Advances In Storage Technologies Research Articles

Increasing the Efficiency of Image Results through Improved Image retrieval by using Image Mining in Search Engines

With the growth of Internet and advances in storage technologies, spread and acquisition of images has become imperative. Despite unprecedented advances in data mining, search engines return results of image queries by mining the written text associated with the images rather than mining the images to provide suitable results as per the image query. Image mining isn't merely an extension of data mining to image domain. It is an interdisciplinary attempt that draws upon expertise in various fields of Computer Science, ranging from computer vision, image processing and image retrieval to data mining, machine learning, database, and artificial intelligence. In this paper, we will suggest how image mining can be successfully implemented and will also suggest possible future research in the said discipline.

The new CMS DAQ system for LHC operation after 2014 (DAQ2)

The Data Acquisition system of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at CERN assembles events at a rate of 100 kHz, transporting event data at an aggregate throughput of 100 GByte/s. We are presenting the design of the 2nd generation DAQ system, including studies of the event builder based on advanced networking technologies such as 10 and 40 Gbit/s Ethernet and 56 Gbit/s FDR Infiniband and exploitation of multicore CPU architectures. By the time the LHC restarts after the 2013/14 shutdown, the current compute nodes, networking, and storage infrastructure will have reached the end of their lifetime. In order to handle higher LHC luminosities and event pileup, a number of sub-detectors will be upgraded, increase the number of readout channels and replace the off-detector readout electronics with a μTCA implementation. The second generation DAQ system, foreseen for 2014, will need to accommodate the readout of both existing and new off-detector electronics and provide an increased throughput capacity. Advances in storage technology could make it feasible to write the output of the event builder to (RAM or SSD) disks and implement the HLT processing entirely file based.

Agent-based model for electricity consumption and storage to evaluate economic viability of tariff arbitrage for residential sector demand response

Demand response (DR) is one of many approaches to address temporal mismatches in demand and supply of grid electricity. More common in the commercial sector, DR usually refers to reducing consumption at certain hours or seasons, thus reducing peak demand from the grid. In the residential sector, where sophisticated appliance-level controls such as automatic dimming of lights or on-demand lowering of air conditioning are less common, building-based electricity storage to shift grid consumption from peak to off-peak times could provide DR without requiring consumers to operate their appliances on shifted or reduced schedules: Storage would be dispatched to appliances as needed while still shaving peaks on the grid. Technologically, storage and two-way-inverters are readily available to enable such residential DR. Economically, however, the situation is less clear. Specifically, are time-varying electricity tariffs available such that electricity cost reduction via arbitrage could offset manufacturing, financing, and installation costs of the required storage? To address this question we (i) devise an agent-based appliance-level stochastic model to simulate the electricity demand of an average U.S. household; (ii) loadshift the demand via simple dispatch strategies; and (iii) determine potential profits to the building owner, i.e. reduced electricity cost of the modified demand with realistic tariffs (Con Edison, NY) minus storage cost. We determine the economic viability for a range of traditional and advanced storage technologies as well as their optimum storage capacities to maximize profits. We find that (i) profits can range from <1% to 48% of annual electricity costs of a typical household; and (ii) optimum capacities, while approximately equal to households’ kWh consumption during peak hours, is affected by stochastic variations in daily and seasonal consumption. Future improvements to storage technology, arbitrage strategies, and tariffs are discussed. Details of the storage technologies, agent-based model, testing, and benchmarking are supplied as Supplementary Data.

Techno-economic Study of Solar-assisted Post-combustion Carbon Capture System Integrated with Desalination

Solvent-based Post-combustion Carbon Capture (PCC), which can reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants, is one of the most advanced mature Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies at present. Two problems limit its development. One is the output reduction of power plant due to the steam extraction from turbine. The other is a large amount of water consumption for the evaporation of the solution in the absorber and desorber.In this paper we propose an integrated system to reduce the steam extraction from turbine and to produce freshwater by using solar thermal energy. The new system produces more electricity and freshwater during the daytime, and uses the steam extraction to reduce CO2 emissions at night. A techno-economic feasibility study is performed as a case study for a 300 MWe coal-fired power plant assisted by solar desalination. As for the potential impact parameters, the local climatic conditions and CO2 capture rate are discussed. Low-cost collectors and desalting equipment would make the technology more cost-effective.

