Network level bridges maintenance planning using Multi-Attribute Utility Theory

Bridge infrastructure managers are facing multiple challenges to improve the availability and serviceability of ageing infrastructure, while the maintenance planning is constrained by budget restrictions. Many research efforts are ongoing, for the last few decades, ranging from development of bridge management system, decision support tools, optimisation models, life cycle cost analysis, etc. Since transport infrastructures are deeply embedded in society, they are not only subject to technical requirements, but are required to meet the requirements of societal and economic developments. Therefore, bridge maintenance planning should accommodate multiple performance goals which need to be quantified by various performance indicators. In this paper, an application of Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) for bridge maintenance planning is illustrated with a case study of bridges from the Netherlands road network. MAUT seeks to optimise multiple objectives by suggesting a trade-off among them and finally assigns a ranking to the considered bridges. Moreover, utility functions of MAUT appropriately account for the involved uncertainty and risk attitude of infrastructure managers. The main contribution of this study is in presenting a proof-of-concept on how MAUT provides a systematic approach to improve the decision-making of maintenance planning by making use of available data, accommodating multiple performance goals, their uncertainty, and preferences of infrastructure managers

Derivation of tropospheric methane from TCCON CH₄ and HF total column observations

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a global ground-based network of Fourier transform spectrometers that produce precise measurements of column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of atmospheric methane (CH₄). Temporal variability in the total column of CH₄ due to stratospheric dynamics obscures fluctuations and trends driven by tropospheric transport and local surface fluxes that are critical for understanding CH₄ sources and sinks. We reduce the contribution of stratospheric variability from the total column average by subtracting an estimate of the stratospheric CH₄ derived from simultaneous measurements of hydrogen fluoride (HF). HF provides a proxy for stratospheric CH₄ because it is strongly correlated to CH₄ in the stratosphere, has an accurately known tropospheric abundance (of zero), and is measured at most TCCON stations. The stratospheric partial column of CH₄ is calculated as a function of the zonal and annual trends in the relationship between CH₄ and HF in the stratosphere, which we determine from ACE-FTS satellite data. We also explicitly take into account the CH₄ column averaging kernel to estimate the contribution of stratospheric CH₄ to the total column. The resulting tropospheric CH₄ columns are consistent with in situ aircraft measurements and augment existing observations in the troposphere

Accuracy of Trace Formulas

Using quantum maps we study the accuracy of semiclassical trace formulas. The role of chaos in improving the semiclassical accuracy, in some systems, is demonstrated quantitatively. However, our study of the standard map cautions that this may not be most general. While studying a sawtooth map we demonstrate the rather remarkable fact that at the level of the time one trace even in the presence of fixed points on singularities the trace formula may be exact, and in any case has no logarithmic divergences observed for the quantum bakers map. As a byproduct we introduce fantastic periodic curves akin to curlicues.Comment: 20 pages, uuencoded and gzipped, 1 LaTex text file and 9 PS files for figure

Hanford MOX fuel lead assemblies data report for the surplus plutonium disposition environmental impact statement

The purpose of this document is to support the US Department of Energy (DOE) Fissile Materials Disposition Program`s preparation of the draft surplus plutonium disposition environmental impact statement. This is one of several responses to data call requests for background information on activities associated with the operation of the lead assembly (LA) mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility. DOE-MD requested that the DOE Site Operations Offices nominate DOE sites that meet established minimum requirements that could produce MOX LAs. Six initial site combinations were proposed: (1) Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) with support from Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), (2) Hanford, (3) Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with support from Pantex, (4) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), (5) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), and (6) Savannah River Site (SRS). After further analysis by the sites and DOE-MD, five site combinations were established as possible candidates for producing MOX LAs: (1) ANL-W with support from INEEL, (2) Hanford, (3) LANL, (4) LLNL, and (5) SRS. Hanford has proposed an LA MOX fuel fabrication approach that would be done entirely inside an S and S Category 1 area. An alternate approach would allow fabrication of fuel pellets and assembly of fuel rods in an S and S Category 1 facility. In all, a total of three LA MOX fuel fabrication options were identified by Hanford that could accommodate the program. In every case, only minor modification would be required to ready any of the facilities to accept the equipment necessary to accomplish the LA program

SRS MOX fuel lead assemblies data report for the surplus plutonium disposition environmental impact statement

