Benchmark Values Research Articles

Evaluation of telluric-associated corrosion on buried pipelines

Telluric currents, often known as geomagnetically induced currents (GIC), are produced by the natural variations of the Earth's magnetic field.The corrosion protection system of a buried pipeline generally comprises the coating and cathodic protection system. Cathodic protection is an electrochemical protection system that maintains the pipe-to-soil potential (PSP) sufficiently negative in order to reduce corrosion to negligible levels. Varying telluric currents alter the PSP, thus interfering with the pipeline corrosion protection system and can create conditions when corrosion might increase above acceptable levels.This paper presents an evaluation of telluric-associated corrosion derived from measured and modelled PSP variations. The corrosion rates (metal loss per year) due to varying telluric currents with continuous frequency spectra (1 Hz–10−5 Hz) are approximated with the use of published experimental results derived for the specific sets of fixed frequencies.Results are presented for PSP observed on Australian and European pipelines during two periods of strong geomagnetic activity (in 2003 and 2004) and for identical hypothetical pipelines located at different latitudes for the entire year 2004.From the analysis of recorded PSP, it was found that the corrosion rates for a near-equatorial pipeline (Australia) could be higher than for mid-latitudes (Europe). This is possible because telluric-associated corrosion rates depend not only on geomagnetic activity, but on the properties of the pipeline coating, the performance of the cathodic protection system and environmental conditions.The study demonstrated that without cathodic protection the estimated corrosion rates exceeded the benchmark values recommended by national and international standards, and in exceptional case can exceed the acceptable values even with cathodic protection.Telluric-associated corrosion estimated for the identical hypothetical pipelines located in zones with different geomagnetic activity, clearly demonstrated the latitudinal dependence. The substantial increase of corrosion rates (about 5 times) has been found with increase of latitude from subauroral to auroral locations.

Spatial Distribution and Trends of Heat Stress in Vietnam

This study investigates the spatial distribution and trend of heat stress in Vietnam using data from 68 meteorological stations across the country’s seven climatic sub-regions between 1979 and 2018. Daily maximum wet-bulb temperature (TWmax), an indicator of heat stress, was computed based on the daily maximum air temperature (Tx) and relative humidity at 13:00 LST (RH13). Results indicate a strong positive correlation (>0.97) between daily TWmax and Tx and a weaker relationship between daily TWmax and RH13. Tx and TWmax experienced a general increasing trend across most stations over the study period, while RH13 displayed both negative and positive trends. Vietnam’s heat stress thresholds were found to be higher than those in many other parts of the world due to the country’s location and its temperature-humidity conditions. The study identifies most parts of Vietnam have experienced an increase in heat stress days, typically ranging from 5 to 12 days per decade. Among the four seasons, summer contributed the most (50-80%) to the annual number of heat stress days in most sub-regions, except for the Central Highlands and the South where spring had the highest contribution (65-80%). Overall, this study provides useful benchmark values for future research on heat stress in Vietnam.

Steady solver for incompressible Navier-Stokes equation with automated adaptive mesh refinement using FEniCS

This study demonstrates steady incompressible flow over a cylinder section using the finite element method. An open-source framework was used to increase the accuracy of the results of the analysis. The Python-based open-source computing platform FEniCS was used for the problem formulation. The mesh generator used is Gmsh. FEniCS offers automated adaptive mesh refinement and higher-order elements of order three and higher, which produce more accurate results. These features are not available in most FEM software. The problem DFG benchmark 2D-1 in Featflow was analyzed using the open-source framework. The drag and lift coefficients and the pressure difference between the front and back of the cylinder were found and compared with the benchmark values. The results obtained prove that the proposed open-source framework is incredibly effective in solving fluid flow problems. The FEniCS code to perform this DFG 2D-1 benchmark analysis is given in this work. It shows the problem formulation, setting of boundary conditions, and the adaptive solver. Thus, the same open-source framework can be used to analyze any laminar incompressible flow by simply creating a different geometry and varying the flow characteristics and boundary conditions.

Utilizing High Resolution Satellite Imagery for Automated Road Infrastructure Safety Assessments.

