Enlarged Window Research Articles

Thermographic observation of fast ion impact areas in the NBI ducts of TJ-II

Infrared thermography has been used to study the fast ion impact areas in the Co and Counter NBI ducts of TJ-II. Statistical results of the distribution of accumulated impacts on the walls of the duct have been obtained with an ion trajectory code. A more realistic description is obtained by coupling a beam simulation code to produce the ion birth point distribution. In this way, the main interception areas for both injectors have been found. Those areas constitute the Regions of Interest (ROI's) for the IR thermography system. The up-graded IR system, with its high definition MIR camera, enlarged window, and precision support and displacement mechanisms for camera and mirror, allows such ROI's to be captured. The optimal alignment parameters of the camera and mirror have been obtained with the optical simulation code ZEMAX, and the feasibility of the mechanical configuration in the crowded window environment has been checked with a CAD program, also used to simulate the field of view inside the ducts. Finally, infrared images of the ducts during beam pulses without magnetic field and with magnetic field have been compared, to obtain highlighted images of the fast ion impact areas in both ducts, showing the expected stellarator symmetry.

ИНСТРУМЕНТАРИЙ ОПЕРАЦИОННОЙ ПОДДЕРЖКИ В ОЦЕНКЕ ИНТЕНСИВНОСТИ ТЕПЛОВОГО ИЗЛУЧЕНИЯ ПРИ ПОЖАРЕ В ЗДАНИИ УВЕЛИЧЕННОЙ ОКОННОЙ ПРОЕМНОСТИ

It is shown that the task of taking into account the impact of thermal radiation from a fire for determining safe distances for situating fire engines and choosing positions for firefighters during developing operational fire extinguishing plans for industrial buildings with enlarged window openings is not fully supported by the functionality of existing software systems. Since thermal radiation as one of the components of dangerous fire factors valuable only with a sufficient exposure, we analyze events tree branches associated with the process of diffusion combustion on the surface of a flammable liquid spill. Algorithms of the fire temperature regime module in the room of an industrial building with an enlarged window opening are presented based on an integral model and the module of the directional pattern of thermal radiation through window openings. The results of numerical modeling using the presented software product allow us to conclude that the effect of thermal radiation diaphragmization by window openings weakens with distance from the front of the heat-emitting surface and becomes negligible at distances of five meters and more.

Salt and Pepper Noise Removal Method Based on the Edge-Adaptive Total Variation Model

The traditional median filter can handle the image salt and pepper noise better. However, when the noise intensity is large, it is often necessary to enlarge the filter window to ensure the denoising effect, but the enlarged window may also cause excessive smoothing of the image, loss of texture details, and blurred edges. In view of the strong edge preservation characteristics of variational model denoising, we propose a salt and pepper noise removal method based on the edge-adaptive total variational model. Firstly, the image is segmented into edge regions and non-edge regions by edge detection operators. Secondly, the salt and pepper noise of the image is processed using the median filter and adaptive total variation model, respectively. Lastly, the non-edge regions processed by the median filter and the edge regions processed by the adaptive total variation model are extracted for splicing. The experimental results show that the method cannot only effectively remove salt and pepper noise, but also effectively protect the main edge details of the image.

Centralized vs decentralized solar: A comparison study (India)

Growth of solar in India has been remarkable, with the installed capacity crossing the 50 GW mark. However, most of the assets are in utility format, with negligible share of decentralized plants. Centralized projects are preferred due to their competitive generation cost, or LCOE. Our study compares a centralized solar project with a decentralized plant on economic, social and technical aspects. Economic assessment reflects competitive cost of energy near to the point of consumption (landed cost) for both these plant types after accounting for transmission losses and associated charges. On technical aspects, we discovered a shifting solar curve, as the plant locations move from east to west of the country, thus providing an enlarged window of solar power generation. Utility scale projects preclude participation of smaller entities and leads to asset concentration. In contrast, decentralized plants promote community participation, generate higher employment, while enabling energy access for the local community. A balanced policy approach needs to be followed, promoting both types of project configurations. We propose setting up spatially dispersed solar plants along the longitudinal stretch of India, co-located within the substations using standardized templates. This shall enable fulfilment of climate goals, while ushering in a just transition.

