Recent developments in the application of risk analysis to waste technologies.

The European waste sector is undergoing a period of unprecedented change driven by business consolidation, new legislation and heightened public and government scrutiny. One feature is the transition of the sector towards a process industry with increased pre-treatment of wastes prior to the disposal of residues and the co-location of technologies at single sites, often also for resource recovery and residuals management. Waste technologies such as in-vessel composting, the thermal treatment of clinical waste, the stabilisation of hazardous wastes, biomass gasification, sludge combustion and the use of wastes as fuel, present operators and regulators with new challenges as to their safe and environmentally responsible operation. A second feature of recent change is an increased regulatory emphasis on public and ecosystem health and the need for assessments of risk to and from waste installations. Public confidence in waste management, secured in part through enforcement of the planning and permitting regimes and sound operational performance, is central to establishing the infrastructure of new waste technologies. Well-informed risk management plays a critical role. We discuss recent developments in risk analysis within the sector and the future needs of risk analysis that are required to respond to the new waste and resource management agenda

An application of multiattribute decision analysis to the Space Station Freedom program. Case study: Automation and robotics technology evaluation

The results are described of an application of multiattribute analysis to the evaluation of high leverage prototyping technologies in the automation and robotics (A and R) areas that might contribute to the Space Station (SS) Freedom baseline design. An implication is that high leverage prototyping is beneficial to the SS Freedom Program as a means for transferring technology from the advanced development program to the baseline program. The process also highlights the tradeoffs to be made between subsidizing high value, low risk technology development versus high value, high risk technology developments. Twenty one A and R Technology tasks spanning a diverse array of technical concepts were evaluated using multiattribute decision analysis. Because of large uncertainties associated with characterizing the technologies, the methodology was modified to incorporate uncertainty. Eight attributes affected the rankings: initial cost, operation cost, crew productivity, safety, resource requirements, growth potential, and spinoff potential. The four attributes of initial cost, operations cost, crew productivity, and safety affected the rankings the most

Development and application of a self-referencing glucose microsensor for the measurement of glucose consumption by pancreatic ?-cells

Glucose gradients generated by an artificial source and ?-cells were measured using an enzyme-based glucose microsensor, 8-?m tip diameter, as a self-referencing electrode. The technique is based on a difference measurement between two locations in a gradient and thus allows us to obtain real-time flux values with minimal impact of sensor drift or noise. Flux values were derived by incorporation of the measured differential current into Fick's first equation. In an artificial glucose gradient, a flux detection limit of 8.2 ± 0.4 pmol·cm-2·s-1 (mean ± SEM, n = 7) with a sensor sensitivity of 7.0 ± 0.4 pA/mM (mean ± SEM, n = 16) was demonstrated. Under biological conditions, the glucose sensor showed no oxygen dependence with 5 mM glucose in the bulk medium. The addition of catalase to the bulk medium was shown to ameliorate surface-dependent flux distortion close to specimens, suggesting an underlying local accumulation of hydrogen peroxide. Glucose flux from ?-cell clusters, measured in the presence of 5 mM glucose, was 61.7 ± 9.5 fmol·nL-1·s-1 (mean ± SEM, n = 9) and could be pharmacologically modulated. Glucose consumption in response to FCCP (1 ?M) transiently increased, subsequently decreasing to below basal by 93 ± 16 and 56 ± 6%, respectively (mean ± SEM, n = 5). Consumption was decreased after the application of 10 ?M rotenone by 74 ± 5% (mean ± SEM, n = 4). These results demonstrate that an enzyme-based amperometric microsensor can be applied in the self-referencing mode. Further, in obtaining glucose flux measurements from small clusters of cells, these are the first recordings of the real-time dynamic of glucose movements in a biological microenvironment. <br/

Investigation of mixed element hybrid grid-based CFD methods for rotorcraft flow analysis

Accurate first-principles flow prediction is essential to the design and development of rotorcraft, and while current numerical analysis tools can, in theory, model the complete flow field, in practice the accuracy of these tools is limited by various inherent numerical deficiencies. An approach that combines the first-principles physical modeling capability of CFD schemes with the vortex preservation capabilities of Lagrangian vortex methods has been developed recently that controls the numerical diffusion of the rotor wake in a grid-based solver by employing a vorticity-velocity, rather than primitive variable, formulation. Coupling strategies, including variable exchange protocols are evaluated using several unstructured, structured, and Cartesian-grid Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS)/Euler CFD solvers. Results obtained with the hybrid grid-based solvers illustrate the capability of this hybrid method to resolve vortex-dominated flow fields with lower cell counts than pure RANS/Euler methods

