Solar Capability Building Programme for Public Housing

AbstractExpanding the use of renewable energy such as solar photovoltaics (PV) is part of the Housing and Development Board's ongoing efforts to promote sustainable development and is in line with the second thrust of HDB's Roadmap for Better Living – to develop ‘Sustainable Towns’. Recognising the unique resource constraints of Singapore, HDB has looked towards solar PV. The Solar Capability Building Programme for public housing involves a wide-scale solar PV test-bedding in both new and existing towns. This paper documents the unique challenges that HDB faced (and still faces) in its drive towards sustainability, a key feature of which is the introduction of solar PV to public housing. The main sections covered are:•HDB's main objectives of starting the Solar Capability Building Programme,•The journey since 2008 till now,•HDB's vision of turning Punggol into a zero-energy (for common services) town,•Various challenges faced and how they were overcome,•Findings from the systems installed so far, and•The future direction HDB is headed in.The focus of the paper is on how HDB is working towards achieving its aims for the Solar Capability Building Programme despite the high solar PV system cost, small number of industry players and lack of grid parity or tariffs. It is an in-depth look into the ways in which HDB has chosen to push forward for solar PV despite the odds. Other governments and companies facing the same challenges can adopt similar methods to overcome them

Laser-induced crystalline optical waveguide on glass fibre

We report for the first time the fabrication of a novel glass ribbon fibre with laser-induced single (or quasi-single) crystalline (La,Yb)BGeO5 optical waveguide

Experimental investigation of inter-modal cross-gain modulation and transient effects in a two mode group erbium doped fiber amplifier

We report what we believe to be the first experimental study of inter-modal cross-gain modulation and associated transient effects as different spatial modes and wavelength channels are added and dropped within a two-mode amplifier for SDM transmission

Predictive biometrics: A review and analysis of predicting personal characteristics from biometric data

Interest in the exploitation of soft biometrics information has continued to develop over the last decade or so. In comparison with traditional biometrics, which focuses principally on person identification, the idea of soft biometrics processing is to study the utilisation of more general information regarding a system user, which is not necessarily unique. There are increasing indications that this type of data will have great value in providing complementary information for user authentication. However, the authors have also seen a growing interest in broadening the predictive capabilities of biometric data, encompassing both easily definable characteristics such as subject age and, most recently, `higher level' characteristics such as emotional or mental states. This study will present a selective review of the predictive capabilities, in the widest sense, of biometric data processing, providing an analysis of the key issues still adequately to be addressed if this concept of predictive biometrics is to be fully exploited in the future

Fine-Scale Mapping of the 4q24 Locus Identifies Two Independent Loci Associated with Breast Cancer Risk

Background: A recent association study identified a common variant (rs9790517) at 4q24 to be associated with breast cancer risk. Independent association signals and potential functional variants in this locus have not been explored. Methods: We conducted a fine-mapping analysis in 55,540 breast cancer cases and 51,168 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Results: Conditional analyses identified two independent association signals among women of European ancestry, represented by rs9790517 [conditional P = 2.51 × 10−4; OR, 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02–1.07] and rs77928427 (P = 1.86 × 10−4; OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02–1.07). Functional annotation using data from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project revealed two putative functional variants, rs62331150 and rs73838678 in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs9790517 (r2 ≥ 0.90) residing in the active promoter or enhancer, respectively, of the nearest gene, TET2. Both variants are located in DNase I hypersensitivity and transcription factor–binding sites. Using data from both The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC), we showed that rs62331150 was associated with level of expression of TET2 in breast normal and tumor tissue. Conclusion: Our study identified two independent association signals at 4q24 in relation to breast cancer risk and suggested that observed association in this locus may be mediated through the regulation of TET2. Impact: Fine-mapping study with large sample size warranted for identification of independent loci for breast cancer risk

200W gain-switched-diode-seeded single-polarization narrow linewidth all-fiber picosecond MOPA

We report a fully fiberized, single-polarization, gain-switched, diode-seeded fiber MOPA delivering 28ps pulses at a repetition frequency of 214MHz with 200W of average output power and up to 0.93µJ pulse energy

Partial state and unknown input estimation for time-delay systems

This article considers the problem of estimating a partial set of the state vector and/or unknown input vector of linear systems driven by unknown inputs and time-varying delay in the state variables. Three types of reduced-order observers, namely, observers with delays, observers without internal delays and delay-free observers are proposed in this article. Existence conditions and design procedures are presented for the determination of parameters for each case of observers. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the design procedures

A real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for rapid detection of shigella species

Shigellosis is a foodborne illness caused by the genus Shigella and is an important global health issue. The development of effective techniques for rapid detection of this pathogen is essential for breaking the chain of transmission. Therefore, we have developed a novel loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting the invasion plasmid antigen H (ipaH) gene to rapidly detect Shigella species. This assay could be performed in 90 min at an optimal temperature of 64 degrees C, with endpoint results visualized directly. Notably, the method was found to be more sensitive than conventional PCR. Indeed, the detection limit for the LAMP assay on pure bacterial cultures was 5.9 x 10(5) CFU/ml, while PCR displayed a limit of 5.9 x 107 CFU/ml. In spiked lettuce samples, the sensitivity of the LAMP assay was 3.6 x 10(4) CFU/g, whereas PCR was 3.6 x 10(5) CFU/g. Overall, the assay accurately identified 32 Shigella spp. with one enteroinvasive Escherichia coli displaying positive reaction while the remaining 32 non-Shigella strains tested were negative

High pulse energy picosecond MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator using a single-mode fiber for signal feedback

We demonstrate a high-pulse-energy, synchronously-pumped (7.19MHz), 100ps, widely tunable MgO:PPLN OPO providing 0.49µJ pulses at 1.5µm and 0.19µJ pulses at 3.6µm. A single-mode fiber is employed in the OPO to keep the 42m-long cavity compact