The European Commission (EC) has published a European Union (EU) Road Safety Framework for the period 2021 to 2030 to reduce road fatalities. In addition, the EC with the EU Directive 2019/1936 requires a much more detailed recording of road attributes. Therefore, automatic detection of school routes, four classes of crosswalks, and divided carriageways were performed in this paper. The study integrated satellite imagery as a data source and the Yolo object detector. The satellite Pleiades Neo 3 with a spatial resolution of 0.3 m was used as the source for the satellite images. In addition, the study was divided into three phases: vector processing, satellite imagery processing, and training and evaluation of the You Only Look Once (Yolo) object detector. The training process was performed on 1951 images with 2515 samples, while the evaluation was performed on 651 images with 862 samples. For school zones and divided carriageways, this study achieved accuracies of 0.988 and 0.950, respectively. For crosswalks, this study also achieved similar or better results than similar work, with accuracies ranging from 0.957 to 0.988. The study also provided the standard performance measure for object recognition, mean average precision (mAP), as well as the values for the confusion matrix, precision, recall, and f1 score for each class as benchmark values for future studies.

A Digital Blueprint for 3D‐Printing Lab Scale Aqueous and Organic Redox‐Flow Batteries

AbstractAs 3D‐printing is becoming increasingly accessible, its application towards more sustainable and flexible design strategies for chemical processes also grows substantially. Redox‐flow batteries (RFBs) are recognized as one of the possible next generation energy storage solutions, owing to the inherent decoupling of power and energy, yet the capital costs involved produce a high barrier to enter the field. Here, we demonstrate a full digital blueprint for printing one's own RFB, that can enable more (organic chemistry) contributions to the field. At the time of writing, the combined costs of only the RFB cell total around 60 €, which is less than commercially available RFB cells by a great margin. The cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy and potentiostatic cycling experiments exemplified by the K4[FeII(CN)6]|K3[FeIII(CN)6] redox‐pair for aqueous, and ferrocene|ferrocenium for organic electrolytes, validate the stability of the technical lab‐scale design and provides benchmark values for reproduction.

Thermodynamic and transport properties of plasmas: Low‐density benchmarks

AbstractPhysical properties of plasmas, such as equations of state (EoS) and transport coefficients, are expressed in terms of correlation functions, which can be calculated using various approaches (analytical theory and numerical simulations). The method of Green's functions provides benchmark values for these properties in the low‐density limit. For the EoS and electrical conductivity, expansions with respect to density (virial expansions) are considered. The comparison of analytical results with numerical simulations is used to verify theory, to prove the accuracy of simulations, and establish interpolation formulas.

Water Footprint Assessment of Major Crops in Henan Province and Reduction Suggestions

Henan Province, located in the North China Plain, as one of the most important grain production bases in China, is facing severe challenges of water pressure and sustainable development caused by agricultural production. In this study, water footprint (WF) estimation and sustainability assessment of crop production were carried out for wheat and maize, two major crops in the Henan Province. Based on a set of global WF benchmark values for various crops which were established by previous studies, we calculated a set of benchmark values of blue water footprint (BWF, surface water, and groundwater) for major crops in Henan Province. Four benchmark values were calculated for each crop, and we selected two of them as the optimal and sub-optimal benchmark levels. Additionally, potential blue water savings were estimated by reducing the crop-specific BWF to different benchmark levels. According to our simulations with CROPWAT 8.0, the average annual blue water footprint of wheat production in Henan Province from 2006 to 2016 was 7914 Million m3, of which about 77% is unsustainable, and that of maize production is 703 Million m3, of which about 70% is unsustainable. When reducing the water footprint of wheat production to optimal or sub-optimal benchmark levels, approximately 2742 Million m3 or 375 Million m3 blue water can be saved, and reducing that of maize production to optimal or sub-optimal benchmark levels could save approximately 214 Million m3 or 44 Million m3 blue water.

