Utilization of AVL/GPS Technology: Case Studies

MnDOT Contract No. 1026092TPF-5(218)Winter road maintenance accounts for roughly 20 percent of state DOT maintenance budgets. State and local agencies spend over $2.3 billion on winter operations annually. As such, effective winter maintenance operations incorporating smart uses of methods, techniques, technologies, equipment and materials becomes essential. Among various winter maintenance technologies, automated vehicle location (AVL) and global positioning systems (GPS) have been widely used by transportation agencies to monitor vehicle locations and equipment operational status for winter road maintenance operations. This report summarizes the information gathered during the study conducted for the Clear Roads project entitled Utilization of AVL/GPS Technology: Case Studies. The research team surveyed multiple state DOTs on the current state of AVL/GPS system usage for the purpose of gathering information on the planning, processes, steps, and results observed by agencies with their respective systems. Six state DOTs (Utah, Washington State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Colorado) were selected to conduct detailed case studies. The case studies were performed through in-person interviews with multiple levels of DOT staff involved in AVL/GPS system planning, procurement, implementation, management and operations. This final report summarizes the key results, findings and lessons learned from the case studies. It also identifies best practices and provides a series of recommendations for winter maintenance agencies to consider in the procurement, deployment and integration of an AVL/GPS system for winter maintenance operations

Expanded Use of AVL/GPS Technology: Final Report

MnDOT Contract No. 1044528Summer road maintenance is a critical activity for highway maintenance agencies that involves a wide range of maintenance and construction vehicles that can be active at any given time, which makes vehicle and maintenance asset management challenges. Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technologies installed in winter maintenance vehicles have the potential to support summer road maintenance vehicles to improve asset tracking and management practices, as well as other purposes such as process automation and paperwork reduction for field staff in terms of activity reporting. The use of AVL/GPS systems to support both winter and summer maintenance activities can help justify the expenses incurred with respect to hardware / software acquisition and training costs across a wide range of applications. This report continues building upon prior Clear Roads research and helps highway maintenance agencies optimize the value gained from the acquisition of AVL/GPS systems by deploying them year-round, rather than being limited to winter maintenance operations. This report summarizes agencies\u2019 experiences and lessons learned in using AVL/GPS technologies in summer and year-round maintenance activities. It also highlights the types of issues other highway maintenance agencies should consider prior to system procurement, provides guidance for successful transition and implementation of the technology, and serves as a possible template for agencies to get the best value out of different levels their AVL/GPS applications

Association of anticardiolipin, antiphosphatidylserine, anti-β2 glycoprotein I, and antiphosphatidylcholine autoantibodies with canine immune thrombocytopenia

β2GPI expression and identification. (PDF 159 kb

Outcomes of resection for colorectal cancer hepatic metastases stratified by evolving eras of treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background and purpose</p> <p>The outcomes and management of colorectal cancer (CRC) hepatic metastasis have undergone many evolutionary changes. In this study, we aimed to analyze the outcomes of patients with CRC hepatic metastasis in terms of the era of treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a retrospective review of 279 patients who underwent liver resection (LR) for CRC hepatic metastases. The prognoses of patients treated pre-2003 (era 1) and post-2003 (era 2) were examined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the patients included in the study, 210 (75.3%) had CRC recurrence after LR. There was a significant difference in the ratio of CRC recurrence between the 2 eras (82.0% in era 1 <it>vs</it>. 69.5% in era 2; <it>p </it>= 0.008). Analysis of recurrence-free and overall survival rates also showed that the patient outcome was significantly better in the post-2003 era than in the pre-2003 era. Further analysis showed that a significantly higher percentage of patients in era 2 had received modern chemotherapeutic regimens including irinotecan and oxaliplatin, while patients in era 1 were mainly administered fluorouracil and leucovorin for adjuvant chemotherapy. Among patients with CRC recurrence, a significant ratio of those in era 2 underwent surgical resection for recurrent lesions, and these patients had a better survival curve than did patients without resection (34.1% <it>vs</it>. 2.2% for 5-year survival; <it>p </it>< 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The incidence of CRC recurrence after LR for hepatic metastasis remains very high. However, the management and outcomes of patients with CRC hepatic metastasis have greatly improved with time, suggesting that the current use of aggressive multimodality treatments including surgical resection combined with modern chemotherapeutic regimens effectively prolongs the life expectancy of these patients.</p

