Reliability analysis in wind turbine engineering

Wind turbines are being designed in accordance with deterministic design rules. As wind turbines increase in size and power, these rules may not be adequate to ascertain a safe and well balanced design. Wind turbine industry can take advantage of the safety and reliability practices in e.g. aerospace, nuclear and offshore industry. These practices include System Reliability (such as FMECA, Event Sequence Analysis and Fault Tree Analysis) and Structural Reliability methods. The approach to introduce Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) which incorporates these reliability methods into wind turbine engineering will be described. By means of two recent case studies, the applicability, benefits, and limitations of these methods will be illustrated.     

Temporary results only in electroconvulsive therapy in therapy-resistant depression; retrospective study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use and efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in refractory major depression according to DSM-III-R criteria, and to look for factors predicting response in the acute phase and the occurrence of relapse or recurrence after recovery. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: University Hospital Rotterdam, The Netherlands. METHODS: Of all patients who received ECT between January 1988 and July 1993 data were collected by study of clinical records and of information by treating physicians after discharge. Every patient was visited once, or received an outpatient department appointment, to obtain informed consent, take a follow-up history and evaluate social functioning by scoring Global Assessment of Functioning and Sickness Impact Profile rating scales. RESULTS: 35 patients received ECT. In clinical practice, the guidelines of the Netherlands Psychiatric Association were not violated; most patients had received adequate pharmacological pretreatment before the decision to start ECT was made. Two patients died in hospital (not from ECT). In the acute phase 25 of the 33 patients still alive upon discharge showed good recovery. Seven of these suffered relapse within six months. The number of patients with a return of depressive symptoms rose to 12 by the end of the first year of follow-up. Sociodemographic variables and treatment characteristics did not appear to influence the result of treatment in the acute phase, nor the occurrence of relapse or recurrence. With less intensive pre- and post-ECT drug treatment the chances of relapse were increased. CONCLUSIONS: ECT is an effective treatment in the acute phase of a depression. Results after a longer period of follow-up are less satisfactory.     

Synthesis, estrogen receptor binding, and tissue distribution of a new iodovinylestradiol derivative (17alpha,20E)-21-[123I]Iodo-11beta-nitrato-19-norp regna-1,3,5 (10),20-tetraene-3,17-diol (E-[123I]NIVE)

We have synthesized and evaluated E-11beta-nitrato-17alpha-iodovinylestradiol (E-NIVE; E-3c) and its 123I-labelled form, as a new potential radioligand for imaging of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive human breast tumors. E-[123I]NIVE was prepared by stereospecific iododestannylation of the E-tri-n-butylstannylvinyl precursor (E-2c), obtained from reaction of 11beta-nitrato-estrone (8) with E-tributylstannylvinyllithium. In competitive binding studies, E-NIVE proved to have high binding affinity for both the rat and the human ER (Ki 280-730 pM), without significant binding to human sex hormone binding globulin. Distribution studies in normal and mammary tumor-bearing rats showed specific ER-mediated uptake of E-[123I]NIVE in the estrogen target tissues, i.e., uterus, ovaries, pituitary, and hypothalamus, but not in the mammary tumors. Selective retention in these target tissues, including tumor tissue, resulted in significant increases over time for the target tissue-to-muscle uptake ratios, but not for the target tissue-to-fat uptake ratios. The tumor-to-fat uptake ratio even appeared constantly below 1. In the primary estrogen target tissues, E-[123I]NIVE displayed high specific ER-mediated uptake and retention, which resulted in moderate target-to-nontarget tissue uptake ratios. In contrast, in tumor tissue, E-[123I]NIVE uptake appeared to be rather low and not ER-specific. As a consequence, E-[123I]NIVE appears to be a less favorable radioligand for ER imaging in breast cancer than the previously studied stereoisomers of 11beta-methoxy-17alpha-[123I]iodovinylestradiol (E- and Z-[123I]MIVE; [123I]E- and [123I]Z-3b).     

Visual, cognitive, and neurodevelopmental outcome at 51/2 years in children with perinatal haemorrhagic-ischaemic brain lesions

To determine predictive values of early visual and neurocognitive assessment in children with perinatally acquired haemorrhagic or ischaemic brain lesions selected on the basis of ultrasound, 63 children (37 boys, 26 girls), who had been followed and examined until the age of 18 months, were reexamined at 5 1/2 years. Good correlations between visual and neurodevelopmental assessments at 18 months and at 5 1/2 years were found. When ultrasound abnormalities were combined with early visual and neurocognitive assessment data, good predictive values, especially for the group of children who had grade 2 to 4 leukomalacia, were found for visual acuity and neurodevelopment.     