Potential Toxicity of Contaminants Leached From Cigarette Butts in Coastal Environments

Cigarette butts (CB) are the most common litter on beaches worldwide and their incorrect disposal may lead to contamination by many toxic substances. Once in water, CB can release contaminants generated by both manufacturing and burning of cigarettes, which can have their toxic potential increased. A relevant issue is the lack of guidelines for CB management and benchmark values regarding these chemicals and additives for environmental quality purposes. Also, the toxicity of CB leachates is important to address the mixture effect of these chemicals. The present study aimed to provide ecotoxicological information on the main contaminants present in CB leachates and its hazard was assessed in an Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) context. Data on toxic effects for freshwater and marine organisms of substances reported to be leached from CB were obtained from the toxicity databases, and the hazard concentration (HC10), a threshold for protecting 90% of community were determined based on the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method. The most toxic substances for freshwater environments were benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, acenaphthene and fluorene, Pb and nicotine. For marine environments, the most toxic chemicals were benzo(a)pyrene, acenaphthene, fluorene and naphthalene, Cu, Pb, and Cd. An overview of CB leachate toxicity to freshwater and marine organisms was produced, indicating a limited number of studies and a gap to be filled.

Comment on "Robotic Distal Pancreatectomy, a Novel Standard of Care? Benchmark Values for Surgical Outcomes From 16 International Expert Centers".

Comment on "Robotic Distal Pancreatectomy, a Novel Standard of Care? Benchmark Values for Surgical Outcomes From 16 International Expert Centers".

The value of analyzing textbook outcomes after laparoscopic hepatectomy-a narrative review.

Guidelines are required because of the wide variability in care provided to patients with similar characteristics and similar medical conditions. Quality indicators were developed many years ago to assess the quality of care provided by hospitals. Since then, it has become evident that a composite set of factors can better characterize the patient's quality of care. The objectives of this review were to analyze the textbook outcomes (TO) applied in surgery, focusing on laparoscopic hepatectomy. Data pertaining to quality indicators used in hospitals and their surgical applications were retrieved from medical literature by searching PubMed and Google Scholar for articles published between 1912 and 2022. Search terms included quality indicators, outcome indicators, TOs, TOs after surgery, TOs after hepatectomy, and clinical indicators. Since their inception, TO have been applied to various procedures and their impacts on patients have been assessed. TO and their implications have been studied for a variety of surgical procedures and were recently extended to laparoscopic hepatectomy. TO of laparoscopic left lateral sectionectomy and right hemihepatectomy were recently assessed, and benchmark values have been defined. TO are useful tools for assessing hospital performance and for optimizing the outcomes of patients undergoing laparoscopic hepatectomy. At present, TO only consider surgeon-related factors. However, it is important to include the patient's perspective when defining TO. Although TO were recently applied to laparoscopic hepatectomy, there is still a need to further evaluate their application in this setting. Achieving TO was shown to have a positive impact on long-term outcomes and this needs to be studied for different liver resection procedures.

Response to Letter to the Editor on Robotic Distal Pancreatectomy, a Novel Standard of Care? Benchmark Values for Surgical Outcomes From 16 International Expert Centers.

Response to Letter to the Editor on Robotic Distal Pancreatectomy, a Novel Standard of Care? Benchmark Values for Surgical Outcomes From 16 International Expert Centers.

Quantitative Evaluation of Wavelet Analysis Method for Turbulent Flux Calculation of Non‐Stationary Series

AbstractThis study evaluates the uncertainties of turbulent flux calculation using eddy covariance (EC) and wavelet analysis (WA) methods. First, a non‐stationary data set is concocted by adding periodic waves and random perturbations which mimic the large eddies, turbulent intermittency, and asymmetry into an observational stationary data set, and the theoretical “true” fluxes are used to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of these methods. Results show that EC and Morlet‐wavelet generate biases ranging 50%–100% of the “true” values at different non‐stationarity grades, whereas the Mexican hat (Mexhat) wavelet has a bias of about half of them. Furthermore, there is a high correlation of the Mexhat‐derived fluxes to the benchmark values, the regression slopes of the values of these two can be improved to almost 1 by adding a correction coefficient. The results suggest the potential of using the Mexhat‐wavelet method to calculate turbulent fluxes with high accuracy under non‐stationary conditions.

