ghislaine; Renaud, Christel; Maneta-Peyret, Lilly; Dieuaide-Noubhani, Martine; Mérillon, Jean-Michel; Gibon, Yves; Delrot, Serge; Gomès, Eric

2018-01-01

Anthocyanin biosynthesis is regulated by environmental factors (such as light, temperature, and water availability) and nutrient status (such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate nutrition). Previous reports show that low nitrogen availability strongly enhances anthocyanin accumulation in non carbon-limited plant organs or cell suspensions. It has been hypothesized that high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio would lead to an energy excess in plant cells, and that an increase in flavonoid pathway metabolic fluxes would act as an “energy escape valve,” helping plant cells to cope with energy and carbon excess. However, this hypothesis has never been tested directly. To this end, we used the grapevine Vitis vinifera L. cultivar Gamay Teinturier (syn. Gamay Freaux or Freaux Tintorier, VIVC #4382) cell suspension line as a model system to study the regulation of anthocyanin accumulation in response to nitrogen supply. The cells were sub-cultured in the presence of either control (25 mM) or low (5 mM) nitrate concentration. Targeted metabolomics and enzyme activity determinations were used to parametrize a constraint-based model describing both the central carbon and nitrogen metabolisms and the flavonoid (phenylpropanoid) pathway connected by the energy (ATP) and reducing power equivalents (NADPH and NADH) cofactors. The flux analysis (2 flux maps generated, for control and low nitrogen in culture medium) clearly showed that in low nitrogen-fed cells all the metabolic fluxes of central metabolism were decreased, whereas fluxes that consume energy and reducing power, were either increased (upper part of glycolysis, shikimate, and flavonoid pathway) or maintained (pentose phosphate pathway). Also, fluxes of flavanone 3β-hydroxylase, flavonol synthase, and anthocyanidin synthase were strongly increased, advocating for a regulation of the flavonoid pathway by alpha-ketoglutarate levels. These results strongly support the hypothesis of anthocyanin biosynthesis acting as an energy escape valve in plant cells, and they open new possibilities to manipulate flavonoid production in plant cells. They do not, however, support a role of anthocyanins as an effective mechanism for coping with carbon excess in high carbon to nitrogen ratio situations in grape cells. Instead, constraint-based modeling output and biomass analysis indicate that carbon excess is dealt with by vacuolar storage of soluble sugars. PMID:29868039

Constraint-Based Modeling Highlights Cell Energy, Redox Status and α-Ketoglutarate Availability as Metabolic Drivers for Anthocyanin Accumulation in Grape Cells Under Nitrogen Limitation.

PubMed

Soubeyrand, Eric; Colombié, Sophie; Beauvoit, Bertrand; Dai, Zhanwu; Cluzet, Stéphanie; Hilbert, Ghislaine; Renaud, Christel; Maneta-Peyret, Lilly; Dieuaide-Noubhani, Martine; Mérillon, Jean-Michel; Gibon, Yves; Delrot, Serge; Gomès, Eric

2018-01-01

Anthocyanin biosynthesis is regulated by environmental factors (such as light, temperature, and water availability) and nutrient status (such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate nutrition). Previous reports show that low nitrogen availability strongly enhances anthocyanin accumulation in non carbon-limited plant organs or cell suspensions. It has been hypothesized that high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio would lead to an energy excess in plant cells, and that an increase in flavonoid pathway metabolic fluxes would act as an "energy escape valve," helping plant cells to cope with energy and carbon excess. However, this hypothesis has never been tested directly. To this end, we used the grapevine Vitis vinifera L. cultivar Gamay Teinturier (syn. Gamay Freaux or Freaux Tintorier, VIVC #4382) cell suspension line as a model system to study the regulation of anthocyanin accumulation in response to nitrogen supply. The cells were sub-cultured in the presence of either control (25 mM) or low (5 mM) nitrate concentration. Targeted metabolomics and enzyme activity determinations were used to parametrize a constraint-based model describing both the central carbon and nitrogen metabolisms and the flavonoid (phenylpropanoid) pathway connected by the energy (ATP) and reducing power equivalents (NADPH and NADH) cofactors. The flux analysis (2 flux maps generated, for control and low nitrogen in culture medium) clearly showed that in low nitrogen-fed cells all the metabolic fluxes of central metabolism were decreased, whereas fluxes that consume energy and reducing power, were either increased (upper part of glycolysis, shikimate, and flavonoid pathway) or maintained (pentose phosphate pathway). Also, fluxes of flavanone 3β-hydroxylase, flavonol synthase, and anthocyanidin synthase were strongly increased, advocating for a regulation of the flavonoid pathway by alpha-ketoglutarate levels. These results strongly support the hypothesis of anthocyanin biosynthesis acting as an energy escape valve in plant cells, and they open new possibilities to manipulate flavonoid production in plant cells. They do not, however, support a role of anthocyanins as an effective mechanism for coping with carbon excess in high carbon to nitrogen ratio situations in grape cells. Instead, constraint-based modeling output and biomass analysis indicate that carbon excess is dealt with by vacuolar storage of soluble sugars.

How a Museum Discovered the Transforming Power of Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eberle, Scott G.

2008-01-01

In 2006 the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York reopened as the Strong National Museum of Play. Devising a new interpretive plan proved crucial to transforming the institution's mission and decisive in leading toward a $37 million expansion that drove strong gains in attendance. Still, the new interpretive direction, articulated in the museum's…

Foraminiferal Metabolism Under Hypoxia: Sub-Cellular NanoSIMS Imaging of Intertidal Ammonia tepida Feeding Behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LeKieffre, C.; Spangenberg, J.; Geslin, E.; Meibom, A.

2016-02-01

Hypoxic events particularly affect benthic ecosystems on continental shelves and in coastal areas where renewal of bottom waters slow. Foraminifera living in such environments are among the most tolerant to hypoxia in the meiofauna. Some foraminifera species are able to survive hypoxia, and even anoxia, for weeks to months. Different species must have developed different mechanisms for survival - hypotheses include reduction of the metabolism, symbiosis with bacteria, or denitrification. NanoSIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) imaging is a powerful analytical technique to visualize and quantify the incorporation and transfer of isotopically labeled compounds in organisms with subcellular resolution. We used NanoSIMS imaging, correlated with TEM ultrastructural observations of individual foraminifera, to study the metabolism of intertidal Ammonia tepida, which has shown strongly reduced metabolism under anoxia. Individuals were fed with a 13C-labeled microalgal biofilm and incubated for 4 weeks in oxic and anoxic conditions, respectively. NanoSIMS imaging reveal strongly contrasting cellular-level dynamics of integration and transfer of the ingested biofilm components under the two conditions. In oxic conditions, ingested biofilm components are internalized, metabolized, and used for biosynthesis of different cellular components on a time scale of 24 hours: Lipid droplets are formed, then consumed through respiration. In contrast, upon the onset of anoxia, individual internalized biofilm components remain visible within the cytoplasm after 4 weeks. Lipids of different compositions are initially formed but then not respired. These observations indicate that foraminifera do initially have an active heterotrophic metabolism in the absence of oxygen, but this it is strongly reduced when oxygen is no longer available. Isotopic labeling experiments, NanoSIMS and TEM imaging, and GC-MS will be key to study metabolic mechanisms under anoxic conditions in marine environments.

Hepatoprotective, antinociceptive and antioxidant activities of cimetidine, ranitidine and famotidine as histamine H2 receptor antagonists.

PubMed

Ahmadi, Amirhossein; Ebrahimzadeh, Mohammad Ali; Ahmad-Ashrafi, Saeb; Karami, Mohammad; Mahdavi, Mohammad Reza; Saravi, Seyed Soheil Saeedi

2011-02-01

The antioxidant, antinociceptive and hepatoprotective effects of H(2) receptor blockers were examined with different experimental models. Antioxidant activities were determined by employing various in vitro assay systems such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity assays, reducing power determination assays, nitric oxide-scavenging activity assays and hydrogen peroxide-scavenging activity assays. Antinociceptive effects were determined using the hot plate test in mice. The hepatoprotective effects of cimetidine, ranitidine and famotidine against hepatotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4) ) were determined by measuring the levels of serum enzymes alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities in mice. We found that the IC(50) values of cimetidine, ranitidine and famotidine on DPPH radical-scavenging activity were 671±28, 538±21 and 955±43 μg/mL, respectively. Famotidine showed very strong nitric oxide-scavenging activity. All three compounds showed very weak hydrogen peroxide-scavenging activity. Moreover, the compounds did not exhibit any reducing power activity until concentrations of 1.6 mg/mL. All compounds also showed a dose-dependent and marked analgesic activity in mice relative to controls. Pretreatment of mice with cimetidine, ranitidine or famotidine for three consecutive days reduced CCl(4)-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Treatment with 200 mg/kg ranitidine reduced AST, AST and ALP serum levels, while 200 and 40 mg/kg of cimetidine and famotidine, respectively, reduced AST and ALP serum levels. H(2) blockers exhibited varying levels of antioxidant activities in various assays. Our results indicate that the antioxidant activities of H(2) blockers have an analgesic activity and protective effect on CCl(4)-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. These effects were greater with ranitidine than with the other compounds. © 2010 The Authors Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology © 2010 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.

Divertor, scrape-off layer and pedestal particle dynamics in the ELM cycle on ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laggner, F. M.; Keerl, S.; Gnilsen, J.; Wolfrum, E.; Bernert, M.; Carralero, D.; Guimarais, L.; Nikolaeva, V.; Potzel, S.; Cavedon, M.; Mink, F.; Dunne, M. G.; Birkenmeier, G.; Fischer, R.; Viezzer, E.; Willensdorfer, M.; Wischmeier, M.; Aumayr, F.; the EUROfusion MST1 Team; the ASDEX Upgrade Team

2018-02-01

In addition to the relaxation of the pedestal, edge localised modes (ELMs) introduce changes to the divertor and scrape-off layer (SOL) conditions. Their impact on the inter-ELM pedestal recovery is investigated, with emphasis on the electron density (n e) evolution. The typical ELM cycle occurring in an exemplary ASDEX Upgrade discharge interval at moderate applied gas puff and heating power is characterised, utilising several divertor, SOL and pedestal diagnostics. In the studied discharge interval the inner divertor target is detached before the ELM crash, while the outer target is attached. The particles and power expelled by the ELM crash lead to a re-attachment of the inner target plasma. After the ELM crash, the outer divertor target moves into a high recycling regime with large n e in front of the plate, which is accompanied by high main chamber neutral fluxes. On similar timescales, the inner target fully detaches and the high field side high density region (HFSHD) is formed reaching up to the high field side midplane. This state evolves again to the pre-ELM state, when the main chamber neutral fluxes are reduced later in the ELM cycle. Neither the timescale of the appearance of the HFSHD nor the increase of the main chamber neutral fluxes fit the timescale of the n e pedestal, which is faster. It is found that during the n e pedestal recovery, the magnetic activity at the low field side midplane is strongly reduced indicating a lower level of fluctuations. A rough estimation of the particle flux across the pedestal suggests that the particle flux is reduced in this period. In conclusion, the evolution of the n e pedestal is determined by a combination of neutral fluxes, HFSHD and reduced particle flux across the pedestal. A reduced particle flux explains the fast, experimentally observed re-establishment of the n e pedestal best, whereas neutrals and HFSHD impact on the evolution of the SOL and separatrix conditions.

Comparison of tokamak behaviour with tungsten and low-Z plasma facing materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philipps, V.; Neu, R.; Rapp, J.; Samm, U.; Tokar, M.; Tanabe, T.; Rubel, M.

2000-12-01

Graphite wall materials are used in present day fusion devices in order to optimize plasma core performance and to enable access to a large operational space. A large physics database exists for operation with these plasma facing materials, which also indicate their use in future devices with extended burn times. The radiation from carbon impurities in the edge and divertor regions strongly helps to reduce the peak power loads on the strike areas, but carbon radiation also supports the formation of MARFE instabilities which can hinder access to high densities. The main concerns with graphite are associated with its strong chemical affinity to hydrogen, which leads to chemical erosion and to the formation of hydrogen-rich carbon layers. These layers can store a significant fraction of the total tritium fuel, which might prevent the use of these materials in future tritium devices. High-Z plasma facing materials are much more advantageous in this sense, but these advantages compete with the strong poisoning of the plasma if they enter the plasma core. New promising experiences have been obtained with high-Z wall materials in several devices, about which a survey is given in this paper and which also addresses open questions for future research and development work.

Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Perceived Stress Scores and Autonomic Function Tests of Pregnant Indian Women.

PubMed

Muthukrishnan, Shobitha; Jain, Reena; Kohli, Sangeeta; Batra, Swaraj

2016-04-01

Various pregnancy complications like hypertension, preeclampsia have been strongly correlated with maternal stress. One of the connecting links between pregnancy complications and maternal stress is mind-body intervention which can be part of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Biologic measures of stress during pregnancy may get reduced by such interventions. To evaluate the effect of Mindfulness meditation on perceived stress scores and autonomic function tests of pregnant Indian women. Pregnant Indian women of 12 weeks gestation were randomised to two treatment groups: Test group with Mindfulness meditation and control group with their usual obstetric care. The effect of Mindfulness meditation on perceived stress scores and cardiac sympathetic functions and parasympathetic functions (Heart rate variation with respiration, lying to standing ratio, standing to lying ratio and respiratory rate) were evaluated on pregnant Indian women. There was a significant decrease in perceived stress scores, a significant decrease of blood pressure response to cold pressor test and a significant increase in heart rate variability in the test group (p< 0.05, significant) which indicates that mindfulness meditation is a powerful modulator of the sympathetic nervous system and can thereby reduce the day-to-day perceived stress in pregnant women. The results of this study suggest that mindfulness meditation improves parasympathetic functions in pregnant women and is a powerful modulator of the sympathetic nervous system during pregnancy.

C-fiber-related EEG-oscillations induced by laser radiant heat stimulation of capsaicin-treated skin

PubMed Central

Domnick, Claudia; Hauck, Michael; Casey, Kenneth L; Engel, Andreas K; Lorenz, Jürgen

2009-01-01

Nociceptive input reaches the brain via two different types of nerve fibers, moderately fast A-delta and slowly conducting C-fibers, respectively. To explore their distinct roles in normal and inflammatory pain we used laser stimulation of normal and capsaicin treated skin at proximal and distal arm sites in combination with time frequency transformation of electroencephalography (EEG) data. Comparison of phase-locked (evoked) and non-phase-locked (total) EEG to laser stimuli revealed three significant pain-related oscillatory responses. First, an evoked response in the delta-theta band, mediated by A-fibers, was reduced by topical capsaicin treatment. Second, a decrease of total power in the alpha-to-gamma band reflected both an A- and C-nociceptor-mediated response with only the latter being reduced by capsaicin treatment. Finally, an enhancement of total power in the upper beta band was mediated exclusively by C-nociceptors and appeared strongly augmented by capsaicin treatment. These findings suggest that phase-locking of brain activity to stimulus onset is a critical feature of A-delta nociceptive input, allowing rapid orientation to salient and potentially threatening events. In contrast, the subsequent C-nociceptive input exhibits clearly less phase coupling to the stimulus. It may primarily signal the tissue status allowing more long-term behavioral adaptations during ongoing inflammatory events that accompany tissue damage. PMID:21197293

Bio-screening of a few green seaweeds from India for their cytotoxic and antioxidant potential.

PubMed

Vinayak, Rashmi C; Sudha, Sabu Appukuttan; Chatterji, Anil

2011-10-01

It has been evidenced in several epidemiological studies that seaweeds when consumed as diet protect against several chronic oxidative stress-related diseases. Seaweeds, raw, cooked, or dried, are used as food in many cultures, although not very popularly in India. Globally, several studies have indicated that seaweeds are a rich source of phenolic compounds and have antioxidant properties. In the present study, we screened methanolic extracts (MEs) of five species of green seaweeds commonly found in India for their cytotoxic activity by brine shrimp lethality assay and antioxidant properties using various in vitro assays, including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, reducing power and metal ion chelating assays. A markedly variable, dose-dependent activity was observed in all the seaweed extracts relative to their total phenolic content. Statistical analysis indicated a significantly strong correlation between the DPPH radical scavenging activity and total phenolic content (R(2) = 0.88, P < 0.05) as well as reducing power and total phenolic content (R(2) = 0.99, P < 0.01) of the dry MEs. Also, a very poor correlation between total phenolic content and metal chelating activity (R(2) = 0.13, P > 0.05) was noted. None of the seaweed extracts were potently cytotoxic. The underlying results endorse seaweeds as a rich, novel source of antioxidant compounds needing systemic exploration. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

Nonlinear Dynamics of Vortices in Different Types of Grain Boundaries

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

Sheikhzada, Ahmad

As a major component of linear particle accelerators, superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) resonator cavities are required to operate with lowest energy dissipation and highest accelerating gradient. SRF cavities are made of polycrystalline materials in which grain boundaries can limit maximum RF currents and produce additional power dissipation sources due to local penetration of Josephson vortices. The essential physics of vortex penetration and mechanisms of dissipation of vortices driven by strong RF currents along networks of grain boundaries and their contribution to the residual surface resistance have not been well understood. To evaluate how GBs can limit the performance of SRF materials,more » particularly Nb and Nb3Sn, we performed extensive numerical simulations of nonlinear dynamics of Josephson vortices in grain boundaries under strong dc and RF fields. The RF power due to penetration of vortices both in weakly-coupled and strongly-coupled grain boundaries was calculated as functions of the RF field and frequency. The result of this calculation manifested a quadratic dependence of power to field amplitude at strong RF currents, an illustration of resistive behavior of grain boundaries. Our calculations also showed that the surface resistance is a complicated function of field controlled by penetration and annihilation of vortices and antivortices in strong RF fields which ultimately saturates to normal resistivity of grain boundary. We found that Cherenkov radiation of rapidly moving vortices in grain boundaries can produce a new instability causing generation of expanding vortex-antivortex pair which ultimately drives the entire GB in a resistive state. This effect is more pronounced in polycrystalline thin film and multilayer coating structures in which it can cause significant increase in power dissipation and results in hysteresis effects in I-V characteristics, particularly at low temperatures.« less

Transforming from Economic Power to Soft Power: Challenges for Managing Education for Migrant Workers' Children and Human Capital in Chinese Cities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mok, Ka Ho; Wong, Yu Cheung; Guo, Yu

2011-01-01

In July 2010, the State Council of the People's Republic of China published an "Outline for National Educational Development" with a strong conviction to transform China from an economic power into a country of "soft power" and "strength in human resources". In order to realize such a policy goal, the Chinese…

The inner mass power spectrum of galaxies using strong gravitational lensing: beyond linear approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatterjee, Saikat; Koopmans, Léon V. E.

2018-02-01

In the last decade, the detection of individual massive dark matter sub-haloes has been possible using potential correction formalism in strong gravitational lens imaging. Here, we propose a statistical formalism to relate strong gravitational lens surface brightness anomalies to the lens potential fluctuations arising from dark matter distribution in the lens galaxy. We consider these fluctuations as a Gaussian random field in addition to the unperturbed smooth lens model. This is very similar to weak lensing formalism and we show that in this way we can measure the power spectrum of these perturbations to the potential. We test the method by applying it to simulated mock lenses of different geometries and by performing an MCMC analysis of the theoretical power spectra. This method can measure density fluctuations in early type galaxies on scales of 1-10 kpc at typical rms levels of a per cent, using a single lens system observed with the Hubble Space Telescope with typical signal-to-noise ratios obtained in a single orbit.

Density matrix embedding in an antisymmetrized geminal power bath

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

Tsuchimochi, Takashi; Welborn, Matthew; Van Voorhis, Troy, E-mail: tvan@mit.edu

2015-07-14

Density matrix embedding theory (DMET) has emerged as a powerful tool for performing wave function-in-wave function embedding for strongly correlated systems. In traditional DMET, an accurate calculation is performed on a small impurity embedded in a mean field bath. Here, we extend the original DMET equations to account for correlation in the bath via an antisymmetrized geminal power (AGP) wave function. The resulting formalism has a number of advantages. First, it allows one to properly treat the weak correlation limit of independent pairs, which DMET is unable to do with a mean-field bath. Second, it associates a size extensive correlationmore » energy with a given density matrix (for the models tested), which AGP by itself is incapable of providing. Third, it provides a reasonable description of charge redistribution in strongly correlated but non-periodic systems. Thus, AGP-DMET appears to be a good starting point for describing electron correlation in molecules, which are aperiodic and possess both strong and weak electron correlation.« less

Multi-millijoule few-cycle mid-infrared pulses through nonlinear self-compression in bulk

PubMed Central

Shumakova, V.; Malevich, P.; Ališauskas, S.; Voronin, A.; Zheltikov, A. M.; Faccio, D.; Kartashov, D.; Baltuška, A.; Pugžlys, A.

2016-01-01

The physics of strong-field applications requires driver laser pulses that are both energetic and extremely short. Whereas optical amplifiers, laser and parametric, boost the energy, their gain bandwidth restricts the attainable pulse duration, requiring additional nonlinear spectral broadening to enable few or even single cycle compression and a corresponding peak power increase. Here we demonstrate, in the mid-infrared wavelength range that is important for scaling the ponderomotive energy in strong-field interactions, a simple energy-efficient and scalable soliton-like pulse compression in a mm-long yttrium aluminium garnet crystal with no additional dispersion management. Sub-three-cycle pulses with >0.44 TW peak power are compressed and extracted before the onset of modulation instability and multiple filamentation as a result of a favourable interplay between strong anomalous dispersion and optical nonlinearity around the wavelength of 3.9 μm. As a manifestation of the increased peak power, we show the evidence of mid-infrared pulse filamentation in atmospheric air. PMID:27620117

Reduction of Focal Shift Effects in Industrial Laser Beam Welding by Means of Innovative Protection Glass Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hemmerich, Malte; Thiel, Christiane; Lupp, Friedrich; Hanebuth, Henning; Weber, Rudolf; Graf, Thomas

High-power laser beam welding in industrial environment often suffers from process induced contamination of laser focusing optics. Especially exposed to this contamination is the plane protection glass which is positioned directly above the process to protect the expensive lenses from contaminations such as spatter and metal vapor. Locally increased absorption due to con-tamination leads to a temperature rise in the protection glass and a corresponding change of its optical characteristics. This results in a reduced beam quality and a shift of the focus position. Both effects lead to a reduced intensity of radiation on the workpiece causing a lower welding penetration depth. In this article we present laser beam measurements using laser processing optics with protection glasses of different materials and different grades of contamination. Welds in mild steel illustrate the extraordinary advantage of sapphire protection glasses, allowing a constant welding depth even when they are strongly contaminated. Welding results, beam caustic measurements and an estimation of economic efficiency will be shown.

Synergetic antibacterial activity of reduced graphene oxide and boron doped diamond anode in three dimensional electrochemical oxidation system

PubMed Central

Qi, Xiujuan; Wang, Ting; Long, Yujiao; Ni, Jinren

2015-01-01

A 100% increment of antibacterial ability has been achieved due to significant synergic effects of boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coupled in a three dimensional electrochemical oxidation system. The rGO, greatly enhanced by BDD driven electric field, demonstrated strong antibacterial ability and even sustained its excellent performance during a reasonable period after complete power cut in the BDD-rGO system. Cell damage experiments and TEM observation confirmed much stronger membrane stress in the BDD-rGO system, due to the faster bacterial migration and charge transfer by the expanded electro field and current-carrying efficiency by quantum tunnel. Reciprocally the hydroxyl-radical production was eminently promoted with expanded area of electrodes and delayed recombination of the electron–hole pairs in presence of the rGO in the system. This implied a huge potential for practical disinfection with integration of the promising rGO and the advanced electrochemical oxidation systems. PMID:25994309

Oxidation behaviour of silicon-free tungsten alloys for use as the first wall material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koch, F.; Brinkmann, J.; Lindig, S.; Mishra, T. P.; Linsmeier, Ch

2011-12-01

The use of self-passivating tungsten alloys as armour material of the first wall of a fusion power reactor may be advantageous concerning safety issues. In earlier studies good performance of the system W-Cr-Si was demonstrated. Thin films of such alloys showed a strongly reduced oxidation rate compared to pure tungsten. However, the formation of brittle tungsten silicides may be disadvantageous for the powder metallurgical production of bulk W-Cr-Si alloys if a good workability is needed. This paper shows the results of screening tests to identify suitable silicon-free alloys with distinguished self-passivation and a potentially good workability. Of all the tested systems W-Cr-Ti alloys showed the most promising results. The oxidation rate was even lower than the one of W-Cr-Si alloys, the reduction factor was about four orders of magnitude compared to pure tungsten. This performance could be conserved even if the content of alloying elements was reduced.

Synthetic Vortex Generator Jets Used to Control Separation on Low-Pressure Turbine Airfoils

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ashpis, David E.; Volino, Ralph J.

2005-01-01

Low-pressure turbine (LPT) airfoils are subject to increasingly stronger pressure gradients as designers impose higher loading in an effort to improve efficiency and lower cost by reducing the number of airfoils in an engine. When the adverse pressure gradient on the suction side of these airfoils becomes strong enough, the boundary layer will separate. Separation bubbles, particularly those that fail to reattach, can result in a significant loss of lift and a subsequent degradation of engine efficiency. The problem is particularly relevant in aircraft engines. Airfoils optimized to produce maximum power under takeoff conditions may still experience boundary layer separation at cruise conditions because of the thinner air and lower Reynolds numbers at altitude. Component efficiency can drop significantly between takeoff and cruise conditions. The decrease is about 2 percent in large commercial transport engines, and it could be as large as 7 percent in smaller engines operating at higher altitudes. Therefore, it is very beneficial to eliminate, or at least reduce, the separation bubble.

