Remote Sensing Data Visualization, Fusion and Analysis via Giovanni

We describe Giovanni, the NASA Goddard developed online visualization and analysis tool that allows users explore various phenomena without learning remote sensing data formats and downloading voluminous data. Using MODIS aerosol data as an example, we formulate an approach to the data fusion for Giovanni to further enrich online multi-sensor remote sensing data comparison and analysis

Experimental study of formwork tightness as a function of rheological properties of SCC

Several studies relating formwork pressure to rheology exist, however the relationship between rheology and leakage through formwork joints remains to be investigated. In practice, standard documents are used to define formwork tightness requirements, typically using a qualitative approach. To try bridge this gap in knowledge, we developed a test set-up to study tightness of formwork joints under pressure as a function of varying rheological properties. Coupled with standard rheology tests, this new test set-up provides means of linking flow rate, formwork pressure, flow area, and the rheological properties. The study seeks to provide insight on measurable governing parameters and thus inform formwork tightness requirements in a more quantifiable manner. This paper presents a test set-up designed to study the flow of fresh paste through small openings. It highlights a preliminary study on the pressure-driven flow of limestone paste through a bottom orifice in a cylindrical container. While this new device may not be directly representative of the actual conditions in formwork, it provides a good base for a fundamental study that can then be extrapolated to a more representative test operation. Preliminary results show a linear relationship between the flow rate and the applied pressure. The results also show that increasing the flow area by a factor of 2.33 had a higher impact than an increase in yield stress and viscosity by a factor of 2.54 and 3.80 respectively. However, more tests need to be carried out to obtain clear trends

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Rare and Life-threatening Association

Introduction: The association between thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is uncommon. Diagnosis is often difficult because of their clinical and biologicalsimilarities. The presence of TTP in SLE worsens the prognosis and causes high mortality in the absence of early therapeutic interventions.Case report: We report the case of a 20 year-old man, admitted with nephrotic range proteinuria, hematuria and rapidly progressive renal failure. He also had anemia, thrombocytopenia and pericardial effusion.The diagnosis of SLE was made based on these clinical findings along with positive antinuclear and anti dsDNA antibodies. Renal biopsy revealed class IV/ V lupus nephritis (LN) with active lesions of thrombotic microangiopathy. The evolution of neurological deficit, persistent thrombocytopenia and active microangiopathic changes suggested the diagnosis of associated TTP. The patient was treated initially with corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide. Plasmapheresis could only be started 16 days later. Mycophenolate mofetil and rituximab weresuccessively tried in the absence of improvement in renal function and persistent thrombocytopenia. The patient’s neurological condition deteriorated necessitating transfer to the intensive care unit and mechanical ventilation. There he developed pneumonia and died of septic shock two months after presentation.Conclusion: The coexistence of TTP and SLE needs to be considered early in SLE patients with complicated course. It may not respond to the conventional immunosuppressive treatment of SLE

Rheological Characterization of Ultra-High Performance Concrete for 3d Printing

The authors recently developed a 3D-printable ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (3DP-UHPFRC) for additive construction of structural members with significantly reduced reliance on steel bars. This study investigates the rheological behavior of the developed 3DP-UHPFRC. The effects of two major factors affecting the performance of 3DP-UHPFRC, namely steel fiber volume (0, 1%, and 2%) and nano-clay (NC) content (0, 0.1%, and 0.2% by binder mass) on workability, static yield stress, dynamic yield stress, and apparent viscosity were determined. Test results showed that the inclusion of steel fibers and NC reduced the workability and led to a significant increase in the static yield stress, dynamic yield stress, and apparent viscosity. However, the effect of NC content on the rheological properties became negligible in the mixtures made with 2% fiber content. Similarly, the effect of steel fiber volume became negligible in the mixtures made with 0.2% NC. In addition, the influence of changes in rheology due to the addition of steel fiber and NC on the extrudability and buildability of the mixtures were investigated by 3D-printing of 500 mm high hollow columns with three different print speeds. The results showed all mixtures exhibited satisfactory extrudability (i.e., no blockage of extruder or tearing of filaments was observed). In addition, the buildability of the mixtures increased as the steel fiber and NC contents increased

Minimal-memory realization of pearl-necklace encoders of general quantum convolutional codes

Quantum convolutional codes, like their classical counterparts, promise to offer higher error correction performance than block codes of equivalent encoding complexity, and are expected to find important applications in reliable quantum communication where a continuous stream of qubits is transmitted. Grassl and Roetteler devised an algorithm to encode a quantum convolutional code with a "pearl-necklace encoder." Despite their theoretical significance as a neat way of representing quantum convolutional codes, they are not well-suited to practical realization. In fact, there is no straightforward way to implement any given pearl-necklace structure. This paper closes the gap between theoretical representation and practical implementation. In our previous work, we presented an efficient algorithm for finding a minimal-memory realization of a pearl-necklace encoder for Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) convolutional codes. This work extends our previous work and presents an algorithm for turning a pearl-necklace encoder for a general (non-CSS) quantum convolutional code into a realizable quantum convolutional encoder. We show that a minimal-memory realization depends on the commutativity relations between the gate strings in the pearl-necklace encoder. We find a realization by means of a weighted graph which details the non-commutative paths through the pearl-necklace. The weight of the longest path in this graph is equal to the minimal amount of memory needed to implement the encoder. The algorithm has a polynomial-time complexity in the number of gate strings in the pearl-necklace encoder.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; extends paper arXiv:1004.5179v

Investigation on the mechanisms govergning the robustness of self-compacting concrete at paste level