Survival probabilities in the double trapping reaction A +B -> B, B + C -> C

We consider the double trapping reaction A + B -> B, B + C -> C in one dimension. The survival probability of a given A particle is calculated under various conditions on the diffusion constants of the reactants, and on the ratio of initial B and C particle densities. The results are of more general form than those obtained in previous work on the problem.Comment: 5 page

The new radiation-hard optical links for the ATLAS pixel detector

The ATLAS detector is currently being upgraded with a new layer of pixel based charged particle tracking and a new arrangement of the services for the pixel detector. These upgrades require the replacement of the opto-boards previously used by the pixel detector. In this report we give details on the design and production of the new opto-boards.Comment: Presentation at the DPF 2013 Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields, Santa Cruz, California, August 13-17, 201

Multispectral fingerprinting for improved in vivo cell dynamics analysis

Background: Tracing cell dynamics in the embryo becomes tremendously difficult when cell trajectories cross in space and time and tissue density obscure individual cell borders. Here, we used the chick neural crest (NC) as a model to test multicolor cell labeling and multispectral confocal imaging strategies to overcome these roadblocks. Results: We found that multicolor nuclear cell labeling and multispectral imaging led to improved resolution of in vivo NC cell identification by providing a unique spectral identity for each cell. NC cell spectral identity allowed for more accurate cell tracking and was consistent during short term time-lapse imaging sessions. Computer model simulations predicted significantly better object counting for increasing cell densities in 3-color compared to 1-color nuclear cell labeling. To better resolve cell contacts, we show that a combination of 2-color membrane and 1-color nuclear cell labeling dramatically improved the semi-automated analysis of NC cell interactions, yet preserved the ability to track cell movements. We also found channel versus lambda scanning of multicolor labeled embryos significantly reduced the time and effort of image acquisition and analysis of large 3D volume data sets. Conclusions: Our results reveal that multicolor cell labeling and multispectral imaging provide a cellular fingerprint that may uniquely determine a cell's position within the embryo. Together, these methods offer a spectral toolbox to resolve in vivo cell dynamics in unprecedented detail

Changing an impermissible LIFO method

Taxpayers utilizing an impermissible last-in, first-out (LIFO) inventory method may be able to change it into a “permissible” one at a modest tax cost. Rev. Proc. 97-27 provides that the IRS is not precluded from transforming an impermissible method in an earlier year just because a taxpayer alters a submethod within the impermissible method in a later year. As a result, taxpayers should examine their LIFO method and, if permissible, alter it before the IRS challenges it and tries to include the LIFO reserves in income. Moreover, taxpayers utilizing an impermissible LIFO method or submethod that has generated large prior advantages need not recognize them under a cut-off method in the form of a Sec. 481(a) adjustment. A recent Tax Court case, Mountain State Ford Truck Sales, Inc., is discussed to illustrate the significant negative tax consequences of utilizing impermissible LIFO inventory account procedures

The Structure of the Homunculus. III. Forming a Disk and Bipolar Lobes in a Rotating Surface Explosion

We present a semi-analytic model for shaping the nebula around eta Carinae that accounts for the simultaneous production of bipolar lobes and an equatorial disk through a rotating surface explosion. Material is launched normal to the surface of an oblate rotating star with an initial kick velocity that scales approximately with the local escape speed. Thereafter, ejecta follow ballistic orbital trajectories, feeling only a central force corresponding to a radiatively reduced gravity. Our model is conceptually similar to the wind-compressed disk model of Bjorkman & Cassinelli, but we modify it to an explosion instead of a steady line-driven wind, we include a rotationally-distorted star, and we treat the dynamics somewhat differently. Continuum-driving avoids the disk inhibition that normally operates in line-driven winds. Our model provides a simple method by which rotating hot stars can simultaneously produce intrinsically bipolar and equatorial mass ejections, without an aspherical environment or magnetic fields. Although motivated by eta Carinae, the model may have generic application to other LBVs, B[e] stars, or SN1987A's nebula. When near-Eddington radiative driving is less influential, our model generalizes to produce bipolar morphologies without disks, as seen in many PNe.Comment: ApJ accepted, 9 page