The Index Offence Representation Scales; a predictive clinical tool in the management of dangerous, violent patients with personality disorder?

Forensic mental health professionals attach considerable importance to their patient's description of his or her index offence. Despite this, there is no systematic approach to examining and formulating the patient's offence narrative

Hill chart modelling using the Hermite polynomial chaos expansion for the performance prediction of pumps running as turbines

Pumps running as turbines are suitable hydraulic machines for micro hydropower applications. The selection of the proper pumps to install in a given site still remains a major challenge, as pump manufacturers do not provide the characteristic curves data in the turbine mode. Also, the accurate prediction and modelling of the pumps running as turbines characteristic curves still remain a major difficulty as existing methodologies still lack ac-curacy, especially in the part load and full load operating regions. This paper proposes a new two-step methodology based on the Hermite polynomial chaos expansion for predicting the characteristic curves of pumps running as turbines and modelling their variable speed operation, aiming at improving the prediction accuracy. Firstly, bivariate continuous surrogate functions are established for predicting the turbine mode and the ex-tended operation mode characteristic curves inside a closed interval of unit specific speed values. These surrogate functions are developed by calibrating empirical coefficients based on collected experimental data. Secondly, a hill chart model is determined for describing the variable speed operation of a given pump running as a turbine. This hill chart model allows identifying the discharge and the rotational speed set points for maximising efficiency for a given operating condition. The proposed prediction surrogate functions and the variable speed hill chart model are useful engineering tools for improving the design of pump as turbine hydropower plants and for optimising the pump running as turbine control settings to maximise the produced energy

Numerical Flow Analysis of the GAMM Turbine at nominal and off-design Operating Conditions

The flow in a Francis turbine runner (GAMM Turbine) is analysed numerically. Different operating points are calculated using two industrial software packages based respectively on a finite element method (N3S) and a finite volume method (TASCflow®) and compared to experimental results. The numerical results allow to observe physical phenomena in the runner that are important in the process of hydraulic turbomachinery design. Values of Cu and Cm velocity components, blade pressure distribution and recirculation in the flow are compared to experimental results at nominal and off-design flow conditions. The experimental and numerical results show a similar efficiency evolution in function of flow rate and head, however the absolute level of energetic losses are overestimated by the two numerical codes

Pump-Turbine Rotor-Stator Interactions in Generating Mode: Pressure Fluctuation in Distributor Channel

Investigation of the rotor-stator interactions of a reduced-scale model 0.19 ν= pump-turbine in generating mode is presented for the maximum discharge operating condition. This operating point is chosen in order to have the most important rotor-stator interactions. The numerical simulation of the unsteady flow is performed with CFX 5.7™ for a computing domain which is extended to the full pump-turbine from the spiral casing to the draft tube. A computing domain embracing the full geometry enables to minimize the errors, streaming focus the boundary conditions, the periodic interface or the pitch ratio of rotor-stator interface. It also allows considering the fully non uniformity of the in coming flow field from the spiral casing. The pressure measurements are performed with piezoresitive miniature pressure sensors located in the distributor channels. The pressure fluctuations for one distributor channel obtained from the numerical simulation present a very good agreement with experimental data. The numerical result analysis shows, how the pressure fluctuations at blade passage frequency (BPF) and its harmonics vary along a distributor channel of the pumpturbine. The maximum pressure amplitude of BPF occurs in the rotor-stator zone, but it decreases very fast backward to the stay vane. However, the pressure amplitude of the first harmonic corresponding to 2 times the blade passage frequency spreads to the spiral casing highlighting the -2 precessing diametrical mode resulting from the modulation of the interacting stationary and rotating flow field

A Universal Scaling Law for Jets of Collapsing Bubbles

Cavitation bubbles collapsing and rebounding in a pressure gradient grad(p) form a "micro-jet" enveloped by a "vapor jet". This letter presents unprecedented observations of the vapor jets formed in a uniform gravity-induced grad(p), modulated aboard parabolic flights. The data uncovers that the normalized jet volume is independent of the liquid density and viscosity and proportional to zeta=grad(p)*R0/p, where R0 is the maximal bubble radius and p is the driving pressure. A derivation inspired by "Kelvin-Blake" considerations confirms this law and reveals its negligible dependence of surface tension. We further conjecture that the jet only pierces the bubble boundary if zeta>0.0004.Comment: 4 page letter, 4 figure

Simulation of energy recovery on water utility networks by a micro-turbine with counter-rotating runners