Chemical aspects of uranium behavior in soils: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vodyanitskii, Yu. N.

2011-08-01

Uranium has varying degrees of oxidation (+4 and +6) and is responsive to changes in the redox potential of the environment. It is deposited at the reduction barrier with the participation of biota and at the sorption barrier under oxidative conditions. Iron (hydr)oxides are the strongest sorbents of uranium. Uranium, being an element of medium biological absorption, can accumulate (relative to thorium) in the humus horizons of some soils. The high content of uranium in uncontaminated soils is most frequently inherited from the parent rocks in the regions of positive U anomalies: in the soils developed on oil shales and in the marginal zone of bogs at the reduction barrier. The development of nuclear and coal-fired power engineering resulted in the environmental contamination with uranium. The immobilization of anthropogenic uranium at artificial geochemical barriers is based on two preconditions: the stimulation of on-site metal-reducing bacteria or the introduction of strong mineral reducers, e.g., Fe at low degrees of oxidation.

Reducing financial avalanches by random investments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biondo, Alessio Emanuele; Pluchino, Alessandro; Rapisarda, Andrea; Helbing, Dirk

2013-12-01

Building on similarities between earthquakes and extreme financial events, we use a self-organized criticality-generating model to study herding and avalanche dynamics in financial markets. We consider a community of interacting investors, distributed in a small-world network, who bet on the bullish (increasing) or bearish (decreasing) behavior of the market which has been specified according to the S&P 500 historical time series. Remarkably, we find that the size of herding-related avalanches in the community can be strongly reduced by the presence of a relatively small percentage of traders, randomly distributed inside the network, who adopt a random investment strategy. Our findings suggest a promising strategy to limit the size of financial bubbles and crashes. We also obtain that the resulting wealth distribution of all traders corresponds to the well-known Pareto power law, while that of random traders is exponential. In other words, for technical traders, the risk of losses is much greater than the probability of gains compared to those of random traders.

Reducing financial avalanches by random investments.

PubMed

Biondo, Alessio Emanuele; Pluchino, Alessandro; Rapisarda, Andrea; Helbing, Dirk

2013-12-01

Building on similarities between earthquakes and extreme financial events, we use a self-organized criticality-generating model to study herding and avalanche dynamics in financial markets. We consider a community of interacting investors, distributed in a small-world network, who bet on the bullish (increasing) or bearish (decreasing) behavior of the market which has been specified according to the S&P 500 historical time series. Remarkably, we find that the size of herding-related avalanches in the community can be strongly reduced by the presence of a relatively small percentage of traders, randomly distributed inside the network, who adopt a random investment strategy. Our findings suggest a promising strategy to limit the size of financial bubbles and crashes. We also obtain that the resulting wealth distribution of all traders corresponds to the well-known Pareto power law, while that of random traders is exponential. In other words, for technical traders, the risk of losses is much greater than the probability of gains compared to those of random traders.

Discontinuous Galerkin algorithms for fully kinetic plasmas

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

Juno, J.; Hakim, A.; TenBarge, J.

Here, we present a new algorithm for the discretization of the non-relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell system of equations for the study of plasmas in the kinetic regime. Using the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for the spatial discretization, we obtain a high order accurate solution for the plasma's distribution function. Time stepping for the distribution function is done explicitly with a third order strong-stability preserving Runge–Kutta method. Since the Vlasov equation in the Vlasov–Maxwell system is a high dimensional transport equation, up to six dimensions plus time, we take special care to note various features we have implemented to reduce the costmore » while maintaining the integrity of the solution, including the use of a reduced high-order basis set. A series of benchmarks, from simple wave and shock calculations, to a five dimensional turbulence simulation, are presented to verify the efficacy of our set of numerical methods, as well as demonstrate the power of the implemented features.« less

Discontinuous Galerkin algorithms for fully kinetic plasmas

DOE PAGES

Juno, J.; Hakim, A.; TenBarge, J.; ...

2017-10-10

Here, we present a new algorithm for the discretization of the non-relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell system of equations for the study of plasmas in the kinetic regime. Using the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for the spatial discretization, we obtain a high order accurate solution for the plasma's distribution function. Time stepping for the distribution function is done explicitly with a third order strong-stability preserving Runge–Kutta method. Since the Vlasov equation in the Vlasov–Maxwell system is a high dimensional transport equation, up to six dimensions plus time, we take special care to note various features we have implemented to reduce the costmore » while maintaining the integrity of the solution, including the use of a reduced high-order basis set. A series of benchmarks, from simple wave and shock calculations, to a five dimensional turbulence simulation, are presented to verify the efficacy of our set of numerical methods, as well as demonstrate the power of the implemented features.« less

Global Wind Map

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of College Science Teaching, 2005

2005-01-01

This brief article describes a new global wind-power map that has quantified global wind power and may help planners place turbines in locations that can maximize power from the winds and provide widely available low-cost energy. The researchers report that their study can assist in locating wind farms in regions known for strong and consistent…

An accelerated calendar and cycle life study of Li-ion cells.

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

Bloom, I.; Cole, B. W.; Sohn, J. J.

2001-10-15

The accelerated calendar and cycle life of lithium-ion cells was studied. Useful cell life was strongly affected by temperature, time, state-of-charge (SOC) and change in state-of-charge ({Delta}SOC). In calendar life experiments, useful cell life was strongly affected by temperature and time. Temperature accelerated cell performance degradation. The rates of area specific impedance (ASI) increase and power fade followed simple laws based on a power of time and Arrhenius kinetics. The data have been modeled using these two concepts and the calculated data agree well with the experimental values. The calendar life ASI increase and power fade data follow (time){sup 1/2}more » kinetics. This behavior may be due to solid electrolyte interface layer growth. From the cycle life experiments, the ASI increase data follow (time){sup 1/2} kinetics also, but there is an apparent change in overall power fade mechanism when going from 3 to 6% {Delta}SOC. Here, the power of time drops to below 1/2, which indicates that the power fade mechanism is more complex than layer growth.« less

Small angle slot divertor concept for long pulse advanced tokamaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, H. Y.; Sang, C. F.; Stangeby, P. C.; Lao, L. L.; Taylor, T. S.; Thomas, D. M.

2017-04-01

SOLPS-EIRENE edge code analysis shows that a gas-tight slot divertor geometry with a small-angle (glancing-incidence) target, named the small angle slot (SAS) divertor, can achieve cold, dissipative/detached divertor conditions at relatively low values of plasma density at the outside midplane separatrix. SAS exhibits the following key features: (1) strong enhancement of the buildup of neutral density in a localized region near the plasma strike point on the divertor target; (2) spreading of the cooling front across the divertor target with the slot gradually flaring out from the strike point, thus effectively reducing both heat flux and erosion on the entire divertor target surface. Such a divertor may potentially provide a power and particle handling solution for long pulse advanced tokamaks.

LIGHT-SABRE enables efficient in-magnet catalytic hyperpolarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Theis, Thomas; Truong, Milton; Coffey, Aaron M.; Chekmenev, Eduard Y.; Warren, Warren S.

2014-11-01

Nuclear spin hyperpolarization overcomes the sensitivity limitations of traditional NMR and MRI, but the most general method demonstrated to date (dynamic nuclear polarization) has significant limitations in scalability, cost, and complex apparatus design. As an alternative, signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) of parahydrogen on transition metal catalysts can hyperpolarize a variety of substrates, but to date this scheme has required transfer of the sample to low magnetic field or very strong RF irradiation. Here we demonstrate "Low-Irradiation Generation of High Tesla-SABRE" (LIGHT-SABRE) which works with simple pulse sequences and low power deposition; it should be usable at any magnetic field and for hyperpolarization of many different nuclei. This approach could drastically reduce the cost and complexity of producing hyperpolarized molecules.

CPV cells cooling system based on submerged jet impingement: CFD modeling and experimental validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montorfano, Davide; Gaetano, Antonio; Barbato, Maurizio C.; Ambrosetti, Gianluca; Pedretti, Andrea

2014-09-01

Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) cells offer higher efficiencies with regard to the PV ones and allow to strongly reduce the overall solar cell area. However, to operate correctly and exploit their advantages, their temperature has to be kept low and as uniform as possible and the cooling circuit pressure drops need to be limited. In this work an impingement water jet cooling system specifically designed for an industrial HCPV receiver is studied. Through the literature and by means of accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the nozzle to plate distance, the number of jets and the nozzle pitch, i.e. the distance between adjacent jets, were optimized. Afterwards, extensive experimental tests were performed to validate pressure drops and cooling power simulation results.

Sexual misbehaviour in the Australian Defence Force.

PubMed

Williams, Angela; Ranson, David

2013-12-01

It is clear from recent media reporting that serious issues have come to light regarding sexual misbehaviour matters within the Australian Defence Force. Subsequent reviews have indicated that these behaviours appear to have been more widespread than the initial media reports suggested and a number of reviews have been undertaken to better understand the problem and address the concerns of victims, Defence command, government and the community. If these problems are not addressed, there is a risk that recruitment to the Defence Forces may become problematic. The strong command structures within the Defence Forces can both exacerbate these misbehaviours through entrenching secrecy and at the same time have the capacity to provide a powerful leadership message that can change attitudes and reduce such misbehaviours.

Experimental investigation of the ECRH stray radiation during the start-up phase in Wendelstein 7-X

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moseev, Dmitry; Laqua, Heinrich; Marsen, Stefan; Stange, Torsten; Braune, Harald; Erckmann, Volker; Gellert, Florian; Oosterbeek, Johann Wilhelm; Wenzel, Uwe

2017-07-01

Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) is the main heating mechanism in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator (W7-X). W7-X is equipped with five absolutely calibrated sniffer probes that are installed in each of the five modules of the device. The sniffer probes monitor energy flux of unabsorbed ECRH radiation in the device and interlocks are fed with the sniffer probe signals. The stray radiation level in the device changes significantly during the start-up phase: plasma is a strong microwave absorber and during its formation the stray radiation level in sniffer probes reduces by more than 95%. In this paper, we discuss the influence of neutral gas pressure and gyrotron power on plasma breakdown processes.

Electromagnetic diode based on photonic crystal cavity with embedded highly dispersive meta-interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yongqiang; Dong, Lijuan; Xu, Xiaohu; Jiang, Jun; Shi, Yunlong

2017-12-01

In this paper, we propose a scheme for subwavelength electromagnetic diodes by employing a photonic crystal (PC) cavity with embedded electromagnetically induced-transparency (EIT)-like highly dispersive meta-interface. A nonreciprocal response, with 21.5 dB transmission light contrast and 12.3 dBm working power, is conceptually demonstrated in a microstrip transmission line system with asymmetric absorption and nonlinear medium inclusion. Such high-contrast transmission and relatively low-threshold diode action stem from the composite PC-EIT mechanism. This mechanism not only possesses a large quality factor and strong localization of fields but also does not enlarge the device volume and drastically reduce transmittance. Our findings should be beneficial for the design of new and practical metamaterial-enabled nonlinear devices.

Band-to-band tunneling in a carbon nanotube metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is dominated by phonon-assisted tunneling.

PubMed

Koswatta, Siyuranga O; Lundstrom, Mark S; Nikonov, Dmitri E

2007-05-01

Band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) devices have recently gained a lot of interest due to their potential for reducing power dissipation in integrated circuits. We have performed extensive simulations for the BTBT operation of carbon nanotube metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (CNT-MOSFETs) using the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism for both ballistic and dissipative quantum transport. In comparison with recently reported experimental data (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 3518-3519), we have obtained strong evidence that BTBT in CNT-MOSFETs is dominated by optical phonon assisted inelastic transport, which can have important implications on the transistor characteristics. It is shown that, under large biasing conditions, two-phonon scattering may also become important.

Impact of Various Charge States of Hydrogen on Passivation of Dislocation in Silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Lihui; Lou, Jingjing; Fu, Jiayi; Ji, Zhenguo

2018-03-01

Dislocation, one of typical crystallographic defects in silicon, is detrimental to the minority carrier lifetime of silicon wafer. Hydrogen passivation is able to reduce the recombination activity of dislocation, however, the passivation efficacy is strongly dependent on the experimental conditions. In this paper, a model based on the theory of hydrogen charge state control is proposed to explain the passivation efficacy of dislocation correlated to the peak temperature of thermal annealing and illumination intensity. Experimental results support the prediction of the model that a mix of positively charged hydrogen and negatively charged hydrogen at certain ratio can maximise the passivation efficacy of dislocation, leading to a better power conversion efficiency of silicon solar cell with dislocation in it.

Relativistic electromagnetic waves in an electron-ion plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chian, Abraham C.-L.; Kennel, Charles F.

1987-01-01

High power laser beams can drive plasma particles to relativistic energies. An accurate description of strong waves requires the inclusion of ion dynamics in the analysis. The equations governing the propagation of relativistic electromagnetic waves in a cold electron-ion plasma can be reduced to two equations expressing conservation of energy-momentum of the system. The two conservation constants are functions of the plasma stream velocity, the wave velocity, the wave amplitude, and the electron-ion mass ratio. The dynamic parameter, expressing electron-ion momentum conversation in the laboratory frame, can be regarded as an adjustable quantity, a suitable choice of which will yield self-consistent solutions when other plasma parameters were specified. Circularly polarized electromagnetic waves and electrostatic plasma waves are used as illustrations.

Power pulsing of the CMOS sensor Mimosa 26

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuprash, Oleg

2013-12-01

Mimosa 26 is a monolithic active pixel sensor developed by IPHC (Strasbourg) & IRFU (Saclay) as a prototype for the ILC vertex detector studies. The resolution requirements for the ILC tracking detector are very extreme, demanding very low material in the detector, thus only air cooling can be considered. Power consumption has to be reduced as far as possible. The beam structure of the ILC allows the possibility of power pulsing: only for about the 1 ms long bunch train full power is required, and during the 199 ms long pauses between the bunch trains the power can be reduced to a minimum. Not being adapted for the power pulsing, the sensor shows in laboratory tests a good performance under power pulsing. The power pulsing allows to significantly reduce the heating of the chip and divides power consumption approximately by a factor of 6. In this report a summary of power pulsing studies using the digital readout of Mimosa 26 is given.

A Glucose Fuel Cell for Implantable Brain–Machine Interfaces

PubMed Central

Rapoport, Benjamin I.; Kedzierski, Jakub T.; Sarpeshkar, Rahul

2012-01-01

We have developed an implantable fuel cell that generates power through glucose oxidation, producing steady-state power and up to peak power. The fuel cell is manufactured using a novel approach, employing semiconductor fabrication techniques, and is therefore well suited for manufacture together with integrated circuits on a single silicon wafer. Thus, it can help enable implantable microelectronic systems with long-lifetime power sources that harvest energy from their surrounds. The fuel reactions are mediated by robust, solid state catalysts. Glucose is oxidized at the nanostructured surface of an activated platinum anode. Oxygen is reduced to water at the surface of a self-assembled network of single-walled carbon nanotubes, embedded in a Nafion film that forms the cathode and is exposed to the biological environment. The catalytic electrodes are separated by a Nafion membrane. The availability of fuel cell reactants, oxygen and glucose, only as a mixture in the physiologic environment, has traditionally posed a design challenge: Net current production requires oxidation and reduction to occur separately and selectively at the anode and cathode, respectively, to prevent electrochemical short circuits. Our fuel cell is configured in a half-open geometry that shields the anode while exposing the cathode, resulting in an oxygen gradient that strongly favors oxygen reduction at the cathode. Glucose reaches the shielded anode by diffusing through the nanotube mesh, which does not catalyze glucose oxidation, and the Nafion layers, which are permeable to small neutral and cationic species. We demonstrate computationally that the natural recirculation of cerebrospinal fluid around the human brain theoretically permits glucose energy harvesting at a rate on the order of at least 1 mW with no adverse physiologic effects. Low-power brain–machine interfaces can thus potentially benefit from having their implanted units powered or recharged by glucose fuel cells. PMID:22719888

Topography, power, and current source density of θ oscillations during reward processing as markers for alcohol dependence.

PubMed

Kamarajan, Chella; Rangaswamy, Madhavi; Manz, Niklas; Chorlian, David B; Pandey, Ashwini K; Roopesh, Bangalore N; Porjesz, Bernice

2012-05-01

Recent studies have linked alcoholism with a dysfunctional neural reward system. Although several electrophysiological studies have explored reward processing in healthy individuals, such studies in alcohol-dependent individuals are quite rare. The present study examines theta oscillations during reward processing in abstinent alcoholics. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in 38 abstinent alcoholics and 38 healthy controls as they performed a single outcome gambling task, which involved outcomes of either loss or gain of an amount (10 or 50¢) that was bet. Event-related theta band (3.0-7.0 Hz) power following each outcome stimulus was computed using the S-transform method. Theta power at the time window of the outcome-related negativity (ORN) and positivity (ORP) (200-500 ms) was compared across groups and outcome conditions. Additionally, behavioral data of impulsivity and task performance were analyzed. The alcoholic group showed significantly decreased theta power during reward processing compared to controls. Current source density (CSD) maps of alcoholics revealed weaker and diffuse source activity for all conditions and weaker bilateral prefrontal sources during the Loss 50 condition when compared with controls who manifested stronger and focused midline sources. Furthermore, alcoholics exhibited increased impulsivity and risk-taking on the behavioral measures. A strong association between reduced anterior theta power and impulsive task-performance was observed. It is suggested that decreased power and weaker and diffuse CSD in alcoholics may be due to dysfunctional neural reward circuitry. The relationship among alcoholism, theta oscillations, reward processing, and impulsivity could offer clues to understand brain circuitries that mediate reward processing and inhibitory control. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Topography, Power and Current Source Density of Theta Oscillations during Reward Processing as Markers for Alcohol Dependence

PubMed Central

Kamarajan, Chella; Rangaswamy, Madhavi; Manz, Niklas; Chorlian, David B.; Pandey, Ashwini K.; Roopesh, Bangalore N.; Porjesz, Bernice

2013-01-01

Recent studies have linked alcoholism with a dysfunctional neural reward system. Although several electrophysiological studies have explored reward processing in healthy individuals, such studies in alcohol dependent individuals are quite rare. The present study examines theta oscillations during reward processing in abstinent alcoholics. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in 38 abstinent alcoholics and 38 healthy controls as they performed a single outcome gambling task which involved outcomes of either loss or gain of an amount (10¢ or 50¢) that was bet. Event-related theta band (3.0–7.0 Hz) power following each outcome stimulus was computed using the S-transform method. Theta power at the time window of the outcome-related negativity (ORN) and positivity (ORP) (200–500 ms) was compared across groups and outcome conditions. Additionally, behavioral data of impulsivity and task performance were analyzed. The alcoholic group showed significantly decreased theta power during reward processing compared to controls. Current Source Density (CSD) maps of alcoholics revealed weaker and diffuse source activity for all conditions and weaker bilateral prefrontal sources during the Loss 50 condition as compared to controls who manifested stronger and focused midline sources. Further, alcoholics exhibited increased impulsivity and risk-taking on the behavioral measures. A strong association between reduced anterior theta power and impulsive task-performance was observed. It is suggested that decreased power and weaker and diffuse CSD in alcoholics may be due to dysfunctional neural reward circuitry. The relationship among alcoholism, theta oscillations, reward processing and impulsivity could offer clues to understand brain circuitries that mediate reward processing and inhibitory control. PMID:21520344

Gaseous emissions from waste combustion.

PubMed

Werther, Joachim

2007-06-18

An overview is given on methods and technologies for limiting the gaseous emissions from waste combustion. With the guideline 2000/76/EC recent European legislation has set stringent limits not only for the mono-combustion of waste in specialized incineration plants but also for co-combustion in coal-fired power plants. With increased awareness of environmental issues and stepwise decrease of emission limits and inclusion of more and more substances into the network of regulations a multitude of emission abatement methods and technologies have been developed over the last decades. The result is the state-of-the-art waste incinerator with a number of specialized process steps for the individual components in the flue gas. The present work highlights some new developments which can be summarized under the common goal of reducing the costs of flue gas treatment by applying systems which combine the treatment of several noxious substances in one reactor or by taking new, simpler routes instead of the previously used complicated ones or - in the case of flue gas desulphurisation - by reducing the amount of limestone consumption. Cost reduction is also the driving force for new processes of conditioning of nonhomogenous waste before combustion. Pyrolysis or gasification is used for chemical conditioning whereas physical conditioning means comminution, classification and sorting processes. Conditioning yields a fuel which can be used in power plants either as a co-fuel or a mono-fuel and which will burn there under much better controlled conditions and therefore with less emissions than the nonhomogeneous waste in a conventional waste incinerator. Also for cost reasons, co-combustion of wastes in coal-fired power stations is strongly pressing into the market. Recent investigations reveal that the co-firing of waste can also have beneficial effects on the operating behavior of the boiler and on the gaseous emissions.

Improving the Nulling Beamformer Using Subspace Suppression.

PubMed

Rana, Kunjan D; Hämäläinen, Matti S; Vaina, Lucia M

2018-01-01

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) captures the magnetic fields generated by neuronal current sources with sensors outside the head. In MEG analysis these current sources are estimated from the measured data to identify the locations and time courses of neural activity. Since there is no unique solution to this so-called inverse problem, multiple source estimation techniques have been developed. The nulling beamformer (NB), a modified form of the linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) beamformer, is specifically used in the process of inferring interregional interactions and is designed to eliminate shared signal contributions, or cross-talk, between regions of interest (ROIs) that would otherwise interfere with the connectivity analyses. The nulling beamformer applies the truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD) to remove small signal contributions from a ROI to the sensor signals. However, ROIs with strong crosstalk will have high separating power in the weaker components, which may be removed by the TSVD operation. To address this issue we propose a new method, the nulling beamformer with subspace suppression (NBSS). This method, controlled by a tuning parameter, reweights the singular values of the gain matrix mapping from source to sensor space such that components with high overlap are reduced. By doing so, we are able to measure signals between nearby source locations with limited cross-talk interference, allowing for reliable cortical connectivity analysis between them. In two simulations, we demonstrated that NBSS reduces cross-talk while retaining ROIs' signal power, and has higher separating power than both the minimum norm estimate (MNE) and the nulling beamformer without subspace suppression. We also showed that NBSS successfully localized the auditory M100 event-related field in primary auditory cortex, measured from a subject undergoing an auditory localizer task, and suppressed cross-talk in a nearby region in the superior temporal sulcus.

Numerical Simulations of Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) Turbines Using the Blade Element Momentum Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Javaherchi, Teymour; Thulin, Oskar; Aliseda, Alberto

2011-11-01

Energy extraction from the available kinetic energy in tidal currents via Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) turbines has recently attracted scientists' attention as a highly predictable source of renewable energy. The strongest tidal resources have a concentrated nature that require close turbine spacing in a farm of MHK turbines. This tight spacing, however, will lead to interaction of the downstream turbines with the turbulent wake generated by upstream turbines. This interaction can significantly reduce the power generated and possibly result in structural failure before the expected service life is completed. Development of a numerical methodology to study the turbine-wake interaction can provide a tool for optimization of turbine spacing to maximize the power generated in turbine arrays. In this work, we will present numerical simulations of the flow field in a farm of horizontal axis MHK turbines using the Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT). We compare the value of integral variables (i.e. efficiency, power, torque and etc.) calculated for each turbine in the farm for different arrangements with varying streamwise and lateral offsets between turbines. We find that BEMT provides accurate estimates of turbine efficiency under uniform flow conditions, but overpredicts the efficiency of downstream turbines when they are strongly affected by the wakes. Supported by DOE through the National Northwest Marine Renewable Energy Center.

On the role of heat and mass transfer into laser processability during selective laser melting AlSi12 alloy based on a randomly packed powder-bed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lianfeng; Yan, Biao; Guo, Lijie; Gu, Dongdong

2018-04-01

A newly transient mesoscopic model with a randomly packed powder-bed has been proposed to investigate the heat and mass transfer and laser process quality between neighboring tracks during selective laser melting (SLM) AlSi12 alloy by finite volume method (FVM), considering the solid/liquid phase transition, variable temperature-dependent properties and interfacial force. The results apparently revealed that both the operating temperature and resultant cooling rate were obviously elevated by increasing the laser power. Accordingly, the resultant viscosity of liquid significantly reduced under a large laser power and was characterized with a large velocity, which was prone to result in a more intensive convection within pool. In this case, the sufficient heat and mass transfer occurred at the interface between the previously fabricated tracks and currently building track, revealing a strongly sufficient spreading between the neighboring tracks and a resultant high-quality surface without obvious porosity. By contrast, the surface quality of SLM-processed components with a relatively low laser power notably weakened due to the limited and insufficient heat and mass transfer at the interface of neighboring tracks. Furthermore, the experimental surface morphologies of the top surface were correspondingly acquired and were in full accordance to the calculated results via simulation.

Low cost space power generation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olsen, Randall B.

1991-01-01

The success of this study has given a method of fabricating durable copolymer films without size limitations. Previously, only compression molded samples were durable enough to generate electrical energy. The strengthened specimens are very long lived materials. The lifetime was enhanced at least a factor of 1,300 in full pyroelectric conversion cycle experiments compared with extruded, non-strengthened film. The new techniques proved so successful that the lifetime of the resultant copolymer samples was not fully characterized. The lifetime of these new materials is so long that accelerated tests were devised to probe their durability. After a total of more than 67 million high voltage electrical cycles at 100 C, the electrical properties of a copolymer sample remained stable. The test was terminated without any detectable degradation to allow for other experiments. One must be cautious in extrapolating to power cycle performance, but 67 million electrical cycles correspond to 2 years of pyroelectric cycling at 1 Hz. In another series of experiments at reduced temperature and electrical stress, a specimen survived over one-third of a billion electrical cycles during nearly three months of continuous testing. The radiation-limited lifetimes of the copolymer were shown to range from several years to millions of years for most earth orbits. Thus, the pyroelectric copolymer has become a strong candidate for serious consideration for future spacecraft power supplies.