Developing a new equation of state for carbon capture and storage pipeline transport

As the development of more advanced capture and storage technologies continues along with gradual scale-up of demonstration projects, the imminent deployment of commercial-scale carbon capture and storage is becoming increasingly likely. The transport stage needs to undergo similar development as there is much that needs to be better understood. In particular, there is a need for an equation of state which can accurately describe the physical behaviour of mixtures of carbon dioxide with impurities during the transport stage of carbon capture and storage in a simple, effective way. Presented here is the early development of a new, analytic equation of state, specifically designed to be highly accurate within the window 0 to 30.9782 ℃ and up to 150 bar (the anticipated usual region of operation for carbon capture and storage pipelines). In this paper, the potential of the proposed equation of state is demonstrated with descriptions for the pressure (from which density can be directly calculated) and phase behaviour of pure CO2. Comparisons with the Peng–Robinson equation of state are made in order to demonstrate the potential of the model, which has both simplicity similar to that of the Peng–Robinson equation and accuracy similar to that of the Span–Wagner equation. Presently, it is found that inside this window, the maximum percentage error of the new equation in the description of pressure for the case of pure carbon dioxide is not more than approximately 2.53%, compared with 40.85% for the Peng–Robinson equation, whilst for the description of phase behaviour, it is not more than 2.41%, compared with 18.23% for the Peng–Robinson equation.

The use of application-specific performance targets and engineering considerations to guide hydrogen storage materials development

Abstract The Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Office, carried out through the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, maintains a broad portfolio of activities to enable the commercialization of fuel cells across a range of near, mid and long-term applications. Improved, advanced hydrogen storage technologies are seen as a critical need for successful implementation of hydrogen fuel cells in many of these applications. To guide and focus materials development efforts, the DOE develops system performance targets for the specific applications of interest, and carries out system engineering analyses to determine the system-level performance delivered when the materials are incorporated into a complete system. To meet the needs of applications, it is important to consider the system-level performance, not just the material-level properties. An overview of the DOE’s hydrogen storage efforts in developing application-specific performance targets and systems engineering to guide hydrogen storage materials identification and development is herein provided.

Digital Forensics Curriculum in Security Education

Information Security curricula usually cover traditional security topics such as network security, cryptography, and operating system security. As individuals and businesses have come to rely more heavily on computing technology, criminals also have turned their attention to such technology. Consequently, security requires developing adequate policies to protect the information assets, as well as gathering suitable evidence in case the matter ends in a court. Rapid advancements in storage technology have contributed to storing large volumes of data in small devices. Such devices could be hidden with criminal intent or are prone to being lost, thus exposing confidential information. In either case, we need to expose the students specializing in security education to both the technology and the legal aspects.

Energy Conservation for Image Retrieval on Mobile Systems

Mobile systems such as PDAs and cell phones play an increasing role in handling visual contents such as images. Thousands of images can be stored in a mobile system with the advances in storage technology: this creates the need for better organization and retrieval of these images. Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) is a method to retrieve images based on their visual contents. In CBIR, images are compared by matching their numerical representations called features; CBIR is computation and memory intensive and consumes significant amounts of energy. This article examines energy conservation for CBIR on mobile systems. We present three improvements to save energy while performing the computation on the mobile system: selective loading, adaptive loading, and caching features in memory. Using these improvements adaptively reduces the features to be loaded into memory for each search. The reduction is achieved by estimating the difficulty of the search. If the images in the collection are dissimilar, fewer features are sufficient; less computation is performed and energy can be saved. We also consider the effect of consecutive user queries and show how features can be cached in memory to save energy. We implement a CBIR algorithm on an HP iPAQ hw6945 and show that these improvements can save energy and allow CBIR to scale up to 50,000 images on a mobile system. We further investigate if energy can be saved by migrating parts of the computation to a server, called computation offloading . We analyze the impact of the wireless bandwidth, server speed, number of indexed images, and the number of image queries on the energy consumption. Using our scheme, CBIR can be made energy efficient under all conditions.

Book Review: System Forensics, Investigation, and Response

Vacca, J. R. and Rudolph, K. (2011). System Forensics, Investigation, and Response. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning. 339 + xv pages, ISBN: 978-0-7637-9134-6, US$89.95. Reviewed by Nate Keith, MBA, (natejkeith@gmail.com) I recently expressed an interest to a respected colleague in finding a way to “give back” to the forensic community. He suggested writing a review for a text he recently received and provide feedback to the community. It is my intent to present an objective analysis of System Forensics, Investigation, and Response. Written by John R. Vacca and K Rudolph, this book is part of the Jones and Bartlett Learning Information Systems Security & Assurance Series. Both Vacca and Rudolph have considerable experience in the information technology field as is demonstrated by the back cover notes:  “John R. Vacca is an information technology consultant and internationally known best-selling author based in Pomeroy, Ohio. Since 1982, he has written 62 books and more than 600 articles in the areas of advanced storage, computer security, and aerospace technology. (see PDF for full review)