Wherever relief valves and other energy dissipation devices are installed to limit the pressure, water utility networks provide unexploited hydropower potentials. This is mainly due to a lack of economically viable technologies for energy recovery in the pico and micro hydropower range below 100 kW. Micro-turbine with counter-rotating runners proved suitable to harvest these potentials with limited investments and almost no environmental impact. An appropriate command strategy must therefore be applied to maximize the recovered energy. This paper deals with the construction of a Virtual Energy Recovery Station (VERS) model to simulate the energy recovery on a given installation site. It includes models of the turbine, of the water consumption and it allows to implement various command strategies. The VERS can serve various purposes. The fine-tuning of the command algorithm for a specific installation site is demonstrated in the paper

Engineering & Performance of DuoTurbo: Microturbine with Counter-Rotating Runners

Considering the nuclear phase-out strategy of several European countries and the future tendency to promote renewable energies, the exploitation of small hydropower sites (<10 MW) becomes increasingly important. In this framework DuoTurbo Turbine, a new DuoTurbo-microturbine prototype for drinking water networks has been jointly developed by the HES-SO Valais//Wallis , the EPFL-Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines and industrial partners. The modular in- line “plug & play” technology requires low investment, reaching economic feasibility with an available power between 5 kW and 25 kW. One stage of the microturbine consists of two axial counter-rotating runners that form a compact independent unit. Each runner of the turbine holds its own rim generator, the DuoTurbo-configuration involving that each hydraulic runner is integral with each electrical rotor. The possibility of stacking several stages in series enables covering quite a wide range of hydraulic power and, thus, recovering a maximum of energy dissipated in release valves of water supply systems. The present work introduces the global concept of the implemented prototype of the DuoTurbo-microturbine, to target a maxim al injected power of 5 kW for a discharge of 9 l/ s and a head of 24.5 m per stage. The main features of the hydraulic, the mechanical, the electrical and the electronic design are presented. The hydraulic performance is, then, assessed using CFD simulations for the expected operating range. Finally, the performance measurements of the single-stage prototype installed in the hydraulic test rig of the HES-SO Valais//Wallis are presented

Geology of La Reforma caldera complex, Baja California, Mexico

A new geological map at 1:50,000 scale of La Reforma Caldera Complex has been produced applying modern survey methodologies to volcanic areas. This map aims to represent a reliable and objective tool to understand the geological evolution of the region. La Reforma Caldera Complex is a Pleistocene nested caldera located in the central part of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. The twelve formations defined within the Quaternary volcanic record were grouped into three phases (pre-caldera, caldera, and post-caldera). The pre-caldera phase (>1.35 Ma) is characterized by scattered eruptions, mostly occurred in submarine environment. The caldera phase (1.35–0.96 Ma) groups several distinct explosive and effusive eruptions that formed the present-day caldera depression. The post caldera phase includes scattered effusive eruptions (ended at 0.28 Ma) and resurgence, characterized by several hundred meters of uplift of the central block within the caldera depression

Male reproductive health and environmental xenoestrogens

EHP is a publication of the U.S. government. Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. Research articles from EHP may be used freely; however, articles from the News section of EHP may contain photographs or figures copyrighted by other commercial organizations and individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from both the EHP editors and the holder of the copyright. Use of any materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, "Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives") and a reference provided for the article from which the material was reproduced.Male reproductive health has deteriorated in many countries during the last few decades. In the 1990s, declining semen quality has been reported from Belgium, Denmark, France, and Great Britain. The incidence of testicular cancer has increased during the same time incidences of hypospadias and cryptorchidism also appear to be increasing. Similar reproductive problems occur in many wildlife species. There are marked geographic differences in the prevalence of male reproductive disorders. While the reasons for these differences are currently unknown, both clinical and laboratory research suggest that the adverse changes may be inter-related and have a common origin in fetal life or childhood. Exposure of the male fetus to supranormal levels of estrogens, such as diethlylstilbestrol, can result in the above-mentioned reproductive defects. The growing number of reports demonstrating that common environmental contaminants and natural factors possess estrogenic activity presents the working hypothesis that the adverse trends in male reproductive health may be, at least in part, associated with exposure to estrogenic or other hormonally active (e.g., antiandrogenic) environmental chemicals during fetal and childhood development. An extensive research program is needed to understand the extent of the problem, its underlying etiology, and the development of a strategy for prevention and intervention.Supported by EU Contract BMH4-CT96-0314