A diesel fuel processor for fuel-cell-based auxiliary power unit applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samsun, Remzi Can; Krekel, Daniel; Pasel, Joachim; Prawitz, Matthias; Peters, Ralf; Stolten, Detlef

2017-07-01

Producing a hydrogen-rich gas from diesel fuel enables the efficient generation of electricity in a fuel-cell-based auxiliary power unit. In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in diesel reforming. One issue encountered is the stable operation of water-gas shift reactors with real reformates. A new fuel processor is developed using a commercial shift catalyst. The system is operated using optimized start-up and shut-down strategies. Experiments with diesel and kerosene fuels show slight performance drops in the shift reactor during continuous operation for 100 h. CO concentrations much lower than the target value are achieved during system operation in auxiliary power unit mode at partial loads of up to 60%. The regeneration leads to full recovery of the shift activity. Finally, a new operation strategy is developed whereby the gas hourly space velocity of the shift stages is re-designed. This strategy is validated using different diesel and kerosene fuels, showing a maximum CO concentration of 1.5% at the fuel processor outlet under extreme conditions, which can be tolerated by a high-temperature PEFC. The proposed operation strategy solves the issue of strong performance drop in the shift reactor and makes this technology available for reducing emissions in the transportation sector.

Thermodynamic analysis of a combined gas turbine power plant with a solid oxide fuel cell for marine applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welaya, Yousri M. A.; Mosleh, M.; Ammar, Nader R.

2013-12-01

Strong restrictions on emissions from marine power plants (particularly SOx, NOx) will probably be adopted in the near future. In this paper, a combined solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and gas turbine fuelled by natural gas is proposed as an attractive option to limit the environmental impact of the marine sector. It includes a study of a heatrecovery system for 18 MW SOFC fuelled by natural gas, to provide the electric power demand onboard commercial vessels. Feasible heat-recovery systems are investigated, taking into account different operating conditions of the combined system. Two types of SOFC are considered, tubular and planar SOFCs, operated with either natural gas or hydrogen fuels. This paper includes a detailed thermodynamic analysis for the combined system. Mass and energy balances are performed, not only for the whole plant but also for each individual component, in order to evaluate the thermal efficiency of the combined cycle. In addition, the effect of using natural gas as a fuel on the fuel cell voltage and performance is investigated. It is found that a high overall efficiency approaching 70% may be achieved with an optimum configuration using SOFC system under pressure. The hybrid system would also reduce emissions, fuel consumption, and improve the total system efficiency.

Walking with springs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugar, Thomas G.; Hollander, Kevin W.; Hitt, Joseph K.

2011-04-01

Developing bionic ankles poses great challenges due to the large moment, power, and energy that are required at the ankle. Researchers have added springs in series with a motor to reduce the peak power and energy requirements of a robotic ankle. We developed a "robotic tendon" that reduces the peak power by altering the required motor speed. By changing the required speed, the spring acts as a "load variable transmission." If a simple motor/gearbox solution is used, one walking step would require 38.8J and a peak motor power of 257 W. Using an optimized robotic tendon, the energy required is 21.2 J and the peak motor power is reduced to 96.6 W. We show that adding a passive spring in parallel with the robotic tendon reduces peak loads but the power and energy increase. Adding a passive spring in series with the robotic tendon reduces the energy requirements. We have built a prosthetic ankle SPARKy, Spring Ankle with Regenerative Kinetics, that allows a user to walk forwards, backwards, ascend and descend stairs, walk up and down slopes as well as jog.

Strength, power, and muscular endurance exercise and elite rowing ergometer performance.

PubMed

Lawton, Trent W; Cronin, John B; McGuigan, Michael R

2013-07-01

Knowledge of the relationship between weight room exercises and various rowing performance measures is limited; this information would prove useful for sport-specific assessment of individual needs and exercise prescription. The purpose of this study was to establish strength, power, and muscular endurance exercises for weight room training, which are strong determinants of success in specific performance measures used to assess elite rowers. Nineteen heavyweight elite males determined their repetition maximum (RM) loads for exercises using a Concept 2 DYNO [5, 30, 60 and 120RM leg pressing and seated arm pulling (in Joules)] and free weights [1RM power clean (in kilograms) and 6RM bench pull (in kilograms and watts)]. Rowing performance measures included a 7-stage blood lactate response ergometer test (aerobic condition), time trials (500, 2000, and 5000 m), a peak stroke power test, and a 60-minute distance trial. Pearson correlation moments (r ≥ 0.7) and stepwise multiple linear regression calculations (R ≥ 50%) were used to establish strong common variances between weight room exercises and rowing ergometer performance (p ≤ 0.05). Weight room exercises were strong predictors of 2000-m, 500-m time (in seconds), and peak stroke power performance measures only. Bench pull power (in watts) and 1RM power clean (in kilograms) were the best 2-factor predictors of peak stroke power (R = 73%; standard error of the estimates [SEE] = 59.6 W) and 500 m (R = 70%; SEE = 1.75 seconds); while 5RM leg pressing (in Joules) and either 6RM bench pull (kg) or 60RM seated arm pulling (in Joules) the best predictors of 2000 m (R = 59%; SEE = 6.3 seconds and R = 57%; SEE = 6.4 seconds, respectively). Recommended exercises for weight room training include a 1RM power clean, 6RM bench pull, 5RM leg press, and 60RM seated arm pulling.

Lift and Power Required for Flapping Wing Hovering Flight on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pohly, Jeremy; Sridhar, Madhu; Bluman, James; Kang, Chang-Kwon; Landrum, D. Brian; Fahimi, Farbod; Aono, Hikaru; Liu, Hao

2017-11-01

Achieving flight on Mars is challenging due to the ultra-low density atmosphere. Bio-inspired flapping motion can generate sufficient lift if bumblebee-inspired wings are scaled up between 2 and 4 times their nominal size. However, due to this scaling, the inertial power required to sustain hover increases and dominates over the aerodynamic power. Our results show that a torsional spring placed at the wing root can reduce the flapping power required for hover by efficiently storing and releasing energy while operating at its resonance frequency. The spring assisted reduction in flapping power is demonstrated with a well-validated, coupled Navier-Stokes and flight dynamics solver. The total power is reduced by 79%, whereas the flapping power is reduced by 98%. Such a reduction in power paves the way for an efficient, realizable micro air vehicle capable of vertical takeoff and landing as well as sustained flight on Mars. Alabama Space Grant Consortium Fellowship.

Antigenotoxic Properties of Agaricus blazei against Hydrogen Peroxide in Human Peripheral Blood Cells

PubMed Central

Borozan, Sunčica; Topalović, Dijana; Ciptasari, Ummi; Bajić, Vladan

2017-01-01

The ability of Agaricus blazei mushroom in its dried and powdered mycelial form was evaluated for its antigenotoxic properties for the first time. Antigenotoxic effects in human peripheral blood cells against H2O2-induced DNA damage were examined in pretreatment and posttreatment protocol by comet assay. The results showed better antigenotoxic properties of Agaricus blazei on the interventional level, respectively, after treatment. Agaricus blazei in concentration of 250 μg/mL after treatment was most efficient in regard to its action against DNA damage. The evaluation of repair kinetics showed decrease in H2O2 induced DNA damage 15 min after the application of A. blazei, reaching the maximum potency after 30 min. Analysis of antioxidant properties of Agaricus blazei revealed strong •OH scavenging properties and moderate reducing power, while its DPPH scavenging ability was weak. In regard to our findings, we can conclude that our preliminary results demonstrated antigenotoxic properties of Agaricus blazei and its strong •OH scavenging ability. Mechanisms underlying its properties should be further evaluated in in vivo studies. PMID:28316757

Antigenotoxic Properties of Agaricus blazei against Hydrogen Peroxide in Human Peripheral Blood Cells.

PubMed

Živković, Lada; Borozan, Sunčica; Čabarkapa, Andrea; Topalović, Dijana; Ciptasari, Ummi; Bajić, Vladan; Spremo-Potparević, Biljana

2017-01-01

The ability of Agaricus blazei mushroom in its dried and powdered mycelial form was evaluated for its antigenotoxic properties for the first time. Antigenotoxic effects in human peripheral blood cells against H 2 O 2 -induced DNA damage were examined in pretreatment and posttreatment protocol by comet assay. The results showed better antigenotoxic properties of Agaricus blazei on the interventional level, respectively, after treatment. Agaricus blazei in concentration of 250  μ g/mL after treatment was most efficient in regard to its action against DNA damage. The evaluation of repair kinetics showed decrease in H 2 O 2 induced DNA damage 15 min after the application of A. blazei , reaching the maximum potency after 30 min. Analysis of antioxidant properties of Agaricus blazei revealed strong • OH scavenging properties and moderate reducing power, while its DPPH scavenging ability was weak. In regard to our findings, we can conclude that our preliminary results demonstrated antigenotoxic properties of Agaricus blazei and its strong • OH scavenging ability. Mechanisms underlying its properties should be further evaluated in in vivo studies.

Gram scale synthesis of Fe/Fe xO y core–shell nanoparticles and their incorporation into matrix-free superparamagnetic nanocomposites

DOE PAGES

Watt, John Daniel; Bleier, Grant C.; Romero, Zachary William; ...

2018-05-15

In this paper, significant reductions recently seen in the size of wide-bandgap power electronics have not been accompanied by a relative decrease in the size of the corresponding magnetic components. To achieve this, a new generation of materials with high magnetic saturation and permeability are needed. Here, we develop gram-scale syntheses of superparamagnetic Fe/Fe xO y core–shell nanoparticles and incorporate them as the magnetic component in a strongly magnetic nanocomposite. Nanocomposites are typically formed by the organization of nanoparticles within a polymeric matrix. However, this approach can lead to high organic fractions and phase separation; reducing the performance of themore » resulting material. Here, we form aminated nanoparticles that are then cross-linked using epoxy chemistry. The result is a magnetic nanoparticle component that is covalently linked and well separated. By using this ‘matrix-free’ approach, we can substantially increase the magnetic nanoparticle fraction, while still maintaining good separation, leading to a superparamagnetic nanocomposite with strong magnetic properties.« less

Chemistry and in vitro antioxidant activity of volatile oil and oleoresins of black pepper (Piper nigrum).

PubMed

Kapoor, I P S; Singh, Bandana; Singh, Gurdip; De Heluani, Carola S; De Lampasona, M P; Catalan, Cesar A N

2009-06-24

Essential oil and oleoresins (ethanol and ethyl acetate) of Piper nigrum were extracted by using Clevenger and Soxhlet apparatus, respectively. GC-MS analysis of pepper essential oil showed the presence of 54 components representing about 96.6% of the total weight. beta-Caryophylline (29.9%) was found as the major component along with limonene (13.2%), beta-pinene (7.9%), sabinene (5.9%), and several other minor components. The major component of both ethanol and ethyl acetate oleoresins was found to contain piperine (63.9 and 39.0%), with many other components in lesser amounts. The antioxidant activities of essential oil and oleoresins were evaluated against mustard oil by peroxide, p-anisidine, and thiobarbituric acid. Both the oil and oleoresins showed strong antioxidant activity in comparison with butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) but lower than that of propyl gallate (PG). In addition, their inhibitory action by FTC method, scavenging capacity by DPPH (2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical), and reducing power were also determined, proving the strong antioxidant capacity of both the essential oil and oleoresins of pepper.

Gram scale synthesis of Fe/Fe xO y core–shell nanoparticles and their incorporation into matrix-free superparamagnetic nanocomposites

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

Watt, John Daniel; Bleier, Grant C.; Romero, Zachary William

In this paper, significant reductions recently seen in the size of wide-bandgap power electronics have not been accompanied by a relative decrease in the size of the corresponding magnetic components. To achieve this, a new generation of materials with high magnetic saturation and permeability are needed. Here, we develop gram-scale syntheses of superparamagnetic Fe/Fe xO y core–shell nanoparticles and incorporate them as the magnetic component in a strongly magnetic nanocomposite. Nanocomposites are typically formed by the organization of nanoparticles within a polymeric matrix. However, this approach can lead to high organic fractions and phase separation; reducing the performance of themore » resulting material. Here, we form aminated nanoparticles that are then cross-linked using epoxy chemistry. The result is a magnetic nanoparticle component that is covalently linked and well separated. By using this ‘matrix-free’ approach, we can substantially increase the magnetic nanoparticle fraction, while still maintaining good separation, leading to a superparamagnetic nanocomposite with strong magnetic properties.« less

Genetic diversity in the interference selection limit.

PubMed

Good, Benjamin H; Walczak, Aleksandra M; Neher, Richard A; Desai, Michael M

2014-03-01

Pervasive natural selection can strongly influence observed patterns of genetic variation, but these effects remain poorly understood when multiple selected variants segregate in nearby regions of the genome. Classical population genetics fails to account for interference between linked mutations, which grows increasingly severe as the density of selected polymorphisms increases. Here, we describe a simple limit that emerges when interference is common, in which the fitness effects of individual mutations play a relatively minor role. Instead, similar to models of quantitative genetics, molecular evolution is determined by the variance in fitness within the population, defined over an effectively asexual segment of the genome (a "linkage block"). We exploit this insensitivity in a new "coarse-grained" coalescent framework, which approximates the effects of many weakly selected mutations with a smaller number of strongly selected mutations that create the same variance in fitness. This approximation generates accurate and efficient predictions for silent site variability when interference is common. However, these results suggest that there is reduced power to resolve individual selection pressures when interference is sufficiently widespread, since a broad range of parameters possess nearly identical patterns of silent site variability.

Silicon carbide transparent chips for compact atomic sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huet, L.; Ammar, M.; Morvan, E.; Sarazin, N.; Pocholle, J.-P.; Reichel, J.; Guerlin, C.; Schwartz, S.

2017-11-01

Atom chips [1] are an efficient tool for trapping, cooling and manipulating cold atoms, which could open the way to a new generation of compact atomic sensors addressing space applications. This is in particular due to the fact that they can achieve strong magnetic field gradients near the chip surface, hence strong atomic confinement at moderate electrical power. However, this advantage usually comes at the price of reducing the optical access to the atoms, which are confined very close to the chip surface. We will report at the conference experimental investigations showing how these limits could be pushed farther by using an atom chip made of a gold microcircuit deposited on a single-crystal Silicon Carbide (SiC) substrate [2]. With a band gap energy value of about 3.2 eV at room temperature, the latter material is transparent at 780nm, potentially restoring quasi full optical access to the atoms. Moreover, it combines a very high electrical resistivity with a very high thermal conductivity, making it a good candidate for supporting wires with large currents without the need of any additional electrical insulation layer [3].

Chemical composition and hepatoprotective effects of polyphenol-rich extract from Houttuynia cordata tea.

PubMed

Tian, Lingmin; Shi, Xiaolong; Yu, Linhong; Zhu, Jiao; Ma, Rui; Yang, Xingbin

2012-05-09

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant activity, hepatoprotective effect, and phenolic composition of the ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) extracted from Houttuynia cordata tea. EAF was shown to exhibit strong ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and scavenging activity against DPPH radical in vitro, and the antioxidant effects were further verified by suppressing CCl₄-induced oxidative stress in mouse liver at three tested doses of EAF (250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg bw). Pretreatment with EAF (1000 mg/kg bw) prior to CCl₄ administration significantly (p < 0.001) decreased the CCl₄-elevated levels of serum AST, ALT, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, and hepatic MDA in mice and prevented the increases in GSH, SOD, and CAT caused by CCl₄. HPLC analysis revealed that three predominantly polyphenolic compounds present in EAF were quercitrin (111.7 μg/mg), quercetin (43.8 μg/mg), and hyperoside (29.1 μg/mg). These results combined with liver histopathology indicate that EAF possesses a significant protective effect against acute hepatotoxicity induced by CCl₄, which may be due to the strong antioxidant activity of phenolic components.

Power factor regulation for household usage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daud, Nik Ghazali Nik; Hashim, Fakroul Ridzuan; Tarmizi, Muhammad Haziq Ahmad

2018-02-01

Power factor regulator technology has recently drawn attention to the consumer and to power generation company in order for consumers to use electricity efficiently. Controlling of power factor for efficient usage can reduce the production of power in fulfilment demands hence reducing the greenhouse effect. This paper presents the design method of power factor controller for household usage. There are several methods to improve the power factor. The power factor controller used by this method is by using capacitors. Total harmonic distortion also has become a major problem for the reliability of the electrical appliances and techniques to control it will be discussed.

Gas mixing enhanced by power modulations in atmospheric pressure microwave plasma jet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voráč, J.; Potočňáková, L.; Synek, P.; Hnilica, J.; Kudrle, V.

2016-04-01

Microwave plasma jet operating in atmospheric pressure argon was power modulated by audio frequency sine envelope in the 102 W power range. Its effluent was imaged using interference filters and ICCD camera for several different phases of the modulating signal. The combination of this fast imaging with spatially resolved optical emission spectroscopy provides useful insights into the plasmachemical processes involved. Phase-resolved schlieren photography was performed to visualize the gas dynamics. The results show that for higher modulation frequencies the plasma chemistry is strongly influenced by formation of transient flow perturbation resembling a vortex during each period. The perturbation formation and speed are strongly influenced by the frequency and power variations while they depend only weakly on the working gas flow rate. From application point of view, the perturbation presence significantly broadened lateral distribution of active species, effectively increasing cross-sectional area suitable for applications.

Design and implementation of smart sensor nodes for wireless disaster monitoring systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yih-Fan; Wu, Wen-Jong; Chen, Chun-Kuang; Wen, Chih-Min; Jin, Ming-Hui; Gau, Chung-Yun; Chang, Chih-Chie; Lee, Chih-Kung

2004-07-01

A newly developed smart sensor node that can monitor the safety of temporary structures such as scaffolds at construction sites is detailed in this paper. The design methodology and its trade-offs, as well as its influence on the optimization of sensor networks, is examined. The potential impact on civil engineering construction sites, environmental and natural disaster pre-warning issues, etc., all of which are foundations of smart sensor nodes and corresponding smart sensor networks, is also presented. To minimize the power requirements in order to achieve a true wireless system both in terms of signal and power, a sensor node was designed by adopting an 8051-based micro-controller, an ISM band RF transceiver, and an auto-balanced strain gage signal conditioner. With the built-in RF transceiver, all measurement data can be transmitted to a local control center for data integrity, security, central monitoring, and full-scale analysis. As a battery is the only well-established power source and there is a strong desire to eliminate the need to install bulky power lines, this system designed includes a battery-powered core with optimal power efficiency. To further extend the service life of the built-in power source, a power control algorithm has been embedded in the microcontroller of each sensor node. The entire system has been verified by experimental tests on full-scale scaffold monitoring. The results show that this system provides a practical method to monitor the structure safety in real time and possesses the potential of reducing maintenance costs significantly. The design of the sensor node, central control station, and the integration of several kinds of wireless communication protocol, all of which are successfully integrated to demonstrate the capabilities of this newly developed system, are detailed. Potential impact to the network topology is briefly examined as well.

An objective decision model of power grid environmental protection based on environmental influence index and energy-saving and emission-reducing index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Jun-shu; Jin, Yan-ming; Hao, Wei-hua

2017-01-01

Based on modelling the environmental influence index of power transmission and transformation project and energy-saving and emission-reducing index of source-grid-load of power system, this paper establishes an objective decision model of power grid environmental protection, with constraints of power grid environmental protection objectives being legal and economical, and considering both positive and negative influences of grid on the environmental in all-life grid cycle. This model can be used to guide the programming work of power grid environmental protection. A numerical simulation of Jiangsu province’s power grid environmental protection objective decision model has been operated, and the results shows that the maximum goal of energy-saving and emission-reducing benefits would be reached firstly as investment increasing, and then the minimum goal of environmental influence.

Electron beam induced water-soluble silk fibroin nanoparticles as a natural antioxidant and reducing agent for a green synthesis of gold nanocolloid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wongkrongsak, Soraya; Tangthong, Theeranan; Pasanphan, Wanvimol

2016-01-01

The research proposes a novel water-soluble silk fibroin nanoparticles (WSSF-NPs) created by electron beam irradiation. In this report, we demonstrate the effects of electron beam irradiation doses ranging from 1 to 30 kGy on the molecular weight (MW), nanostructure formation, antioxidant activity and reducing power of the WSSF-NPs. Electron beam-induced degradation of SF causing MW reduction from 250 to 37 kDa. Chemical characteristic functions of SF still remained after exposing to electron beam. The WSSF-NPs with the MW of 37 kDa exhibited spherical morphology with a nanoscaled size of 40 nm. Antioxidant activities and reducing powers were investigated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhryl free radical (DPPH•) scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, respectively. The WSSF-NPs showed greater antioxidant activity and reducing power than non-irradiated SF. By increasing their antioxidant and reducing power efficiencies, WSSF-NPs potentially created gold nanocolloid. WSSF-NPs produced by electron beam irradiation would be a great merit for the uses as a natural antioxidant additive and a green reducing agent in biomedical, cosmetic and food applications.

The effects of policy actions to improve population dietary patterns and prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases: scoping review

PubMed Central

Hyseni, L; Atkinson, M; Bromley, H; Orton, L; Lloyd-Williams, F; McGill, R; Capewell, S

2017-01-01

Poor diet generates a bigger non-communicable disease (NCD) burden than tobacco, alcohol and physical inactivity combined. We reviewed the potential effectiveness of policy actions to improve healthy food consumption and thus prevent NCDs. This scoping review focused on systematic and non-systematic reviews and categorised data using a seven-part framework: price, promotion, provision, composition, labelling, supply chain, trade/investment and multi-component interventions. We screened 1805 candidate publications and included 58 systematic and non-systematic reviews. Multi-component and price interventions appeared consistently powerful in improving healthy eating. Reformulation to reduce industrial trans fat intake also seemed very effective. Evidence on food supply chain, trade and investment studies was limited and merits further research. Food labelling and restrictions on provision or marketing of unhealthy foods were generally less effective with uncertain sustainability. Increasingly strong evidence is highlighting potentially powerful policies to improve diet and thus prevent NCDs, notably multi-component interventions, taxes, subsidies, elimination and perhaps trade agreements. The implications for policy makers are becoming clearer. PMID:27901036

Ionospheric Turbulence and the Evolution of Artificial Irregularities Excited by RF Interactions at HAARP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheerin, J. P.; Rayyan, N.; Watkins, B. J.; Bristow, W. A.; Bernhardt, P. A.

2015-12-01

The HAARP phased-array HF transmitter at Gakona, AK delivers up to 3.6 GW (ERP) of HF power in the range of 2.8 - 10 MHz to the ionosphere with millisecond pointing, power modulation, and frequency agility. HAARP's unique features have enabled the conduct of a number of nonlinear plasma experiments in the interaction region of overdense ionospheric plasma including stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE), artificial aurora, artificial ionization layers, VLF wave-particle interactions in the magnetosphere, strong Langmuir turbulence (SLT) and suprathermal electron acceleration. Diagnostics include the Modular UHF Ionospheric Radar (MUIR) sited at HAARP, the SuperDARN-Kodiak HF radar, spacecraft radio beacons, HF receivers to record stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE) and telescopes and cameras for optical emissions. We report on short timescale ponderomotive overshoot effects, artificial field-aligned irregularities (AFAI), the aspect angle dependence of the intensity of the plasma line, and suprathermal electrons. For a narrow range of HF pointing between Spitze and magnetic zenith, a reduced threshold for AFAI is observed. Applications are made to the study of irregularities relevant to spacecraft communication and navigation systems.

Cascading Failures as Continuous Phase-Space Transitions

DOE PAGES

Yang, Yang; Motter, Adilson E.

2017-12-14

In network systems, a local perturbation can amplify as it propagates, potentially leading to a large-scale cascading failure. We derive a continuous model to advance our understanding of cascading failures in power-grid networks. The model accounts for both the failure of transmission lines and the desynchronization of power generators and incorporates the transient dynamics between successive steps of the cascade. In this framework, we show that a cascade event is a phase-space transition from an equilibrium state with high energy to an equilibrium state with lower energy, which can be suitably described in a closed form using a global Hamiltonian-likemore » function. From this function, we show that a perturbed system cannot always reach the equilibrium state predicted by quasi-steady-state cascade models, which would correspond to a reduced number of failures, and may instead undergo a larger cascade. We also show that, in the presence of two or more perturbations, the outcome depends strongly on the order and timing of the individual perturbations. These results offer new insights into the current understanding of cascading dynamics, with potential implications for control interventions.« less

Common resting brain dynamics indicate a possible mechanism underlying zolpidem response in severe brain injury

PubMed Central

Williams, Shawniqua T; Conte, Mary M; Goldfine, Andrew M; Noirhomme, Quentin; Gosseries, Olivia; Thonnard, Marie; Beattie, Bradley; Hersh, Jennifer; Katz, Douglas I; Victor, Jonathan D; Laureys, Steven; Schiff, Nicholas D

2013-01-01

Zolpidem produces paradoxical recovery of speech, cognitive and motor functions in select subjects with severe brain injury but underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In three diverse patients with known zolpidem responses we identify a distinctive pattern of EEG dynamics that suggests a mechanistic model. In the absence of zolpidem, all subjects show a strong low frequency oscillatory peak ∼6–10 Hz in the EEG power spectrum most prominent over frontocentral regions and with high coherence (∼0.7–0.8) within and between hemispheres. Zolpidem administration sharply reduces EEG power and coherence at these low frequencies. The ∼6–10 Hz activity is proposed to arise from intrinsic membrane properties of pyramidal neurons that are passively entrained across the cortex by locally-generated spontaneous activity. Activation by zolpidem is proposed to arise from a combination of initial direct drug effects on cortical, striatal, and thalamic populations and further activation of underactive brain regions induced by restoration of cognitively-mediated behaviors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01157.001 PMID:24252875

Leaves, flowers, immature fruits and leafy flowered stems of Malva sylvestris: a comparative study of the nutraceutical potential and composition.

