Manpower forecast program

Program reports distribution of actual manpower levels in each section versus accounts, projects versus sections, sections versus manpower classes, and project offices versus sections

Urban wind power and the private sector : community benefits, social acceptance and public engagement

Given the ambitious government targets for renewable energy generation in the UK, there has been a push by government and industry towards various types and scales of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs). This paper explores the implications of commercial urban wind projects for local communities, drawing on a case study of proposals by ASDA to construct wind turbines in two semi-urban locations in the UK. The paper argues that community responses to the proposals were complex and varied and could not adequately be encapsulated by 'nimby' (not in my back yard) assignations. It concludes that while ASDA followed a process of consulting local people, this process highlighted the problems of the 'business as usual' approach to public engagement employed by ASDA, and assumptions made about public acceptance of RETs

Neurogenesis Deep Learning

Neural machine learning methods, such as deep neural networks (DNN), have achieved remarkable success in a number of complex data processing tasks. These methods have arguably had their strongest impact on tasks such as image and audio processing - data processing domains in which humans have long held clear advantages over conventional algorithms. In contrast to biological neural systems, which are capable of learning continuously, deep artificial networks have a limited ability for incorporating new information in an already trained network. As a result, methods for continuous learning are potentially highly impactful in enabling the application of deep networks to dynamic data sets. Here, inspired by the process of adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus, we explore the potential for adding new neurons to deep layers of artificial neural networks in order to facilitate their acquisition of novel information while preserving previously trained data representations. Our results on the MNIST handwritten digit dataset and the NIST SD 19 dataset, which includes lower and upper case letters and digits, demonstrate that neurogenesis is well suited for addressing the stability-plasticity dilemma that has long challenged adaptive machine learning algorithms.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Accepted to 2017 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2017

Laser Velocimetry Measurements in a Double Volute Centrifugal Pump

Laser velocimetry measurements were taken in a double volute/single discharge centrifugal pump (0.60 specific speed, 1583 US units) with symmetrical volute halves. Blade-to-blade radial and tangential velocity profiles at the impeller exit are presented and compared to data for a similar single volute pump. Flow rates ranged from 40% of design flow to the design point. The blade-to-blade profiles were more uniform than for the single volute pump. Also, the average circumferential variations for the double volute pump were more symmetric than for the single volute pump. For the double volute geometry measurements indicate that radial inward flow (recirculation) was only present for flow rates below 60% of design flow, compared to 80% of design flow for the single volute pump. Velocity data was also used to determine volute losses, slip factor, and momentum contributions to the impeller radial forces. Volute losses were quantified and shown to increase for flow rates below 80% of design flow and were approximately 10% of the developed head at 40% flow. The efficiency in the double volute compared to the single volute shows decreased performance for flows above 55% of design flow, which is attributed to increased boundary layer friction; at low flow rates increased performance is ascribed to better control over the recirculation regions. Slip factors were symmetric around the volute but were lower than for a single volute pump. Finally, momentum contributions to the total impeller radial load were shown to be maximum at the design point, contributing 40% of the force developed by the pressure distribution; the significance diminished at lower flow rates and the contribution was negligible at 40% of the design flow

The Physiologic Effects of Multiple Simultaneous Electronic Control Device Discharges

Objectives: Law enforcement and military personnel use electronic control devices to control non-compliant and actively resistive subjects. The TASER® Shockwave is a new electronic control device designed specifically as an area denial device capable of delivering multiple simultaneous discharges. This is the first study to examine the effects of multiple simultaneous device discharges in humans.Methods: Volunteers were exposed to multiple (two to three), simultaneous 5-second discharges from the Shockwave device to the chest, back, chest to abdomen, or thighs. Blood was analyzed before and after discharge for pH, lactate, potassium, creatine kinase (CK), and troponin. Continuous spirometry was performed before, during, and after the discharge. In addition, electrocardiograms (ECGs) before and after discharge were recorded, and echocardiography was used to determine the rhythm during discharge.Results: Small elevations of lactate occurred. Moderate increases in CK at 24 hours occurred and appeared to be related to the number of simultaneous discharges. There was a trend to a decrease in minute ventilation in the volunteers exposed to two simultaneous discharges, but it did not reach statistical significance. ECG changes only reflected an increase in vagal tone, and there was no evidence of capture by echocardiography. Five-second, simultaneous, multiple exposures to the TASER Shockwave device were reasonably tolerated by our human volunteers.Conclusion: Our study suggests that this device may have a reasonable risk/benefit ratio when used to protect an area from a threat. [West J Emerg Med. 2010; 11(1):49-56]

Laser-Induced Fabrication of Metallic Interlayers and Patterns in Polyimide Films

Self-metallizing polyimide films are created by doping polyamic acid solutions with metallic ions and solubilizing agents. Upon creating a film, the film is exposed to coherent light for a specific time and then cured. The resulting film has been found to have a metallic surface layer and a metallic subsurface layer (interlayer). The layer separating the metallic layer has a uniform dispersion of small metal particulates within the polymer. The layer below the interlayer has larger metal particulates uniformly distributed within the polymer. By varying the intensity or time of exposure to the coherent light, three-dimensional control of metal formation within the film is provided