Firmware Development Improves System Efficiency

Most manufacturing processes require physical pointwise positioning of the components or tools from one location to another. Typical mechanical systems utilize either stop-and-go or fixed feed-rate procession to accomplish the task. The first approach achieves positional accuracy but prolongs overall time and increases wear on the mechanical system. The second approach sustains the throughput but compromises positional accuracy. A computer firmware approach has been developed to optimize this point wise mechanism by utilizing programmable interrupt controls to synchronize engineering processes 'on the fly'. This principle has been implemented in an eddy current imaging system to demonstrate the improvement. Software programs were developed that enable a mechanical controller card to transmit interrupts to a system controller as a trigger signal to initiate an eddy current data acquisition routine. The advantages are: (1) optimized manufacturing processes, (2) increased throughput of the system, (3) improved positional accuracy, and (4) reduced wear and tear on the mechanical system

Implications of heterogeneous fracture distribution on reservoir quality; an analogue from the Torridon Group sandstone, Moine Thrust Belt, NW Scotland

This research was funded by a NERC CASE studentship (NERC code NE/I018166/1) in partnership with Midland Valley. Midland Valley's Move software was used for cross section construction and strain modelling. 3D Field software is acknowledged for contour map creation. Mark Cooper is thanked for constructive comments. Steven Laubach and Bill Dunne are thanked overseeing the editorial process and Magdalena Ellis Curry, Bertrand Gauthier and Arthur Lavenu are thanked for constructive reviews.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Marked expansion of exocrine and endocrine pancreas with incretin therapy in humans with increased exocrine pancreas dysplasia and the potential for glucagon-producing neuroendocrine tumors.

Controversy exists regarding the potential regenerative influences of incretin therapy on pancreatic β-cells versus possible adverse pancreatic proliferative effects. Examination of pancreata from age-matched organ donors with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) treated by incretin therapy (n = 8) or other therapy (n = 12) and nondiabetic control subjects (n = 14) reveals an ∼40% increased pancreatic mass in DM treated with incretin therapy, with both increased exocrine cell proliferation (P < 0.0001) and dysplasia (increased pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia, P < 0.01). Pancreata in DM treated with incretin therapy were notable for α-cell hyperplasia and glucagon-expressing microadenomas (3 of 8) and a neuroendocrine tumor. β-Cell mass was reduced by ∼60% in those with DM, yet a sixfold increase was observed in incretin-treated subjects, although DM persisted. Endocrine cells costaining for insulin and glucagon were increased in DM compared with non-DM control subjects (P < 0.05) and markedly further increased by incretin therapy (P < 0.05). In conclusion, incretin therapy in humans resulted in a marked expansion of the exocrine and endocrine pancreatic compartments, the former being accompanied by increased proliferation and dysplasia and the latter by α-cell hyperplasia with the potential for evolution into neuroendocrine tumors

Statistical Downscaling Methods for Climate Change Impact Assessment on Urban Rainfall Extremes for Cities in Tropical Developing Countries – a Review

International Conference on Flood Resilience: Experiences in Asia and Europe, Exeter, UK, 5-7 September 2013Results of most global and regional climate model simulations cannot be directly applied in future change impacts and adaptation studies of urban drainage and flood risk management. A form of downscaling is required to increase the spatial and temporal resolution of the modelled rainfall data. This paper provides a critical review of the current state of the art statistical downscaling techniques that can be applied to quantify climate change impacts on urban rainfall extremes. Emphasis is placed on delta change methods and Poisson cluster stochastic rainfall models. The paper discusses the applicability and key limitations of statistical downscaling in climate impact and adaptation studies for cities in tropical developing countries. From the review, it can be concluded that simpler statistical downscaling techniques with modest resource requirements such as climate impact sensitivity analyses, use of simple Markov chain or semi-empirical models, construction of climate analogues and spatial interpolation of grid point data are appropriate for scoping of climate impacts and evaluation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at the city scale. Emerging resilience based approaches that combine both scenario based climate model projections and acceptability thresholds defined by key flood risk management stakeholders are promising for application in climate impact and adaptation studies for cities in tropical developing countries.UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission - PhD scholarshi

Quantifying the Resilience of Urban Drainage Systems Using a Hydraulic Performance Assessment Approach

Copyright © Copyright 2014 13th International Conference on Urban Drainage 2014. All Rights Reserved.13th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, 7-12 September 2014Although considerable progress has been made towards achieving sustainable urban water management, urban drainage systems (UDSs) are increasingly threatened by multiple and uncertain drivers of future change. Building the resilience of UDSs to flooding is increasingly recognised as an imperative to promoting the long term sustainability of the urban areas they serve. This paper describes a methodology that combines the use of hydraulic performance assessment with utility performance functions to quantify the resilience of UDSs during flooding (exceedance) conditions. Utility performance functions, which relate the overall UDS performance to flood depths, are derived from existing flood depth-damage data for UK residential properties for various rainfall return periods and are used to estimate UDS residual functionality and hence resilience to pluvial flooding. The study shows that by introducing a storage tank for flow attenuation, the duration of nodal flooding and the flooded volume can be reduced by 6 to 10% and 18 to 38%, respectively and the overall system resilience to flooding can be increased by 8.0 to 9.5%.UK Department for International Development (DFID) - Commonwealth PhD scholarship awardEPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) Safe & SuRe Project fellowshi