PubMed

Barros, Lillian; Carvalho, Ana Maria; Ferreira, Isabel C F R

2010-06-01

Malva sylvestris is widely used in Mediterranean and European traditional medicine and ethnoveterinary for the treatment of external and internal inflammation, as well as injuries. Moreover, its use is not only limited to therapeutic purposes; but also the species is locally regarded as a food wild herb. Considering that antioxidants and free radical scavengers can exert also an anti-inflammatory effect, the extracts of different parts of the medicinal/edible plant M. sylvestris (leaves, flowers, immature fruits and leafy flowered stems) were compared for their nutraceutical potential (antioxidant properties) and chemical composition. Particularly, mallow leaves revealed very strong antioxidant properties including radical-scavenging activity (EC(50)=0.43 mg/mL), reducing power (0.07 mg/mL) and lipid peroxidation inhibition in lipossomes (0.04 mg/mL) and brain cells homogenates (0.09 mg/mL). This part of the plant is also the richest in nutraceuticals such as powerful antioxidants (phenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and tocopherols), unsaturated fatty acids (e.g. alpha-linolenic acid), and minerals measured in ash content. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cascading Failures as Continuous Phase-Space Transitions

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

Yang, Yang; Motter, Adilson E.

In network systems, a local perturbation can amplify as it propagates, potentially leading to a large-scale cascading failure. We derive a continuous model to advance our understanding of cascading failures in power-grid networks. The model accounts for both the failure of transmission lines and the desynchronization of power generators and incorporates the transient dynamics between successive steps of the cascade. In this framework, we show that a cascade event is a phase-space transition from an equilibrium state with high energy to an equilibrium state with lower energy, which can be suitably described in a closed form using a global Hamiltonian-likemore » function. From this function, we show that a perturbed system cannot always reach the equilibrium state predicted by quasi-steady-state cascade models, which would correspond to a reduced number of failures, and may instead undergo a larger cascade. We also show that, in the presence of two or more perturbations, the outcome depends strongly on the order and timing of the individual perturbations. These results offer new insights into the current understanding of cascading dynamics, with potential implications for control interventions.« less

Correlation between Thermodynamic Efficiency and Ecological Cyclicity for Thermodynamic Power Cycles

PubMed Central

Layton, Astrid; Reap, John; Bras, Bert; Weissburg, Marc

2012-01-01

A sustainable global community requires the successful integration of environment and engineering. In the public and private sectors, designing cyclical (“closed loop”) resource networks increasingly appears as a strategy employed to improve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. Patterning industrial networks on ecological ones has been shown to provide significant improvements at multiple levels. Here, we apply the biological metric cyclicity to 28 familiar thermodynamic power cycles of increasing complexity. These cycles, composed of turbines and the like, are scientifically very different from natural ecosystems. Despite this difference, the application results in a positive correlation between the maximum thermal efficiency and the cyclic structure of the cycles. The immediate impact of these findings results in a simple method for comparing cycles to one another, higher cyclicity values pointing to those cycles which have the potential for a higher maximum thermal efficiency. Such a strong correlation has the promise of impacting both natural ecology and engineering thermodynamics and provides a clear motivation to look for more fundamental scientific connections between natural and engineered systems. PMID:23251638

Optofluidic microvalve-on-a-chip with a surface plasmon-enhanced fiber optic microheater

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zhijian; Kusimo, Abisola; Yu, Miao

2014-01-01

We present an optofluidic microvalve utilizing an embedded, surface plasmon-enhanced fiber optic microheater. The fiber optic microheater is formed by depositing a titanium thin film on the roughened end-face of a silica optical fiber that serves as a waveguide to deliver laser light to the titanium film. The nanoscale roughness at the titanium-silica interface enables strong light absorption enhancement in the titanium film through excitation of localized surface plasmons as well as facilitates bubble nucleation. Our experimental results show that due to the unique design of the fiber optic heater, the threshold laser power required to generate a bubble is greatly reduced and the bubble growth rate is significantly increased. By using the microvalve, stable vapor bubble generation in the microchannel is demonstrated, which does not require complex optical focusing and alignment. The generated vapor bubble is shown to successfully block a liquid flow channel with a size of 125 μm × 125 μm and a flow rate of ∼10 μl/min at ∼120 mW laser power. PMID:25538813

Microfluidic liquid-air dual-gradient chip for synergic effect bio-evaluation of air pollutant.

PubMed

Liu, Xian-Jun; Hu, Shan-Wen; Xu, Bi-Yi; Zhao, Ge; Li, Xiang; Xie, Fu-Wei; Xu, Jing-Juan; Chen, Hong-Yuan

2018-05-15

In this paper, a novel prototype liquid-air dual gradient chip is introduced, which has paved the way for effective synergic effect bio-evaluation of air pollutant. The chip is composed of an array of the agarose liquid-air interfaces, top air gradient layer and bottom liquid gradient layer. The novel agarose liquid-air interface allows for non-biased exposure of cells to all the substances in the air and diffusive interactions with the liquid phase; while the dual liquid-air gradient provides powerful screening abilities, which well reduced errors, saved time and cost from repeated experiment. Coupling the two functions, the chip subsequently facilitates synergic effect evaluation of both liquid and air factors on cells. Here cigarette smoke was taken as the model air pollutant, and its strong synergic effects with inflammatory level of A549 lung cancer cells on their fate were successfully quantified for the first time. These results well testified that the proposed dual-gradient chip is powerful and indispensable for bio-evaluation of air pollutant. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

(-)Epigallocatechin-3-gallate prevents the reserpine-induced impairment of short-term social memory in rats.

PubMed

Tseng, Hsiang-Chien; Wang, Mao-Hsien; Soung, Hung-Sheng; Chang, Yi; Chang, Kuo-Chi

2015-12-01

Reserpine has been confirmed to induce cognitive dysfunction and increase brain neural oxidative stress. Green tea catechins, particularly (-)epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), have strong antioxidative properties and can protect against numerous oxidative damages. In this study, we examined the possible protective effects of EGCG on reserpine-induced impairment of short-term memory in rats. Reserpine (1 mg/kg, intraperitoneal)-induced memory impairment was assessed using the social recognition task method; locomotor activity and the olfactory discrimination ability were not altered as measured by an open-field test and an olfactory discrimination test, respectively. EGCG treatment (100 and 300 mg/kg, intraperitoneal, for 7 days, starting 6 days before the reserpine injection) could improve the worsened social memory of reserpine-treated rats. Also, EGCG treatment reduced reserpine-induced lipid peroxidation and enhanced the antioxidation power in the hippocampi of reserpine-treated rats. These results suggest a protective effect of EGCG in treating reserpine-induced impairment of memory, most probably through its powerful antioxidative activities. Accordingly, EGCG may hold a clinically relevant value in preventing reserpine-induced cognitive dysfunction.

Rarefaction windows in a high-power impulse magnetron sputtering plasma

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

Palmucci, Maria; Britun, Nikolay; Konstantinidis, Stephanos

2013-09-21

The velocity distribution function of the sputtered particles in the direction parallel to the planar magnetron cathode is studied by spatially- and time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy in a short-duration (20 μs) high-power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge. The experimental evidence for the neutral and ionized sputtered particles to have a constant (saturated) velocity at the end of the plasma on-time is demonstrated. The velocity component parallel to the target surface reaches the values of about 5 km/s for Ti atoms and ions, which is higher that the values typically measured in the direct current sputtering discharges before. The results point outmore » on the presence of a strong gas rarefaction significantly reducing the sputtered particles energy dissipation during a certain time interval at the end of the plasma pulse, referred to as “rarefaction window” in this work. The obtained results agree with and essentially clarify the dynamics of HiPIMS discharge studied during the plasma off-time previously in the work: N. Britun, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 131504 (2011)« less

Thermal model for optimization of vascular laser tissue soldering.

PubMed

Bogni, Serge; Stumpp, Oliver; Reinert, Michael; Frenz, Martin

2010-06-01

Laser tissue soldering (LTS) is a promising technique for tissue fusion based on a heat-denaturation process of proteins. Thermal damage of the fused tissue during the laser procedure has always been an important and challenging problem. Particularly in LTS of arterial blood vessels strong heating of the endothelium should be avoided to minimize the risk of thrombosis. A precise knowledge of the temperature distribution within the vessel wall during laser irradiation is inevitable. The authors developed a finite element model (FEM) to simulate the temperature distribution within blood vessels during LTS. Temperature measurements were used to verify and calibrate the model. Different parameters such as laser power, solder absorption coefficient, thickness of the solder layer, cooling of the vessel and continuous vs. pulsed energy deposition were tested to elucidate their impact on the temperature distribution within the soldering joint in order to reduce the amount of further animal experiments. A pulsed irradiation with high laser power and high absorbing solder yields the best results. (c) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The effects of policy actions to improve population dietary patterns and prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases: scoping review.

PubMed

Hyseni, L; Atkinson, M; Bromley, H; Orton, L; Lloyd-Williams, F; McGill, R; Capewell, S

2017-06-01

Poor diet generates a bigger non-communicable disease (NCD) burden than tobacco, alcohol and physical inactivity combined. We reviewed the potential effectiveness of policy actions to improve healthy food consumption and thus prevent NCDs. This scoping review focused on systematic and non-systematic reviews and categorised data using a seven-part framework: price, promotion, provision, composition, labelling, supply chain, trade/investment and multi-component interventions. We screened 1805 candidate publications and included 58 systematic and non-systematic reviews. Multi-component and price interventions appeared consistently powerful in improving healthy eating. Reformulation to reduce industrial trans fat intake also seemed very effective. Evidence on food supply chain, trade and investment studies was limited and merits further research. Food labelling and restrictions on provision or marketing of unhealthy foods were generally less effective with uncertain sustainability. Increasingly strong evidence is highlighting potentially powerful policies to improve diet and thus prevent NCDs, notably multi-component interventions, taxes, subsidies, elimination and perhaps trade agreements. The implications for policy makers are becoming clearer.

Offshore Wind Power Integration in severely fluctuating Wind Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Bremen, L.

2010-09-01

Strong power fluctuations from offshore wind farms that are induced by wind speed fluctuations pose a severe problem to the save integration of offshore wind power into the power supply system. Experience at the first large-scale offshore wind farm Horns Rev showed that spatial smoothing of power fluctuations within a single wind farm is significantly smaller than onshore results suggest when distributed wind farms of 160 MW altogether are connected to a single point of common-coupling. Wind power gradients larger than 10% of the rated capacity within 5 minutes require large amount of regulation power that is very expensive for the grid operator. It must be noted that a wind speed change of only 0.5m/s result in a wind power change of 10% (within the range of 9-11 m/s where the wind power curve is steepest). Hence, it is very important for the grid operator to know if strong fluctuations are likely or not. Observed weather conditions at the German wind energy research platform FINO1 in the German bight are used to quantify wind fluctuations. With a standard power curve these wind fluctuations are transfered to wind power. The aim is to predict the probability of exceedence of certain wind power gradients that occur in a time interval of e.g. 12 hours. During 2006 and 2009 the distribution of wind power fluctuations looks very similar giving hope that distinct atmospheric processes can be determined that act as a trigger. Most often high wind power fluctuations occur in a range of wind speeds between 9-12 m/s as can be expected from the shape of the wind power curve. A cluster analysis of the 500 hPa geopotential height to detect predominant weather regimes shows that high fluctuations are more likely in north-western flow. It is shown that most often high fluctuations occur in non-stable atmospheric stratification. The description of stratification by means of the vertical gradient of the virtual potential temperature is chosen to be indicative for convection, i.e. it can be assumed that a negative gradient indicates convection which leads to strong wind fluctuations in the updraft and downdraft of the cloud. Neural Networks are used to determine the probability of exceedence of wind power gradients from a set of atmospheric parameters that are taken from Numerical Weather Prediction Models. Parameters describing atmospheric stability, that are related to convection (e.g. rain rate) and that forecast wind gusts tend to carry most information to estimate expected wind power fluctuations.

An NFC on Two-Coil WPT Link for Implantable Biomedical Sensors under Ultra-Weak Coupling

PubMed Central

Gong, Chen; Liu, Dake; Miao, Zhidong; Wang, Wei; Li, Min

2017-01-01

The inductive link is widely used in implantable biomedical sensor systems to achieve near-field communication (NFC) and wireless power transfer (WPT). However, it is tough to achieve reliable NFC on an inductive WPT link when the coupling coefficient is ultra-low (0.01 typically), since the NFC signal (especially for the uplink from the in-body part to the out-body part) could be too weak to be detected. Traditional load shift keying (LSK) requires strong coupling to pass the load modulation information to the power source. Instead of using LSK, we propose a dual-carrier NFC scheme for the weak-coupled inductive link; using binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation, its downlink data are modulated on the power carrier (2 MHz), while its uplink data are modulated on another carrier (125 kHz). The two carriers are transferred through the same coil pair. To overcome the strong interference of the power carrier, dedicated circuits are introduced. In addition, to minimize the power transfer efficiency decrease caused by adding NFC, we optimize the inductive link circuit parameters and approach the receiver sensitivity limit. In the prototype experiments, even though the coupling coefficient is as low as 0.008, the in-body transmitter costs only 0.61 mW power carrying 10 kbps of data, and achieves a 1 × 10−7 bit error rate under the strong interference of WPT. This dual-carrier NFC scheme could be useful for small-sized implantable biomedical sensor applications. PMID:28604610

Turbulence and sheared flow structures behind the isotopic dependence of the L-H power threshold on DIII-D

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

Yan, Zheng; Gohil, Punit; McKee, George R.

Measurements of long wavelength (kmore » $$\\perp$$p i < 1) density fluctuation characteristics in the edge of both Deuterium (D) and Hydrogen (H) plasmas across the L-H transition on DIII-D demonstrate the existence of single or double bands of low-wavenumber turbulence observed near the edge of H and D plasmas. These are strongly correlated with the L to H-mode transition power threshold (P LH) and can help explain the isotopic and density dependence of P LH, and how the P LH difference is reduced at higher density. Understanding and accurately predicting the L-H power threshold is critical to accessing to H-mode, and operating and achieving high confinement in burning plasmas such as ITER. Above about n e ~ 4 × 10 19 m -3, P LH is seen to converge for H and D, and increases for both with higher density. Surprisingly, the P LH increases significantly at low density in H but not in D plasmas. Two distinct frequency bands of density fluctuations are observed in the D plasmas at low density, n e ~ 1.2-1.5 × 10 19 m -3, but not in H plasmas with similar density, which appears to be correlated to the much lower power threshold in D at low density. Consistently, E × B shear in the region of r/a ~ 0.95-1.0 is larger in D plasmas than in H plasmas at low density; as the P LH increases with increasing density, the dual mode structure disappears while E × B shear becomes similar and small for both D and H plasmas at higher density, n e ~ 5 × 10 19 m -3, where P LH is similar for both D and H plasmas. Lastly, the increased edge fluctuations, increased flow shear, and the dualband nature of edge turbulence correlating with lower P LH may account for the strong isotope and density dependencies of PLH and support current L-H transition theories but suggest a complex behavior that can inform a more complete model of the L-H transition threshold.« less

Turbulence and sheared flow structures behind the isotopic dependence of the L-H power threshold on DIII-D

DOE PAGES

Yan, Zheng; Gohil, Punit; McKee, George R.; ...

2017-09-18

Measurements of long wavelength (kmore » $$\\perp$$p i < 1) density fluctuation characteristics in the edge of both Deuterium (D) and Hydrogen (H) plasmas across the L-H transition on DIII-D demonstrate the existence of single or double bands of low-wavenumber turbulence observed near the edge of H and D plasmas. These are strongly correlated with the L to H-mode transition power threshold (P LH) and can help explain the isotopic and density dependence of P LH, and how the P LH difference is reduced at higher density. Understanding and accurately predicting the L-H power threshold is critical to accessing to H-mode, and operating and achieving high confinement in burning plasmas such as ITER. Above about n e ~ 4 × 10 19 m -3, P LH is seen to converge for H and D, and increases for both with higher density. Surprisingly, the P LH increases significantly at low density in H but not in D plasmas. Two distinct frequency bands of density fluctuations are observed in the D plasmas at low density, n e ~ 1.2-1.5 × 10 19 m -3, but not in H plasmas with similar density, which appears to be correlated to the much lower power threshold in D at low density. Consistently, E × B shear in the region of r/a ~ 0.95-1.0 is larger in D plasmas than in H plasmas at low density; as the P LH increases with increasing density, the dual mode structure disappears while E × B shear becomes similar and small for both D and H plasmas at higher density, n e ~ 5 × 10 19 m -3, where P LH is similar for both D and H plasmas. Lastly, the increased edge fluctuations, increased flow shear, and the dualband nature of edge turbulence correlating with lower P LH may account for the strong isotope and density dependencies of PLH and support current L-H transition theories but suggest a complex behavior that can inform a more complete model of the L-H transition threshold.« less

Stochastic density waves of granular flows: strong-intermittent dissipation fields with self-organization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bershadskii, A.

1994-10-01

The quantitative (scaling) results of a recent lattice-gas simulation of granular flows [1] are interpreted in terms of Kolmogorov-Obukhov approach revised for strong space-intermittent systems. Renormalised power spectrum with exponent '-4/3' seems to be an universal spectrum of scalar fluctuations convected by stochastic velocity fields in dissipative systems with inverse energy transfer (some other laboratory and geophysic turbulent flows with this power spectrum as well as an analogy between this phenomenon and turbulent percolation on elastic backbone are pointed out).

Low mass MEMS/NEMS switch for a substitute of CMOS transistor using single-walled carbon nanotube thin film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Min-Woo

Power dissipation is a key factor for mobile devices and other low power applications. Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is the dominant integrated circuit (IC) technology responsible for a large part of this power dissipation. As the minimum feature size of CMOS devices enters into the sub 50 nanometer (nm) regime, power dissipation becomes much worse due to intrinsic physical limits. Many approaches have been studied to reduce power dissipation of deeply scaled CMOS ICs. One possible candidate is the electrostatic electromechanical switch, which could be fabricated with conventional CMOS processing techniques. They have critical advantages compared to CMOS devices such as almost zero standby leakage in the off-state due to the absence of a pn junction and a gate oxide, as well as excellent drive current in the on-state due to a metallic channel. Despite their excellent standby power dissipation, the electrostatic MEMS/NEMS switches have not been considered as a viable replacement for CMOS devices due to their large mechanical delay. Moreover, previous literature reveals that their pull-in voltage and switching speed are strongly proportional to each other. This reduces their potential advantage. However, in this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrated that the use of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) with very low mass density and strong mechanical properties could provide a route to move off of the conventional trend with respect to the pull-in voltage / switching speed tradeoff observed in the literature. We fabricated 2-terminal fixed- beam switches with aligned composite SWNT thin films. In this work, layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly and dielectrophoresis were selected for aligned-composite SWNT thin film deposition. The dense membranes were successfully patterned to form submicron beams by e-beam lithography and oxygen plasma etching. Fixed-fixed beam switches using these membranes successfully operated with approximately 600 psec switching delay and as low as a 3 V dc pull-in. From this we confirmed that the SWNT-based thin films have the potential to make fast MEMS switches with a low operation voltage due to its low mass density and high stiffness. However, the copolymer caused a serious reliability issue and a copolymer-free SWNT film deposition method was developed by replacing positive copolymer with a dispersion of positively functionalized SWNTs. The electrical and physical properties of pure single-walled carbon nanotube thin films deposited through a copolymer-free LbL self-assembly process are then discussed. The film thickness was proportional to the number of dipping cycles. The film resistivity was estimated as 2.19x10-3 Ω-cm after thermal treatments were performed. The estimated specific contact resistance to gold electrodes was 6.33x10-9 Ω-m2 from contact chain measurements. The fabricated 3-terminal MEMS switches using these films functioned as a beam for multiple switching cycles with a 4.5V pull-in voltage, which was operated like a 2-input NAND gate. The SWNT-based thin film switch is promising for a variety of applications to high-end nanoelectronics and high- performance MEMS/NEMS.

When More Power Makes Actors Worse off: Turning a Profit in the American Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan; Casciaro, Tiziana

2006-01-01

We propose a theory which predicts that an increase in an actor's relative power reduces the actor's rewards in high mutual dependence dyads. Our argument is based on the premise that higher relative power gives the more powerful actor a greater share of surplus, but it also reduces dyadic exchange frequency, which lowers the expected magnitude of…

A low power radiofrequency pulse for simultaneous multislice excitation and refocusing.

PubMed

Eichner, Cornelius; Wald, Lawrence L; Setsompop, Kawin

2014-10-01

Simultaneous multislice (SMS) acquisition enables increased temporal efficiency of MRI. Nonetheless, MultiBand (MB) radiofrequency (RF) pulses used for SMS can cause large energy deposition. Power independent of number of slices (PINS) pulses reduce RF power at cost of reduced bandwidth and increased off-resonance dependency. This work improves PINS design to further reduce energy deposition, off-resonance dependency and peak power. Modifying the shape of MB RF-pulses allows for mixing with PINS excitation, creating a new pulse type with reduced energy deposition and SMS excitation characteristics. Bloch Simulations were used to evaluate excitation and off-resonance behavior of this "MultiPINS" pulse. In this work, MultiPINS was used for whole-brain MB = 3 acquisition of high angular and spatial resolution diffusion MRI at 7 Tesla in 3 min. By using MultiPINS, energy transmission and peak power for SMS imaging can be significantly reduced compared with PINS and MB pulses. For MB = 3 acquisition in this work, MultiPINS reduces energy transmission by up to ∼50% compared with PINS pulses. The energy reduction was traded off to shorten the MultiPINS pulse, yielding higher signal at off-resonances for spin-echo acquisitions. MB and PINS pulses can be combined to enable low energy and peak power SMS acquisition. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hybrid Power Management-Based Vehicle Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eichenberg, Dennis J.

2011-01-01

Hybrid Power Management (HPM) is the integration of diverse, state-of-the-art power devices in an optimal configuration for space and terrestrial applications (s ee figure). The appropriate application and control of the various power devices significantly improves overall system performance and efficiency. The basic vehicle architecture consists of a primary power source, and possibly other power sources, that provides all power to a common energy storage system that is used to power the drive motors and vehicle accessory systems. This architecture also provides power as an emergency power system. Each component is independent, permitting it to be optimized for its intended purpose. The key element of HPM is the energy storage system. All generated power is sent to the energy storage system, and all loads derive their power from that system. This can significantly reduce the power requirement of the primary power source, while increasing the vehicle reliability. Ultracapacitors are ideal for an HPM-based energy storage system due to their exceptionally long cycle life, high reliability, high efficiency, high power density, and excellent low-temperature performance. Multiple power sources and multiple loads are easily incorporated into an HPM-based vehicle. A gas turbine is a good primary power source because of its high efficiency, high power density, long life, high reliability, and ability to operate on a wide range of fuels. An HPM controller maintains optimal control over each vehicle component. This flexible operating system can be applied to all vehicles to considerably improve vehicle efficiency, reliability, safety, security, and performance. The HPM-based vehicle architecture has many advantages over conventional vehicle architectures. Ultracapacitors have a much longer cycle life than batteries, which greatly improves system reliability, reduces life-of-system costs, and reduces environmental impact as ultracapacitors will probably never need to be replaced and disposed of. The environmentally safe ultracapacitor components reduce disposal concerns, and their recyclable nature reduces the environmental impact. High ultracapacitor power density provides high power during surges, and the ability to absorb high power during recharging. Ultracapacitors are extremely efficient in capturing recharging energy, are rugged, reliable, maintenance-free, have excellent lowtemperature characteristic, provide consistent performance over time, and promote safety as they can be left indefinitely in a safe, discharged state whereas batteries cannot.

Snow Cover, Snowmelt Timing and Stream Power in the Wind River Range, Wyoming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Dorothy K.; Foster, James L.; DiGirolamo, Nicolo E.; Riggs, George A.

2011-01-01

Earlier onset of springtime weather, including earlier snowmelt, has been documented in the western United States over at least the last 50 years. Because the majority (is greater than 70%) of the water supply in the western U.S. comes from snowmelt, analysis of the declining spring snowpack (and shrinking glaciers) has important implications for the management of streamflow. The amount of water in a snowpack influences stream discharge which can also influence erosion and sediment transport by changing stream power, or the rate at which a stream can do work, such as move sediment and erode the stream bed. The focus of this work is the Wind River Range (WRR) in west-central Wyoming. Ten years of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow-cover, cloud-gap-filled (CGF) map products and 30 years of discharge and meteorological station data are studied. Streamflow data from streams in WRR drainage basins show lower annual discharge and earlier snowmelt in the decade of the 2000s than in the previous three decades, though no trend of either lower streamflow or earlier snowmelt was observed within the decade of the 2000s. Results show a statistically-significant trend at the 95% confidence level (or higher) of increasing weekly maximum air temperature (for three out of the five meteorological stations studied) in the decade of the 1970s, and also for the 40-year study period as a whole. The extent of snow-cover (percent of basin covered) derived from the lowest elevation zone (2500-3000 m) of the WRR, using MODIS CGF snow-cover maps, is strongly correlated with maximum monthly discharge on 30 April, where Spearman's Rank correlation, rs,=0.89 for the decade of the 2000s. We also investigated stream power for Bull Lake Creek above Bull Lake; and found a trend (significant at the 90% confidence level) toward reduced stream power from 1970 to 2009. Observed changes in streamflow and stream power may be related to increasing weekly maximum air temperature measured during the 40-year study period, possibly contributing to a reduction in snow cover. In addition, the strong relationship between percent of basin that was snow covered, and maximum monthly streamflow indicates that MODIS snow-cover maps are useful for predicting streamflow, and can be used to improve management of water resources in the drought-prone western United States.