A Low Voltage Step-Up DC-DC Converter with Negative Voltage Control Technique

近年來能量擷取技術為相當熱門的研究領域，利用這項技術我們可以將環境的能量，如太陽能、熱能及振動能等轉換成電能，再運用到不需外接電池之電子裝置，像是無線感測網路或是可穿戴式的生醫裝置。而其中相當關鍵的部分就是介於能量源輸出與負載電路間的介面電路，此介面電路扮演能量處理並提供適當的電壓及電流給負載電路。 在可穿戴式電子產品中，熱能轉電能的應用遇到的最大問題就是低電壓輸出，為了使負載電路能夠使用這電能，用以升壓的介面電路為設計重心。因此我們設計了一低電壓啟動的直流轉直流升壓轉換器，並利用負電壓控制技術(Negative Voltage Control Technique, NVCT)有效地降低Native NMOS功率元件關閉電流過大的問題，進一步提升效率。 轉換器由低電壓時脈產生器、負電壓產生器、脈波產生器、電壓偵測器、推動放大器、功率電晶體及被動元件構成。首先電壓源提供電壓給低電壓時脈產生器，輸出一時脈訊號去驅動Native NMOS的功率開關，當輸出電容充電至預定電壓值後，由電壓偵測器送出訊號去切換操作，利用負電壓產生器輸出的負電壓去關閉具初始導通特性的功率電晶體，由一般臨界電壓的功率電晶體負責第二階段的升壓。 本電路使用TSMC 0.18um 1P6M CMOS的製程，啟動電壓為300mV，輸出電壓在空載時可升壓至2V，當負載為1.5mA時有最高電壓轉換效率為63%，最大負載電流可至3.2mA，其對應的輸出電壓為1V。In recent years, energy harvesting technologies have become a very popular field of study. With these technologies, we can transform environmental energy, such as solar energy, heat, and vibration energy, into electric energy. The harvesting energy can be used for electronic devices without external battery, such as wireless sensor networks or wearable biomedical devices. A critical part of the whole system is the interface circuit that lies between the energy source and the load circuit to provide proper voltage and current level to the load circuit. In wearable electronics products, the biggest problem of the application of thermal energy transfer is the low voltage output. For the load circuit to use this power, an interface circuit for boosting is the design to focus. Thus, a low-voltage startup DC-to-DC boost converter is designed and the negative voltage control technology (NVCT) is utilized to enhance efficiency by minimizing the leakage current when the Native NMOS is off. The converter is composed of low voltage clock generator, negative voltage generator, pulse generator, voltage detector, buffer, power transistor, and passive element. First, voltage source provides a voltage to the low voltage clock generator, which outputs clock signal to drive the Native NMOS power switch. When the output capacitor is charged to a predetermined voltage value, the voltage detector sends a signal to change operation. The negative voltage generator generates a negative voltage to turn off the Native NMOS power transistor. Finally, the normal VTH power switch is responsible for the second phase of the step-up. The circuit was designed by using TSMC 0.18um 1P6M CMOS process. The startup voltage is 300mV and the output voltage can reach 2V with no load. The maximum voltage conversion efficiency is 63% with 1.5mA of output current, and the maximum load current is 3.2mA with 1V output voltage.致謝 I 摘要 II ABSTRACT III 目錄 IV 圖目錄 VI 表目錄 VIII 第1章緒論 1 1.1背景簡介 1 1.2研究動機 2 1.3論文架構 3 第2章熱電能轉換器介紹 4 2.1熱電轉換原理 4 2.2熱電產生器(THERMOELECTRIC HARVESTER)等效模型 5 2.3熱電材料的應用 7 2.3.1汽車廢熱回收 7 2.3.2放射線同位素熱電機 9 2.3.3應用於低溫度梯度之熱電系統 10 第3章穩壓器基本概念分析 12 3.1低壓降線性穩壓器(LOW DROPOUT REGULATOR, LDO) 12 3.2電荷幫浦(CHARGE PUMP) 13 3.3切換式穩壓器(SWITCHING REGULATOR) 14 3.3.1降壓型轉換器(Buck Converter) 14 3.3.2升壓型轉換器(Boost Converter) 18 3.3.3升降壓轉換器(Buck-Boost Converter) 22 3.4低壓啟動升壓型轉換器 25 3.4.1應用機械式開關(Mechanical Switch)作為啟動元件 25 3.4.2使用耦合電感(Coupled Inductors)之升壓轉換器 26 3.4.3二階升壓型轉換器(Two Stage Boost Converter) 27 3.4.4應用電荷幫浦(Charge Pump)作為啟動電路 28 3.4.5應用LC震盪器(LC-Oscillator)作為啟動電路 29 第4章低壓啟動直流轉直流升壓轉換器 30 4.1系統架構分析 30 4.2負電壓產生器(NEGATIVE VOLTAGE GENERATOR) 33 4.3電壓偵測器 35 4.4低電壓時脈產生器 37 4.4.1環形振盪器(Ring Oscillator) 38 4.4.2工作週期產生器 39 4.5脈波產生器 41 第5章電路模擬數據及結果 43 5.1模擬結果 43 5.1.1負電壓產生器 43 5.1.2電壓偵測器 45 5.1.3時脈產生器 46 5.1.4脈波產生器 46 5.1.5整體電路模擬 47 5.2佈局(LAYOUT) 51 5.3模擬結果 53 5.4論文比較表 53 第6章結論與未來展望 55 6.1結論 55 6.2未來展望 55 參考文獻 5