Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast Spectrum Molten Salt Reactor Options

During 2010, fast-spectrum molten-salt reactors (FS-MSRs) were selected as a transformational reactor concept for light-water reactor (LWR)-derived heavy actinide disposition by the Department of Energy-Nuclear Energy Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC) program and were the subject of a preliminary scoping investigation. Much of the reactor description information presented in this report derives from the preliminary studies performed for the ARC project. This report, however, has a somewhat broader scope-providing a conceptual overview of the characteristics and design options for FS-MSRs. It does not present in-depth evaluation of any FS-MSR particular characteristic, but instead provides an overview of all of the major reactor system technologies and characteristics, including the technology developments since the end of major molten salt reactor (MSR) development efforts in the 1970s. This report first presents a historical overview of the FS-MSR technology and describes the innovative characteristics of an FS-MSR. Next, it provides an overview of possible reactor configurations. The following design features/options and performance considerations are described including: (1) reactor salt options-both chloride and fluoride salts; (2) the impact of changing the carrier salt and actinide concentration on conversion ratio; (3) the conversion ratio; (4) an overview of the fuel salt chemical processing; (5) potential power cycles and hydrogen production options; and (6) overview of the performance characteristics of FS-MSRs, including general comparative metrics with LWRs. The conceptual-level evaluation includes resource sustainability, proliferation resistance, economics, and safety. The report concludes with a description of the work necessary to begin more detailed evaluation of FS-MSRs as a realistic reactor and fuel cycle option.
Preliminary Recommendations for the Collection, Storage, and Analysis of UAS Safety Data

Although the use of UASs in military and public service operations is proliferating, civilian use of UASs remains limited in the United States today. With efforts underway to accommodate and integrate UASs into the NAS, a proactive understanding of safety issues, i.e., the unique hazards and the corresponding risks that UASs pose not only through their operations for commercial purposes, but also to existing operations in the NAS, is especially important so as to (a) support the development of a sound regulatory basis, (b) regulate, design and properly equip UASs, and (c) effectively mitigate the risks posed. Data, especially about system and component failures, incidents, and accidents, provides valuable insight into how performance and operational capabilities/limitations contribute to hazards. Since the majority of UAS operations today take place in a context that is significantly different from the norm in civil aviation, i.e., with different operational goals and standards, identifying that which constitutes useful and sufficient data on UASs and their operations is a substantial research challenge.
High efficiency linear envelope tracking and envelope elimination and restoration power amplifier for WLAN OFDM applications

Author(s): Wang, Feipeng | Abstract: High efficiency radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs) are critical in portable battery-operated wireless communication systems because they can dominate the power consumption. Linear power amplifier is required for envelope modulated signal. Traditionally, linear power amplifiers are implemented by "backing-off" the Class-A or Class-AB PA. However for a high peak-to-average (PAR) signal, the average efficiency is much lower than the peak efficiency, which is well down as the inherent trade-off between linearity and efficiency. This dissertation focuses on Envelope Elimination and Restoration (EER) and Envelope Tracking (ET) efficiency enhancement techniques to improve the PA average efficiency for high PAR signal. The EER and ET PA structures are investigated. Wideband ET and "hybrid" EER structures are proposed for WLAN 802.11g signal at 20MHz signal. Two major challenges of the wideband EER and ET PAs are investigated: 1) An adaptive time-alignment algorithm was proposed to calibrate the time-mismatch in wideband EER and ET systems; (2) A high efficiency wideband envelope amplifier is designed for wideband EER and wideband ET applications. A monolithic wideband high efficiency ET power amplifier is designed and implemented for WLAN 802.11g applications in IBM SiGe BiCMOS technology. Digital pre-distortion was implemented to reduce the EVM of the amplifier. The measured overall power-added efficiency of the amplifier is 28% at 20 dBm (100mW) output power
Role of NCX1 in epicardial calcium dynamics and electrical signaling

The Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX1) plays an important role in defining cardiac function by regulating the contractility and excitability of the heart. The aim of my research was to study the effect of impairing NCX1 with various LiCl concentrations (Na+ replaced by Li+), known NCX blockers KBR-7943 and SEA0400 in wild-type intact mouse hearts. In addition to this, cardiac-specific NCX1 KO mice were used to further evaluate intracellular Ca2+ dynamics and the electrical properties of the heart. We hypothesized that impairment of the exchanger would lead to an increase of Ca2+ in the cytosol and consequently an accumulation of Ca2+in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). This accumulation will result in a larger release of Ca2+from the SR. In addition to this, NCX1 impairment will lead to a change in the membrane potential during the repolarization phase of epicardial action potentials. Experiments performed in this dissertation were by the use of a modified version of the pulsed local-field fluorescent microscopy (PLFFM), where hearts were loaded with Ca2+ sensitive fluorescent dyes (rhod-2, AM and mag-fluo-4, AM) or the potentiometric dye (DI-8ANEPPS). Microelectrode impalement for epicardial action potential recordings were also used in this dissertation for simultaneous recordings of intracellular Ca2+ dynamics and left ventricular transmural electrocardiographic recordings. To conclude, impairment of the NCX1 alters intracellular Ca2+ dynamics and changes the electrical properties of the heart.
High Performance Piezoelectric Actuators and Wings for Nano Air Vehicles

Abstract : Swarms of flying robotic insects could revolutionize hazardous environment exploration, search and rescue missions, and military applications. Reducing size to insect scale enables entrance into extremely narrow spaces with inherent stealth advantages. For mass production, these vehicles must have reliable and repeatable fabrication processes that define flapping wing mechanisms with microscale features and produce large flapping amplitudes at frequencies in the range of many insects. This report focuses on the design and fabrication processes of flapping wing mechanisms for these types of robots.
Sensor Based Robotic Navigation and Distance Control

This paper presents a robotic platform that maintains a specific fixed safety distance from the chased object. This navigation and distance control technique can be applied in industry to carry substances behind another moving object. It can also be installed in automobiles to avoid accidents. This robotic platform is characterized by its low cost multi-sensors and electronics architecture. The designed hardware architecture can be easily used in indoor and outdoor environment. Manually developed controller board, ultrasonic sensor circuit, and DC motors are utilized in this autonomous robot.
Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM): Enabling Low-Altitude Airspace and UAS Operations

Many civilian applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been imagined ranging from remote to congested urban areas, including goods delivery, infrastructure surveillance, agricultural support, and medical services delivery. Further, these UAS will have different equipage and capabilities based on considerations such as affordability, and mission needs applications. Such heterogeneous UAS mix, along with operations such as general aviation, helicopters, gliders must be safely accommodated at lower altitudes. However, key infrastructure to enable and safely manage widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS operations therein does not exist. Therefore, NASA is exploring functional design, concept and technology development, and a prototype UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system. UTM will support safe and efficient UAS operations for the delivery of goods and services
Pulp and Paper Mill Effluents Management

The consumption of chemicals by the pulp and paper industry in the U.S. alone is expected to reach 20 billion tons/year in 2011, according to recent forecasts (Freedonia, 2008). Most of these chemicals along with additional pulp and paper industry byproducts may end up in the air and water bodies, posing serious risk to human health and the environment. Thus, effective wastewater management practices need to be undertaken to remove contaminants from pulp and paper effluents before they are discharged and/or disposed. Herein, a brief literature review of selected 2008 publications on pulp and paper effluents is presented. and is their on and monitoring. Here are some papers published in this
Developing A Team Of Soccer Playing Robots By Genetic Programming

RoboCup is a complex simulated environment in which a team of players must cooperate to overcome their opposition in a game of soccer. This paper describes two experiments in the use of genetic programming to develop teams for robocup. Experiment 1 used just the basic actions of turn, move and dash that a player can send to the soccer simulator. Experiment 2 used higher level functions such as dashing towards the ball and kicking towards the goal. The teams generated in experiment 2 were clearly better and reached the level of`school boy soccer' where the players follow the ball and try to kick it. The results suggest that genetic programming could be used to develop viable teams for the competition, however, much more work is needed on the higher level functions, tness measures and tness evaluation.
Assessing quality of plant raising media for organic systems

Good quality transplants are vital to growers for a number of reasons. Their ability to better tolerate pest, disease and weed problems and their capacity to make better use of newly incorporated green manures (compared to direct drilling) make them all the more so in organic systems. The availability of high quality growing media is essential to producing healthy vigorous plants, but the organic standards restrict the choice of products available and many growers do not feel they have sufficient information to base their choices. OCW, with support from Farming Connect, coordinated a project to assess the certified products and looked at a green waste based product under development to help address this problem. Growers were supplied with samples of certified products (details provided in the table below) and were asked to test them on range of crops. In order to support this work, scientifically robust trials were carried out by a plant raising specialist on cabbage leek and lettuce.
Evaluation of Staphylococcus carnosus as an alternative host organism for whole-cell biocatalysis