In spite of the many advantages, the use of self-compacting concrete (SCC) is currently widely limited to application in precast factories and situations in which external vibration would cause large difficulties. One of the main limitations is the higher sensitivity to small variations in mix proportions, material characteristics and procedures, also referred to as the lower robustness of SCC compared to vibrated concrete. This paper investigates the mechanisms governing the robustness at paste level. Phenomenological aspects are examined for a series of paste mixtures varying in water film thickness and superplasticizer-to-powder ratio. The impact of small variations in the water content on the early-age structural buildup and the robustness of the paste rheology is investigated using rotational and oscillating rheometry

Short-time dynamics of a packing of polyhedral grains under horizontal vibrations

We analyze the dynamics of a 3D granular packing composed of particles of irregular polyhedral shape confined inside a rectangular box with a retaining wall sub jected to horizontal harmonic forcing. The simulations are performed by means of the contact dynamics method for a broad set of loading parameters. We explore the vibrational dynamics of the packing, the evolution of solid fraction and the scaling of dy- namics with the loading parameters. We show that the motion of the retaining wall is strongly anharmonic as a result of jamming and grain rearrangements. It is found that the mean particle displacement scales with inverse square of frequency, the inverse of the force amplitude and the square of gravity. The short- time compaction rate grows in proportion to frequency up to a characteristic frequency, corresponding to collective particle rearrangements between equilibrium states, and then it declines in inverse proportion to frequency

Data Preservation: Final Step in the Life Cycle of a Mission

Many NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) have either already reached the end of their active life or are nearing it. Preservmissionsation of data products is a fairly well defined task for the NASA EOS Data Centers or DAACs.The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES-DISC) has implemented a repository system, which is capable of long-term archive of documentation artifacts and other associated digital content. The existing GES-DISC Repository System is based on Fedora Commons, an open-source repository management software, for cost savings and flexibility.The first mission to utilize the GES-DISC Repository System was the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) on the Aura spacecraft. Since then, the GES DISC has gathered documentation from the UARS and TOMS into the Repository. The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) team has begun delivering some early pre-launch documents to the GES-DISC Repository System as well. Other missions in planning or progress include AIRS, OMI, SORCE, SNPP Sounder, and TRMM

Earth-observation-based estimation and forecasting of particulate matter impact on solar energy in Egypt

This study estimates the impact of dust aerosols on surface solar radiation and solar energy in Egypt based on Earth Observation (EO) related techniques. For this purpose, we exploited the synergy of monthly mean and daily post processed satellite remote sensing observations from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations utilizing machine learning, in conjunction with 1-day forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). As cloudy conditions in this region are rare, aerosols in particular dust, are the most common sources of solar irradiance attenuation, causing performance issues in the photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) plant installations. The proposed EO-based methodology is based on the solar energy nowcasting system (SENSE) that quantifies the impact of aerosol and dust on solar energy potential by using the aerosol optical depth (AOD) in terms of climatological values and day-to-day monitoring and forecasting variability from MODIS and CAMS, respectively. The forecast accuracy was evaluated at various locations in Egypt with substantial PV and CSP capacity installed and found to be within 5–12% of that obtained from the satellite observations, highlighting the ability to use such modelling approaches for solar energy management and planning (M&P). Particulate matter resulted in attenuation by up to 64–107 kWh/m2 for global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and 192–329 kWh/m2 for direct normal irradiance (DNI) annually. This energy reduction is climatologically distributed between 0.7% and 12.9% in GHI and 2.9% to 41% in DNI with the maximum values observed in spring following the frequent dust activity of Khamaseen. Under extreme dust conditions the AOD is able to exceed 3.5 resulting in daily energy losses of more than 4 kWh/m2 for a 10 MW system. Such reductions are able to cause financial losses that exceed the daily revenue values. This work aims to show EO capabilities and techniques to be incorporated and utilized in solar energy studies and applications in sun-privileged locations with permanent aerosol sources such as Egypt

Histopathological Study of Pure Primary Nephrotic Syndrome in Adolescents and Young Moroccan Adults

Introduction: The primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS) is the most common glomerular nephropathy in children. Its diagnosis and management don’t require histopathological study. It occurs mainly in the form of minimal glomerular lesion and in most cases respond to corticosteroids. The literature on histological lesions of pure PNS in adolescents and young adults is rare. Thus, there are no criteria or recommendations regarding the indications for renal biopsy in patients aged 12-18 years. Methods: This is a retrospective study in which we encountered a total of 386 patients aged 12 to 25 years who were admitted and biopsied at the Nephrology Unit of Ibn Roshd Hospital in Casablanca during the period from January 1st, 2000 to September 30th, 2009 . Patients with pure PNS were 77 (20%), all were included in this study. Results: The average incidence of pure PNS was 7.7 cases per year. The study included 47 males (61%) and 30 females (39%). Patients were sent from all parts of Morocco and the average length of hospital stay was four days. Renal biopsies showed the following morphological lesions: minimal glomerular lesions in 61 cases (79.20%), focal segmental hyalinosis in 7 cases (9.10%), extramembranous glomerulonephritis in 7 cases (9.10%) and 2 cases of renal amyloidosis (2.6%). Conclusion: The minimal glomerular lesions were the most common cause of pure primary nephrotic syndrome in patients aged 12-25 years. Initial renal biopsy may not be indicated in this age group, and an empiric therapeutic trial with corticosteroids may be initially considered.Keywords: Glomerular Disease; Children; Nephrotic Syndrome; Renal Biops