Determination of electronic stopping powers of 0.05-1 MeV/u 131Xe ions in C-, Ni- and Au-absorbers with calorimetric low temperature detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Echler, A.; Egelhof, P.; Grabitz, P.; Kettunen, H.; Kraft-Bermuth, S.; Laitinen, M.; Müller, K.; Rossi, M.; Trzaska, W. H.; Virtanen, A.

2017-01-01

A new experimental system for precise determination of electronic stopping powers of heavy ions has been set up at the accelerator laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä. The new setup, combining an established B-ToF system and an array of calorimetric low temperature detectors (CLTDs), has been used for the determination of electronic stopping powers of 0.05-1 MeV/u 131Xe ions in carbon, nickel and gold. Thereby advantage of the improved linearity and energy resolution of CLTDs as compared to the previously used ionization detector was taken to reduce energy calibration errors and to increase sensitivity for the energy loss determination, in particular at very low energies. The total uncertainties of 3-4% for C- and Ni-targets, and 5-7% for Au-targets, respectively, are dominated by the target properties, i.e. thickness determination and inhomogeneities. The results are compared to data from literature and to predictions of different theoretical computer codes. In the high energy part of the examined energy range the results are in good agreement with previously published data, while new stopping power data for very heavy ions in different Z2-materials have been obtained at lower energies. Moreover, unexpectedly strong channeling effects for the transmission of the 131Xe ions in thin, partly polycrystalline nickel and gold target foils have been observed and investigated.

Finding the quantum thermoelectric with maximal efficiency and minimal entropy production at given power output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitney, Robert S.

2015-03-01

We investigate the nonlinear scattering theory for quantum systems with strong Seebeck and Peltier effects, and consider their use as heat engines and refrigerators with finite power outputs. This paper gives detailed derivations of the results summarized in a previous paper [R. S. Whitney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130601 (2014), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.130601]. It shows how to use the scattering theory to find (i) the quantum thermoelectric with maximum possible power output, and (ii) the quantum thermoelectric with maximum efficiency at given power output. The latter corresponds to a minimal entropy production at that power output. These quantities are of quantum origin since they depend on system size over electronic wavelength, and so have no analog in classical thermodynamics. The maximal efficiency coincides with Carnot efficiency at zero power output, but decreases with increasing power output. This gives a fundamental lower bound on entropy production, which means that reversibility (in the thermodynamic sense) is impossible for finite power output. The suppression of efficiency by (nonlinear) phonon and photon effects is addressed in detail; when these effects are strong, maximum efficiency coincides with maximum power. Finally, we show in particular limits (typically without magnetic fields) that relaxation within the quantum system does not allow the system to exceed the bounds derived for relaxation-free systems, however, a general proof of this remains elusive.

Thermal pollution consequences of the implementation of the president's energy message on increased coal utilization.

PubMed Central

Parker, F L

1979-01-01

The thermal consequences of coal utilization are most meaningfully assessed in comparison with the form of power generation replaced by coal which is most likely nuclear. The different effects are influenced by siting decisions and the intrinsic thermal efficiencies of the two fuel systems. Nuclear power plants discharge 50% more waste Rheat to the atmosphere through cooling towers or to a water body than coal-fired plants. Coal-fired plants require about 2/3 as much water as nuclear power plants. Nearly every property of water is affected nonlinearly by temperature, and biological effects may amplify these changes because protein denaturation takes place more rapidly above 30 degrees C and these high temperatures affect bactericidal and viricidal activity of chlorine compounds. Usually algal populations change from a dominance of diatoms and green algae to dominance by blue-green algae. All organisms experience elevated metabolic rates at higher temperatures which may affect total energy needs, foraging ability, reproduction, migration and susceptibility to disease. Intake structures inevitably draw many organisms into the cooling system of a power plant, but the number and kind are influenced by its location, configuration, and mode of operation. Use of water recirculation systems reduces water use and with it, the number of organisms entrained. Mechanical damage in the cooling system to small organisms is generally low, but fish and their larvae and eggs may be seriously damaged. Discharge effects may also be severe but are generally local. The near field, where there are strong shear velocities and rapid temperature changes are particularly stressful to fish, and stringent limitations on the timing and strength of discharges may be required to reduce these stresses to nondamaging levels. Off-stream cooling systems may increase cloudiness, ground fog, precipitation, temperature and local winds, but these effects generally extend no further than 1000 m even in winter. There is considerable potential for using condenser cooling water for agricultural and aquacultural purposes such as irrigation, frost protection, undersoil heating, greenhouse heating and climate control. However, over the next few decades little of this waste heat is likely to be used creatively. The thermal consequences of implementing NEP are locally serious but do not pose regional problems. Creative use of the waste heat for aquaculture, agriculture, cogeneration, and power for energy intensive industries can be a powerful means of mitigating undesirable effects. PMID:540623

Interventions to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint in inpatient psychiatric settings: what we know so far a review of the literature.

PubMed

Scanlan, Justin Newton

2010-07-01

In recent times, much attention has been focused on the reduction of seclusion and restraint in psychiatric settings. This paper analyzes evidence available from evaluations of single seclusion and/or restraint reduction programmes. A total of 29 papers were included in the review. Seven key strategy types emerged from the analysis: (i) policy change/leadership; (ii) external review/debriefing; (iii) data use; (iv) training; (v) consumer/family involvement; (vi) increase in staff ratio/crisis response teams; and (vii) programme elements/changes. Outcomes indicate that a range of reduction programmes are successful in reducing the frequency and duration of seclusion and restraint use, while at the same time maintaining a safe environment. The development of new seclusion and restraint reduction programmes should include strong leadership from local management; external seclusion and restraint review committees or post-incident debriefing and analysis; broad-based staff training and programme changes at a local level. Behavioural and cognitive-behavioural programmes appear to be very useful in child and adolescent services. Further systematic research should be conducted to more fully understand which elements of successful programmes are the most powerful in reducing incidents of seclusion and restraint.

a High-Level Technique for Estimation and Optimization of Leakage Power for Full Adder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrivas, Jayram; Akashe, Shyam; Tiwari, Nitesh

2013-06-01

Optimization of power is a very important issue in low-voltage and low-power application. In this paper, we have proposed power gating technique to reduce leakage current and leakage power of one-bit full adder. In this power gating technique, we use two sleep transistors i.e., PMOS and NMOS. PMOS sleep transistor is inserted between power supply and pull up network. And NMOS sleep transistor is inserted between pull down network and ground terminal. These sleep transistors (PMOS and NMOS) are turned on when the circuit is working in active mode. And sleep transistors (PMOS and NMOS) are turned off when circuit is working in standby mode. We have simulated one-bit full adder and compared with the power gating technique using cadence virtuoso tool in 45 nm technology at 0.7 V at 27°C. By applying this technique, we have reduced leakage current from 2.935 pA to 1.905 pA and leakage power from 25.04μw to 9.233μw. By using this technique, we have reduced leakage power up to 63.12%.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakaria, Mohd Fazli; Ramachandaramurthy, Vigna K.

2017-01-01

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

NASA Lewis Stirling SPRE testing and analysis with reduced number of cooler tubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, Wayne A.; Cairelli, James E.; Swec, Diane M.; Doeberling, Thomas J.; Lakatos, Thomas F.; Madi, Frank J.

1992-01-01

Free-piston Stirling power converters are candidates for high capacity space power applications. The Space Power Research Engine (SPRE), a free-piston Stirling engine coupled with a linear alternator, is being tested at the NASA Lewis Research Center in support of the Civil Space Technology Initiative. The SPRE is used as a test bed for evaluating converter modifications which have the potential to improve the converter performance and for validating computer code predictions. Reducing the number of cooler tubes on the SPRE has been identified as a modification with the potential to significantly improve power and efficiency. Experimental tests designed to investigate the effects of reducing the number of cooler tubes on converter power, efficiency and dynamics are described. Presented are test results from the converter operating with a reduced number of cooler tubes and comparisons between this data and both baseline test data and computer code predictions.

THE EFFECTS OF TRANSIENTS ON PHOTOSPHERIC AND CHROMOSPHERIC POWER DISTRIBUTIONS

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

Samanta, T.; Banerjee, D.; Pant, V.

2016-09-01

We have observed a quiet-Sun region with the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope equipped with the CRISP Imaging SpectroPolarimeter. High-resolution, high-cadence, H α line scanning images were taken to observe different layers of the solar atmosphere from the photosphere to upper chromosphere. We study the distribution of power in different period bands at different heights. Power maps of the upper photosphere and the lower chromosphere show suppressed power surrounding the magnetic-network elements, known as “magnetic shadows.” These also show enhanced power close to the photosphere, traditionally referred to as “power halos.” The interaction between acoustic waves and inclined magnetic fieldsmore » is generally believed to be responsible for these two effects. In this study we explore whether small-scale transients can influence the distribution of power at different heights. We show that the presence of transients, like mottles, Rapid Blueshifted Excursions (RBEs), and Rapid Redshifted Excursions (RREs), can strongly influence the power maps. The short and finite lifetime of these events strongly affects all power maps, potentially influencing the observed power distribution. We show that Doppler-shifted transients like RBEs and RREs that occur ubiquitously can have a dominant effect on the formation of the power halos in the quiet Sun. For magnetic shadows, transients like mottles do not seem to have a significant effect on the power suppression around 3 minutes, and wave interaction may play a key role here. Our high-cadence observations reveal that flows, waves, and shocks manifest in the presence of magnetic fields to form a nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic system.« less

Spatiotemporal Airy Ince-Gaussian wave packets in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media.

PubMed

Peng, Xi; Zhuang, Jingli; Peng, Yulian; Li, DongDong; Zhang, Liping; Chen, Xingyu; Zhao, Fang; Deng, Dongmei

2018-03-08

The self-accelerating Airy Ince-Gaussian (AiIG) and Airy helical Ince-Gaussian (AihIG) wave packets in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media (SNNM) are obtained by solving the strongly nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation. For the first time, the propagation properties of three dimensional localized AiIG and AihIG breathers and solitons in the SNNM are demonstrated, these spatiotemporal wave packets maintain the self-accelerating and approximately non-dispersion properties in temporal dimension, periodically oscillating (breather state) or steady (soliton state) in spatial dimension. In particular, their numerical experiments of spatial intensity distribution, numerical simulations of spatiotemporal distribution, as well as the transverse energy flow and the angular momentum in SNNM are presented. Typical examples of the obtained solutions are based on the ratio between the input power and the critical power, the ellipticity and the strong nonlocality parameter. The comparisons of analytical solutions with numerical simulations and numerical experiments of the AiIG and AihIG optical solitons show that the numerical results agree well with the analytical solutions in the case of strong nonlocality.

Thermal control of power supplies with electronic packaging techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The analysis, design, and development work to reduce the weight and size of a standard modular power supply with a 350 watt output was summarized. By integrating low cost commercial heat pipes in the redesign of this power supply, weight was reduced by 30% from that of the previous design. The temperature was also appreciably reduced, increasing the environmental capability of the unit. A demonstration unit with a 100 watt output and a 15 volt regulator module, plus simulated output modules, was built and tested to evaluate the thermal performance of the redesigned power supply.

A Retrospective of Four Decades of Military Interest in Thermophotovoltaics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guazzoni, Guido; Matthews, Selma

2004-11-01

Following a short discussion on the origin of Thermophotovoltaic (TPV), this presentation offers a retrospective of the progress and results of the recurrent efforts in TPV conducted in the United States by the Military during the last 40 years. The US Army's interest in TPV, for the development of portable power sources, started a few years after the energy conversion approach was conceived. TPV technology was seen to offer a solution for the Army's need for power in the 10 to 1500 Watt range. The technology offered the means to overcome the limitation of size and weight found in existing commercial power sources, with the additional advantage of silent and multifuel operation. Hence, the Army invested research and development (R&D) funding to investigate TPV feasibility for tactical field application. After an initial decade of continuous research studies by the Army, the support for this technology has experienced cycles of significant efforts interrupted by temporary waiting periods to allow this technology to further mature. Over the last four decades, several TPV proof of concept systems were developed. The results of their testing and evaluation have demonstrated the feasibility of the technology for development of power sources with output of several watts to a few hundreds watts. To date, the results have not been found to adequately demonstrate the applicability of TPV to the development of military power generators with output above 500 watts. TPV power sources have not been developed yet for Army field use or troop testing. The development risk is still considered to be moderate-to-high since practical-size systems that go beyond the laboratory test units have not been designed, constructed, tested. The greatest need is for system development, along with concurrent continued component development and improvement. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) support for TPV R&D effort has been drastically reduced. The Army is still pursuing a 500watt TPV unit demonstrator. No further collaboration among DARPA, Army, NASA is contemplated, which seems indicative of the beginning of a new period of waiting for additional maturing of this technology. The Army's assessment about the viability of TPV for integrated systems indicates that the technology will require a few more years of development. However, at this time, for the completion of component and system development, a strong effort is needed in the private sector. The achievement of the necessary ruggedness for some critical components, acceptable overall efficiency, and system thermal management, is essential for a new, strong restart of TPV effort by the Military.

Evaluating a Comprehensive Campus-Community Prevention Intervention to Reduce Alcohol-Related Problems in a College Population*

PubMed Central

Saltz, Robert F.; Welker, Lara R.; Paschall, Mallie J.; Feeney, Maggie A.; Fabiano, Patricia M.

2009-01-01

Objective: This article evaluates Western Washington University's Neighborhoods Engaging with Students project—a comprehensive strategy to decrease disruptive off-campus parties by increasing student integration into and accountability to the neighborhoods in which they live. The intervention includes increasing the number of and publicity regarding “party emphasis patrols” and collaboration with the city to develop a regulatory mechanism to reduce repeat problematic party calls to the same address. The enforcement components are complemented by campus-based, late-night expansion programming, as well as neighborhood engagement strategies including an educational Web site designed to increase students' knowledge of and skills in living safely and legally in the community, service-learning projects in the campus-contiguous neighborhoods, and a neighborhood-based conflict-resolution program. Method: The evaluation comprised data from three public universities in Washington. In addition to the Western Washington University site, a second campus created an opportunity for a “natural experiment” because it adopted a very similar intervention in the same time frame, creating two intervention sites and one comparison site. Annual, Web-based student surveys in 2005 and 2006 included measures of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and student perception of alcohol control and prevention activities. Results: Although statistical power with three campuses was limited, results using hierarchical linear modeling showed that the prevalence of heavy episodic drinking was significantly lower at the intervention schools (odds ratio = 0.73; N = 6, 150 students). Conclusions: The results suggest that alcohol control measures can be effective in reducing problematic drinking in college settings. These findings strongly support conducting a replication with greater power and a more rigorous design. PMID:19538909

Improved photovoltaic performance and stability of quantum dot sensitized solar cells using Mn-ZnSe shell structure with enhanced light absorption and recombination control.

PubMed

Gopi, Chandu V V M; Venkata-Haritha, M; Kim, Soo-Kyoung; Kim, Hee-Je

2015-08-07

To make quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) competitive, photovoltaic parameters comparable to those of other emerging solar cell technologies are necessary. In the present study, ZnSe was used as an alternative to ZnS, one of the most widely used passivation materials in QDSSCs. ZnSe was deposited on a TiO2-CdS-CdSe photoanode to form a core-shell structure, which was more efficient in terms of reducing the electron recombination in QDSSCs. The development of an efficient passivation layer is a requirement for preventing recombination processes in order to attain high-performance and stable QDSSCs. A layer of inorganic Mn-ZnSe was applied to a QD-sensitized photoanode to enhance the adsorption and strongly inhibit interfacial recombination processes in QDSSCs, which greatly improved the power conversion efficiency. Impedance spectroscopy revealed that the combined Mn doping with ZnSe treatment reduces interfacial recombination and increases charge collection efficiency compared with Mn-ZnS, ZnS, and ZnSe. A solar cell based on the CdS-CdSe-Mn-ZnSe photoanode yielded excellent performance with a solar power conversion efficiency of 5.67%, Voc of 0.584 V, and Jsc of 17.59 mA cm(-2). Enhanced electron transport and reduced electron recombination are responsible for the improved Jsc and Voc of the QDSSCs. The effective electron lifetime of the device with Mn-ZnSe was higher than those with Mn-ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnS, leading to more efficient electron-hole separation and slower electron recombination.

Chronic Ketamine Reduces the Peak Frequency of Gamma Oscillations in Mouse Prefrontal Cortex Ex vivo.

PubMed

McNally, James M; McCarley, Robert W; Brown, Ritchie E

2013-01-01

Abnormalities in EEG gamma band oscillations (GBO, 30-80 Hz) serve as a prominent biomarker of schizophrenia (Sz), associated with positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Chronic, subanesthetic administration of antagonists of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR), such as ketamine, elicits behavioral effects, and alterations in cortical interneurons similar to those observed in Sz. However, the chronic effects of ketamine on neocortical GBO are unknown. Thus, here we examine the effects of chronic (five daily i.p. injections) application of ketamine (5 and 30 mg/kg) and the more specific NMDAR antagonist, MK-801 (0.02, 0.5, and 2 mg/kg), on neocortical GBO ex vivo. Oscillations were generated by focal application of the glutamate receptor agonist, kainate (KA), in coronal brain slices containing the prelimbic cortex. This region constitutes the rodent analog of the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region strongly implicated in Sz-pathophysiology. Here we report the novel finding that chronic ketamine elicits a reduction in the peak oscillatory frequency of KA-elicited oscillations (from 47 to 40 Hz at 30 mg/kg). Moreover, the power of GBO in the 40-50 Hz band was reduced. These findings are reminiscent of both the reduced resonance frequency and power of cortical oscillations observed in Sz clinical studies. Surprisingly, MK-801 had no significant effect, suggesting care is needed when equating Sz-like behavioral effects elicited by different NMDAR antagonists to alterations in GBO activity. We conclude that chronic ketamine in the mouse mimics GBO abnormalities observed in Sz patients. Use of this ex vivo slice model may be useful in testing therapeutic compounds which rescue these GBO abnormalities.

The main types of electron energy distribution determined by model fitting to optical emissions during HF wave ionospheric modification experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vlasov, M. N.; Kelley, M. C.; Hysell, D. L.

2013-06-01

Enhanced optical emissions observed during HF pumping are induced by electrons accelerated by high-power electromagnetic waves. Using measured emission intensities, the energy distribution of accelerated electrons can be inferred. Energy loss from the excitation of molecular nitrogen vibrational levels (the vibrational barrier) strongly influences the electron energy distribution (EED). In airglow calculations, compensation for electron depletion within the 2-3 eV energy range, induced by the vibrational barrier, can be achieved via electrons with an EED similar to a Gaussian distribution and energies higher than 3 eV. This EED has a peak within the 5-10 eV energy range. We show that the main EED features depend strongly on altitude and solar activity. An EED similar to a power law distribution can occur above 270-300 km altitude. Below 270 km altitude, a Gaussian distribution for energies between 3 eV and 10 eV, together with a power law distribution for energies higher than 10 eV, is indicated. A Gaussian distribution combined with an exponential function is needed below 230 km altitude. The transition altitude from Gaussian to power law distribution depends strongly on solar activity, increasing for high solar activity. Electrons accelerated during the initial collisionless stage can inhibit the depletion of fast electrons within the vibrational barrier range, an effect that strongly depends on altitude and solar activity. The approach, based on the effective root square electric field, enables EED calculation, providing the observed red-line intensities for low and high solar activities.

Strongly driven electron spins using a Ku band stripline electron paramagnetic resonance resonator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yap, Yung Szen; Yamamoto, Hiroshi; Tabuchi, Yutaka; Negoro, Makoto; Kagawa, Akinori; Kitagawa, Masahiro

2013-07-01

This article details our work to obtain strong excitation for electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experiments by improving the resonator's efficiency. The advantages and application of strong excitation are discussed. Two 17 GHz transmission-type, stripline resonators were designed, simulated and fabricated. Scattering parameter measurements were carried out and quality factor were measured to be around 160 and 85. Simulation results of the microwave's magnetic field distribution are also presented. To determine the excitation field at the sample, nutation experiments were carried out and power dependence were measured using two organic samples at room temperature. The highest recorded Rabi frequency was rated at 210 MHz with an input power of about 1 W, which corresponds to a π/2 pulse of about 1.2 ns.

How PowerPoint Is Killing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isseks, Marc

2011-01-01

Although it is essential to incorporate new technologies into the classroom, says Isseks, one trend has negatively affected instruction--the misuse of PowerPoint presentations. The author describes how poorly designed PowerPoint presentations reduce complex thoughts to bullet points and reduce the act of learning to transferring text from slide to…

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

Wiser, Ryan; Bolinger, Mark

Wind power capacity in the United States experienced strong growth in 2016. Recent and projected near-term growth is supported by the industry’s primary federal incentive—the production tax credit (PTC)—as well as a myriad of state-level policies. Wind additions have also been driven by improvements in the cost and performance of wind power technologies, yielding low power sales prices for utility, corporate, and other purchasers.

Synergistic Effects of Turbine Wakes and Atmospheric Stability on Power Production at an Onshore Wind Farm

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

Wharton, S; Lundquist, J K; Marjanovic, N

This report examines the complex interactions between atmospheric stability and turbine-induced wakes on downwind turbine wind speed and power production at a West Coast North American multi-MW wind farm. Wakes are generated when the upwind flow field is distorted by the mechanical movement of the wind turbine blades. This has two consequences for downwind turbines: (1) the downwind turbine encounters wind flows with reduced velocity and (2) the downwind turbine encounters increased turbulence across multiple length scales via mechanical turbulence production by the upwind turbine. This increase in turbulence on top of ambient levels may increase aerodynamic fatigue loads onmore » the blades and reduce the lifetime of turbine component parts. Furthermore, ambient atmospheric conditions, including atmospheric stability, i.e., thermal stratification in the lower boundary layer, play an important role in wake dissipation. Higher levels of ambient turbulence (i.e., a convective or unstable boundary layer) lead to higher turbulent mixing in the wake and a faster recovery in the velocity flow field downwind of a turbine. Lower levels of ambient turbulence, as in a stable boundary layer, will lead to more persistent wakes. The wake of a wind turbine can be divided into two regions: the near wake and far wake, as illustrated in Figure 1. The near wake is formed when the turbine structure alters the shape of the flow field and usually persists one rotor diameter (D) downstream. The difference between the air inside and outside of the near wake results in a shear layer. This shear layer thickens as it moves downstream and forms turbulent eddies of multiple length scales. As the wake travels downstream, it expands depending on the level of ambient turbulence and meanders (i.e., travels in non-uniform path). Schepers estimates that the wake is fully expanded at a distance of 2.25 D and the far wake region begins at 2-5 D downstream. The actual distance traveled before the wake recovers to its inflow velocity is dependent on the amount ambient turbulence, the amount of wind shear, and topographical and structural effects. The maximum velocity deficit is estimated to occur at 1-2 D but can be longer under low levels of ambient turbulence. Our understanding of turbine wakes comes from wind tunnel experiments, field experiments, numerical simulations, and from studies utilizing both experimental and modeling methods. It is well documented that downwind turbines in multi-Megawatt wind farms often produce less power than upwind turbine rows. These wake-induced power losses have been estimated from 5% to up to 40% depending on the turbine operating settings (e.g., thrust coefficient), number of turbine rows, turbine size (e.g., rotor diameter and hub-height), wind farm terrain, and atmospheric flow conditions (e.g., ambient wind speed, turbulence, and atmospheric stability). Early work by Elliott and Cadogan suggested that power data for different turbulent conditions be segregated to distinguish the effects of turbulence on wind farm power production. This may be especially important for downwind turbines within wind farms, as chaotic and turbulent wake flows increase stress on downstream turbines. Impacts of stability on turbine wakes and power production have been examined for a flat terrain, moderate size (43 turbines) wind farm in Minnesota and for an offshore, 80 turbine wind farm off the coast of Denmark. Conzemius found it difficult to distinguish wakes (i.e., downwind velocity deficits) when the atmosphere was convective as large amounts of scatter were present in the turbine nacelle wind speed data. This suggested that high levels of turbulence broke-up the wake via large buoyancy effects, which are generally on the order of 1 km in size. On the other hand, they found pronounced wake effects when the atmosphere was very stable and turbulence was either suppressed or the length scale was reduced as turbulence in this case was mechanically produced (i.e., friction forces). This led to larger reductions at downwind turbines and maximum velocity (power) deficits reached up to 50% (70%) during strongly stable conditions. At an offshore Danish wind farm, Hansen et al. found a strong negative correlation between power deficit and ambient turbulence intensity (i.e., atmospheric stability). Under convective conditions, when turbulence levels were relatively high, smallest power deficits were observed. Power deficits approaching 35 to 40% were found inside the wind farm during stable conditions.« less

Controlling the Laser Guide Star power density distribution at Sodium layer by combining Pre-correction and Beam-shaping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jian; Wei, Kai; Jin, Kai; Li, Min; Zhang, YuDong

2018-06-01

The Sodium laser guide star (LGS) plays a key role in modern astronomical Adaptive Optics Systems (AOSs). The spot size and photon return of the Sodium LGS depend strongly on the laser power density distribution at the Sodium layer and thus affect the performance of the AOS. The power density distribution is degraded by turbulence in the uplink path, launch system aberrations, the beam quality of the laser, and so forth. Even without any aberrations, the TE00 Gaussian type is still not the optimal power density distribution to obtain the best balance between the measurement error and temporal error. To optimize and control the LGS power density distribution at the Sodium layer to an expected distribution type, a method that combines pre-correction and beam-shaping is proposed. A typical result shows that under strong turbulence (Fried parameter (r0) of 5 cm) and for a quasi-continuous wave Sodium laser (power (P) of 15 W), in the best case, our method can effectively optimize the distribution from the Gaussian type to the "top-hat" type and enhance the photon return flux of the Sodium LGS; at the same time, the total error of the AOS is decreased by 36% with our technique for a high power laser and poor seeing.

