Developing a maritime safety index using fuzzy logics

Safe shipping is essential for society and different measures are taken to improve maritime safety, for example through implementation of traffic separation schemes, radar surveillance and traffic management concepts. But how can maritime safety be measured to determine the effects of those implementations? In this study, a real‐time maritime safety index for a ship is developed, taking into account both the probability of grounding and the probability of collision. The index is developed using fuzzy integrated systems and validated in ship handling simulator scenarios. It uses numerical data from the simulator as an input to assess the present traffic situation from the perspective of a specific ship and outputs a comprehensive index. This paper describes the concept of sea traffic management as proposed and evaluated in the EU funded STM Validation project, the motivation for developing a maritime safety index, the numerical input variables and model properties and also validates the feasibility of the approach

Spectrometric imaging of sub-hourly methane emission dynamics from coal mine ventilation

Anthropogenic methane (CH _4 ) emissions contribute significantly to the current radiative forcing driving climate change. Localized CH _4 sources such as occurring in the fossil fuel industry contribute a substantial share to the anthropogenic emission total. The temporal dynamics of such emissions is largely unresolved and unaccounted for when using atmospheric measurements by satellites, aircraft, and ground-based instruments to monitor emission rates and verify reported numbers. Here, we demonstrate the usage of a ground-based imaging spectrometer for quantifying the CH _4 emission dynamics of a ventilation facility of a coal mine in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland. To this end, we deployed the imaging spectrometer at roughly 1 km distance from the facility and collected plume images of CH _4 column enhancements during the sunlit hours of four consecutive days in June 2022. Together with wind information from a co-deployed wind-lidar, we inferred CH _4 emission rates with roughly 1 min resolution. Daily average emission rates ranged between 1.39 ± 0.19 and 4.44 ± 0.76 tCH _4 h ^−1 , 10 min averages ranged between (min) 0.82 and (max) 5.83 tCH _4 h ^−1 , and puff-like events caused large variability on time scales below 15 min. Thus, to monitor CH _4 emissions from such sources, it requires measurement techniques such as the imaging spectrometer evaluated here that can capture emission dynamics on short time scales

Oxytocin by intranasal and intravenous routes reaches the cerebrospinal fluid in rhesus macaques: Determination using a novel oxytocin assay

Oxytocin (OT) is a potential treatment for multiple neuropsychiatric disorders. As OT is a peptide, delivery by the intranasal (IN) route is the preferred method in clinical studies. Although studies have shown increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) OT levels following IN administration, this does not unequivocably demonstrate that the peripherally administered OT is entering the CSF. For example, it has been suggested that peripheral delivery of OT could lead to central release of endogenous OT. It is also unknown whether the IN route provides for more efficient entry of the peptide into the CSF compared to the intravenous (IV) route, which requires blood-brain barrier penetration. To address these questions, we developed a sensitive and specific quantitative mass spectrometry assay that distinguishes labeled (d5-deuterated) from endogenous (d0) OT. We administered d5 OT (80 IU) to six nonhuman primates via IN and IV routes as well as IN saline as a control condition. We measured plasma and CSF concentrations of administered and endogenous OT before (t=0) and after (t=10, 20, 30, 45 and 60 min) d5 OT dosing. We demonstrate CSF penetrance of d5, exogenous OT delivered by IN and IV administration. Peripheral administration of d5 OT did not lead to increased d0, endogenous OT in the CSF. This suggests that peripheral administration of OT does not lead to central release of endogenous OT. We also did not find that IN administration offered an advantage compared to IV administration with respect to achieving greater CSF concentrations of OT

The "eyes" of the VineRobot: non-destructive and autonomous vineyard monitoring on-the-go

Trabajo presentado en el 62nd German Winegrowers' Congress (DWW), celebrado en Messe Sttutgart del 27 al 30 de noviembre de 2016.Peer Reviewe