Statistical reliability of forecasting peak particle velocity under large-scale production blasting

The authors review methods to assess reliability of forecasting of peak vibration velocities under large-scale production blasting using statistical analysis of regression residuals. The regression analysis of experimental data and the subsequent statistical analysis of the regression residuals is exemplified.     

Natural and artificial radioactivity distribution in soil of Fars Province, Iran

Fars province is a large populated large province located in the southwest of Iran. This work presents a study of natural and radioactivity levels in soil samples of this province. For this purpose, 126 samples were gathered from different regions of the province and analysed by gamma spectroscopy to quantify radioactivity concentrations of radionuclides using a high-purity germanium detector and spectroscopy system. The results of this investigation show the average concentrations of 271 ± 28 Bq kg(-1), 6.37 ± 0.5 Bq kg(-1), 14.9 ± 0.9 Bq kg(-1) and 26.3 ± 1.9 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K, (137)Cs, (232)Th and (238)U in soil, respectively. Finally, baseline maps were established for the concentrations of each of the radionuclides in different regions. The absorbed dose rate and the annual effective dose (AED) were also calculated for the radionuclides according to the guidelines of UNSCEAR 2000. The average AED from the radioactivity content of soil in this province was found to be 39.9 ± 1.8 μSv.     

Endogenous ADP-ribosylation of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 and its 32 kDa tryptic fragment.

Eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF-2) can undergo ADP-ribosylation in the absence of diphtheria toxin. The binding of free ADP-ribose and endogenous transferase-dependent ADP-ribosylation were distinct reactions for eEF-2, as indicated by different findings. Incubation of eEF-2 tryptic fragment 32/33 kDa (32F) with NAD was ADP-ribosylated and gave rise to the covalent binding of ADP-ribose to eEF-2. 32F was revealed to be at the C-terminal by Edman degradation sequence analysis. In our study, the elution of 32F from SDS-PAGE was ADP-ribosylated both in the presence and absence of diphtheria toxin. These results suggest that endogenous ADP-ribosylation of 32F might be related to protein synthesis. This modification appears to be important for the cell function.     

Effects of hepatic denervation on the anorexic response to epinephrine, amphetamine, and lithium chloride: A behavioral identification of glucostatic afferents.

Ip injections of epinephrine (20, 40, 80, and 160 μg/kg) and amphetamine (.1, .2, and .4 mg/kg) were administered to 27 male Long-Evans hooded rats with various forms of hepatic denervation. Results suggest that the major component of hepatic metabolic afferent fibers travels from the liver, through the celiac ganglion, and into the esophageal vagal trunks where they ascend to the brain. The anorexic action of amphetamine appears to result from a centrally induced sympathetic action on the liver. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Angiosarcoma (angioendothelioma) of the scalp. An unusual case of scarring alopecia

Angiosarcoma with initial involvement of the scalp is a rare, malignant neoplasm. We present the case of a 77-year-old woman in whom extensive scarring alopecia developed that was proved histologically to be due to angiosarcoma. She had a good initial response to treatment with electron-beam therapy, but after seven months, extensive nodules and indurated areas on the face beyond the borders of the radiation field developed. Subsequently, massive cervical adenopathy and metastases to the lungs, liver, and spleen developed. Angiosarcoma must be differentiated from other malignant blood vessel tumors and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of scarring alopecia of the scalp in elderly patients.     

Techno-economic evaluation of advanced IGCC lignite coal fuelled power plants with CO2 capture

The techno-economic evaluation of four novel integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants fuelled with low rank lignite coal with CO₂ capture facility has been investigated using ECLIPSE process simulator. The performance of the proposed plants was compared with two conventional IGCC plants with and without CO₂ capture. The proposed plants include an advanced CO₂ capturing process based on the Absorption Enhanced Reforming (AER) reaction and the regeneration of sorbent materials avoiding the need for sulphur removal component, shift reactor and/or a high temperature gas cleaning process. The results show that the proposed CO₂ capture plants efficiencies were 18.5–21% higher than the conventional IGCC CO₂ capture plant. For the proposed plants, the CO₂ capture efficiencies were found to be within 95.8–97%. The CO₂ capture efficiency for the conventional IGCC plant was 87.7%. The specific investment costs for the proposed plants were between 1207 and 1479 €/kW_e and 1620 €/kW_e and 1134 €/kW_e for the conventional plants with and without CO₂ capture respectively. Overall the proposed IGCC plants are cleaner, more efficient and produce electricity at cheaper price than the conventional IGCC process.     

Dual-Antenna RF CMOS Front-End for Interferer Removal in Ultra-Wideband Systems

Many ultra-wideband (UWB) systems are challenged by strong jammers and narrowband interferers. Using two antennas, we demonstrate a robust UWB radio frequency (RF) front-end design in a 0.25 μm mixed-signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The proposed realization is capable of adaptively removing a high-power, narrowband interferer early in the receiver chain avoiding front-end saturation and preserving UWB signal power. The early interferer removal resulting in interferer-free demodulation is based on the least mean squares (LMS) algorithm and achieved through a novel combiner low-noise amplifier and noise optimized filtering. Circuit level RF simulations of the proposed circuitry indicate a maximum improvement in signal-to-interference ratio of 39.6 dB.     

Vibration analysis and identification of breathing cracks in beams subjected to single or multiple moving mass using online sequential extreme learning machine

In this paper, a novel approach was presented to vibration analysis and identification of breathing cracks in Timoshenko beam under single or multiple moving mass. Dynamic strain energies (DSEs) and translational accelerations in beam structures under moving mass were used as forward problem and application of an emergent learning algorithm called the online sequential extreme learning machine algorithm as inverse problem to predict crack depths and locations. To demonstrate the potential of the proposed vibration analysis over existing ones, two validation studies have been done. To evaluate the proposed method to identify breathing cracks, two examples, namely, clamped–clamped beam and two span continuous beams have been studied. Also, the effect of the discrepancy in stiffness between the finite-element model and the actual tested dynamic system has been investigated. Another examination has been performed in which moving mass with different speeds are utilized. Also, the effect of multi mass passing through the beam has been studied. The obtained results indicated that the proposed method could identify the breathing cracks existence and severity in the beam under moving mass using DSE and accelerations, which may be noisy or noise free.     

Sensitivity Analysis on Ladder Network Equivalent Circuit Parameters of Power Transformer

In this article, novel methods and ideas are introduced, which altogether lead to an accurate model of power transformer windings. First, by the determination of non-dominant (hidden) resonances from frequency-response tests, a ladder model is proposed. Next, it is improved by assigning different values for similar elements of each section of the model. The parameters are obtained by minimizing the error function via a genetic algorithm. Sensitivity analysis is then applied to the obtained model to achieve further examinations and tests. Measurements have been driven from the windings of a 20/0.4-kV, 1600-kVA transformer. Modeling, methodologies, and sensitivity analysis in this article can be very useful for future research aiming to find internal faults of the transformer with the frequency response analysis.