Supercomputations and big-data analysis in strong-field ultrafast optical physics: filamentation of high-peak-power ultrashort laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voronin, A. A.; Panchenko, V. Ya; Zheltikov, A. M.

2016-06-01

High-intensity ultrashort laser pulses propagating in gas media or in condensed matter undergo complex nonlinear spatiotemporal evolution where temporal transformations of optical field waveforms are strongly coupled to an intricate beam dynamics and ultrafast field-induced ionization processes. At the level of laser peak powers orders of magnitude above the critical power of self-focusing, the beam exhibits modulation instabilities, producing random field hot spots and breaking up into multiple noise-seeded filaments. This problem is described by a (3  +  1)-dimensional nonlinear field evolution equation, which needs to be solved jointly with the equation for ultrafast ionization of a medium. Analysis of this problem, which is equivalent to solving a billion-dimensional evolution problem, is only possible by means of supercomputer simulations augmented with coordinated big-data processing of large volumes of information acquired through theory-guiding experiments and supercomputations. Here, we review the main challenges of supercomputations and big-data processing encountered in strong-field ultrafast optical physics and discuss strategies to confront these challenges.

Robust model comparison disfavors power law cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shafer, Daniel L.

2015-05-01

Late-time power law expansion has been proposed as an alternative to the standard cosmological model and shown to be consistent with some low-redshift data. We test power law expansion against the standard flat Λ CDM cosmology using goodness-of-fit and model comparison criteria. We consider type Ia supernova (SN Ia) data from two current compilations (JLA and Union2.1) along with a current set of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements that includes the high-redshift Lyman-α forest measurements from BOSS quasars. We find that neither power law expansion nor Λ CDM is strongly preferred over the other when the SN Ia and BAO data are analyzed separately but that power law expansion is strongly disfavored by the combination. We treat the Rh=c t cosmology (a constant rate of expansion) separately and find that it is conclusively disfavored by all combinations of data that include SN Ia observations and a poor overall fit when systematic errors in the SN Ia measurements are ignored, despite a recent claim to the contrary. We discuss this claim and some concerns regarding hidden model dependence in the SN Ia data.

Recent progress towards a physics-based understanding of the H-mode transition

DOE PAGES

Tynan, G. R.; Cziegler, I.; Diamond, P. H.; ...

2016-01-22

Results from recent experiment and numerical simulation point towards a picture of the L-H transition in which edge shear flows interacting with edge turbulence create the conditions needed to produce a non-zero turbulent Reynolds stress at and just inside the LCFS during L-mode discharges. This stress acts to reinforce the shear flow at this location and the flow drive gets stronger as heating is increased. The L-H transition ensues when the rate of work done by this stress is strong enough to drive the shear flow to large values, which then grows at the expense of the turbulence intensity. Themore » drop in turbulence intensity momentarily reduces the heat flux across the magnetic flux surface, which then allows the edge plasma pressure gradient to build. A sufficiently strong ion pressure gradient then locks in the H-mode state. The results are in general agreement with previously published reduced 0D and 1D predator prey models. An extended predator–prey model including separate ion and electron heat channels yields a non-monotonic power threshold dependence on plasma density provided that the fraction of heat deposited on the ions increases with plasma density. Possible mechanisms to explain other macroscopic transition threshold criteria are identified. A number of open questions and unexplained observations are identified, and must be addressed and resolved in order to build a physics-based model that can yield predictions of the macroscopic conditions needed for accessing H-mode.« less

Estimation of efficiency of the heat supply system based on a boiler house and a wind turbine in the northern environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezhan, A. V.; Minin, V. A.

2017-03-01

This article describes a methodological approach to defining indoor air temperature in buildings heated by a power supply unit consisting of a boiler house and a wind-driven power plant (WDPP). We discuss a heating option for a residential building in the windy conditions of Murmansk city. We proved that, during the periods of strong wind, a WDPP can partially or fully satisfy the heat demand and sometimes even create a surplus of energy. During low wind weather, almost all loads are handled by the boiler house. We considered a possibility to accumulate the surplus energy obtained from a WDPP during strong wind by increasing the temperature in the whole building up to 25°C and further using the accumulated heat during the lowwind period when indoor air temperature may fall below 20°C. This allows saving organic fuel in the boiler house. We demonstrated how indoor air temperature in the building may change throughout the year when using the surplus energy from the WDPP due to thermal storage capacitance of the building. We also provided the results of study, showing favorable energy-related effects of using a WDPP along with the boiler house. It was determined that engaging a WDPP in fulfilling the diagram of heating loads promotes the decrease in the boiler house's contribution to heat supply by 30 to 50%, and using the surplus energy from the WDPP and thermal storage capacitance of the building allows reducing the contribution of the boiler house by 5-15% more in certain months.

Energy-efficient digital and wireless IC design for wireless smart sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Jun; Huang, Xiongchuan; Wang, Chao; Tae-Hyoung Kim, Tony; Lian, Yong

2017-10-01

Wireless smart sensing is now widely used in various applications such as health monitoring and structural monitoring. In conventional wireless sensor nodes, significant power is consumed in wirelessly transmitting the raw data. Smart sensing adds local intelligence to the sensor node and reduces the amount of wireless data transmission via on-node digital signal processing. While the total power consumption is reduced compared to conventional wireless sensing, the power consumption of the digital processing becomes as dominant as wireless data transmission. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art energy-efficient digital and wireless IC design techniques for reducing the power consumption of the wireless smart sensor node to prolong battery life and enable self-powered applications.

Computational Investigations of Inboard Flow Separation and Mitigation Techniques on Multi-Megawatt Wind Turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chow, Raymond

The aerodynamic characteristics of the NREL 5-MW rotor have been examined using a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes method, OVERFLOW2. A comprehensive off-body grid independence study has been performed. A strong dependence on the size of the near-body wake grid has been found. Rapid diffusion of the wake appears to generate an overprediction of power and thrust. A large, continuous near-wake grid at minimum of two rotor diameters downstream of the rotor appears to be necessary for accurate predictions of near-body forces. The NREL 5-MW rotor demonstrates significant inboard flow separation up to 30% of span. This separation appears to be highly three-dimensional, with a significant amount of radial flow increasing the size of the separated region outboard. Both integrated aerodynamic coefficients and detailed wake structures for the baseline NREL 5-MW rotor are in excellent agreement with results by Riso at Uinfinity = 8 and 11 m/s. A simple, continuous full-chord fence was applied at the maximum chord location of the blade, within the region of separation. This non-optimized device reduced the boundary-layer cross-flow and resulting separation, and increased rotor power capture by 0.9% and 0.6% at U infinity = 8 and 11 m/s, respectively. Suction side only fences perform similarly in terms of power capture but reduce the increase in rotor thrust. Fence heights from 0.5% to 17.5% of the maximum chord all demonstrate some level of effectiveness, with fences (1-2.5%cmax) showing similar performance gains to taller fences with smaller penalties in thrust. Performance in terms of power capture is not very sensitive to spanwise location when placed within the separation region. Blunt trailing edge modifications to the inboard region of the blade showed a relatively significant effect on rotor power. Over a large range of trailing edge thicknesses from hTE = 10 to 25%c, power was found to increase by 1.4%. Thrust increased proportionally with the thicknesses examined, reaching a comparable increase of 1.4% by a trailing edge thickness of 15%c. Decreasing inboard twist only acted to increase thrust without increasing power capture any further at U infinity = 11 m/s. While increasing inboard blade twist decreased power, but decreased thrust at even a higher rate. Vortex generators were not successively configured to significantly improve power capture in this study. Two of the three configurations examined actually decreased power capture and increased the separation region. The results found in this study are not believed to be representative of a properly sized and located array of VGs. The presence of the nose cone and nacelle body at the hub of the rotor is found to have a minimal effect on the power and thrust of the overall rotor. The downstream wake structure however is changed by the nacelle, potentially useful for wake tailoring when turbines are closely spaced together.

High resolution power spectra of daily Zurich sunspot numbers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Euler, H. C., Jr.

1973-01-01

High resolution power spectra of 77 years of Zurich daily sunspot numbers were computed using various lags and data point intervals. Major harmonic peaks of the approximately 124-month period showed up strongly as well as the 27-day solar rotational period.

Drastic changes of (p,t) analyzing powers for the isotopes /sup 58,60,62,64/Ni and marked incident-energy dependence of the analyzing powers

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

Toba Y.; Yagi, K.

1984-01-01

Drastic changes of (p,t) analyzing powers for the four Ni isotopes in ground-state transitions were observed. The changes are not explained by direct one-step processes but are interpreted by including strong two-step (p,d) (d,t) processes. Interference between the two processes of comparable intensities is essential. Marked incident-energy dependence of the analyzing powers is interpreted similarly.

Conductivity fluctuations in polymer's networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samukhin, A. N.; Prigodin, V. N.; Jastrabík, L.

1998-01-01

A Polymer network is treated as an anisotropic fractal with fractional dimensionality D = 1 + ε close to one. Percolation model on such a fractal is studied. Using real space renormalization group approach of Migdal and Kadanoff, we find the threshold value and all the critical exponents in the percolation model to be strongly nonanalytic functions of ε, e.g. the critical exponent of the conductivity was obtained to be ε-2 exp (-1 - 1/ε). The main part of the finite-size conductivities distribution function at the threshold was found to be universal if expressed in terms of the fluctuating variable which is proportional to a large power of the conductivity, but with ε-dependent low-conductivity cut-off. Its reduced central momenta are of the order of e -1/ε up to a very high order.

LIGHT-SABRE enables efficient in-magnet catalytic hyperpolarization.

PubMed

Theis, Thomas; Truong, Milton; Coffey, Aaron M; Chekmenev, Eduard Y; Warren, Warren S

2014-11-01

Nuclear spin hyperpolarization overcomes the sensitivity limitations of traditional NMR and MRI, but the most general method demonstrated to date (dynamic nuclear polarization) has significant limitations in scalability, cost, and complex apparatus design. As an alternative, signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) of parahydrogen on transition metal catalysts can hyperpolarize a variety of substrates, but to date this scheme has required transfer of the sample to low magnetic field or very strong RF irradiation. Here we demonstrate "Low-Irradiation Generation of High Tesla-SABRE" (LIGHT-SABRE) which works with simple pulse sequences and low power deposition; it should be usable at any magnetic field and for hyperpolarization of many different nuclei. This approach could drastically reduce the cost and complexity of producing hyperpolarized molecules. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Research on Shielding of Emboli with the Phase-Controlled Ultrasound].

PubMed

Liu, Chuang; Bai, Jingfeng

2016-01-01

The postoperative neurological complications is associated with intraoperative cerebral emboli, which results from extracorporeal circulation and operation. It can effectively reduce the incidence of neurological complications with ultrasonic radiation. In fluids, a particle will change it's motion trail when it is acted by the radiation force generated by the ultrasound. This article mainly discuss how to shielding emboli with ultrasound. The equipment can transmit phased ultrasonic signals, which is designed on a FPGA development board. The board can generate a square wave, which is converted into a sine wave through a power amplifier. In addition, the control software has been developed on Qt development environment. The result indicates it's feasible to shielding emboli with ultrasonic radiation force. This article builds a strong foundation for the future research.

Development of Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) transmitter amplifier for communication satellites 60 GHz/10 W

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lippert, G.; Bluhm, K. H.; Malzahn, P.; Bulka, C.

1985-12-01

For communication between geostationary satellites a transmitter using a TWT amplifier with frequencies in the region of 60 GHz and output power of a few watts is proposed. The design objectives for the electron gun were realized using a computer program, which also takes into account the thermal velocities of the electrons, to dimension the electrodes. A focusing electrode and a mixed metal cathode with a low beam compression ratio are employed in the gun. All requirements for the beam focusing system are met using an extremely precise machined integrated PPM system and SmCo5 magnets. An easily manufacturable delay line structure was realized using a diffusion brazed interdigital line consisting of only a few parts. The one stage collector can operate with a strongly reduced potential.

Using Markov state models to study self-assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perkett, Matthew R.; Hagan, Michael F.

2014-06-01

Markov state models (MSMs) have been demonstrated to be a powerful method for computationally studying intramolecular processes such as protein folding and macromolecular conformational changes. In this article, we present a new approach to construct MSMs that is applicable to modeling a broad class of multi-molecular assembly reactions. Distinct structures formed during assembly are distinguished by their undirected graphs, which are defined by strong subunit interactions. Spatial inhomogeneities of free subunits are accounted for using a recently developed Gaussian-based signature. Simplifications to this state identification are also investigated. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated on two different coarse-grained models for virus self-assembly. We find good agreement between the dynamics predicted by the MSMs and long, unbiased simulations, and that the MSMs can reduce overall simulation time by orders of magnitude.

Novel concept for driving the linear compressor of a micro-miniature split Stirling cryogenic cooler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maron, V.; Veprik, A.; Finkelstein, L.; Vilenchik, H.; Ziv, I.; Pundak, N.

2009-05-01

New methods of carrying out homeland security and antiterrorist operations call for the development of a new generation of mechanically cooled, portable, battery powered infrared imagers, relying on micro-miniature Stirling cryogenic coolers of rotary or linear types. Since split Stirling linearly driven micro-miniature cryogenic coolers have inherently longer life spans, low vibration export and better aural stealth as compared to their rotary driven rivals, they are more suitable for the above applications. The performance of such cryogenic coolers depends strongly on the efficacy of their electronic drivers. In a traditional approach, the PWM power electronics produce the fixed frequency tonal driving voltage/current, the magnitude of which is modulated via a PID control law so as to maintain the desired focal plane array temperature. The disadvantage of such drivers is that they draw high ripple current from the system's power bus. This results in the need for an oversized DC power supply (battery packs) and power electronic components, low efficiency due to excessive conductive losses and high residual electromagnetic interference which in turn degrades the performance of other systems connected to the same power bus. Without either an active line filter or large and heavy passive filtering, other electronics can not be powered from the same power bus, unless they incorporate heavy filtering at their inputs. The authors present the results of a feasibility study towards developing a novel "pumping" driver consuming essentially constant instant battery power/current without making use of an active or passive filter. In the tested setup, the driver relies on a bidirectional controllable bridge, invertible with the driving frequency, and a fast regulated DC/DC converter which maintains a constant level of current consumed from the DC power supply and thus operates in input current control mode. From the experimental results, the steady-state power consumed by the linear compressor remains the same as compared with the traditional sine wave driver, the voltage and current drawn from the battery pack is essentially free of low frequency ripple (this without use of any kind of filtering) and the overall coefficient of performance of the driver is in excess of 94% over the entire working range of supply voltages. Such a driver free of sine forming PWM stage and have reduced power peaks in all power conversion components.

A Magnetic-Balanced Inductive Link for the Simultaneous Uplink Data and Power Telemetry

PubMed Central

Liu, Dake; Li, Min

2017-01-01

When using the conventional two-coil inductive link for the simultaneous wireless power and data transmissions in implantable biomedical sensor devices, the strong power carrier could overwhelm the uplink data signal and even saturate the external uplink receiver. To address this problem, we propose a new magnetic-balanced inductive link for our implantable glaucoma treatment device. In this inductive link, an extra coil is specially added for the uplink receiving. The strong power carrier interference is minimized to approach zero by balanced canceling of the magnetic field of the external power coil. The implant coil is shared by the wireless power harvesting and the uplink data transmitting. Two carriers (i.e., 2-MHz power carrier and 500-kHz uplink carrier) are used for the wireless power transmission and the uplink data transmission separately. In the experiments, the prototype of this link achieves as high as 65.72 dB improvement of the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) compared with the conventional two-coil inductive link. Benefiting from the significant improvement of SIR, the implant transmitter costs only 0.2 mW of power carrying 50 kbps of binary phase shift keying data and gets a bit error rate of 1 × 10−7, even though the coupling coefficient is as low as 0.005. At the same time, 5 mW is delivered to the load with maximum power transfer efficiency of 58.8%. This magnetic-balanced inductive link is useful for small-sized biomedical sensor devices, which require transmitting data and power simultaneously under ultra-weak coupling. PMID:28767090

A Magnetic-Balanced Inductive Link for the Simultaneous Uplink Data and Power Telemetry.

PubMed

Gong, Chen; Liu, Dake; Miao, Zhidong; Li, Min

2017-08-02

When using the conventional two-coil inductive link for the simultaneous wireless power and data transmissions in implantable biomedical sensor devices, the strong power carrier could overwhelm the uplink data signal and even saturate the external uplink receiver. To address this problem, we propose a new magnetic-balanced inductive link for our implantable glaucoma treatment device. In this inductive link, an extra coil is specially added for the uplink receiving. The strong power carrier interference is minimized to approach zero by balanced canceling of the magnetic field of the external power coil. The implant coil is shared by the wireless power harvesting and the uplink data transmitting. Two carriers (i.e., 2-MHz power carrier and 500-kHz uplink carrier) are used for the wireless power transmission and the uplink data transmission separately. In the experiments, the prototype of this link achieves as high as 65.72 dB improvement of the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) compared with the conventional two-coil inductive link. Benefiting from the significant improvement of SIR, the implant transmitter costs only 0.2 mW of power carrying 50 kbps of binary phase shift keying data and gets a bit error rate of 1 × 10 - 7 , even though the coupling coefficient is as low as 0.005. At the same time, 5 mW is delivered to the load with maximum power transfer efficiency of 58.8%. This magnetic-balanced inductive link is useful for small-sized biomedical sensor devices, which require transmitting data and power simultaneously under ultra-weak coupling.

On the importance of minimizing "coast-time" in x-ray driven inertially confined fusion implosions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurricane, O. A.; Kritcher, A.; Callahan, D. A.; Landen, O.; Patel, P. K.; Springer, P. T.; Casey, D. T.; Dewald, E. L.; Dittrich, T. R.; Döppner, T.; Hinkel, D. E.; Berzak Hopkins, L. F.; Kline, J.; Le Pape, S.; Ma, T.; MacPhee, A. G.; Moore, A.; Pak, A.; Park, H.-S.; Ralph, J.; Salmonson, J. D.; Widmann, K.

2017-09-01

By the time an inertially confined fusion (ICF) implosion has converged a factor of 20, its surface area has shrunk 400 × , making it an inefficient x-ray energy absorber. So, ICF implosions are traditionally designed to have the laser drive shut off at a time, toff, well before bang-time, tBT, for a coast-time of t coast = t B T - t o f f > 1 ns. High-foot implosions on NIF showed a strong dependence of many key ICF performance quantities on reduced coast-time (by extending the duration of laser power after the peak power is first reached), most notably stagnation pressure and fusion yield. Herein we show that the ablation pressure, pabl, which drives high-foot implosions, is essentially triangular in temporal shape, and that reducing tcoast boosts pabl by as much as ˜ 2 × prior to stagnation thus increasing fuel and hot-spot compression and implosion speed. One-dimensional simulations are used to track hydrodynamic characteristics for implosions with various coast-times and various assumed rates of hohlraum cooling after toff to illustrate how the late-time conditions exterior to the implosion can impact the fusion performance. A simple rocket model-like analytic theory demonstrates that reducing coast-time can lead to a ˜ 15 % higher implosion velocity because the reduction in x-ray absorption efficiency at late-time is somewhat compensated by small ( ˜ 5 % - 10 %) ablator mass remaining. Together with the increased ablation pressure, the additional implosion speed for short coast-time implosions can boost the stagnation pressure by ˜ 2 × as compared to a longer coast-time version of the same implosion. Four key dimensionless parameters are identified and we find that reducing coast-time to as little as 500 ps still provides some benefit. Finally, we show how the high-foot implosion data is consistent with the above mentioned picture.

On the importance of minimizing “coast-time” in x-ray driven inertially confined fusion implosions

DOE PAGES

Hurricane, O. A.; Kritcher, A.; Callahan, D. A.; ...

2017-09-01

By the time an inertially confined fusion (ICF) implosion has converged a factor of 20, its surface area has shrunk 400×, making it an inefficient x-ray energy absorber. So, ICF implosions are traditionally designed to have the laser drive shut off at a time, t off, well before bang-time, t BT, for a coast-time of t coast = t BT – t off > 1 ns. High-foot implosions on NIF showed a strong dependence of many key ICF performance quantities on reduced coast-time (by extending the duration of laser power after the peak power is first reached), most notably stagnationmore » pressure and fusion yield. Herein we show that the ablation pressure, p abl, which drives high-foot implosions, is essentially triangular in temporal shape, and that reducing t coast boosts p abl by as much as ~2× prior to stagnation thus increasing fuel and hot-spot compression and implosion speed. One-dimensional simulations are used to track hydrodynamic characteristics for implosions with various coast-times and various assumed rates of hohlraum cooling after t off to illustrate how the late-time conditions exterior to the implosion can impact the fusion performance. A simple rocket model-like analytic theory demonstrates that reducing coast-time can lead to a ~15% higher implosion velocity because the reduction in x-ray absorption efficiency at late-time is somewhat compensated by small (~5%–10%) ablator mass remaining. Together with the increased ablation pressure, the additional implosion speed for short coast-time implosions can boost the stagnation pressure by ~2× as compared to a longer coast-time version of the same implosion. Four key dimensionless parameters are identified and we find that reducing coast-time to as little as 500 ps still provides some benefit. Lastly, we show how the high-foot implosion data is consistent with the above mentioned picture.« less

On the importance of minimizing “coast-time” in x-ray driven inertially confined fusion implosions

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

Hurricane, O. A.; Kritcher, A.; Callahan, D. A.

By the time an inertially confined fusion (ICF) implosion has converged a factor of 20, its surface area has shrunk 400×, making it an inefficient x-ray energy absorber. So, ICF implosions are traditionally designed to have the laser drive shut off at a time, t off, well before bang-time, t BT, for a coast-time of t coast = t BT – t off > 1 ns. High-foot implosions on NIF showed a strong dependence of many key ICF performance quantities on reduced coast-time (by extending the duration of laser power after the peak power is first reached), most notably stagnationmore » pressure and fusion yield. Herein we show that the ablation pressure, p abl, which drives high-foot implosions, is essentially triangular in temporal shape, and that reducing t coast boosts p abl by as much as ~2× prior to stagnation thus increasing fuel and hot-spot compression and implosion speed. One-dimensional simulations are used to track hydrodynamic characteristics for implosions with various coast-times and various assumed rates of hohlraum cooling after t off to illustrate how the late-time conditions exterior to the implosion can impact the fusion performance. A simple rocket model-like analytic theory demonstrates that reducing coast-time can lead to a ~15% higher implosion velocity because the reduction in x-ray absorption efficiency at late-time is somewhat compensated by small (~5%–10%) ablator mass remaining. Together with the increased ablation pressure, the additional implosion speed for short coast-time implosions can boost the stagnation pressure by ~2× as compared to a longer coast-time version of the same implosion. Four key dimensionless parameters are identified and we find that reducing coast-time to as little as 500 ps still provides some benefit. Lastly, we show how the high-foot implosion data is consistent with the above mentioned picture.« less

Sibling Self-Disclosure in Early Adolescence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howe, Nina; Aquan-Assee, Jasmin; Bukowski, William M.; Rinaldi, Christina M.; Lehoux, Pascale M.

2000-01-01

Studied sibling-directed self-disclosure of 40 preadolescents through interviews, a questionnaire, and subjects' daily diaries. Found that warmth in sibling relationship was most strongly associated with sibling disclosure, but not with rivalry, conflict, or power. Daily sibling disclosures were more strongly associated with reports of unhappy…

Baseline Testing of the Ultracapacitor Enhanced Photovoltaic Power Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eichenberg, Dennis J.; Kolacz, John S.; Tavernelli, Paul F.

2001-01-01

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center is developing an advanced ultracapacitor enhanced photovoltaic power station. Goals of this effort include maximizing photovoltaic power generation efficiency and extending the life of photovoltaic energy storage systems. Unique aspects of the power station include the use of a solar tracker, and ultracapacitors for energy storage. The photovoltaic power station is seen as a way to provide electric power in remote locations that would otherwise not have electric power, provide independence form utility systems, reduce pollution, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and reduce operating costs. The work was done under the Hybrid Power Management (HPM) Program, which includes the Hybrid Electric Transit Bus (HETB), and the E-Bike. The power station complements the E-Bike extremely well in that it permits the charging of the vehicle batteries in remote locations. Other applications include scientific research and medical power sources in isolated regions. The power station is an inexpensive approach to advance the state of the art in power technology in a practical application. The project transfers space technology to terrestrial use via nontraditional partners, and provides power system data valuable for future space applications. A description of the ultracapacitor enhanced power station, the results of performance testing and future power station development plans is the subject of this report. The report concludes that the ultracapacitor enhanced power station provides excellent performance, and that the implementation of ultracapacitors in the power system can provide significant performance improvements.