Evaluating friction angles for clays: piezocone tests compared with Atterberg limits

A limit plasticity solution for evaluating the effective stress friction angle in clays from piezocone tests was assessed and compared with the popular notion of using laboratory Atterberg limits on remoulded specimens. The results showed that the in situ piezocone-based method provided a far more accurate and robust interpretation of the friction angle values of 155 separate clays than empirical correlations with plasticity index when compared with laboratory benchmark values obtained from triaxial compression tests. For illustration, the piezocone-based method was shown successfully to capture the effective stress parameter of four clays with friction angles of 20–37°: normally consolidated kaolin clay in chamber tests; natural soft clay deposit located at Bothkennar, UK; Troll offshore clay in the North Sea; and soft plastic lacustrine deposits in Bogota, Colombia.

Developing a multi-level energy benchmarking and certification system for office buildings in a cold climate region

Energy benchmarking is an accurate tool to measure, monitor, and reduce end-use energy consumption in the building sector using comparison scenarios. Various studies have applied Bottom-Up energy consumption assessment to compare the energy performance of a group of buildings with a benchmark. The Bottom-Up method mostly relies on simulating an ideal building to develop a benchmark. However, this study has developed a Top-Down energy benchmarking methodology based on the actual energy consumption within a cluster of governmental office buildings. The method presents multi-level benchmarks to provide a detailed policy for improving the energy efficiency of buildings in the short or long-term. In an exploratory study, 26 office buildings in a cold climate region were investigated to identify the multi-level benchmarks. Four general benchmark levels were developed, including the ‘Best Practice, ‘Good Practice’, ‘Benchmark’, and ‘Poor Practice’. In addition, 15 energy efficiency classes were also introduced and applied as a base for developing the ‘Energy Performance Certificate’ method. The results indicate that the benchmark values for electricity and natural gas are 40 and 252 kWh/m2/yr, respectively, while the total energy benchmark is 292 kWh/m2/yr. According to the benchmarking results, 69% of the case studies were inefficient, 23% were labeled ‘C’, and no cases were labeled ‘A’ or ‘B’. The multi-level benchmarking system can provide quick and clear guidance for building designers, operators, and government regulation/enforcement agencies; thus, it can apply at local, regional, and international levels. These benchmark levels establish reference points for measuring and rewarding good performance, on the other hand, it recognizes poor-performance buildings and prioritizes them for energy efficiency improvement. The method can be replicated in various climates and urban scales.

First insight into accumulation of characteristics and tissue distribution of PCBs, PBDEs, and other BFRs in the living Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).

Persistent organic pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and other brominated flame retardants, were detected in the liver, muscle, and ovary tissues of the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) incidentally caught around Gangga Island, North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, on November 5, 2014. Concentrations of total PCBs (209 congeners, 300-2600ngg-1 lipid weight) in all tissues showed higher than those of PBDEs (41 congeners, 3.9-6.3ngg-1 lw) and BTBPE (1.1-3.6ngg-1 lw). The tissue-specific PCB and PBDE profiles were likely due to differences in the lipid composition. Toxic equivalent (TEQ) values of dioxin-like PCBs in coelacanth tissues were lower than the benchmark values for early-life fish. However, compared with the data reported for deep-sea fishes in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the relatively high concentrations of PCBs detected in this study raise concerns regarding Indonesian coelacanth conservation and habitat conditions.

Variations in ERP data quality across paradigms, participants, and scoring procedures.

Although it is widely accepted that data quality for event-related potential (ERP) components varies considerably across studies and across participants within a study, ERP data quality has not received much systematic analysis. The present study used a recently developed metric of ERP data quality- the standardized measurement error (SME)-to examine how data quality varies across different ERP paradigms, across individual participants, and across different procedures for quantifying amplitude and latency values. The EEG recordings were taken from the ERP CORE, which includes data from 40 neurotypical college students for seven widely studied ERP components: P3b, N170, mismatch negativity, N400, error-related negativity, N2pc, and lateralized readiness potential. Large differences in data quality were observed across the different ERP components, and very large differences in data quality were observed across participants. Data quality also varied depending on the algorithm used to quantify the amplitude and especially the latency of a given ERP component. These results provide an initial set of benchmark values that can be used for comparison with previous and future ERP studies. They also provide useful information for predicting effect sizes and statistical power in future studies, even with different numbers of trials. More broadly, this study provides a general approach that could be used to determine which specific experimental designs, data collection procedures, and data processing algorithms lead to the best data quality.

