Semantic Assistance for Data Utilization and Curation

We propose that most data stores for large organizations are ill-designed for the future, due to limited searchability of the databases. The study of the Semantic Web has been an emerging technology since first proposed by Berners-Lee. New vocabularies have emerged, such as FOAF, Dublin Core, and PROV-O ontologies. These vocabularies, combined, can relate people, places, things, and events. Technologies developed for the Semantic Web, namely the standardized vocabularies for expressing metadata, will make data easier to utilize. We gathered use cases for various data sources, from human resources to big enterprise. Most of our use cases reflect real-world data. We developed a software package for transforming data into these semantic vocabularies, and developed a method of querying via graphical constructs. The development and testing proved itself to be useful. We conclude that data can be preserved or revived through the use of the metadata techniques for the Semantic Web

Semantic Assistance for Data Utilization and Curation

We propose that most data stores for large organizations are ill-designed for the future, due to limited searchability of the databases. The study of the Semantic Web has been an emerging technology since first proposed by Berners-Lee. New vocabularies have emerged, such as FOAF, Dublin Core, and PROV-O ontologies. These vocabularies, combined, can relate people, places, things, and events. Technologies developed for the Semantic Web, namely the standardized vocabularies for expressing metadata, will make data easier to utilize. We gathered use cases for various data sources, from human resources to big enterprise. Most of our use cases reflect real-world data. We developed a software package for transforming data into these semantic vocabularies, and developed a method of querying via graphical constructs. The development and testing proved itself to be useful. We conclude that data can be preserved or revived through the use of the metadata techniques for the Semantic Web

User acceptance of intelligent avionics: A study of automatic-aided target recognition

User acceptance of new support systems typically was evaluated after the systems were specified, designed, and built. The current study attempts to assess user acceptance of an Automatic-Aided Target Recognition (ATR) system using an emulation of such a proposed system. The detection accuracy and false alarm level of the ATR system were varied systematically, and subjects rated the tactical value of systems exhibiting different performance levels. Both detection accuracy and false alarm level affected the subjects' ratings. The data from two experiments suggest a cut-off point in ATR performance below which the subjects saw little tactical value in the system. An ATR system seems to have obvious tactical value only if it functions at a correct detection rate of 0.7 or better with a false alarm level of 0.167 false alarms per square degree or fewer

Over-the-Rotor Liner Investigation via the NASA Langley Normal Incidence Tube

NASA Langley and Glenn Research Centers have collaborated on the usage of acoustic liners mounted very near or directly over the rotor of turbofan aircraft engines. This collaboration began over a decade ago with the investigation of a metallic foam liner. Similar to conventional acoustic liner applications, this liner was designed to absorb sound generated by the rotor-alone and rotor-stator interaction sources within the fan duct. Given its proximity to the rotor tips, the expectation was that the liner would also serve as a pressure release and thereby inhibit the amount of noise generated. Initial acoustic results were promising, but there was concern regarding potential aerodynamic penalties. Nevertheless, there were sufficient positive results to warrant further investigation. To that end, the current report presents results obtained in the NASA Langley Normal Incidence Tube for 20 acoustic liner candidates for the OTR application. The majority contain grooves at their surface, designed to minimize aerodynamic penalties caused by placing the liner in close proximity to the fan rotor tips. The intent is to assess the acoustic properties of each liner configuration, and in particular to assess the effects of including the grooves on the overall acoustic performance. An additional intent of this paper is to provide documentation regarding recent enhancements to the NASA Langley Normal Incidence Tube

Energy Consumption and Product Throughput of Glass-Doored and Open Refrigerated Display Cases in Supermarkets [abstract]

Only abstract of poster available.Track III: Energy InfrastructureRefrigerated display cases are utilized by supermarkets to store and display food products in a manner that extends food shelf life and ensures food safety. Supermarkets operate their refrigeration systems continuously to maintain proper food storage conditions. Continual operation of this refrigeration equipment on a nationwide scale accounts for approximately 0.33 quads/yr of electrical energy. Infiltration accounts for over 70% of the refrigeration load in open refrigerated display cases. Clearly, an increase in the energy efficiency of refrigerated display cases will result in significantly reduced energy consumption and cost. Thus, the objective of this project is to compare a typical open refrigerated display case to a typical glass-doored refrigerated display case with the aim of quantifying the following: • The difference in overall energy consumption between the cases. • The normalized difference in food product sales between the cases. Two supermarkets are being used as test sites, which are similarly situated to ensure that climate, weather, time-of-year and economic conditions of the shoppers are comparable. One supermarket will receive an open refrigerated display case and the other will receive a doored refrigerated display case. Each refrigerated display case will be a medium temperature, self-service prepackaged deli or beverage case between 8 and 25 nominal linear feet. The thermal performance and product sales of each refrigerated display case will be monitored. Automated data logging systems will be used to measure quantities such as refrigeration load, voltage, current, temperature, humidity and pressure. Product sales for each refrigerated display case and total store product sales will be tracked using Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) and the supermarkets' computerized Point of Sale (POS) system. The resulting data will be analyzed to determine the difference in energy consumption and product sales between the two refrigerated cases