Antioxidative activities of 62 wild mushrooms from Nepal and the phenolic profile of some selected species.

PubMed

Tamrakar, Sonam; Tran, Hai Bang; Nishida, Marina; Kaifuchi, Satoru; Suhara, Hiroto; Doi, Katsumi; Fukami, Katsuya; Parajuli, Gopal Prasad; Shimizu, Kuniyoshi

2016-10-01

Mushrooms have garnered immense popularity for their nutritional as well as medicinal values. The therapeutic potential of mushrooms in Nepal, a country well known for its biodiversity and natural medicinal resources, remains largely unstudied. Therefore, this study attempts to unveil the antioxidative properties of Nepalese wild mushrooms. Sixty-two wild mushroom samples were collected from several forests in different parts of Nepal. Ethanol and water extracts of the dried samples were tested for their antioxidative activities using total phenolic content (TPC), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and reducing power (RP) assays. Ethanol extracts of samples belonging to the order Hymenochaetales showed significantly high activity in all the assays. Inonotus clemensiae had an exceptionally high TPC of 643.2 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g extract and also exhibited the lowest EC50 values in DPPH (0.081 mg/mL), ABTS (0.409 mg/mL), and EC0.5 value in reducing power (RP; 0.031 mg/mL) assays. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the top ten samples with the highest TPC was done to identify the phenolic compounds in the extracts, followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis for some unknown compounds. These findings highlight the very strong antioxidative activity of Nepalese mushrooms, and paves the way for further research to explore their economic potential.

Essential oil mediated synthesis of silver nanocrystals for environmental, anti-microbial and antioxidant applications.

PubMed

Vilas, Vidya; Philip, Daizy; Mathew, Joseph

2016-04-01

Our quest for a green, non-toxic and environmentally benign synthetic design for the fabrication of metal nanoparticles has led to the use of essential oil present in plant parts as the bioreductant. In this report, silver particles at nanoscale have been synthesized using essential oil present in the leaves of Coleus aromaticus at physiological pH and at 373 K. UV-vis spectra of the colloid display strong plasmon bands centred around 396-411 nm, characteristic of silver nanoparticles. Comparative studies of the FTIR spectra of essential oil and silver nanoparticles reveal the involvement of terpenes and their phenolic derivatives in reduction and subsequent stabilization. TEM micrographs and XRD pattern show the formation of 26 and 28 nm sized face centred cubic structured crystalline nanospheroids with intermittent formation of nanorods. The phytosynthesized silver nanoparticles are found to be effective in degrading hazardous organic pollutants including methyl orange, methylene blue, eosin yellowish and para nitro phenol within a span of a few minutes. Dose dependant antibacterial activity of the biogenic nanosilver against pathogenic Gramme-negative Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Gramme-positive Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) has been portrayed through agar-well dispersion method. The antioxidant activity including antiradical activity and reducing power have been depicted through superoxide radical scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, nitric oxide scavenging activity, DPPH assay and reducing power activity involving the reduction of ferric ion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Propagation of elliptic-Gaussian beams in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Dongmei; Guo, Qi

2011-10-01

The propagation of the elliptic-Gaussian beams is studied in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media. The elliptic-Gaussian beams and elliptic-Gaussian vortex beams are obtained analytically and numerically. The patterns of the elegant Ince-Gaussian and the generalized Ince-Gaussian beams are varied periodically when the input power is equal to the critical power. The stability is verified by perturbing the initial beam by noise. By simulating the propagation of the elliptic-Gaussian beams in liquid crystal, we find that when the mode order is not big enough, there exists the quasi-elliptic-Gaussian soliton states.

Wind, Wave, and Tidal Energy Without Power Conditioning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Jack A.

2013-01-01

Most present wind, wave, and tidal energy systems require expensive power conditioning systems that reduce overall efficiency. This new design eliminates power conditioning all, or nearly all, of the time. Wind, wave, and tidal energy systems can transmit their energy to pumps that send high-pressure fluid to a central power production area. The central power production area can consist of a series of hydraulic generators. The hydraulic generators can be variable displacement generators such that the RPM, and thus the voltage, remains constant, eliminating the need for further power conditioning. A series of wind blades is attached to a series of radial piston pumps, which pump fluid to a series of axial piston motors attached to generators. As the wind is reduced, the amount of energy is reduced, and the number of active hydraulic generators can be reduced to maintain a nearly constant RPM. If the axial piston motors have variable displacement, an exact RPM can be maintained for all, or nearly all, wind speeds. Analyses have been performed that show over 20% performance improvements with this technique over conventional wind turbines

Efficient experimental design and analysis strategies for the detection of differential expression using RNA-Sequencing

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) has emerged as a powerful approach for the detection of differential gene expression with both high-throughput and high resolution capabilities possible depending upon the experimental design chosen. Multiplex experimental designs are now readily available, these can be utilised to increase the numbers of samples or replicates profiled at the cost of decreased sequencing depth generated per sample. These strategies impact on the power of the approach to accurately identify differential expression. This study presents a detailed analysis of the power to detect differential expression in a range of scenarios including simulated null and differential expression distributions with varying numbers of biological or technical replicates, sequencing depths and analysis methods. Results Differential and non-differential expression datasets were simulated using a combination of negative binomial and exponential distributions derived from real RNA-Seq data. These datasets were used to evaluate the performance of three commonly used differential expression analysis algorithms and to quantify the changes in power with respect to true and false positive rates when simulating variations in sequencing depth, biological replication and multiplex experimental design choices. Conclusions This work quantitatively explores comparisons between contemporary analysis tools and experimental design choices for the detection of differential expression using RNA-Seq. We found that the DESeq algorithm performs more conservatively than edgeR and NBPSeq. With regard to testing of various experimental designs, this work strongly suggests that greater power is gained through the use of biological replicates relative to library (technical) replicates and sequencing depth. Strikingly, sequencing depth could be reduced as low as 15% without substantial impacts on false positive or true positive rates. PMID:22985019

Efficient experimental design and analysis strategies for the detection of differential expression using RNA-Sequencing.

PubMed

Robles, José A; Qureshi, Sumaira E; Stephen, Stuart J; Wilson, Susan R; Burden, Conrad J; Taylor, Jennifer M

2012-09-17

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) has emerged as a powerful approach for the detection of differential gene expression with both high-throughput and high resolution capabilities possible depending upon the experimental design chosen. Multiplex experimental designs are now readily available, these can be utilised to increase the numbers of samples or replicates profiled at the cost of decreased sequencing depth generated per sample. These strategies impact on the power of the approach to accurately identify differential expression. This study presents a detailed analysis of the power to detect differential expression in a range of scenarios including simulated null and differential expression distributions with varying numbers of biological or technical replicates, sequencing depths and analysis methods. Differential and non-differential expression datasets were simulated using a combination of negative binomial and exponential distributions derived from real RNA-Seq data. These datasets were used to evaluate the performance of three commonly used differential expression analysis algorithms and to quantify the changes in power with respect to true and false positive rates when simulating variations in sequencing depth, biological replication and multiplex experimental design choices. This work quantitatively explores comparisons between contemporary analysis tools and experimental design choices for the detection of differential expression using RNA-Seq. We found that the DESeq algorithm performs more conservatively than edgeR and NBPSeq. With regard to testing of various experimental designs, this work strongly suggests that greater power is gained through the use of biological replicates relative to library (technical) replicates and sequencing depth. Strikingly, sequencing depth could be reduced as low as 15% without substantial impacts on false positive or true positive rates.

Effects of Laser Power Level on Microstructural Properties and Phase Composition of Laser-Clad Fluorapatite/Zirconia Composite Coatings on Ti6Al4V Substrates.

PubMed

Chien, Chi-Sheng; Liu, Cheng-Wei; Kuo, Tsung-Yuan

2016-05-17

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is one of the most commonly used materials for the coating of bioceramic titanium (Ti) alloys. However, HA has poor mechanical properties and a low bonding strength. Accordingly, the present study replaces HA with a composite coating material consisting of fluorapatite (FA) and 20 wt % yttria (3 mol %) stabilized zirconia (ZrO₂, 3Y-TZP). The FA/ZrO₂ coatings are deposited on Ti6Al4V substrates using a Nd:YAG laser cladding system with laser powers and travel speeds of 400 W/200 mm/min, 800 W/400 mm/min, and 1200 W/600 mm/min, respectively. The experimental results show that a significant inter-diffusion of the alloying elements occurs between the coating layer (CL) and the transition layer (TL). Consequently, a strong metallurgical bond is formed between them. During the cladding process, the ZrO₂ is completely decomposed, while the FA is partially decomposed. As a result, the CLs of all the specimens consist mainly of FA, Ca₄(PO₄)₂O (TTCP), CaF₂, CaZrO₃, CaTiO₃ and monoclinic phase ZrO₂ (m-ZrO₂), together with a small amount of θ-Al₂O₃. As the laser power is increased, CaO, CaCO₃ and trace amounts of tetragonal phase ZrO₂ (t-ZrO₂) also appear. As the laser power increases from 400 to 800 W, the CL hardness also increases as a result of microstructural refinement and densification. However, at the highest laser power of 1200 W, the CL hardness reduces significantly due to the formation of large amounts of relatively soft CaO and CaCO₃ phase.

Dark matter statistics for large galaxy catalogs: power spectra and covariance matrices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klypin, Anatoly; Prada, Francisco

2018-06-01

Large-scale surveys of galaxies require accurate theoretical predictions of the dark matter clustering for thousands of mock galaxy catalogs. We demonstrate that this goal can be achieve with the new Parallel Particle-Mesh (PM) N-body code GLAM at a very low computational cost. We run ˜22, 000 simulations with ˜2 billion particles that provide ˜1% accuracy of the dark matter power spectra P(k) for wave-numbers up to k ˜ 1hMpc-1. Using this large data-set we study the power spectrum covariance matrix. In contrast to many previous analytical and numerical results, we find that the covariance matrix normalised to the power spectrum C(k, k΄)/P(k)P(k΄) has a complex structure of non-diagonal components: an upturn at small k, followed by a minimum at k ≈ 0.1 - 0.2 hMpc-1, and a maximum at k ≈ 0.5 - 0.6 hMpc-1. The normalised covariance matrix strongly evolves with redshift: C(k, k΄)∝δα(t)P(k)P(k΄), where δ is the linear growth factor and α ≈ 1 - 1.25, which indicates that the covariance matrix depends on cosmological parameters. We also show that waves longer than 1h-1Gpc have very little impact on the power spectrum and covariance matrix. This significantly reduces the computational costs and complexity of theoretical predictions: relatively small volume ˜(1h-1Gpc)3 simulations capture the necessary properties of dark matter clustering statistics. As our results also indicate, achieving ˜1% errors in the covariance matrix for k < 0.50 hMpc-1 requires a resolution better than ɛ ˜ 0.5h-1Mpc.

The Effectiveness of Shrouding on Reducing Meshed Spur Gear Power Loss - Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delgado, I. R.; Hurrell, M. J.

2017-01-01

Gearbox efficiency is reduced at high rotational speeds due to windage drag and viscous effects on rotating, meshed gear components. A goal of NASA aeronautics rotorcraft research is aimed at propulsion technologies that improve efficiency while minimizing vehicle weight. Specifically, reducing power losses to rotorcraft gearboxes would allow gains in areas such as vehicle payload, range, mission type, and fuel consumption. To that end, a gear windage rig has been commissioned at NASA Glenn Research Center to measure windage drag on gears and to test methodologies to mitigate windage power losses. One method used in rotorcraft gearbox design attempts to reduce gear windage power loss by utilizing close clearance walls to enclose the gears in both the axial and radial directions. The close clearance shrouds result in reduced drag on the gear teeth, and reduced power loss. For meshed spur gears, the shrouding takes the form of metal side plates and circumferential metal sectors. Variably positioned axial and radial shrouds are incorporated in the NASA rig to study the effect of shroud clearance on gearbox power loss. A number of researchers have given experimental and analytical results for single spur gears, with and without shrouding. Shrouded meshed spur gear test results are sparse in the literature. Windage tests were run at NASA Glenn using meshed spur gears at four shroud configurations: unshrouded, shrouded (max. axial, max radial), and two intermediate shrouding conditions. Results are compared to available meshed spur gear power loss data analyses as well as single spur gear data/analyses. Recommendations are made for future work.

The Effectiveness of Shrouding on Reducing Meshed Spur Gear Power Loss Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delgado, I. R.; Hurrell, M. J.

2017-01-01

Gearbox efficiency is reduced at high rotational speeds due to windage drag and viscous effects on rotating, meshed gear components. A goal of NASA aeronautics rotorcraft research is aimed at propulsion technologies that improve efficiency while minimizing vehicle weight. Specifically, reducing power losses to rotorcraft gearboxes would allow gains in areas such as vehicle payload, range, mission type, and fuel consumption. To that end, a gear windage rig has been commissioned at NASA Glenn Research Center to measure windage drag on gears and to test methodologies to mitigate windage power losses. One method used in rotorcraft gearbox design attempts to reduce gear windage power loss by utilizing close clearance walls to enclose the gears in both the axial and radial directions. The close clearance shrouds result in reduced drag on the gear teeth and reduced power loss. For meshed spur gears, the shrouding takes the form of metal side plates and circumferential metal sectors. Variably positioned axial and radial shrouds are incorporated in the NASA rig to study the effect of shroud clearance on gearbox power loss. A number of researchers have given experimental and analytical results for single spur gears, with and without shrouding. Shrouded meshed spur gear test results are sparse in the literature. Windage tests were run at NASA Glenn using meshed spur gears at four shroud configurations: unshrouded, shrouded (max. axial, max. radial), and two intermediate shrouding conditions. Results are compared to available meshed spur gear power loss data analyses as well as single spur gear data analyses.

Three essays on environmental and natural resource economics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiong (Juliana)

The doctoral dissertation is composed of three chapters on the governance of water and electricity infrastructure in China. All three chapters focus on the nexus of economy, environment, and energy. The first chapter studies the relationship of decentralization policies and the provision of public goods in the context of urban water services in China. Different degree of externalities of the public goods may affect the efficacy of decentralization policies. Using a comprehensive 2004 dataset for all the 661 cities, I measure how the clean water supply coverage rate and the wastewater treatment rate respond to these policies respectively. Results show that cities respond positively in their piped water supply coverage but not as well in their wastewater treatment, whereas they both respond positively to the mandatory information disclosure policy. The efficacy of decentralization policy is indeed compromised when externalities exist beyond the jurisdiction as suggested by the case of wastewater. Information disclosure policy, a motivational tool tied to the promotion of local officials, is shown to provide strong incentives for water services irrespective of their externalities. Private sector participation lowers the amount of government grant in the water sector but increases the tariff charged to customers. The second chapter of the dissertation examines whether competition reduces cost in the restructuring of the Chinese power sector. Although competition may reduce cost through technological innovation and advancement and diversification of ownership, higher transaction cost and price control may hinder its effectiveness. In this chapter, I describe the various restructuring programs over the years that affect the power plants. Then, I evaluate their impacts on the cost efficiency, measured by the factor demand of the power plants - labor, energy and materials. Using an industrial dataset from 1997 to 2004 of energy consuming coal power plants from the National Statistics Bureau, I first estimate the factor demand equations following the model developed in Fabrizio et al. (2007) to compare with the results from similar studies in the United States. Further, I model the cost structure of Chinese power plants using a more flexible translog specification. The results from these two models confirm the validity of the assumptions made based on the industry characteristics. The power plants located in the South reduced their labor demand after the Southern Grid separated from the National Grid in 2002. The third chapter examines how the unreliability of inputs affects productivity. Specifically, it studies how Chinese industrial enterprises respond to the unreliability of electric power. Since 2002, electricity blackouts have been hampering the industrial customers in China. Using a survey dataset of the National Statistics Bureau on eleven industries across the nation from 1999 to 2004 and an electricity dataset compiled from Electricity Yearbooks, my co-authors and I estimate the cost of power unreliability by quantifying the factor-neutral and the factor-biased productivity effects. Incorporating unreliability proxies into a flexible translog cost function and the value share equations, we estimate the whole system using seemingly unrelated regressions (SUREG) with cross equation constraints. We also calculate the marginal effect of factor unreliability on cost and on carbon emissions based on these estimates.

The Impact of Family and Peer Protective Factors on Girls’ Violence Perpetration and Victimization

PubMed Central

Shlafer, Rebecca J.; McMorris, Barbara J.; Sieving, Renee E.; Gower, Amy L.

2012-01-01

Purpose This study investigates whether family and peer connections and prosocial norms buffer adolescent girls’ violence involvement, and whether a youth development intervention augments the power of these protective factors in reducing girls’ risk for violence. Methods Data were obtained from 253 13–17 year-olds enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Prime Time, a youth development intervention offered through urban clinic settings to girls at high risk for pregnancy. Participants completed an A-CASI survey at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months following enrollment. Protective factors included scales assessing family and peer connections and prosocial norms. Outcome variables were violence victimization and perpetration scales measured at 18 months. Results Family connections and prosocial norms independently protected girls against violence involvement. Peer prosocial norms also served as a protective buffer against violence perpetration and victimization; however, girls with strong peer connections had higher levels of violence perpetration. Participation in Prime Time augmented the protective effects of family and peer connections on girls’ violence victimization but not perpetration. Prime Time participants who had high levels of family connections reported the lowest levels of violence victimization at 18 months. Prime Time participants with strong peer connections trended toward lower levels of violence victimization than other girls. Conclusions Results suggest that effects of the Prime Time intervention on violence victimization were optimized among high-risk adolescent girls with strong connections to family and peers. The intervention was most potent in preventing violence victimization among girls with strong prosocial connections to family and peers. PMID:23299002

Negativity and strong monogamy of multiparty quantum entanglement beyond qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Jin Hyuk; Kim, Jeong San

2015-10-01

We propose the square of convex-roof extended negativity (SCREN) as a powerful candidate to characterize strong monogamy of multiparty quantum entanglement. We first provide a strong monogamy inequality of multiparty entanglement using SCREN and show that the tangle-based multiqubit strong-monogamy inequality can be rephrased by SCREN. We further show that the SCREN strong-monogamy inequality is still true for the counterexamples that violate tangle-based the strong-monogamy inequality in higher-dimensional quantum systems other than qubits. We also analytically show that SCREN strong-monogamy inequality is true for a large class of multiqudit states, a superposition of multiqudit generalized W -class states and vacuums. Thus SCREN is a good alternative to characterize the strong monogamy of entanglement even in multiqudit systems.

Distributed energy store powered railguns for hypervelocity launch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maas, Brian L.; Bauer, David P.; Marshall, Richard A.

1993-01-01

Highly distributed power supplies are proposed as a basis for current difficulties with hypervelocity railgun power-supply compactness. This distributed power supply configuration reduces rail-to-rail voltage behind the main armature, thereby reducing the tendency for secondary armature current formation; secondary current elimination is essential for achieving the efficiencies associated with muzzle velocity above 6 km/sec. Attention is given to analytical and experimental results for two distributed energy storage schemes.

Reconstructing baryon oscillations: A Lagrangian theory perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padmanabhan, Nikhil; White, Martin; Cohn, J. D.

2009-03-01

Recently Eisenstein and collaborators introduced a method to “reconstruct” the linear power spectrum from a nonlinearly evolved galaxy distribution in order to improve precision in measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations. We reformulate this method within the Lagrangian picture of structure formation, to better understand what such a method does, and what the resulting power spectra are. We show that reconstruction does not reproduce the linear density field, at second order. We however show that it does reduce the damping of the oscillations due to nonlinear structure formation, explaining the improvements seen in simulations. Our results suggest that the reconstructed power spectrum is potentially better modeled as the sum of three different power spectra, each dominating over different wavelength ranges and with different nonlinear damping terms. Finally, we also show that reconstruction reduces the mode-coupling term in the power spectrum, explaining why miscalibrations of the acoustic scale are reduced when one considers the reconstructed power spectrum.

Extraction, Structural Characterization, and Potential Antioxidant Activity of the Polysaccharides from Four Seaweeds.

PubMed

He, Jinzhe; Xu, Yaoyang; Chen, Hongbo; Sun, Peilong

2016-11-28

Four seaweed polysaccharides were extracted from Sarcodia ceylonensis , Ulva lactuca L., Gracilaria lemaneiformis , and Durvillaea antarctica , respectively, by microwave-assisted extraction. The effect of three significant variables (extraction time, extraction temperature, and the ratio of water to raw material) on the process for extracting polysaccharides was investigated, along with the optimization of the extraction using the response surface method (RSM) with a Box-Behnken design. The polysaccharide structure, monosaccharide composition, degree of sulfation, and molecular weight ( M W ) distribution were analyzed by infrared (IR) spectrometry, gas chromatography (GC), and high-performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC). IR spectrometry showed that Sarcodia ceylonensis polysaccharide (SCP), Ulva lactuca L. polysaccharide (ULLP), and Durvillaea antarctica polysaccharide (DAP) were all sulfated polysaccharides and, except Gracilaria lemaneiformis polysaccharide (GLP), all belong to β-pyranosidic polysaccharides. The average molecular weight ( M W ) of SCP, ULLP, GLP, and DAP was 466, 404, 591, and 482 kDa, respectively. The quantitative and comparative results with external standards indicated that the main monosaccharide in SCP and ULLP was mannose; and GLP and DAP were mainly composed of galactose and glucose, respectively. Then the in vitro antioxidant activity of all of the polysaccharides was evaluated using different assays-2,2-azino -bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6- sulfonate) (ABTS), hydroxyl radical, nitrite scavenging capacity, and reducing power-and the relationship between their antioxidant activity and chemical characteristics were also examined. ULLP presented the highest ABTS radical scavenging activity; ULLP, SCP and DAP also showed a strong effect on the ABTS radical scavenging activity. SCP and ULLP exhibited excellent hydroxyl radical scavenging activities, about 83.33% ± 2.31% and 80.07% ± 2.17%, respectively, at 4 mg/mL. The reducing power of DAP was relatively more pronounced than that of the three other polysaccharides. However, the nitrite scavenging activities of the four seaweed polysaccharides were weaker than other antioxidant activity (ABTS), hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity, and reducing power. In addition, GLP exhibited lower activities than the other three samples in all of the tests for the antioxidant activity.

The Role of Demand Response in Reducing Water-Related Power Plant Vulnerabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macknick, J.; Brinkman, G.; Zhou, E.; O'Connell, M.; Newmark, R. L.; Miara, A.; Cohen, S. M.

2015-12-01

The electric sector depends on readily available water supplies for reliable and efficient operation. Elevated water temperatures or low water levels can trigger regulatory or plant-level decisions to curtail power generation, which can affect system cost and reliability. In the past decade, dozens of power plants in the U.S. have curtailed generation due to water temperatures and water shortages. Curtailments occur during the summer, when temperatures are highest and there is greatest demand for electricity. Climate change could alter the availability and temperature of water resources, exacerbating these issues. Constructing alternative cooling systems to address vulnerabilities can be capital intensive and can also affect power plant efficiencies. Demand response programs are being implemented by electric system planners and operators to reduce and shift electricity demands from peak usage periods to other times of the day. Demand response programs can also play a role in reducing water-related power sector vulnerabilities during summer months. Traditionally, production cost modeling and demand response analyses do not include water resources. In this effort, we integrate an electricity production cost modeling framework with water-related impacts on power plants in a test system to evaluate the impacts of demand response measures on power system costs and reliability. Specifically, we i) quantify the cost and reliability implications of incorporating water resources into production cost modeling, ii) evaluate the impacts of demand response measures on reducing system costs and vulnerabilities, and iii) consider sensitivity analyses with cooling systems to highlight a range of potential benefits of demand response measures. Impacts from climate change on power plant performance and water resources are discussed. Results provide key insights to policymakers and practitioners for reducing water-related power plant vulnerabilities via lower cost methods.

A power-efficient communication system between brain-implantable devices and external computers.

PubMed

Yao, Ning; Lee, Heung-No; Chang, Cheng-Chun; Sclabassi, Robert J; Sun, Mingui

2007-01-01

In this paper, we propose a power efficient communication system for linking a brain-implantable device to an external system. For battery powered implantable devices, the processor and the transmitter power should be reduced in order to both conserve battery power and reduce the health risks associated with transmission. To accomplish this, a joint source-channel coding/decoding system is devised. Low-density generator matrix (LDGM) codes are used in our system due to their low encoding complexity. The power cost for signal processing within the implantable device is greatly reduced by avoiding explicit source encoding. Raw data which is highly correlated is transmitted. At the receiver, a Markov chain source correlation model is utilized to approximate and capture the correlation of raw data. A turbo iterative receiver algorithm is designed which connects the Markov chain source model to the LDGM decoder in a turbo-iterative way. Simulation results show that the proposed system can save up to 1 to 2.5 dB on transmission power.

Power control electronics for cryogenic instrumentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ray, Biswajit; Gerber, Scott S.; Patterson, Richard L.; Myers, Ira T.

