Evaluate the adaptability of present licensing requirements to new nuclear fuels for use in current reactors

Currently there is no comprehensive plan available for the methodology, timeline, and cost structure needed when licensing for new nuclear fuels, cladding, and geometry. By combining various sources from the NRC, nuclear vendor documents, and experience from engineers who have worked on licensing standard nuclear materials, a methodology, timeline, and cost structure for licensing new fuels, cladding, and geometry was developed. The specific scenarios of fuels, cladding, and geometry were used to outline the common advantages and disadvantages of changing the physical properties or physical structure of the standard nuclear fuel assembly. From these changes, the timeline and costing analyses were performed. It was determined from the timeline and costing analyses that the most advantageous development scenario was to combine the fuel and cladding licensing together and license the fuel/cladding combination for over 100 Gigawatt-days per metric ton of uranium

Does the professional learning community intermediate the effects of principal's leadership on teaching innovation?

This study explores the intricate dynamics of leadership, professional learning communities (PLCs), and their collective impact on driving teaching innovation. We analyze an original dataset from 352 schools from five Italian regions by combining two original datasets from a principals’ questionnaire and innovative didactic project information for each school. We use structural equation modeling to analyze factors influencing innovation. Our results reveal a significant and positive influence of both supportive and instructional leadership styles on the organizational capabilities of the PLC, indirectly affecting teaching innovation. Interestingly, while organizational capabilities exhibited a strong positive relationship with teaching innovation, personal and interpersonal capabilities do not show a significant relationship. This suggests that these aspects of PLC alone may not suffice in driving pedagogical innovation. Overall, this paper underlines the importance of effective leadership and robust PLCs in fostering an environment conducive to innovative teaching practices. It offers valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and school leaders aiming to cultivate a culture of pedagogical innovation in their institutions

Relationship Between Left Ventricular Mass and Exercising Systolic Blood Pressure in Women

poste

Metaplasia ossea diagnosticata su leiomioma uterino

Riportiamo un caso di metaplasia ossea in un leiomioma uterino scoperto casualmente in una donna di 53 anni operata di isterectomia totale per una neoformazione annessial

Concept of a Maneuvering Load Control System and Effect on the Fatigue Life Extension

Abstract This paper presents a methodology for the conceptual design of a Maneuver Load Control system taking into account the airframe flexibility. The system, when switched on, is able to minimize the bending moment augmentation at a wing station near the wing root during an unsteady longitudinal maneuver. The reduction of the incremental wing bending moment due to maneuvers can lead to benefits such as improved pay-loads/gross weight capabilities and/or extended structural fatigue life. The maneuver is performed by following a desired vertical load factor law with elevators deflections, starting from the trim equilibrium in level flight. The system observes load factor and structural bending through accelerometers and calibrated strain sensors and then sends signals to a computer that symmetrically actuates ailerons for reducing the structural bending and elevators for compensating the perturbation to the longitudinal equilibrium. The major limit of this kind of systems appears when it has to be installed on commercial transport aircraft for reduced OEW or augmented wing aspect-ratio. In this case extensive RAMS analyses and high redundancy of the MLC related sub-systems are required by the Certification Authority. Otherwise the structural design must be performed at system off. Thus the unique actual benefit to be gained from the adoption of a MLC system on a commercial transport is the fatigue life extension. An application to a business aircraft responding to the EASA Certification Specifications, Part 25, has been performed. The aircraft used for the numerical application is considered only as a test case-study. Most of design and analysis considerations are applicable also to other aircraft, such as unmanned or military ones, although some design requirements can be clearly different. The estimation of the fatigue life extension of a structural joint (wing lower skin-stringer), located close to the wing root, has been estimated by showing the expected benefit to be gained from the adoption of such a maneuvering load control system