Magnetic materials and devices: Research and applications

The history of magnetic materials dates back more than 2,500 years when the magnetic phenomenon was observed in lodestone, a naturally occurring mineral. At that time the only useful application of magnets was in compass needles. Since then, magnetic materials have found applications in a much wider domain. Their use in traditional areas such as electric motors, generators, loudspeakers, magnetic separators, etc. is well known. Lately they have found applications in more advanced fi elds such as biomedical imaging and drug delivery. However, the one fi eld that has probably been infl uenced the most is magnetic data storage technology. This technology has been advancing with almost the same pace as the semiconductor industry. A very exciting concept being explored is marrying semiconductor technology and the advanced magnetic data storage and processing technology. This emerging hybrid technology is known as spintronics. Spintronics utilizes the charge as well as the spin degrees of freedom of electrons. Further, spintronics requires the development of magnetic materials which can effi ciently inject spin polarized carriers into the semiconductors. Despite considerable efforts, effi cient injection of spins into nonmagnetic semiconductors continues to be a major hurdle in this fi eld. Conventional ferro-magnets such as Fe and Ni are not effi cient for the above application. This has led to an urgent need for developing new kinds of magnetic materials known as diluted magnetic semiconductors and

System simulation models for on-board hydrogen storage systems

System simulation models for automotive on-board hydrogen storage systems provide a measure of the ability of an engineered system and storage media to meet system performance targets. Thoughtful engineering design for a particular storage media can help the system achieve desired performance goals. This paper presents system simulation models for two different advanced hydrogen storage technologies – a cryo-adsorption system and a metal hydride system. AX-21 superactivated carbon and sodium alanate are employed as representative storage media for the cryo-adsorbent system and the metal hydride system respectively. Lumped parameter models incorporating guidance from detailed transport models are employed in building the system simulation models. Simulation results to test the storage systems’ ability to meet fuel cell demand for different drive cycles and varying operating conditions are presented. Systems are engineered to provide the ability to refuel a vehicle in a short time guided by DOE targets. Gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen densities are computed for the engineered systems and compared to the DOE system goals.

Lipid Oxidation Inhibition in Frozen Farmed Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutc h ): Effect of Packaging

: Coho salmon (&lt;I&gt;Oncorhynchus kisutch&lt;/I&gt;) has recently attracted a great interest as a farmed product. This research focuses on its commercialisation as a frozen product. For it, an advanced storage technology combining vacuum and a polyphenolic rich-film was applied for a 9-months storage period (–18°C). The study was addressed to lipid hydrolysis and oxidation changes and to endogenous antioxidant content in salmon muscle. No effect of packaging conditions could be observed on free fatty acid formation. However, vacuum packaging conditions provided a partial inhibition of primary (peroxide) and secondary (anisidine value) lipid oxidation development; this inhibitory effect was accompanied by a lower tocopherol isomers loss. The employment of a film including polyphenolic compounds led to a partial inhibition of &amp;alpha;-tocopherol breakdown and to a lower secondary (anisidine value) and tertiary (fluorescent compound formation) lipid oxidation development. A partial inhibitory effect on lipid oxidation development is concluded for the employment of a polyphenolic compound rich-film packaging when applied to farmed coho salmon.

Inner space still expanding [IT storage

A crunch in data storage, unlike credit, has been long predicted but never seems to quite materialize. This is partly because ongoing improvements in disk density and cost per bit have matched the inflationary growth of storage itself until recently. Of one prediction we can be certain, that this felicitous situation cannot continue. There are already signs that the increase in disk drive densities and costs per bit are decelerating. The paper reports on the emerging advanced storage technologies that are ready to help mop up the flood.

Impact of hydrogen onboard storage technologies on the performance of hydrogen fuelled vehicles: A techno-economic well-to-wheel assessment

Hydrogen onboard storage technologies form an important factor in the overall performance of hydrogen fuelled transportation, both energetically and economically. Particularly, advanced storage options such as metal hydrides and carbon nanotubes are often hinted favourable to conventional, liquid and pressurized, storage options. This study assesses the technical and economic performance of four onboard storage technologies in a well-to-wheel assessment. It does so for centralized and onsite hydrogen production scenarios with gaseous pipeline and liquid truck distributed hydrogen. Energetically, centralized production and liquefaction outperforms onsite production and liquefaction by 20% on the average primary energy input, despite the need of pipeline or over the road distribution. The gaseous handling on the filling station performs better with an average driving energy use of 0.11 MJ p/km compared to 0.15 MJ p/km for liquid handling. The advanced onboard storage technologies perform better by 22% than the conventional storage technologies on primary energy input in the chain. The average driving cost for gaseous and liquid onboard storage are 53% above the gasoline reference cost of 21 € ct / km and the advanced onboard storage technologies as much as 98%, almost double the reference cost. The car expenditure for a fuel cell driven car compared to an internal combustion engine driven car is for a large part responsible for this difference. Advanced onboard storage technologies thus perform better than conventional onboard storage technologies energetically albeit to higher cost.