A study of cross-correlations between PM[formula omitted] and O3 based on Copula and Multifractal methods

As typical nonlinear dynamic system, the interactions between PM2.5 and O3 have complexity characteristics at different spatiotemporal scales. The deep understanding of the multi-scale cross-correlation between PM2.5 and O3 is helpful to the achievement of the target on two pollutants coordinated control in environmental management. Based on copula model and Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) method, this paper studies the multi-scale cross-correlation between PM2.5 and O3 in three metropolises in China (Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou). Furthermore, a new multifractal index is established to evaluate the difficulty degree of PM2.5-O3 coordinated control based on enlarged window method. The hourly PM2.5 and O3 concentrations in these three metropolises from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2018 are chosen as the research objects in order to analyze the effect of Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan on air quality. The results show that PM2.5 and O3 have negative correlation in January and positive correlation in July. However, compared with Beijing and Shanghai, PM2.5 and O3 have upper tail dependence in Guangzhou in July. Furthermore, the strength of multifractality for PM2.5 is the weakest and that for O3 is the strongest in Guangzhou, which may be due to the special climatic conditions in Guangzhou. Then, the difficulty degree of PM2.5-O3 coordinated control in three metropolises is quantified based on new multifractal index. Moreover, it discusses the influence of meteorological factors on PM2.5-O3 coordinated control in different metropolises. The comparative analysis confirms the availability of the multifractal index. This index can evaluate the difficulty degree of PM2.5-O3 coordinated control of metropolis according to field observation, which reduces the influence of personal subjective factors. The new method maybe contribute to the new evaluate index of atmospheric environmental management.

An enhancement on supercapacitor properties of porous CoO nanowire arrays by microwave-assisted regulation of the precursor

A microwave-assisted hydrothermal approach with a follow up thermal treatment was employed to prepare 1D porous CoO nanowires, which is constructed by numerous high crystallinity nanoparticles. A significant change in crystal structure of the precursor were observed, as position shift and absence of some diffraction peaks, which was induced by the microwave-assistance during hydrothermal process. Moreover, the precursor’s purity was also effectively improved. As a result, the as-synthesized CoO annealed from the microwave-assisted precursor exhibited a morphology and phase structure significantly different from that of without microwave involvement. Benefiting from the ‘microwave effect’, the microwave-assisted as-fabricated porous CoO nanowires showed an enhanced specific capacitance (728.8 versus 503.7 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 ), strengthened rate performance (70.0% versus 53.2% maintenance at 15 A g−1), reduced charge transfer resistance (1.06 Ω versus 2.39 Ω), enlarged window voltage (0.85 versus 0.7 V) and enhanced cycle performance (82.3% versus 76.5% retention after 5000 cycles at 15 A g−1), compared with that of sample without microwave assistance. In addition, the corresponding electrochemical properties are also higher than those reported CoO sample prepared by solvothermal method. In conclusion, this work provides a practical way for enhancing electrochemical properties of supercapacitor materials through adjusting the precursor by microwave assistance into hydrothermal process.

Contextual cueing in target absent trials by distractor-distractor associations.

Contextual cueing refers to finding a target more efficiently in repeated displays than in novel displays. However, conflicting results have been reported regarding whether target absent judgments can also be efficient in repeated displays. To resolve this controversy, we first tested 3 factors that might influence the strength of distractor-distractor associations and then investigated how such associations produced faster responses on repeated target absent trials by measuring the patterns of eye movements. The factors were the number of distractors, number of repeated configurations, and diversity of the distractors' properties. In Experiments 1 and 2, we found that the diversity of the distractors was the only factor producing contextual cueing without a target. In Experiment 3, we recorded eye movements during a search task and found that the contextual cueing effect in the target absent condition was due to the lower number of fixations and larger mean saccadic amplitudes. Overall, these results suggest that the distractor-distractor associations, strengthened by the diversity of the distractors' properties, widened the attentional window. This enlarged window in turn helps people to reject more distractors at once and enables them to terminate a visual search faster in repeated target absent trials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Markov Random Field Based Color Texture Segmentation