The aim of this project is to study the use of Staphylococcus carnosus as an alternative host in whole-cell biocatalysis, using the NADPH-dependent conversion of cyclic ketones by cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) as the model system. The use of whole cells in industrial biocatalysis has been actively researched due to their promise as biological factories that can perform complex reactions in environments where the use of isolated enzymes would not be feasible. However, the majority of whole-cell processes rely on a small range of organisms that, while been extensively characterized and easily engineering to express enzyme biocatalysts, have some inherent limitations that hinder their application to many industrial processes. Thus. There is a need to find novel microorganisms that can fill in the shortcoming of those conventional strains. In this project, a flexible shuttle vector was constructed to allow for the cloning and expression of CHMO in both E. coli and S. carnosus by using a dual promoter system in which one of the promoters could be replaced. Higher levels of CHMO expression were achieved in E. coli strains cloned with the shuttle vector compared to an expression vector used in previous studies. No biocatalyst expression was detected in S. carnosus. The shuttle vector was subsequently modified to allow for the quantitative characterization of different synthetic promoters based on the gemone of S. carnosus. A novel in-silico promoter selection methodology based on the codon bias was developped to allow for the rational selection of potential genomics promoters. Two synthetic promoters based on sequences upstream of ribosomal proteins rplK and rplJ were subsequently shown to allow for protein expression in both E. coli and S. carnosus. The stronger of these two promoter was inserted into the CHMO expression vector, but the resulting construct did not manage to express detectable levels of the biocatalyst in S. carnosus. It was thus concluded that S. carnosus was not a suitable host for biocatalysis with CHMO, and further studies with other enzymes would have to be conducted to access its suitability as a general biocatalytic host.
LA AGENDA 2030 PARA EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE

En el presente documento se resumen los aspectos clave de la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible, se examinan sus repercusiones para la Organización y se proponen unos puntos que requieren decisión relativos a las medidas de seguimiento que la OIT ha de adoptar, antes de la reunión de la Conferencia Internacional del Trabajo de 2019, en el marco de la iniciativa del centenario para poner fin a la pobreza, incluida la preparación del plan estratégico para 2018-2021. La adopción de la Agenda 2030 tiene repercusiones importantes para la Organización (los mandantes y la Oficina). La OIT tiene una excelente oportunidad de promover los objetivos que se propuso en la Declaración sobre la justicia social para una globalización equitativa, de 2008. El enfoque integrado de la Agenda exige a la vez un impulso renovado de la OIT para ofrecer a los mandantes conjuntos de políticas transversales con respecto a los cuatro pilares del trabajo decente que respondan a las circunstancias específicas de los países, y también una colaboración más estrecha con los organismos asociados. La larga experiencia de la OIT en el ámbito de la cooperación tripartita supone una gran ventaja, habida cuenta de que el sistema de las Naciones Unidas trata de desarrollar el concepto de alianzas entre múltiples interesados en torno a la Agenda (véase el proyecto de decisión en el párrafo 44).
Creating a Network Model for the Integration of a Dynamic and Static Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (Scada) Test Environment

Abstract : Since 9/11 protecting our critical infrastructure has become a national priority. Presidential Decision Directive 63 mandates and lays a foundation for ensuring all aspects of our nation's critical infrastructure remain secure. Key in this debate is the fact that much of our electrical power grid fails to meet the spirit of this requirement. My research leverages the power afforded by Electric Power and Communication Synchronizing Simulator (EPOCHS) developed with the assistance of Dr. Hopkinson, et al. The power environment is modeled in an electrical simulation environment called PowerWorld(copyright). The network is modeled in OPNET(registered) and populated with self-similar network and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). The two are merged into one working tool that can realistically model and provide a dynamic network environment coupled with a robust communication methodology. This new suite of tools will enhance the way we model and test hybrid SCADA networks. By combining the best of both worlds we get an effective and robust methodology that correctly predicts the impact of SCADA traffic on a LAN and vice versa. This ability to properly assess data flows will allow professionals in the power industry to develop tools that effectively model future concepts for our critical infrastructure.
Product and process novelty in small companies´design processes : A multiple case study

