Nuclear Power

The world of the twenty first century is an energy consuming society. Due to increasing population and living standards, each year the world requires more energy and new efficient systems for delivering it. Furthermore, the new systems must be inherently safe and environmentally benign. These realities of today's world are among the reasons that lead to serious interest in deploying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source. Today's nuclear reactors are safe and highly efficient energy systems that offer electricity and a multitude of co-generation energy products ranging from potable water to heat for industrial applications. The goal of the book is to show the current state-of-the-art in the covered technical areas as well as to demonstrate how general engineering principles and methods can be applied to nuclear power systems

State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Spain 2015: Volume 1

This book provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art sensors technology in specific leading areas. Industrial researchers, engineers and professionals can find information on the most advanced technologies and developments, together with data processing. Further research covers specific devices and technologies that capture and distribute data to be processed by applying dedicated techniques or procedures, which is where sensors play the most important role. The book provides insights and solutions for different problems covering a broad spectrum of possibilities, thanks to a set of applications and solutions based on sensory technologies. Topics include: • Signal analysis for spectral power • 3D precise measurements • Electromagnetic propagation • Drugs detection • e-health environments based on social sensor networks • Robots in wireless environments, navigation, teleoperation, object grasping, demining • Wireless sensor networks • Industrial IoT • Insights in smart cities • Voice recognition • FPGA interfaces • Flight mill device for measurements on insects • Optical systems: UV, LEDs, lasers, fiber optics • Machine vision • Power dissipation • Liquid level in fuel tanks • Parabolic solar tracker • Force sensors • Control for a twin roto

Transactions of 2015 International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement Vol.3, No. 1

The Third International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 30-31, 2015 Conference Chair Bernard Han, Ph.D., HIT Pro Department of Business Information Systems Haworth College of Business Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI 49008 Transactions Editor Dr. Huei Lee, Professor Department of Computer Information Systems Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI 48197 Volume 3, No. 1 Hosted by The Center for Health Information Technology Advancement, WM

Application of Remote Sensing to the Chesapeake Bay Region. Volume 2: Proceedings

A conference was held on the application of remote sensing to the Chesapeake Bay region. Copies of the papers, resource contributions, panel discussions, and reports of the working groups are presented

SSERVI Annual Report: Year 4

The SSERVI Central Office forms the organizational, administrative and collaborative hub for the domestic and international teams, and is responsible for advocacy and ensuring the long-term health and relevance of the Institute. SSERVI has increased the cross-talk between NASAs space and human exploration programs, which is one of our primary goals. We bring multidisciplinary teams together to address fundamental and strategic questions pertinent to future human space exploration, and the results from that research are the primary products of the institute. The team and international partnership reports contain summaries of 2017 research accomplishments. Here we present the 2017 accomplishments by the SSERVI Central Office that focus on: 1) Supporting Our Teams, 2) Community Building, 3) Managing the Solar System Treks Portal (SSTP), and 4) Public Engagement

The application of esca to structure, bonding and reactivity of some polymer systems, with particular reference to surface modifications

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ESCA) is used to study structure bonding and reactivity of polymeric materials. Particular emphasis is placed on the investigation of surface modification of polymers, on the monomolecular depth scale, effect by Inductively coupled radlofrequency glow discharges excited in a variety of inert gases and oxygen. Low energy satellite structures, deriving from shake up transitions accompanying direct core ionization are identified in the spectra of unsaturated systems and demonstrated to be characteristic of the polymer structure and sensitive to substituent effects. The shake up transitions are essentially localized within a given pendant group or backbone feature and are exploited on a semi-quantitative basis, as a monitor of the extent of unsaturation in the surface of the polymer, providing a valuable extra level of information. The equilibrium static charge consequent upon the various electron fluxes arriving at and leaving the sample during the ESCA experiment has been correlated to polymer structure within a depth scale of the same order as electron mean free paths and is shown to be worthwhile studying in its own right. The effect of sample charging with respect to energy referencing employing extraneous hydrocarbon contamination in the spectrometer is shown to be small. Shake up and charging phenomena along with several other facets of the ESCA experiment including angular dependence of relative and absolute signal intensities, analytical depth profiling, difference spectroscopy and Madelung charge potential calculations, as well as the primary sources of data (absolute and relative binding energies, and relative peak intensities) have been employed in an extensive investigation into the surface modification of polymers by means of Inert gas and oxygen plasmas. For the inert gas plasmas the rates for direct and radiative energy transfer processes are determined within the framework of a kinetic model, and are shown to have a strong dependence on the sustaining gas, the power, the pressure and the plasma configuration. The depth to which direct energy transfer processes are important is determined to range from about one monolayer for krypton to three monolayers for helium. Radiative energy transfer to the bulk polymer is best effected by neon and some aspects of the vacuum ultraviolet radiation emitted from the plasmas are also presented. Modification by the oxygen containing plasmas is demonstrated to be extensive but confined within approximately one monolayer, in the initial stages. The rate and extent of oxidation is a strong function of polymer structure for pure oxygen plasmas (r.f. low power, low pressure) and is thought to be initiated by a crosslinking mechanism. This is affirmed by comparison with plasmas excited in helium/oxygen mixtures

Quantitation of cocaine on banknotes

Money suspected of being involved with drug related crime can be seized by law enforcement agencies and forensically tested for traces of drug contamination. Forensic experts compare these results with background levels found on ‘normal’ banknotes, and opine as to whether the contamination indicates involvement with illicit activities. Experiments were conducted to establish the efficiency of using thermal desorption tandem mass spectrometry (TD-MS/MS) for quantitative banknote analysis, and to compare with other techniques available. Certified standards of deuterated cocaine and cocaine hydrochloride were used for instrument calibration, optimisation, or as an internal standard.Solvent extraction from a quarter of a ‘normal’ banknote (obtained from a bank) using methanol was conducted. The extraction method involved twice washing and then a final rinse. Extraction efficiencies were calculated to be 95%, with a standard deviation of +/- 4.Extracts were spiked with 500 ng/mL deuterated standard, and injected into the TD-MS/MS in selected reaction monitoring mode. Isotope dilution using known amounts of cocaine hydrochloride and deuterated cocaine was used to establish a response factor. The peak areas of the deuterated internal standard were compared with the cocaine extracts, and the response factor was used to calculate the amount of cocaine. Average amounts of 4.6 µg and 7.7 µg were detected on individual banknotes, and batch tests of banknotes respectively.GC/MS gave initial results of approximately 20 µg cocaine per banknote, following drying and reconstitution of the extract. Further research of internal standards and response factor is needed. Simple filtration clean up, or drying under nitrogen and reconstituting in mobile phase was applied for HPLC, however, tests proved inconclusive with further work required into clean up steps. Fluorescence work identified self-quenching and potential interferents from banknotes.Overall the TD-MS/MS work proved successful and found that amounts of cocaine on banknotes can be established using isotope dilution, with approximately 10% error. GC/MS could be a useful comparative tool