ADI+MDA orthogonal spline collocation for the pressure Poisson reformulation of the Navier–Stokes equation in two space variables

A numerical method for solving a pressure Poisson reformulation of the Navier–Stokes equation in two space variables is presented. The method discretizes in space using orthogonal spline collocation with splines of order r. The velocity terms are obtained through an alternating direction implicit extrapolated Crank –Nicolson scheme applied to a Burgers’ type equation and the pressure term is found by applying a matrix decomposition algorithm to a Poisson equation satisfying non-homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions at each time level. Numerical results suggest that the scheme exhibits convergence rates of order r in space in the H1 norm and semi-norm for the velocity and pressure terms, respectively, and is order 2 in time. Finally, the scheme is applied to the lid-driven cavity problem and is compared to standard benchmark values.

Cardiac signaling cloud regulates intracellular [Na+], [Ca2+] and adrenergic signaling in atrial myocytes.

An important but often overlooked "silent" partner of atrial myocyte function is intracellular Na+ concentration ([Na+]i). We report here on four surprising and inter-related discoveries concerning [Na+]i in atrial myocytes. (1). Using highly sensitive, calibrated fluorescence measurements we report that the heart rate-dependent [Na+]i is significantly lower (∼40%) in atrial myocytes than the benchmark values reported for ventricular myocytes. (2). Na+/K+ ATPase (NKA), the main cytosolic Na+ extrusion pump, has much higher protein expression levels (3 X higher) in atrial tissue and NKA current densities (2 X higher) than expected in atrial myocytes. (3). NKA is exquisitely sensitive to ß-adrenergic activation in atrial tissue due to a huge phosphorylation capacity of its regulatory protein phospholemman (PLM). This enhances the high baseline Na+ extrusion rate in atrial myocytes during adrenergic stress. (4). Two-color super-resolution microscopy (dSTORM) reveals a novel ion channel nanodomain in atrial and ventricular myocytes that is formed by the co-clustering of NKA (NKAα1) with the L-type Ca2+ channel (Cav1.2) at the cardiac dyad. In atrial myocytes, each signaling nanodomain consists of large NKAα1 and Cav1.2 "superclusters". Functional studies further reveal that the regulatory proteins associated with NKAα1 and Cav1.2 locally regulate channel function in a proximity-dependent "signaling cloud" that is in direct apposition to ryanodine receptor (RyR2) clusters. Taken together these atrial Na+ signaling features provide robust signaling with an increased margin of safety for a system with known arrhythmogenic vulnerability. Finally, the novel cardiac NKAα1-Cav1.2 signaling cloud localizes the Na+ pump to the cardiac dyad, where it contributes to the regulation of the subsarcolemmal [Na+]i and Ca2+ concentration.

A way to improve sustainable wellbeing using artificial intelligence techniques

Malnutrition is a global health issue that affects people of all ages especially children malnutrition can lead to various number of health problems. It is particularly prevalent in low income countries because of factors such as poverty, lack of nutrition food etc., This study aims to classify the malnutrition type, compute deficiency level and suggest suitable measure to patient through mobile app. To accomplish this Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used to build this model. This study clarifies how predictive model classifies the malnutrition. ANN approach shows the best accuracy in predicting malnutrition deficiency. Global dataset is used to train the model. Pre-processing is done using imputation technique. Feature extraction is done with the help of CNN technique. Model building is done using ANN technique. Deficiency level of malnutrition is calculated with the help of benchmark values. Suitable measures for patients are suggest using mobile app.

Expanded COG criticality validation suite for inter-laboratory benchmark data comparison

The COG suite of criticality benchmarks has been formally expanded from 591 to 3,395 to coverthe entire energy range from thermal to fast neutron spectra under a variety of reflector and moderator conditions and fissile materials. COG results have been compared with benchmark values from the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project Handbook for ENDF/B-VII.1, ENDF/BVIII.0 and JEFF-3.3. COG results have been also compared with a MERCURY validation suite. Most of the results agreed with the benchmark values within ±3σ. Among the three cross section data, cases with ENDF/B-VIII.0 performed best with about 85% of the total cases within ±3σ range. A major intercomparison project between COG, MCNP, MORET, and SCALE for ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3 is in progress.