An EKV-based high voltage MOSFET model with improved mobility and drift model

An EKV-based high voltage MOSFET model is presented. The intrinsic channel model is derived based on the charge based EKV-formalism. An improved mobility model is used for the modeling of the intrinsic channel to improve the DC characteristics. The model uses second order dependence on the gate bias and an extra parameter for the smoothening of the saturation voltage of the intrinsic drain. An improved drift model [Chauhan YS, Anghel C, Krummenacher F, Ionescu AM, Declercq M, Gillon R, et al. A highly scalable high voltage MOSFET model. In: IEEE European solid-state device research conference (ESSDERC), September 2006. p. 270–3; Chauhan YS, Anghel C, Krummenacher F, Maier C, Gillon R, Bakeroot B, et al. Scalable general high voltage MOSFET model including quasi-saturation and self-heating effect. Solid State Electron 2006;50(11–12):1801–13] is used for the modeling of the drift region, which gives smoother transition on output characteristics and also models well the quasi-saturation region of high voltage MOSFETs. First, the model is validated on the numerical device simulation of the VDMOS transistor and then, on the measured characteristics of the SOI-LDMOS transistor. The accuracy of the model is better than our previous model [Chauhan YS, Anghel C, Krummenacher F, Maier C, Gillon R, Bakeroot B, et al. Scalable general high voltage MOSFET model including quasi-saturation and self-heating effect. Solid State Electron 2006;50(11–12):1801–13] especially in the quasi-saturation region of output characteristics.     

Packaging production and consumption in the world and in some industrialized countries

This paper reports on statistics concerning production and consumption of packaging (as a whole or per capita) in Europe, in the USA, in Japan and in the world. Data have been provided by National Trade Associations and by consultants specialized in packaging and in economics. It is estimated that in 1986 the global consumption of packaging reached 150 millions of tonnes valued at 1200 billions of French francs. Consumption could reach 247 million tonnes by the year 2000. Paper and board have the highest consumption rate, but plastics have the highest rate of growth. Nevertheless, consumption per capita in the industrialized countries will be more than 10 times the consumption in underdeveloped countries. The packaging industries take fourth place in the USA, sixth in Western Germany and twelfth in France. In Europe, as in the world, paper and board is the material most used (40%), with glass (a high density material) taking second place and plastics third, i.e. if we consider the quantity of materials and not their value. Some differences appear between the various countries, but the figures for USA and Japan lead to similar conclusions. The survey shows clearly that the USA as compared with Europe has twice the consumption of packaging materials per capita and this difference is even greater compared with the rest of the world.     

Adsorption des acides humiques sur charbon active en poudre. Influence du triphosphate de sodiumAdsorption of humic acids onto powdered activated carbon. The influence of sodium triphosphate

The use of activated carbon beds for the removal of natural humic and fulvic substances found in water supplies, has recently received considerable attention in water treatment operation (Lee et al., 1980; Le Cloirec et al., 1983). Moreover, the use of carbon adsorption for the reduction of haloform precursors (Anderson et al., 1981) and trihalomethanes produced by chlorination process, has contributed to a comprehensive investigation of adsorption characteristics of natural organic compounds (McCreary and Snoeyink, 1981). Many recent works showed the influence of adsorption system characteristics, such as pH, salt type, salt concentration and ionic heterogeneity in multicomponent adsorption systems, on the removal efficiency of humic and fulvic substances by activated carbon (McCreary and Snoeyink, 1980; Randtke and Jepsen, 1982; Weber et al., 1983). The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a main component of domestic detergents, sodium triphosphate (STP), on the adsorptive capacities of powdered activated carbon (PAC) for commercially supplied humic acids, at different pH values in distilled water. Also, the effect of STP concentration and pH on the adsorption affinity of the PAC for humic acids, is discussed in relation with electrokinetic properties of carbon particles (zeta potential measurements).A first batch equilibrium study (Figs 1 and 2), showed an effective enhancement of adsorption capacity for humic acids as a function of STP concentration, in a non buffered media (pH of distilled water, close to 5.0). For example, visible absorption analysis of humic acids indicates an increase of 93% (500 mg l^?1 PAC) and 133% (1000 mg l^?1 PAC) in the carbon adsorption efficiency for a STP concentration from 0.2 to 1.0mM. A second batch equilibrium study (Figs 3 and 4) led to adsorption isotherms for humic acids in distilled water, as a function of STP concentration and initial pH value of the non buffered multicomponent system. Freundlich isotherms showed an increase in the adsorption capacity of the PAC for humic acids, with a decrease in pH and an increase in STP concentration. However, the adsorption capacity for humic acids is quite reduced at high pH values in presence of STP, in comparison with results obtained with distilled water.Electrokinetic measurements on PAC suspensions (Fig. 5) indicates that both humic acids and STP induce a negative variation of the zeta potential of carbon particles. In such a binary system, the zeta potential is a linear function of the pH; the negative surface charge of the carbon increasing with an elevation of pH (Fig. 6). Therefore, it appears that some adsorption of triphosphate polyanion from solution could occur, contributing then to the apparent negative surface charge of PAC particles.It has been previously showed that the type of anion in sodium salts, had little effect on the enhancement of adsorptive capacities of activated carbon for humic substances (Lafrance and Mazet, 1985), due to Na⁺ ions. However, adsorption of TP anions on the carbon surface may produce a source of repulsive charges, unfavourable to the co-adsorption of humic acids as the pH of the binary system reach more basic conditions. The influence of possible electrostatic interactions between adsorbates at the carbon surface, on the adsorption efficiency for humic acids, could then be studied by zeta potential measurements of PAC particles during the adsorption process.