A global analysis approach for investigating structural resilience in urban drainage systems

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Water Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Water Research (2015), DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2015.05.030Building resilience in urban drainage systems requires consideration of a wide range of threats that contribute to urban flooding. Existing hydraulic reliability based approaches have focused on quantifying functional failure caused by extreme rainfall or increase in dry weather flows that lead to hydraulic overloading of the system. Such approaches however, do not fully explore the full system failure scenario space due to exclusion of crucial threats such as equipment malfunction, pipe collapse and blockage that can also lead to urban flooding. In this research, a new analytical approach based on global resilience analysis is investigated and applied to systematically evaluate the performance of an urban drainage system when subjected to a wide range of structural failure scenarios resulting from random cumulative link failure. Link failure envelopes, which represent the resulting loss of system functionality (impacts) are determined by computing the upper and lower limits of the simulation results for total flood volume (failure magnitude) and average flood duration (failure duration) at each link failure level. A new resilience index that combines the failure magnitude and duration into a single metric is applied to quantify system residual functionality at each considered link failure level. With this approach, resilience has been tested and characterized for an existing urban drainage system in Kampala city, Uganda. In addition, the effectiveness of potential adaptation strategies in enhancing its resilience to cumulative link failure has been tested.UK Commonwealth PhD scholarshipEngineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC) - Safe & SuRe research fellowshi

A versatile nondestructive evaluation imaging workstation

Ultrasonic C-scan and eddy current imaging systems are of the pointwise type evaluation systems that rely on a mechanical scanner to physically maneuver a probe relative to the specimen point by point in order to acquire data and generate images. Since the ultrasonic C-scan and eddy current imaging systems are based on the same mechanical scanning mechanisms, the two systems can be combined using the same PC platform with a common mechanical manipulation subsystem and integrated data acquisition software. Based on this concept, we have developed an IBM PC-based combined ultrasonic C-scan and eddy current imaging system. The system is modularized and provides capacity for future hardware and software expansions. Advantages associated with the combined system are: (1) eliminated duplication of the computer and mechanical hardware, (2) unified data acquisition, processing and storage software, (3) reduced setup time for repetitious ultrasonic and eddy current scans, and (4) improved system efficiency. The concept can be adapted to many engineering systems by integrating related PC-based instruments into one multipurpose workstation such as dispensing, machining, packaging, sorting, and other industrial applications

Evidence of recent interkingdom horizontal gene transfer between bacteria and Candida parapsilosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To date very few incidences of interdomain gene transfer into fungi have been identified. Here, we used the emerging genome sequences of <it>Candida albicans </it>WO-1, <it>Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Clavispora lusitaniae, Pichia guilliermondii</it>, and <it>Lodderomyces elongisporus </it>to identify recent interdomain HGT events. We refer to these as CTG species because they translate the CTG codon as serine rather than leucine, and share a recent common ancestor.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phylogenetic and syntenic information infer that two <it>C. parapsilosis </it>genes originate from bacterial sources. One encodes a putative proline racemase (PR). Phylogenetic analysis also infers that there were independent transfers of bacterial PR enzymes into members of the Pezizomycotina, and protists. The second HGT gene in <it>C. parapsilosis </it>belongs to the phenazine F (PhzF) superfamily. Most CTG species also contain a fungal PhzF homolog. Our phylogeny suggests that the CTG homolog originated from an ancient HGT event, from a member of the proteobacteria. An analysis of synteny suggests that <it>C. parapsilosis </it>has lost the endogenous fungal form of PhzF, and subsequently reacquired it from a proteobacterial source. There is evidence that <it>Schizosaccharomyces pombe </it>and Basidiomycotina also obtained a PhzF homolog through HGT.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our search revealed two instances of well-supported HGT from bacteria into the CTG clade, both specific to <it>C. parapsilosis</it>. Therefore, while recent interkingdom gene transfer has taken place in the CTG lineage, its occurrence is rare. However, our analysis will not detect ancient gene transfers, and we may have underestimated the global extent of HGT into CTG species.</p

A kinetic Monte Carlo method for the atomic-scale simulation of chemical vapor deposition: Application to diamond

We present a method for simulating the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of thin films. The model is based upon a three-dimensional representation of film growth on the atomic scale that incorporates the effects of surface atomic structure and morphology. Film growth is simulated on lattice. The temporal evolution of the film during growth is examined on the atomic scale by a Monte Carlo technique parameterized by the rates of the important surface chemical reactions. The approach is similar to the N-fold way in that one reaction occurs at each simulation step, and the time increment between reaction events is variable. As an example of the application of the simulation technique, the growth of {111}-oriented diamond films was simulated for fifteen substrate temperatures ranging from 800 to 1500 K. Film growth rates and incorporated vacancy and H atom concentrations were computed at each temperature. Under typical CVD conditions, the simulated growth rates vary from about 0.1 to 0.8 μm/hr between 800 and 1500 K and the activation energy for growth on the {111}: H surface between 800 and 1100 K is 11.3 kcal/mol. The simulations predict that the concentrations of incorporated point defects are low at substrate temperatures below 1300 K, but become significant above this temperature. If the ratio between growth rate and point defect concentration is used as a measure of growth efficiency, ideal substrate temperatures for the growth of {111}-oriented diamond films are in the vicinity of 1100 to 1200 K. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70750/2/JAPIAU-82-12-6293-1.pd