Telemedicine: a new frontier for effective healthcare services

Telemedicine can be defined as the delivery of healthcare services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education of healthcare providers, all in the interest of advancing the health of individuals and their communities. Such a wide definition includes many health care activities and a large number of applications have been tried, with variable degrees of interaction between all the players in the health care system. This review, starting from the need and opportunity that we are now facing to capitalize the great technological improvements in the field of information and communication technologies to improve also our health services, will illustrate the history, classification and main field of application of Telemedicine. Lastly, the available data on the application of Telemedicine for patients with respiratory diseases will be reviewed

Multi-step Multi-camera View Planning for Real-Time Visual Object Tracking

Abstract. We present a new method for planning the optimal next view for a probabilistic visual object tracking task. Our method uses a variable number of cameras, can plan an action sequence several time steps into the future, and allows for real-time usage due to a computation time which is linear both in the number of cameras and the number of time steps. The algorithm can also handle object loss in one, more or all cameras, interdependencies in the camera’s information contribution, and variable action costs. We evaluate our method by comparing it to previous approaches with a prere-corded sequence of real world images. From K. Franke et al., Pattern Recognition, 28th DAGM Symposium, Springer, 2006, (pp. 536–545).

concept of a maneuvering load control system and effect on the fatigue life extension

Abstract This paper presents a methodology for the conceptual design of a Maneuver Load Control system taking into account the airframe flexibility. The system, when switched on, is able to minimize the bending moment augmentation at a wing station near the wing root during an unsteady longitudinal maneuver. The reduction of the incremental wing bending moment due to maneuvers can lead to benefits such as improved pay-loads/gross weight capabilities and/or extended structural fatigue life. The maneuver is performed by following a desired vertical load factor law with elevators deflections, starting from the trim equilibrium in level flight. The system observes load factor and structural bending through accelerometers and calibrated strain sensors and then sends signals to a computer that symmetrically actuates ailerons for reducing the structural bending and elevators for compensating the perturbation to the longitudinal equilibrium. The major limit of this kind of systems appears when it has to be installed on commercial transport aircraft for reduced OEW or augmented wing aspect-ratio. In this case extensive RAMS analyses and high redundancy of the MLC related sub-systems are required by the Certification Authority. Otherwise the structural design must be performed at system off. Thus the unique actual benefit to be gained from the adoption of a MLC system on a commercial transport is the fatigue life extension. An application to a business aircraft responding to the EASA Certification Specifications, Part 25, has been performed. The aircraft used for the numerical application is considered only as a test case-study. Most of design and analysis considerations are applicable also to other aircraft, such as unmanned or military ones, although some design requirements can be clearly different. The estimation of the fatigue life extension of a structural joint (wing lower skin-stringer), located close to the wing root, has been estimated by showing the expected benefit to be gained from the adoption of such a maneuvering load control system

The preliminary design of a scaled Composite UHBR Fan for a wind tunnel test campaign

AbstractThe ambition of the CA3ViAR project is to design an open test case fan that experiences instability mechanisms, which are representative for ultra-high bypass ratio (UHBR) fans of civil aircrafts, and to perform a comprehensive experimental investigation to measure aerodynamic, aeroelastic and aeroacoustic performance in a wide range of operational conditions. Experimental tests will be performed in the Propulsion-Test-Facility (PTF) of the Institute of Jet Propulsion and Turbomachinery (IFAS) of Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. The final objective of the project is to provide an open test case for the entire research community, with geometries, numerical and experimental results to establish a new reference for composite UHBR fan design. This will support the development of new methods and tools for the development of safer, lighter and more efficient composite fans for greener UHBR engines. In this work the preliminary design of the low transonic fan (LTF) to be used as test article, whose main requirement is to be operated in a safe and controlled way in conditions of aerodynamic and/or aeroelastic instability during wind tunnel operations, is presented. More in particular, consolidated aerodynamic design, strategy adopted to drive the structural design, flutter analysis taking into account acoustic reflection at the intake, dynamic and stress analyses, as well as aeroacoustic measurement optimization are presented and discussed. The preliminary mechanical design of composite blades and the rotor hub, together with the rotor instrumentation and related studies to embed sensors in the composite blades, are also part of this article, and complemented by manufacturing trials and demonstration tests give the full picture of all the project activities up to the preliminary design review