1995-01-01

In order to achieve a high-efficiency high-density cryogenic instrumentation system, the power processing electronics should be placed in the cold environment along with the sensors and signal-processing electronics. The typical instrumentation system requires low voltage dc usually obtained from processing line frequency ac power. Switch-mode power conversion topologies such as forward, flyback, push-pull, and half-bridge are used for high-efficiency power processing using pulse-width modulation (PWM) or resonant control. This paper presents several PWM and multiresonant power control circuits, implemented using commercially available CMOS and BiCMOS integrated circuits, and their performance at liquid-nitrogen temperature (77 K) as compared to their room temperature (300 K) performance. The operation of integrated circuits at cryogenic temperatures results in an improved performance in terms of increased speed, reduced latch-up susceptibility, reduced leakage current, and reduced thermal noise. However, the switching noise increased at 77 K compared to 300 K. The power control circuits tested in the laboratory did successfully restart at 77 K.

Variable gas spring for matching power output from FPSE to load of refrigerant compressor

DOEpatents

Chen, Gong; Beale, William T.

1990-01-01

The power output of a free piston Stirling engine is matched to a gas compressor which it drives and its stroke amplitude is made relatively constant as a function of power by connecting a gas spring to the drive linkage from the engine to the compressor. The gas spring is connected to the compressor through a passageway in which a valve is interposed. The valve is linked to the drive linkage so it is opened when the stroke amplitude exceeds a selected limit. This allows compressed gas to enter the spring, increase its spring constant, thus opposing stroke increase and reducing the phase lead of the displacer ahead of the piston to reduce power output and match it to a reduced load power demand.

Do the Powerful Discount the Future Less? The Effects of Power on Temporal Discounting

PubMed Central

Duan, Jinyun; Wu, Sherry J.; Sun, Luying

2017-01-01

Individuals have the tendency to discount rewards in the future, known as temporal discounting, and we find that sense of power (the felt capacity to influence the thinking and behavior of others) reduces such tendency. In Studies 1 and 2, we used both an experiment and a survey with organizational employees to demonstrate that power reduced temporal discounting. In Study 3, we replicated study 1 while exploring a unique cultural trait of Danbo, or indifference to fame and wealth, across two ethnic groups (Han and Tibetan groups) in China. While power reduces temporal discounting, the relationship between the two may be leveraged by individual differences of optimism, frustration, and Danbo. The results imply a more nuanced interpretation of how individual and situational factors can affect intertemporal choice. PMID:28680410

Variable gas spring for matching power output from FPSE to load of refrigerant compressor

DOEpatents

Chen, G.; Beale, W.T.

1990-04-03

The power output of a free piston Stirling engine is matched to a gas compressor which it drives and its stroke amplitude is made relatively constant as a function of power by connecting a gas spring to the drive linkage from the engine to the compressor. The gas spring is connected to the compressor through a passageway in which a valve is interposed. The valve is linked to the drive linkage so it is opened when the stroke amplitude exceeds a selected limit. This allows compressed gas to enter the spring, increase its spring constant, thus opposing stroke increase and reducing the phase lead of the displacer ahead of the piston to reduce power output and match it to a reduced load power demand. 6 figs.

Do the Powerful Discount the Future Less? The Effects of Power on Temporal Discounting.

PubMed

Duan, Jinyun; Wu, Sherry J; Sun, Luying

2017-01-01

Individuals have the tendency to discount rewards in the future, known as temporal discounting, and we find that sense of power (the felt capacity to influence the thinking and behavior of others) reduces such tendency. In Studies 1 and 2, we used both an experiment and a survey with organizational employees to demonstrate that power reduced temporal discounting. In Study 3, we replicated study 1 while exploring a unique cultural trait of Danbo , or indifference to fame and wealth, across two ethnic groups (Han and Tibetan groups) in China. While power reduces temporal discounting, the relationship between the two may be leveraged by individual differences of optimism, frustration, and Danbo . The results imply a more nuanced interpretation of how individual and situational factors can affect intertemporal choice.

Solar power station

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

Wenzel, J.

1982-11-30

Solar power station with semiconductor solar cells for generating electric power is described, wherein the semiconductor solar cells are provided on a member such as a balloon or a kite which carries the solar cells into the air. The function of the balloon or kite can also be fulfilled by a glider or airship. The solar power station can be operated by allowing the system to ascend at sunrise and descend at sunset or when the wind is going to be too strong in order to avoid any demage.

Ultra-low-power hybrid light–matter solitons

PubMed Central

Walker, P. M.; Tinkler, L.; Skryabin, D. V.; Yulin, A.; Royall, B.; Farrer, I.; Ritchie, D. A.; Skolnick, M. S.; Krizhanovskii, D. N.

2015-01-01

New functionalities in nonlinear optics will require systems with giant optical nonlinearity as well as compatibility with photonic circuit fabrication techniques. Here we introduce a platform based on strong light–matter coupling between waveguide photons and quantum-well excitons. On a sub-millimetre length scale we generate picosecond bright temporal solitons at a pulse energy of only 0.5 pJ. From this we deduce a nonlinear refractive index three orders of magnitude larger than in any other ultrafast system. We study both temporal and spatio-temporal nonlinear effects and observe dark–bright spatio-temporal polariton solitons. Theoretical modelling of soliton formation in the strongly coupled system confirms the experimental observations. These results show the promise of our system as a high speed, low power, integrated platform for physics and devices based on strong interactions between photons. PMID:26400748

Ultra-low-power hybrid light-matter solitons.

PubMed

Walker, P M; Tinkler, L; Skryabin, D V; Yulin, A; Royall, B; Farrer, I; Ritchie, D A; Skolnick, M S; Krizhanovskii, D N

2015-09-24

New functionalities in nonlinear optics will require systems with giant optical nonlinearity as well as compatibility with photonic circuit fabrication techniques. Here we introduce a platform based on strong light-matter coupling between waveguide photons and quantum-well excitons. On a sub-millimetre length scale we generate picosecond bright temporal solitons at a pulse energy of only 0.5 pJ. From this we deduce a nonlinear refractive index three orders of magnitude larger than in any other ultrafast system. We study both temporal and spatio-temporal nonlinear effects and observe dark-bright spatio-temporal polariton solitons. Theoretical modelling of soliton formation in the strongly coupled system confirms the experimental observations. These results show the promise of our system as a high speed, low power, integrated platform for physics and devices based on strong interactions between photons.

Four-body correlation embedded in antisymmetrized geminal power wave function.

PubMed

Kawasaki, Airi; Sugino, Osamu

2016-12-28

We extend the Coleman's antisymmetrized geminal power (AGP) to develop a wave function theory that can incorporate up to four-body correlation in a region of strong correlation. To facilitate the variational determination of the wave function, the total energy is rewritten in terms of the traces of geminals. This novel trace formula is applied to a simple model system consisting of one dimensional Hubbard ring with a site of strong correlation. Our scheme significantly improves the result obtained by the AGP-configuration interaction scheme of Uemura et al. and also achieves more efficient compression of the degrees of freedom of the wave function. We regard the result as a step toward a first-principles wave function theory for a strongly correlated point defect or adsorbate embedded in an AGP-based mean-field medium.

Innovative Plasma Disinfection Technique with the Reduced-pH Method and the Plasma-Treated Water (PTW) -Safety and Powerful Disinfection with Cryopreserved PTW-

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitano, Katsuhisa; Ikawa, Satoshi; Nakashima, Yoichi; Tani, Atsushi; Yokoyama, Takashi; Ohshima, Tomoko

2015-09-01

Among the applications of the plasma disinfection to human body, plasma sterilization in liquid is crucial. We found that the plasma-treated water (PTW) has strong bactericidal activity under low pH condition and the half-lives of its activity depend on temperature. Lower temperature brings longer half-life and the bactericidal activity of PTW can be kept by cryopreservation. These physicochemical properties were in accordance with Arrhenius equation both in liquid and solid states. From the experimental results of ESR (Electron Spin Resonance) measurement of O2-in liquid against PTW with spin trapping method, half-lives of PTW were also in accordance with Arrhenius equation. It suggests that high concentration PTW as integrated value can be achieved by cooling of plasma apparatus. Pure PTW has disinfection power of 22 log reduction (B. subtilis). This corresponds to 65% H2O2, 14% hypochlorous acid and 0.33% peracetic acid, which are deadly poison for human. On the other hand, PTW is deactivated soon at body temperature. This indicates that toxicity to human body seems to be low. PTW, which is a sort of indirect plasma exposure, with pH and temperature controls could be applied for safety and powerful disinfection. MEXT (15H03583, 23340176, 25108505). NCCE (23-A-15).

Local defect resonance for sensitive non-destructive testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adebahr, W.; Solodov, I.; Rahammer, M.; Gulnizkij, N.; Kreutzbruck, M.

2016-02-01

Ultrasonic wave-defect interaction is a background of ultrasound activated techniques for imaging and non-destructive testing (NDT) of materials and industrial components. The interaction, primarily, results in acoustic response of a defect which provides attenuation and scattering of ultrasound used as an indicator of defects in conventional ultrasonic NDT. The derivative ultrasonic-induced effects include e.g. nonlinear, thermal, acousto-optic, etc. responses also applied for NDT and defect imaging. These secondary effects are normally relatively inefficient so that the corresponding NDT techniques require an elevated acoustic power and stand out from conventional ultrasonic NDT counterparts for their specific instrumentation particularly adapted to high-power ultrasonic. In this paper, a consistent way to enhance ultrasonic, optical and thermal defect responses and thus to reduce an ultrasonic power required is suggested by using selective ultrasonic activation of defects based on the concept of local defect resonance (LDR). A strong increase in vibration amplitude at LDR enables to reliably detect and visualize the defect as soon as the driving ultrasonic frequency is matched to the LDR frequency. This also provides a high frequency selectivity of the LDR-based imaging, i.e. an opportunity of detecting a certain defect among a multitude of other defects in material. Some examples are shown how to use LDR in non-destructive testing techniques, like vibrometry, ultrasonic thermography and shearography in order to enhance the sensitivity of defect visualization.

The effects of visual stimulation and selective visual attention on rhythmic neuronal synchronization in macaque area V4.

PubMed

Fries, Pascal; Womelsdorf, Thilo; Oostenveld, Robert; Desimone, Robert

2008-04-30

Selective attention lends relevant sensory input priority access to higher-level brain areas and ultimately to behavior. Recent studies have suggested that those neurons in visual areas that are activated by an attended stimulus engage in enhanced gamma-band (30-70 Hz) synchronization compared with neurons activated by a distracter. Such precise synchronization could enhance the postsynaptic impact of cells carrying behaviorally relevant information. Previous studies have used the local field potential (LFP) power spectrum or spike-LFP coherence (SFC) to indirectly estimate spike synchronization. Here, we directly demonstrate zero-phase gamma-band coherence among spike trains of V4 neurons. This synchronization was particularly evident during visual stimulation and enhanced by selective attention, thus confirming the pattern inferred from LFP power and SFC. We therefore investigated the time course of LFP gamma-band power and found rapid dynamics consistent with interactions of top-down spatial and feature attention with bottom-up saliency. In addition to the modulation of synchronization during visual stimulation, selective attention significantly changed the prestimulus pattern of synchronization. Attention inside the receptive field of the recorded neuronal population enhanced gamma-band synchronization and strongly reduced alpha-band (9-11 Hz) synchronization in the prestimulus period. These results lend further support for a functional role of rhythmic neuronal synchronization in attentional stimulus selection.

Ensemble Data Assimilation of Wind and Photovoltaic Power Information in the Convection-permitting High-Resolution Model COSMO-DE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Declair, Stefan; Saint-Drenan, Yves-Marie; Potthast, Roland

2016-04-01

Determining the amount of weather dependent renewable energy is a demanding task for transmission system operators (TSOs) and wind and photovoltaic (PV) prediction errors require the use of reserve power, which generate costs and can - in extreme cases - endanger the security of supply. In the project EWeLiNE funded by the German government, the German Weather Service and the Fraunhofer Institute on Wind Energy and Energy System Technology develop innovative weather- and power forecasting models and tools for grid integration of weather dependent renewable energy. The key part in energy prediction process chains is the numerical weather prediction (NWP) system. Wind speed and irradiation forecast from NWP system are however subject to several sources of error. The quality of the wind power prediction is mainly penalized by forecast error of the NWP model in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), which is characterized by high spatial and temporal fluctuations of the wind speed. For PV power prediction, weaknesses of the NWP model to correctly forecast i.e. low stratus, the absorption of condensed water or aerosol optical depth are the main sources of errors. Inaccurate radiation schemes (i.e. the two-stream parametrization) are also known as a deficit of NWP systems with regard to irradiation forecast. To mitigate errors like these, NWP model data can be corrected by post-processing techniques such as model output statistics and calibration using historical observational data. Additionally, latest observations can be used in a pre-processing technique called data assimilation (DA). In DA, not only the initial fields are provided, but the model is also synchronized with reality - the observations - and hence the model error is reduced in the forecast. Besides conventional observation networks like radiosondes, synoptic observations or air reports of wind, pressure and humidity, the number of observations measuring meteorological information indirectly such as satellite radiances, radar reflectivities or GPS slant delays strongly increases. The numerous wind farm and PV plants installed in Germany potentially represent a dense meteorological network assessing irradiation and wind speed through their power measurements. The accuracy of the NWP data may thus be enhanced by extending the observations in the assimilation by this new source of information. Wind power data can serve as indirect measurements of wind speed at hub height. The impact on the NWP model is potentially interesting since conventional observation network lacks measurements in this part of the PBL. Photovoltaic power plants can provide information on clouds, aerosol optical depth or low stratus in terms of remote sensing: the power output is strongly dependent on perturbations along the slant between sun position and PV panel. Additionally, since the latter kind of data is not limited to the vertical column above or below the detector. It may thus complement satellite data and compensate weaknesses in the radiation scheme. In this contribution, the DA method (Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter, LETKF) is shortly sketched. Furthermore, the computation of the model power equivalents is described and first assimilation results are presented and discussed.

Comparative study of proteasome inhibitory, synergistic antibacterial, synergistic anticandidal, and antioxidant activities of gold nanoparticles biosynthesized using fruit waste materials.

PubMed

Patra, Jayanta Kumar; Baek, Kwang-Hyun

The aim of this study was to compare the biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) generated using the aqueous extracts of outer oriental melon peel (OMP) and peach. The synthesized OMP-AuNPs and peach extract (PE)-AuNPs were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The surface plasmon resonance spectra were obtained at 545 nm and 540 nm for OMP-AuNPs and PE-AuNPs, respectively. The estimated absolute crystallite size of the synthesized AuNPs was calculated to be 78.11 nm for OMP-AuNPs and 39.90 nm for PE-AuNPs based on the Scherer equation of the X-ray powder diffraction peaks. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results revealed the involvement of bioactive compounds present in OMP and peach extracts in the synthesis and stabilization of synthesized AuNPs. Both the OMP-AuNPs and PE-AuNPs showed a strong antibacterial synergistic activity when combined with kanamycin (9.38-20.45 mm inhibition zones) and rifampicin (9.52-25.23 mm inhibition zones), and they also exerted a strong synergistic anticandidal activity (10.09-15.47 mm inhibition zones) when combined with amphotericin B against five pathogenic Candida species. Both the OMP-AuNPs and PE-AuNPs exhibited a strong antioxidant potential in terms of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydraxyl radical scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical scavenging, and a reducing power, along with a strong proteasome inhibitory potential that could be useful in cancer drug delivery and cancer treatments. The PE-AuNPs showed comparatively higher activity than OMP-AuNPs, which could be attributed to the presence of rich bioactive compounds in the PE that acted as reducing and capping agents in the synthesis of PE-AuNPs. Overall, the results of the current investigation highlighted a novel green technology for the synthesis of AuNPs using food waste materials and their potential applications in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.

The Fuel Cell Powered Club Car Carryall

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eichenberg, Dennis J.

2005-01-01

The NASA Glenn Research Center initiated development of the Fuel Cell Powered Club Car Carryall as a way to reduce pollution in industrial settings, reduce fossil fuel consumption and reduce operating costs for transportation systems. The Club Car Carryall provides an inexpensive approach to advance the state of the art in electric vehicle technology in a practical application. The project transfers space technology to terrestrial use via non-traditional partners, and provides power system data valuable for future aeronautics and space applications. The work was done under the Hybrid Power Management (HPM) Program. The Carryall is a state of the art, dedicated, electric utility vehicle. Hydrogen powered proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are the primary power source. Ultracapacitors were used for energy storage as long life, maintenance free operation, and excellent low temperature performance is essential. Metal hydride hydrogen storage was used to store hydrogen in a safe and efficient low-pressure solid form. The report concludes that the Fuel Cell Powered Club Car Carryall can provide excellent performance, and that the implementation of fuel cells in conjunction with ultracapacitors in the power system can provide significant reliability and performance improvements.

Power in everyday life.

PubMed

Smith, Pamela K; Hofmann, Wilhelm

2016-09-06

How does power manifest itself in everyday life? Using experience-sampling methodology, we investigated the prevalence, sources, and correlates of power in people's natural environments. Participants experienced power-relevant situations regularly, though not frequently. High power was not restricted to a limited few: almost half of the sample reported experiencing high-power positions. Positional power and subjective feelings of power were strongly related but had unique relations with several individual difference measures and independent effects on participants' affect, cognition, and interpersonal relations. Subjective feelings of power resulted more from within-participant situational fluctuation, such as the social roles participants held at different times, than from stable differences between people. Our data supported some theoretical predictions about power's effects on affect, cognition, and interpersonal relations, but qualified others, particularly highlighting the role of responsibility in power's effects. Although the power literature has focused on high power, we found stronger effects of low power than high power.

Strong Lensing Mass Reconstruction: from Frontier Fields to the Typical Lensing Clusters of Future Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharon, Keren; Gladders, Michael D.; Rigby, Jane R.; Bayliss, Matthew B.; Wuyts, Eva; Dahle, Håkon; Johnson, Traci L.; Florian, Michael K.; Dunham, Samuel; Murray, Katherine; Whitaker, Kate; Li, Nan

Driven by the unprecedented wealth of high quality data that is accumulating for the Frontier Fields, they are becoming some of the best-studied strong lensing clusters to date, and probably the next few years. As will be discussed intensively in this focus meeting, the FF prove transformative for many fields: from studies of the high redshift Universe, to the assembly and structure of the clusters themselves. The FF data and the extensive collaborative effort around this program will also allow us to examine and improve upon current lens modeling techniques. Strong lensing is a powerful tool for mass reconstruction of the cores of galaxy clusters of all scales, providing an estimate of the total (dark and seen) projected mass density distribution out to 0.5 Mpc. Though SL mass may be biased by contribution from structures along the line of sight, its strength is that it is relatively insensitive to assumptions on cluster baryon astrophysics and dynamical state. Like the Frontier Fields clusters, the most ``famous'' strong lensing clusters are at the high mass end; they lens dozens of background sources into multiple images, providing ample lensing constraints. In this talk, I will focus on how we can leverage what we learn from modeling the FF clusters in strong lensing studies of the hundreds of clusters that will be discovered in upcoming surveys. In typical clusters, unlike the Frontier Fields, the Bullet Cluster and A1689, we observe only one to a handful of background sources, and have limited lensing constraints. I will describe the limitations that such a configuration imposes on strong lens modeling, highlight measurements that are robust to the richness of lensing evidence, and address the sources of uncertainty and what sort of information can help reduce those uncertainties. This category of lensing clusters is most relevant to the wide cluster surveys of the future.

A Framework for the Validation of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis Maps Using Strong Ground Motion Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bydlon, S. A.; Beroza, G. C.

2015-12-01

Recent debate on the efficacy of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA), and the utility of hazard maps (i.e. Stein et al., 2011; Hanks et al., 2012), has prompted a need for validation of such maps using recorded strong ground motion data. Unfortunately, strong motion records are limited spatially and temporally relative to the area and time windows hazard maps encompass. We develop a framework to test the predictive powers of PSHA maps that is flexible with respect to a map's specified probability of exceedance and time window, and the strong motion receiver coverage. Using a combination of recorded and interpolated strong motion records produced through the ShakeMap environment, we compile a record of ground motion intensity measures for California from 2002-present. We use this information to perform an area-based test of California PSHA maps inspired by the work of Ward (1995). Though this framework is flexible in that it can be applied to seismically active areas where ShakeMap-like ground shaking interpolations have or can be produced, this testing procedure is limited by the relatively short lifetime of strong motion recordings and by the desire to only test with data collected after the development of the PSHA map under scrutiny. To account for this, we use the assumption that PSHA maps are time independent to adapt the testing procedure for periods of recorded data shorter than the lifetime of a map. We note that accuracy of this testing procedure will only improve as more data is collected, or as the time-horizon of interest is reduced, as has been proposed for maps of areas experiencing induced seismicity. We believe that this procedure can be used to determine whether PSHA maps are accurately portraying seismic hazard and whether discrepancies are localized or systemic.

Strong Lensing Mass Reconstruction: from Frontier Fields to the Typical Lensing Clusters of Future Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharon, Keren

2015-08-01

Driven by the unprecedented wealth of high quality data that is accumulating for the Frontier Fields, they are becoming some of the best-studied strong lensing clusters to date, and probably the next few years. As will be discussed intensively in this focus meeting, the FF prove transformative for many fields: from studies of the high redshift Universe, to the assembly and structure of the clusters themselves. The FF data and the extensive collaborative effort around this program will also allow us to examine and improve upon current lens modeling techniques. Strong lensing is a powerful tool for mass reconstruction of the cores of galaxy clusters of all scales, providing an estimate of the total (dark and seen) projected mass density distribution out to ~0.5 Mpc. Though SL mass may be biased by contribution from structures along the line of sight, its strength is that it is relatively insensitive to assumptions on cluster baryon astrophysics and dynamical state. Like the Frontier Fields clusters, the most "famous" strong lensing clusters are at the high mass end; they lens dozens of background sources into multiple images, providing ample lensing constraints. In this talk, I will focus on how we can leverage what we learn from modeling the FF clusters in strong lensing studies of the hundreds of clusters that will be discovered in upcoming surveys. In typical clusters, unlike the Frontier Fields, the Bullet Cluster and A1689, we observe only one to a handful of background sources, and have limited lensing constraints. I will describe the limitations that such a configuration imposes on strong lens modeling, highlight measurements that are robust to the richness of lensing evidence, and address the sources of uncertainty and what sort of information can help reduce those uncertainties. This category of lensing clusters is most relevant to the wide cluster surveys of the future.

Further analysis of scintillation index for a laser beam propagating through moderate-to-strong non-Kolmogorov turbulence based on generalized effective atmospheric spectral model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Jing; Fu, Yu-Long; Yu, Si-Yuan; Xie, Xiao-Long; Tan, Li-Ying

2018-03-01

A new expression of the scintillation index (SI) for a Gaussian-beam wave propagating through moderate-to-strong non-Kolmogorov turbulence is derived, using a generalized effective atmospheric spectrum and the extended Rytov approximation theory. Finite inner and outer scale parameters and high wave number “bump” are considered in the spectrum with a generalized spectral power law in the range of 3–4, instead of the fixed classical Kolmogorov power law of 11/3. The obtained SI expression is then used to analyze the effects of the spectral power law and the inner scale and outer scale on SI under various non-Kolmogorov fluctuation conditions. These results will be useful in future investigations of optical wave propagation through atmospheric turbulence.

Augmented twin-nonlinear two-box behavioral models for multicarrier LTE power amplifiers.

PubMed

Hammi, Oualid

2014-01-01

A novel class of behavioral models is proposed for LTE-driven Doherty power amplifiers with strong memory effects. The proposed models, labeled augmented twin-nonlinear two-box models, are built by cascading a highly nonlinear memoryless function with a mildly nonlinear memory polynomial with cross terms. Experimental validation on gallium nitride based Doherty power amplifiers illustrates the accuracy enhancement and complexity reduction achieved by the proposed models. When strong memory effects are observed, the augmented twin-nonlinear two-box models can improve the normalized mean square error by up to 3 dB for the same number of coefficients when compared to state-of-the-art twin-nonlinear two-box models. Furthermore, the augmented twin-nonlinear two-box models lead to the same performance as previously reported twin-nonlinear two-box models while requiring up to 80% less coefficients.

A Simple Power Law Governs Many Sensory Amplifications and Multisensory Enhancements.

PubMed

Billock, Vincent A; Havig, Paul R

2018-05-16

When one sensory response occurs in the presence of a different sensory stimulation, the sensory response is often amplified. The variety of sensory enhancement data tends to obscure the underlying rules, but it has long been clear that weak signals are usually amplified more than strong ones (the Principle of Inverse Effectiveness). Here we show that for many kinds of sensory amplification, the underlying law is simple and elegant: the amplified response is a power law of the unamplified response, with a compressive exponent that amplifies weak signals more than strong. For both psychophysics and cortical electrophysiology, for both humans and animals, and for both sensory integration and enhancement within a sense, gated power law amplification (amplification of one sense triggered by the presence of a different sensory signal) is often sufficient to explain sensory enhancement.

Feedback control of thermal lensing in a high optical power cavity.

PubMed

Fan, Y; Zhao, C; Degallaix, J; Ju, L; Blair, D G; Slagmolen, B J J; Hosken, D J; Brooks, A F; Veitch, P J; Munch, J

2008-10-01

This paper reports automatic compensation of strong thermal lensing in a suspended 80 m optical cavity with sapphire test mass mirrors. Variation of the transmitted beam spot size is used to obtain an error signal to control the heating power applied to the cylindrical surface of an intracavity compensation plate. The negative thermal lens created in the compensation plate compensates the positive thermal lens in the sapphire test mass, which was caused by the absorption of the high intracavity optical power. The results show that feedback control is feasible to compensate the strong thermal lensing expected to occur in advanced laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Compensation allows the cavity resonance to be maintained at the fundamental mode, but the long thermal time constant for thermal lensing control in fused silica could cause difficulties with the control of parametric instabilities.