Field Dependence of Switching Currents in an Exchange Biased Spin Valve

Current induced magnetic reversal due to spin transfer torque is a promising candidate in advanced information storage technology. It has been intensively studied. This work reports the field-dependence of switching-currents for current induced magnetization switching in a uncoupled nano-sized cobalt-based spin valve of exchange biased type. The dependency is investigated in hysteretic regime at room temperature, in comparison with that of a trilayer simple spin valve. In the simple spin valve, the switching currents behave to the positive and the negative applied magnetic field symmetrically. In the exchange biased type, in contrast, the switching currents respond to the negative field in a quite unusual and different manner than to the positive field. A negative magnetic field then can shift the switching-currents into either negative or positive current range, dependently on whether a parallel or an antiparallel state of the spin valve was produced by that field. This different character of switching currents in the negative field range can be explained by the effect of the exchange bias pinning field on the spin-polarizer (the fixed Co layer) of the exchange biased spin valve. That unidirectional pinning filed could suppress the thermal magnetization fluctuation in the spin-polarizer, leading to a higher spin polarization of the current, and hence a lower switching current density than in the simple spin valve.

Distributed generation: remote power systems with advanced storage technologies

The paper discusses derived from an earlier hypothetical study of remote villiages. It considers the policy implications for communities who have their own local power resources rather than those distributed through transmission from distant sources such as dams, coal power plants or even renewables generation from wind farms, solar thermal or other resources. The issues today, post 911 and the energy crises in California, Northeast North America and Europe, signal the need for a new and different approach to energy supply(s), reliability and dissemination. Distributed generation (DG) as explored in the earlier paper appears to be one such approach that allows for local communities to become energy self-sufficient. Along with energy conservation, efficiency, and on-site generation, local power sources provide concrete definitions and understandings for heretofore ill defined concepts such as sustainability and eco-systems. The end result for any region and nation-state are “agile energy systems” which use flexible DG, on-site generation and conservation systems meeting the needs of local communities. Now the challenge is to demonstrate and provide economic and policy structures for implementing new advanced technologies for local communities. For institutionalizing economically viable and sound environmental technologies then new finance mechanisms must be established that better reflect the true costs of clean energy distributed in local communities. For example, the aggregation of procurement contracts for on-site solar systems is far more cost effective than for each business owner, public building or household to purchase its own separate units. Thus mass purchasing contracts that are link technologies as hybrids can dramatically reduce costs. In short public–private partnerships can implement the once costly clean energy technologies into local DG systems.

Radiology Resources on the Net

Radiology Resources on the Net

QUALITY MANIPULATION AND MONITORING IN PROCESSES: PRODUCT-CLIMATE INTERACTION, QUALITY CONTROL

QUALITY MANIPULATION AND MONITORING IN PROCESSES: PRODUCT-CLIMATE INTERACTION, QUALITY CONTROL

Numerical analysis of coating–substrate systems

Coated tools having a higher edge life compared to uncoated ones are well suited for high speed or dry machining and produce a higher product quality. So coating technology gained a growing importance for industrial applications. To achieve further progress in the development of new coating systems, it is desirable to combine the experimental dominated developing process with numerical simulations for the influence of external loads on the stability of the coatings, which mainly depends on the deformation state and on the stress–strain situation inside the tool. These quantities are computable by 3D finite element simulations. Since the thickness of the coatings is tiny compared to tools' measures, such computations must be performed on highly graded meshes to lay hold of the tool's geometry as well as of the microscopic layers. Even when adapting the mesh density to the accuracy requirements in an optimal manner, the dimension of the FE systems, the computational effort and the storage requirements are extremely large, pushing the limits of standard hardware, even when advanced storage technologies and solvers for the FE matrices are used. On parallel computers, the runtime may be considerably reduced and the available storage is substantially enlarged.

Remote power systems with advanced storage technologies for Alaskan villages

This paper presents an analytical optimization of a remote power system for a hypothetical Alaskan village. The analysis considers the potential of generating renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar), along with the possibility of using energy storage to take full advantage of the intermittent renewable sources available to these villages. Storage in the form of either compressed hydrogen or zinc pellets can then provide electricity from hydrogen or zinc–air fuel cells whenever wind or sunlight are low. The renewable system is added on to the existing generation system, which is based on diesel engines. Results indicate that significant reductions in fossil fuel consumption in these remote communities are cost effective using renewable energy combined with advanced energy storage devices. A hybrid energy system for the hypothetical village can reduce consumption of diesel fuel by about 50% with annual cost savings of about 30% by adding wind turbines to the existing diesel generators. Adding energy storage devices can further reduce fuel use, and depending on the economic conditions potentially reduce life-cycle costs. With optimized energy storage, use of the diesel gensets can be reduced to almost zero, with the existing equipment only maintained for added reliability. However, about one quarter of the original fuel is still used for heating purposes.