A self‐scalable load injection service

Load testing of applications is an important and costly activity for software provider companies. Classical solutions are very difficult to set up statically, and their cost is prohibitive in terms of both human and hardware resources. Virtualized cloud computing platforms provide new opportunities for stressing an application's scalability, by providing a large range of flexible and less expensive (pay‐per‐use model) computation units. On the basis of these advantages, load testing solutions could be provided on demand in the cloud. This paper describes a Benchmark‐as‐a‐Service solution that automatically scales the load injection platform and facilitates its setup according to load profiles. Our approach is based on: (i) virtualization of the benchmarking platform to create self‐scaling injectors; (ii) online calibration to characterize the injector's capacity and impact on the benched application; and (iii) a provisioning solution to appropriately scale the load injection platform ahead of time. We also report experiments on a benchmark illustrating the benefits of this system in terms of cost and resource reductions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the issue of trend and noise in the estimation of extreme rainfall properties.

Up until today extreme rainfall properties are frequently applied in sewer design guidelines. Uncertainty in the estimation of such properties will hence directly influence the dimensions of sewers, structures and pumps. In this paper the issue of potential trend and noise in the estimation is investigated for 6 rain series ranging from 19 to 55 years in duration. Different to recent research that predicts a climate induced-increase in heavy precipitation no clear indication for such trend was found in the investigated historical rain series. Another important aspect is the length of the rain series that is required for the estimation of extreme rainfall properties and the associated uncertainty. The analysis indicates that at least a period of 10 years should be used for the estimation. But even so the possible deviation expressed in terms of the 90 percentile is in the order of 5 to 10% of the 'true value', defined as the value derived when the whole given series is used for the estimation.     

Visible transmission spectroscopy for the assessment of egg freshness

The objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of visible transmission spectroscopy for the non‐destructive assessment of the freshness of an individual egg. A total of 600 intact white‐shelled eggs of the same flock (Lohmann, 40 weeks of age) were measured. To obtain a considerable variation in freshness, groups consisting of 60 eggs were stored (18 °C, 55% RH) for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 days. The non‐destructive spectral measurements were compared with the two most widely used destructive freshness parameters, namely Haugh units and albumen pH. A partial least squares (PLS1) model was built in order to predict Haugh units and pH of the albumen based on the transmission spectra. The correlation coefficients between the predicted value and the measured value were 0.842 and 0.867 for Haugh unit and pH of the albumen, respectively. These results show that the light transmission spectrum of an egg provides quantitative information about egg freshness. Relevant information concerning egg freshness is restricted to the interval between 570 and 750 nm. Furthermore, the models obtained for both destructive parameters were strikingly similar, indicating that Haugh unit and pH have the same physico‐chemical background. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Analysis of an extensive measurement program developed from the start up to the follow up of the operation of the CNAAA NPP

Integrated tests (IT) applied to the Units I and II of the CNAAA Nuclear Power Plants (Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) vara part of a comprehensive test program required to have the commercial operational licence issued. The IT cover operation at zero power and the subsequent power levels (the power escalation) until the nominal power operation.

This paper reports and compares the results of systematic neutron and gamma equivalent dose-rate measurements performed inside and outside the reactor containment of each Unit, during the start-up phase of the operation, for different power levels of the reactors. It also compares the collective-doses measured along the operation of the two units of the CNAAA wich similar data of the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant (Germany) — basic-of-project for the CNAAA — Unit II — and analyses the data under the fight of the state-of-art.     

On the effect of spatial variances in historical rainfall time series to CSO performance evaluation.

Historical, high-resolution rain series are the backbone of modern combined sewer overflow (CSO) structure design. These rain series are the input to the computational estimation of the performance of the measures with respect to CSO pollution abatement. However, those historical precipitation measurements are available at only a few locations. Frequently rain series have to be used from gauging stations at a significant distance. In order to judge and to compensate for this influence an estimate between rain characteristics and combined sewer outflow (CSO) performance indicators would be useful. In this paper such correlations have been sought for a collection of 37 rain series covering large areas of Europe. It was found that the mean annual rain volume can explain most of the variances for the performance indicators Number of overflows and CSO volume. For explaining the spatial differences in the efficiency of the CSO structure another rain characteristic, i.e. the maximum event with a return period of one year, is to be used.     

利用AutoCAD编制电气CAD

介绍如何利用AutoCAD开发适合电气专业使用的CAD系统，通过编制电气CAD的功能菜单，构造电气元件库，增强CAD的专业性能。编制电气CAD可以有效地统一本单位电气制图标准，方便电气工程师使用CAD进行专业设计。     

电磁超声流量计的研制

基于电磁声换能器的原理，研制了一种新型的电磁超声流量计，并讨论提高测量精度的措施。