Development of visual 3D virtual environment for control software

Virtual environments for software visualization may enable complex programs to be created and maintained. A typical application might be for control of regional electric power systems. As these encompass broader computer networks than ever, construction of such systems becomes very difficult. Conventional text-oriented environments are useful in programming individual processors. However, they are obviously insufficient to program a large and complicated system, that includes large numbers of computers connected to each other; such programming is called 'programming in the large.' As a solution for this problem, the authors are developing a graphic programming environment wherein one can visualize complicated software in virtual 3D world. One of the major features of the environment is the 3D representation of concurrent process. 3D representation is used to supply both network-wide interprocess programming capability (capability for 'programming in the large') and real-time programming capability. The authors' idea is to fuse both the block diagram (which is useful to check relationship among large number of processes or processors) and the time chart (which is useful to check precise timing for synchronization) into a single 3D space. The 3D representation gives us a capability for direct and intuitive planning or understanding of complicated relationship among many concurrent processes. To realize the 3D representation, a technology to enable easy handling of virtual 3D object is a definite necessity. Using a stereo display system and a gesture input device (VPL DataGlove), our prototype of the virtual workstation has been implemented. The workstation can supply the 'sensation' of the virtual 3D space to a programmer. Software for the 3D programming environment is implemented on the workstation. According to preliminary assessments, a 50 percent reduction of programming effort is achieved by using the virtual 3D environment. The authors expect that the 3D environment has considerable potential in the field of software engineering

AJK2011-31026 WET STEAM FLOWRATE CALIBRATION FACILITY

ABSTRACT Newly developed wet steam flowrate calibration facility is introduced. It has a closed loop in which boilers generate a steam flow up to 800 kg/h. Steam flow of known wetness up to 12 % is generated by cooling down a dry steam flow by a heat exchanger. The wetness is calculated from the enthalpy the heat exchanger draws from the dry steam flow. Analysis of the facility performance, calibration results of an orifice flowmeter calibration, and uncertainty analysis are described. INTRODUCTION Steam flow is widely used in industries and distinct/house heating systems since it is a very flexible medium with high heating capacity. To reduce the energy consumption in the steam systems, it is inevitable to measure the steam flowrate. However, it is often very difficult to make accurate measurements because of the wetness, i.e., water is flowing together with the vapor in the flow. Recently, wet gas flowrate measurements were intensively investigate

SORL1 Is Genetically Associated with Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease in Japanese, Koreans and Caucasians

To discover susceptibility genes of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), we conducted a 3-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) using three populations: Japanese from the Japanese Genetic Consortium for Alzheimer Disease (JGSCAD), Koreans, and Caucasians from the Alzheimer Disease Genetic Consortium (ADGC). In Stage 1, we evaluated data for 5,877,918 genotyped and imputed SNPs in Japanese cases (n = 1,008) and controls (n = 1,016). Genome-wide significance was observed with 12 SNPs in the APOE region. Seven SNPs from other distinct regions with p-values ,261025 were genotyped in a second Japanese sample (885 cases, 985 controls), and evidence of association was confirmed for one SORL1 SNP (rs3781834, P=7.3361027 in the combined sample). Subsequent analysis combining results for several SORL1 SNPs in the Japanese, Korean (339 cases, 1,129 controls) and Caucasians (11,840 AD cases, 10,931 controls) revealed genome wide significance with rs11218343 (P=1.7761029) and rs3781834 (P=1.0461028). SNPs in previously established AD loci in Caucasians showed strong evidence of association in Japanese including rs3851179 near PICALM (P=1.7161025) and rs744373 near BIN1 (P = 1.3961024). The associated allele for each of these SNPs was the same as in Caucasians. These data demonstrate for the first time genome-wide significance of LOAD with SORL1 and confirm the role of other known loci for LOAD in Japanese. Our study highlights the importance of examining associations in multiple ethnic populations

Meta-analysis of top-ranked association results with <i>SORL1</i> in Japanese, Korean, and Caucasian datasets.

<p>CH:MB, chromosome:position (in megabase pairs, build 19); MA, minor allele; MAF, minor allele frequenc; OR, odds ratio; <i>P</i> P-value.</p

Sample size and characteristics of the discovery and replication datasets.

<p>Sample size and characteristics of the discovery and replication datasets.</p

Top-ranked genome-wide association results in the Japanese discovery (Stage 1) sample (P<2.5×10⁻⁵) and their replication in Japanese (Stage 2).

<p>CH:MB, chromosome:position (in megabasepairs, build 19); MA, minor allele; MAF, minor allele frequency; # SNPs, the number of SNPs for which P≤1×10⁻⁴ in the discovery (Stage 1) sample; OR, odds ratio; <i>P</i> P-value;</p><p>Selected SNPs represent the strongest association within each locus.</p