Texture segmentation is one of the popular research domains and researchers across the globe are working on texture segmentation to enhance segmentation performance to address its requirements in many fields. Color texture segmentation has wide spectrum of applications in diverse fields such as segmentation of natural images, medical image analysis, remote sensing, shape extraction and inspection of products etc. This paper presents color texture segmentation algorithm which can satisfy requirements for such applications. Proposed algorithm is based on Markov Random Field (MRF) model eliminating the need of major contributor viz. Gabor filter used in past four decades for feature extraction and use only color as texture feature. Highly crude segmentation results are produced using only color as texture features. Crude segmentation results are enhanced by using Median filter with enlarged window size quantitatively determined by using parameters viz. structural similarity index (SSIM), mean square error (MSE) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). Feature space dimensions are reduced by factor of 11 in proposed approach and this reduced computations by a factor of 11. The experimentation is carried out on 80 multi-class color texture benchmark images from Prague texture segmentation dataset and 4 benchmark images in Vistex dataset. Mean segmentation accuracy achieved for Prague texture dataset is 87.55% and it is higher by 9.82% over the best performing algorithm among 11 state-of-art algorithms suggested in most recent literature. Accuracy achieved for Vistex dataset is 98.21%. Average SSIM for Prague dataset is 0.91403 and Vistex dataset is 0.9405.

Sampling Operator to Learn the Scalable Correlation Filter for Visual Tracking

The correlation filter is suitable for tracking on account of its low computational complexity and promising performance. However, the number of available training samples is limited to the filter size, and the lack of samples leads to poor generalization. Moreover, spectral leakage degrades the filter quality. In this paper, we, therefore, propose a sampling operator for learning a scalable correlation filter in an enlarged window, whose size is larger than the object size. The scalable filter encodes the sparse frequency representation to reconstruct a larger filter with zeros outside of the object in the spatial domain. The sampling operator, which is composed of windowing and sampling operations, enables learning the scalable filter from a large window, and it suppresses spectral leakage. Our method was evaluated on the OTB-100, TC-128, and UAV-123 datasets and achieved the promising results in terms of precision and success rates.

The human Nav1.5 F1486 deletion associated with long QT syndrome leads to impaired sodium channel inactivation and reduced lidocaine sensitivity

The deletion of phenylalanine 1486 (F1486del) in the human cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel (hNav1.5) is associated with fatal long QT (LQT) syndrome. In this study we determined how F1486del impairs the functional properties of hNav1.5 and alters action potential firing in heterologous expression systems (human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells) and their native cardiomyocyte background. Cells expressing hNav1.5-F1486del exhibited a loss-of-function alteration, reflected by an 80% reduction of peak current density, and several gain-of-function alterations, including reduced channel inactivation, enlarged window current, substantial augmentation of persistent late sodium current and an increase in ramp current. We also observed substantial action potential duration (APD) prolongation and prominent early afterdepolarizations (EADs) in neonatal cardiomyocytes expressing the F1486del channels, as well as in computer simulations of myocyte activity. In addition, lidocaine sensitivity was dramatically reduced, which probably contributed to the poor therapeutic outcome observed in the patient carrying the hNav1.5-F1486del mutation. Therefore, despite the significant reduction in peak current density, the F1486del mutation also leads to substantial gain-of-function alterations that are sufficient to cause APD prolongation and EADs, the predominant characteristic of LQTs. These data demonstrate that hNav1.5 mutations can have complex functional consequences and highlight the importance of identifying the specific molecular defect when evaluating potential treatments for individuals with prolonged QT intervals.