The purpose of this document is to support the US Department of Energy (DOE) Fissile Materials Disposition Program`s preparation of the draft surplus plutonium disposition environmental impact statement. This is one of several responses to data call requests for background information on activities associated with the operation of the lead assembly (LA) mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility. DOE-MD requested that the DOE Site Operations Offices nominate DOE sites that meet established minimum requirements that could produce MOX LAs. Six initial site combinations were proposed: (1) Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) with support from Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), (2) Hanford, (3) Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with support from Pantex, (4) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), (5) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), and (6) Savannah River Site(SRS). After further analysis by the sites and DOE-MD, five site combinations were established as possible candidates for producing MOX LAs: (1) ANL-W with support from INEEL, (2) Hanford, (3) LANL, (4) LLNL, and (5) SRS. SRS has proposed an LA MOX fuel fabrication approach that would be done entirely inside an S and S Category 1 area. An alternate approach would allow fabrication of fuel pellets and assembly of fuel rods in an S and S Category 2 or 3 facility with storage of bulk PuO{sub 2} and assembly, storage, and shipping of fuel bundles in an S and S Category 1 facility. The total Category 1 approach, which is the recommended option, would be done in the 221-H Canyon Building. A facility that was never in service will be removed from one area, and a hardened wall will be constructed in another area to accommodate execution of the LA fuel fabrication. The non-Category 1 approach would require removal of process equipment in the FB-Line metal production and packaging glove boxes, which requires work in a contamination area. The Immobilization Hot Demonstration Program equipment in the Savannah River Technology Center would need to be removed to accommodate pellet fabrication. This work would also be in a contaminated area

Statistical Mechanics for Unstable States in Gel'fand Triplets and Investigations of Parabolic Potential Barriers

Free energies and other thermodynamical quantities are investigated in canonical and grand canonical ensembles of statistical mechanics involving unstable states which are described by the generalized eigenstates with complex energy eigenvalues in the conjugate space of Gel'fand triplet. The theory is applied to the systems containing parabolic potential barriers (PPB's). The entropy and energy productions from PPB systems are studied. An equilibrium for a chemical process described by reactions $A+CB\rightleftarrows AC+B$ is also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, AmS-LaTeX, no figur

Molecular Genetic Approaches to Disease of Neural Development

This study utilized novel genetic techniques in order to find causative gene mutations that underlie diseases of neural development. Our laboratory has collected 175 cases of malformations of cortical development (MCD) from the United States and Europe. Four of these cases are the focus of this manuscript: two familial cases of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD), a familial case of hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP), and a sporadic case of Greig cephalopolysyndactyly (GCPS) and cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). The techniques utilized to study the affected patients include microarray-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping and copy number variation (CNV) analysis, both of which are powerful tools in the hunt for disease-causing gene mutations. In the familial cases of INAD, we report two novel mutations in the PLA2G6 gene, previously shown to cause INAD when mutated. In the familial case of HSP, we demonstrate linkage to the SPG11 locus on chromosome 15q. Finally, in the sporadic case of GCPS and CCM, we published the first report on this novel syndrome along with a genetic analysis that demonstrates a microdeletion on chromosome 7p, resulting in heterozygous loss of both the GLI3 and CCM2 genes. The three studies presented in this manuscript demonstrate the utility of SNP genotyping and CNV analysis in revealing the genetic mutations that underlie diseases of neural development

On the new economic philosophy of crisis management in the European Union

This essay attempts to go beyond presenting the bits and pieces of still ongoing crisis management in the EU. Instead it attempts at finding the ‘red thread’ behind a series of politically improvised decisions. Our fundamental research question asks whether basic economic lessons learned in the 1970s are still valid. Namely, that a crises emanating from either structural or regulatory weaknesses cannot and should not be remedied by demand management. Our second research question is the following: Can lacking internal commitment and conviction in any member state be replaced or substituted by external pressure or formalized procedures and sanctions? Under those angles we analyze the project on establishing a fiscal and banking union in the EU, as approved by the Council in December 2012

Stationary Flows of the Parabolic Potential Barrier in Two Dimensions

In the two-dimensional isotropic parabolic potential barrier $V(x, y)=V_0 -m\gamma^2 (x^2+y^2)/2$, though it is a model of an unstable system in quantum mechanics, we can obtain the stationary states corresponding to the real energy eigenvalue $V_0$. Further, they are infinitely degenerate. For the first few eigenstates, we will find the stationary flows round a right angle that are expressed by the complex velocity potentials $W=\pm\gamma z^2/2$.Comment: 12 pages, AmS-LaTeX, 4 figure