Final Summary Report: Em-Powering Coastal States and Utilities through Model Offshore Wind Legislation and Outreach

The final summary report summarizes the most significant findings from three project reports detailing: feed-in tariffs, model request for proposals for new generation, and model state offshore wind power legislation

Access Framework: Model Text (November 2011): An Act to Establish a Framework for Development of Offshore Wind Power

The model offshore wind power legislation focused on two aspects: compensation for use of ocean space and environmental assessment. In particular, the model legislation recommends the adoption of a rent and royalty scheme that is premised on high rent and low royalties in order to stimulate qualified bids from developers who are motivated to begin production as early as possible and to discourage sham bidding. The model legislation also includes a provision that sets royalties at a lower rate in the early years of project operation, and that provides states with the discretion to waive or defer rent and/or royalties for a period of time to meet the goals and objectives of energy independence, job creation, reduced emissions of conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases and increased state requirements for electricity from renewable sources. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) is structured to provide a systematic and interdisciplinary evaluation of the potential positive and negative life-cycle effects of a proposed offshore wind project on the physical, biological, cultural and socio-economic attributes of the project

Predicting Corrosion Damage in the Human Body Using Artificial Intelligence: In Vitro Progress and Future Applications Applications

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used in the clinic to improve patient care. While the successes illustrate the impact AI can have, few studies have led to improved clinical outcomes. A gap in translational studies, beginning at the basic science level, exists. In this review, we focus on how AI models implemented in non-orthopedic fields of corrosion science may apply to the study of orthopedic alloys. We first define and introduce fundamental AI concepts and models, as well as physiologically relevant corrosion damage modes. We then systematically review the corrosion/AI literature. Finally, we identify several AI models that may be Preprint implemented to study fretting, crevice, and pitting corrosion of titanium and cobalt chrome alloys

Subarcsecond Imaging of the High-Mass Star Forming Region Onsala 1

We report subarcsecond images of the high-mass star forming region Onsala 1 (ON 1) made with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at 0.85 mm and the Very Large Array at 1.3 cm and 3.6 cm. ON~1 is one of the smallest ultracompact HII regions in the Galaxy and exhibits various star formation signposts. With our VLA and SMA observations, two new cm-wave sources and five sub-mm dust sources, respectively, within a field of ~3" (corresponding to a linear scale of 0.05 pc) are identified, indicating the multiplicity at the center of the ON 1 region. The dust and gas masses of these sub-mm sources are in the range of 0.8 to 6.4 M_sun. Among the five sub-mm dust sources, SMA2, with a dust and gas mass of 2.6 M_sun, demonstrates several star formation signatures, and hence likely represents an intermediate-mass (or even high-mass) star forming core. Due to the low star formation efficiency of ~10%, we suggest that star formation in the ON 1 region will continue. For example, SMA4 and SMA5 are not associated with any star formation signatures and likely mark star formation cores at very early evolutionary stages.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap

Do ceramic femoral heads reduce taper fretting corrosion in hip arthroplasty? A retrieval study.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies regarding modular head-neck taper corrosion were largely based on cobalt chrome (CoCr) alloy femoral heads. Less is known about head-neck taper corrosion with ceramic femoral heads. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We asked (1) whether ceramic heads resulted in less taper corrosion than CoCr heads; (2) what device and patient factors influence taper fretting corrosion; and (3) whether the mechanism of taper fretting corrosion in ceramic heads differs from that in CoCr heads. METHODS: One hundred femoral head-stem pairs were analyzed for evidence of fretting and corrosion using a visual scoring technique based on the severity and extent of fretting and corrosion damage observed at the taper. A matched cohort design was used in which 50 ceramic head-stem pairs were matched with 50 CoCr head-stem pairs based on implantation time, lateral offset, stem design, and flexural rigidity. RESULTS: Fretting and corrosion scores were lower for the stems in the ceramic head cohort (p=0.03). Stem alloy (p=0.004) and lower stem flexural rigidity (Spearman\u27s rho=-0.32, p=0.02) predicted stem fretting and corrosion damage in the ceramic head cohort but not in the metal head cohort. The mechanism of mechanically assisted crevice corrosion was similar in both cohorts although in the case of ceramic femoral heads, only one of the two surfaces (the male metal taper) engaged in the oxide abrasion and repassivation process. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that by using a ceramic femoral head, CoCr fretting and corrosion from the modular head-neck taper may be mitigated but not eliminated. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The findings of this study support further study of the role of ceramic heads in potentially reducing femoral taper corrosion

Lumpability Abstractions of Rule-based Systems

The induction of a signaling pathway is characterized by transient complex formation and mutual posttranslational modification of proteins. To faithfully capture this combinatorial process in a mathematical model is an important challenge in systems biology. Exploiting the limited context on which most binding and modification events are conditioned, attempts have been made to reduce the combinatorial complexity by quotienting the reachable set of molecular species, into species aggregates while preserving the deterministic semantics of the thermodynamic limit. Recently we proposed a quotienting that also preserves the stochastic semantics and that is complete in the sense that the semantics of individual species can be recovered from the aggregate semantics. In this paper we prove that this quotienting yields a sufficient condition for weak lumpability and that it gives rise to a backward Markov bisimulation between the original and aggregated transition system. We illustrate the framework on a case study of the EGF/insulin receptor crosstalk.Comment: In Proceedings MeCBIC 2010, arXiv:1011.005

Intercomparison of snow depth retrievals over Arctic sea ice from radar data acquired by Operation IceBridge

Since 2009, the ultra-wideband snow radar on Operation IceBridge (OIB; a NASA airborne mission to survey the polar ice covers) has acquired data in annual campaigns conducted during the Arctic and Antarctic springs. Progressive improvements in radar hardware and data processing methodologies have led to improved data quality for subsequent retrieval of snow depth. Existing retrieval algorithms differ in the way the air–snow (a–s) and snow–ice (s–i) interfaces are detected and localized in the radar returns and in how the system limitations are addressed (e.g., noise, resolution). In 2014, the Snow Thickness On Sea Ice Working Group (STOSIWG) was formed and tasked with investigating how radar data quality affects snow depth retrievals and how retrievals from the various algorithms differ. The goal is to understand the limitations of the estimates and to produce a well-documented, long-term record that can be used for understanding broader changes in the Arctic climate system. Here, we assess five retrieval algorithms by comparisons with field measurements from two ground-based campaigns, including the BRomine, Ozone, and Mercury EXperiment (BROMEX) at Barrow, Alaska; a field program by Environment and Climate Change Canada at Eureka, Nunavut; and available climatology and snowfall from ERA-Interim reanalysis. The aim is to examine available algorithms and to use the assessment results to inform the development of future approaches. We present results from these assessments and highlight key considerations for the production of a long-term, calibrated geophysical record of springtime snow thickness over Arctic sea ice