This study explores the design processes in small established companies and investigates how these design processes are executed. How two different kinds of novelty influence the design processes is further examined: the relative novelty of the product being developed and the relative novelty of design processes. The relative novelty of the product is high if it is a radically new product to develop. High relative novelty for design processes typically means no experience or knowledge about design processes. Based on an embedded multiple case study of three small established companies in Sweden, eight different design processes are described and analyzed. The results show that the design processes differ, even within the same company. The results also show that relative novelty affects the design process. If the relative novelty of both the product to be developed and of design processes is low, a linear, structured, and systematic design process was found to work. A design process that is cyclical, experimental, and knowledge-creating seems to work no matter the relative novelty.
Use of Machine Learning for Leak Detection and Localization in Water Distribution Systems

This paper presents an investigation of the capacity of machine learning methods (ML) to localize leakage in water distribution systems (WDS). This issue is critical because water leakage causes economic losses, damages to the surrounding infrastructures, and soil contamination. Progress in real-time monitoring of WDS and ML has created new opportunities to develop data-based methods for water leak localization. However, the managers of WDS need recommendations for the selection of the appropriate ML methods as well their practical use for leakage localization. This paper contributes to this issue through an investigation of the capacity of ML methods to localize leakage in WDS. The campus of Lille University was used as support for this research. The paper is presented as follows: First, flow and pressure data were determined using EPANET software; then, the generated data were used to investigate the capacity of six ML methods to localize water leakage. Finally, the results of the investigations were used for leakage localization from offline water flow data. The results showed excellent performance for leakage localization by the artificial neural network, logistic regression, and random forest, but there were low performances for the unsupervised methods because of overlapping clusters.
Pull-out Capacity of Bucket Foundations in Soft Clay

This paper investigates the effect of several parameters on the pull-out capacity of bucket foundations in soft clay. These parameters are load inclination, skirt length, foundation diameter, soil adhesion and soil anisotropy. Initially the soil is assumed to be isotropic soft clay, and is represented using a form of the modified Cam clay model. Some recent laboratory experiments performed in a hollow cylinder apparatus, which were designed to investigate strength anisotropy of a particular silt soil, are then used to represent the behaviour of an anisotropic soft clay. The anisotropic behaviour is simulated using anisotropic soil model MIT-E3. Both models are then used in finite element analyses to predict the behaviour of bucket foundations on pull-out. All analyses were performed using the three-dimensional Fourier series aided finite element method (FSAFEM).
Aerial measuring systems program

EG and G, Inc., has developed for the Department of Energy (DOE) an Aerial Measuring Systems (AMS) program dedicated to environmental research at facilities of interest to DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and other federal agencies. The AMS was orginally created to measure nuclear radiation; the program scope has been broadened dramatically to include a wide variety of remote sensors: multispectral and mapping cameras, optical and infrared multispectral scanners, air-sampling systems, and meteorological sensors. The AMS maintains seven aircraft as survey platforms, both fixed-wind aircraft and helicopters. Photography, scanner imagery, and radiation data are processed in dedicated, modern laboratories and used for a broad range of environmental impact studies. A graphic overview system has been developed for effective presentation of all types of remotely sensed data obtained at a facility of interest.
The art of software engineering

Function Point Analysis Examined " The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned " ‐ Fredrick P.Brooks, Mythical Manmonth Accurately predicting the size of software has always troubled the software industry. Many projects either fail or take longer than projected because the estimation was incorrect. This paper examines the technique of function point analysis (FPA) to enable the reader to understand its depth and ease as a mode of analysis, while explaining its benefits as compared to other techniques, like counting lines of code. Estimating size of software correctly is critical to the success of a project because adding more people at a later stage can make matters worse. Lines of code is a technology-bound measure. The number of lines of code it takes to deliver a product varies based on the programming language used and has no meaning in the case of object-oriented development where everything is treated in terms of objects and classes. Allen Albrecht of IBM developed FPA as an alternative to lines of code as measure of application software size from "end user" point of view. Since an object is a true representation of data and functionality as is a function point, FPA remains more relevant for object-oriented software development. "Measuring software productivity by lines of code is like measuring progress on an airplane by how much it weighs. " – Bill Gates, Microsoft FPA has the following advantage over the lines of code technique: • Technology independent with consistent results throughout diverse environments. • Estimations possible early in the life cycle. • Better communication for contract negotiations. • Helps monitor scope creep. Function points measure the information processing content of software systems. Inaccurately predicting the size of a software project results in failure or in increasing the project's length. Solution: Function point analysis predicts software size and, therefore, project length with accuracy. Benefits: Function point analysis not only predicts development time but helps organizations develop expertise, which can be used for benchmarking and continuous improvement.