High Efficiency Evaporator Fan Motors for Commercial Refrigeration Applications

Evaporator fan motors used in commercial refrigeration applications are fractional horsepower in size, are responsible for moving air across the evaporator coil, and typically run at one speed. Historically, shaded-pole motors have been the most commonly used evaporator fan motors in commercial refrigeration equipment and beverage vending machines. These motors, a type of single-phase AC induction motor, are the simplest and least expensive type of fractional-horsepower motor. They are also the least efficient, with the common 9–12 W sizes exhibiting an efficiency of approximately 20%. Electronically commutated (EC) motors, also known as brushless DC motors, became widely commercialized in the late 1980s, and their use in commercial refrigeration applications has increased within the last 10 to 15 years because of economic incentives and regulatory requirements. Another motor type, the permanent split capacitor (PSC) motor, offers a mid-point between shaded-pole and EC motor price and efficiency levels. Typically for commercial refrigeration evaporator fan motor applications, EC motors are 66% efficient and PSC motors are usually about 29% efficient.  A new motor technology, a type of permanent magnet synchronous AC motor that can directly use grid-supplied AC current without the need to rectify to DC, has recently been commercialized. This new motor has the potential to significantly reduce the energy consumption of evaporator fans in commercial refrigeration equipment. Previously, synchronous motors have been prohibitively expensive for evaporator fan applications because of the high cost of the electronic control circuit that is required to bring the synchronous motor up to synchronous speed. However, this new motor technology makes use of a novel patent-pending controller that is simpler and lower in cost than previous synchronous motor controllers or EC motor controllers, making the new motor a cost-effective alternative in the commercial refrigeration market.  In this paper, the results of field demonstrations, consisting of side-by-side measurements of the power consumption of the new motor technology versus shaded-pole, PSC, or EC evaporator fan motors in identical refrigerated display cases, are presented. Measured quantities include fan motor power, current, and power factor, as well as display case discharge and return air temperatures and ambient store temperature. Currently, field demonstrations are being conducted at six supermarkets and commissaries located in Kansas City, MO, San Antonio, TX and San Diego, CA, with the duration of these tests ranging from approximately one month to over six months. Initial results from the field demonstrations indicate that the new synchronous AC motor technology is approximately 20 to 30% more energy efficient than existing EC motors and nearly 80% more energy efficient than shaded-pole motors. In addition, the new motor exhibits a power factor of approximately 0.86, which is on average 40% greater than that of existing evaporator fan motors. Analyses indicate that retrofitting the installed base of commercial refrigeration evaporator fan motors with the new motors would produce a 68% evaporator fan site energy savings, or 4.9×109 kWh/year for the installed base of commercial refrigeration evaporator fan motors. This would result in an annual cost savings of $516 million and reduce the annual CO2 equivalent emissions by 8.1×109 lb

Interfacial phonon scattering in semiconductor nanowires by molecular-dynamics simulation

We use molecular-dynamics simulations of vibrational wave packets to study the scattering of longitudinal-acoustic modes from interfaces in semiconductor nanowires of varying diameters. The energy transmission coefficient at the interface is found to depend strongly on both the nanowire diameter and the frequency of the incident wave. By analyzing the scattering events, we determine the selection rules for nanowire scattering that can be understood in terms of the representations of the point-group symmetry of the nanowire. Using such symmetry arguments, we predict that the presence of gaps in the phonon spectrum of thin high-symmetry nanowires will result in a complete reflection of phonons at the interfaces. We discuss the implications of our results for interfacial scattering in real systems, including Si/Ge superlattice nanowires

Words Alive Standards for Excellence Performance Audit

Student project for LEAD 501: Fundamentals of Nonprofits on Words Alive, a literacy organization that promotes reading for pleasure for children and adolescents through read-aloud programs and book groups. The Executive Director, Jennifer Williamson, and the board agreed that a performance audit will help the organization reach the next level of compliance and professionalism. The evaluation team (the team) suggested the Standard for Excellence (Standards) because of its thoroughness, design, and detail to mission. Standards was preferred by the team because it was more comprehensive than other suggested evaluation tools such as the Better Business Bureau or the Independent Sector. The Standards was also more logically structured and easier to follow. The team felt that it would be easier to present the findings to Words Alive with the comprehensive questions that Standards provided.https://digital.sandiego.edu/npi-bpl-programdesign/1009/thumbnail.jp

Female rats are not more variable than male rats: a meta-analysis of neuroscience studies

Abstract Background Not including female rats or mice in neuroscience research has been justified due to the variable nature of female data caused by hormonal fluctuations associated with the female reproductive cycle. In this study, we investigated whether female rats are more variable than male rats in scientific reports of neuroscience-related traits. Methods PubMed and Web of Science were searched for the period from August 1, 2010, to July 31, 2014, for articles that included both male and female rats and that measured diverse aspects of brain function. Only empirical articles using both male and female gonad-intact adult rats, written in English, and including the number of subjects (or a range) were included. This resulted in 311 articles for analysis. Data were extracted from digital images from article PDFs and from manuscript tables and text. The mean and standard deviation (SD) were determined for each data point and their quotient provided a coefficient of variation (CV) as a measure of trait-specific variability for each sex. Additionally, the results were coded for the type of research being measured (behavior, electrophysiology, histology, neurochemistry, and non-brain measures) and for the strain of rat. Over 6000 data points were extracted for both males and females. Subsets of the data were coded for whether male and female mean values differed significantly and whether animals were grouped or individually housed. Results Across all traits, there were no sex differences in trait variability, as indicated by the CV, and there were no sex differences in any of the four neuroscience categories, even in instances in which mean values for males and females were significantly different. Female rats were not more variable at any stage of the estrous cycle than male rats. There were no sex differences in the effect of housing conditions on CV. On one of four measures of non-brain function, females were more variable than males. Conclusions We conclude that even when female rats are used in neuroscience experiments without regard to the estrous cycle stage, their data are not more variable than those of male rats. This is true for behavioral, electrophysiological, neurochemical, and histological measures. Thus, when designing neuroscience experiments to include both male and female rats, power analyses based on variance in male measures are sufficient to yield accurate numbers for females as well, even when the estrous cycle is not taken into consideration.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134612/1/13293_2016_Article_87.pd