Trafficking Defects and Gating Abnormalities of a Novel SCN5A Mutation Question Gene-Specific Therapy in Long QT Syndrome Type 3

Sodium channel blockers are used as gene-specific treatments in long-QT syndrome type 3, which is caused by mutations in the sodium channel gene (SCN5A). Response to treatment is influenced by biophysical properties of mutations. We sought to investigate the unexpected deleterious effect of mexiletine in a mutation combining gain-of- function and trafficking abnormalities. A long-QT syndrome type 3 child experienced paradoxical QT prolongation and worsening of arrhythmias after mexiletine treatment. The SCN5A mutation F1473S expressed in HEK293 cells presented a right-ward shift of steady-state inactivation, enlarged window current, and huge sustained sodium current. Unexpectedly, it also reduced the peak sodium current by 80%. Immunostaining showed that mutant Nav1.5 is retained in the cytoplasm. Incubation with 10 micromol/L mexiletine rescued the trafficking defect of F1473S, causing a significant increase in peak current, whereas sustained current was unchanged. Using a Markovian model of the Na channel and a model of human ventricular action potential, we showed that simulated exposure of F1473S to mexiletine paradoxically increased action potential duration, mimicking QT prolongation seen in the index patient on mexiletine treatment. Sodium channel blockers are largely used to shorten QT intervals in carriers of SCN5A mutations. We provided evidence that these agents may facilitate trafficking of mutant proteins, thus exacerbating QT prolongation. These data suggest that caution should be used when recommending this class of drugs to carriers of mutations with undefined electrophysiological properties.

A Bayesian approach to the real‐time estimation of magnitude from the earlyPandSwave displacement peaks

It has been shown that the initial portion ofPandSwave signals can provide information about the final earthquake magnitude in a wide magnitude range. This observation opens the perspective for the real‐time determination of source parameters. In this paper we describe a probabilistic evolutionary approach for the real‐time magnitude estimation which can have a potential use in earthquake early warning. The technique is based on empirical prediction laws correlating the low‐frequency peak ground displacement measured in a few seconds after thePand/orSphase arrival and the final event magnitude. The evidence for such a correlation has been found through the analysis of 256 shallow crustal events in the magnitude rangeMjma4–7.1 located over the entire Japanese archipelago. The peak displacement measured in a 2‐s window from the firstPphase arrival correlates with magnitude in the rangeM= [4–6.5]. While a possible saturation effect aboveM≃ 6.5 is observed, it is less evident in an enlarged window of 4 s. The scaling ofSpeaks with magnitude is instead also observed at smaller time lapses (i.e., 1 s) after the firstSarrival. The different scaling ofPandSpeaks with magnitude when measured in a 2‐s window is explained in terms of different imaged rupture surface by the early portion of the body wave signals. We developed a technique to estimate the probability density function (PDF) of magnitude, at each time step after the event origin. The predicted magnitude value corresponds to the maximum of PDF, while its uncertainty is given by the 95% confidence bound. The method has been applied to the 2007 (Mjma= 6.9) Noto Hanto and 1995 (Mjma= 7.3) Kobe earthquakes. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) The probabilistic algorithm founded on the predictive model of peak displacement versus final magnitude is able to provide a fast and robust estimation of the final magnitude. (2) The information available after a few seconds from the first detection of thePphase at the network can be used to predict the peak ground motion at a given regional target with uncertainties which are comparable to those derived from the attenuation law. (3) The near‐sourceSphase data can be used jointly withPdata for regional early warning purposes, thus increasing the accuracy and reliability of magnitude estimation.

Kinetic changes and modulation by carbamazepine on voltage-gated sodium channels in rat CA1 neurons after epilepsy

To study whether the functional properties of sodium channels, and subsequently the channel modulation by carbamazepine (CBZ) in hippocampal CA1 neurons can be changed after epileptic seizures. We used the acutely dissociated hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells from epilepsy model rats 3 weeks and 3 months respectively after kainate injection, and whole-cell voltage-clamp techniques. After long-term epileptic seizures, both sodium channel voltage-dependence of activation and steady-state inactivation shifted to more hyperpolarizing potentials, which resulted in the enlarged window current; the membrane density of sodium current decreased and the time constant of recovery from inactivation increased. CBZ displayed unchanged efficacy on sodium channels, with a similar binding rate to them, except that at higher concentrations, the voltage shift of inactivation was reduced. For the short-term kainate model rats, no differences were detected between the control and epilepsy groups. These results indicate that the properties of sodium channels in acutely dissociated hippocampal neurons could be changed following long-term epilepsy, but the alternation might not be enough to induce the channel resistance to CBZ.