Results Of Round Robin Research Articles

ResiRole: residue-level functional site predictions to gauge the accuracies of protein structure prediction techniques.

MotivationMethods to assess the quality of protein structure models are needed for user applications. To aid with the selection of structure models and further inform the development of structure prediction techniques, we describe the ResiRole method for the assessment of the quality of structure models.ResultsStructure prediction techniques are ranked according to the results of round-robin, head-to-head comparisons using difference scores. Each difference score was defined as the absolute value of the cumulative probability for a functional site prediction made with the FEATURE program for the reference structure minus that for the structure model. Overall, the difference scores correlate well with other model quality metrics; and based on benchmarking studies with NaïveBLAST, they are found to detect additional local structural similarities between the structure models and reference structures.Availabilityand implementationAutomated analyses of models addressed in CAMEO are available via the ResiRole server, URL http://protein.som.geisinger.edu/ResiRole/. Interactive analyses with user-provided models and reference structures are also enabled. Code is available at github.com/wamclaughlin/ResiRole.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Results of the International Energy Agency Bioenergy Round Robin on the Analysis of Heteroatoms in Biomass Liquefaction Oils

A round robin study evaluating the analysis of biomass liquefaction oils (BLOs) from fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) was performed, receiving data from 14 laboratories in seven countries in order to assess the current status of analytical techniques for the determination of nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine content in BLOs and to evaluate potential differences in origin (i.e., fast pyrolysis versus HTL). The BLOs were produced from a range of feedstocks including pine, mixed softwoods, forest residues, microalgae, miscanthus, and wheat straw to cover a variety in nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine content and speciation. Nine samples were distributed, comprised of eight separate BLOs and one blind duplicate produced by five producers. The samples were analyzed for water, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine content. No analytical test method was mandated; laboratories were encouraged to utilize whichever method they determined would be most applicable, relying on the existing body of BLO literature as a guide. The results of this round robin study are presented in this paper. The results of the carbon, hydrogen, and water measurements as reference analyses had relative standard deviations (2.9, 3.5, and 5.6%, respectively) that were comparable to those found in past round robin studies on fast pyrolysis bio-oil. The analysis of nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine showed higher levels of variability. Laboratories mostly chose the same method for water, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen determination, whereas there were a variety of methods chosen for sulfur and chlorine determination. The results suggest that specific analytical methods for the determination of nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine should be further refined to ensure reproducible and accurate results for BLO analysis due to their importance in emissions, material selection, and catalyst activity.

A round robin study on modelling the fire resistance of a loaded steel beam

This paper details a round robin study of the calculated response of structures in fire. In this instance, the study is based on one of two fire tests which were conducted on steel beams in a horizontal fire resistance furnace. The two specimens in the tests were identical having come from the same cast flow. The tests were conducted according to EN 1365-3 and the steel beams had a total length 5.4 m, spanning 5.2 m. These tests also formed a part of a testing round robin, reported elsewhere.The calculations were conducted by round robin participants in two stages. In the first instance a prediction of the response was made without knowledge of the measured temperatures of the steel beam and with only the grade of steel and details of the test setup. In the second instance the participants were also given the measured elastic limit of the steel, which differed significantly from the elastic limit implied by the grade, as well as measured temperatures from the steel beam and the plate thermometers from the furnace and asked to refine their model.Statistical analysis of the round robin results are presented to illustrate the variation which arises in the results of calculations. The results of the round robin study serve to illustrate the fire research and testing community's capability for modelling this simple case as well as the uncertainty in the calculation results. The results of the calculation round robin are also compared with the testing round robin to illustrate the comparative certainty between testing and calculations.

Results of the International Energy Agency Round Robin on Fast Pyrolysis Bio-oil Production

An international round robin study of the production of fast pyrolysis bio-oil was undertaken. A total of 15 institutions in six countries contributed. Three biomass samples were distributed to the laboratories for processing in fast pyrolysis reactors. Samples of the bio-oil produced were transported to a central analytical laboratory for analysis. The round robin was focused on validating the pyrolysis community understanding of production of fast pyrolysis bio-oil by providing a common feedstock for bio-oil preparation. The round robin included: distribution of three feedstock samples, hybrid poplar, wheat straw, and a blend of lignocellulosic biomasses, from a common source to each participating laboratory, preparation of fast pyrolysis bio-oil in each laboratory with the three feedstocks provided, and return of the three bio-oil products (minimum of 500 mL) with operational description to a central analytical laboratory for bio-oil property determination. The analyses of interest were CHN, S, trace e...

Results of the First International Round Robin for the Quantification of Urinary and Plasma Hepcidin: Need for Standardization

The hepatic peptide hormone hepcidin plays a central role in body iron metabolism. Quantification of hepcidin concentrations in urine and plasma holds promise as a biomarker for diagnosis and monitoring of disorders of iron metabolism. To date, various mass spectrometry (MS, time of flight and liquid chromatography-MS/MS) as well as immunochemical (IC, competitive radio-immunoassay and ELISA) and functional methods exploiting an internal or external standard, have been developed to measure hepcidin levels in both plasma and urine. Only a few of them have been published. The hepcidin levels quantified by these methods are likely to differ substantially in analytical characteristics. Therefore, comparative studies are imperative for progress in the field by allowing meaningful exchange of hepcidin results derived from various laboratories. In this study we compared the analytical characteristics of several available urinary and plasma hepcidin assays as a first step towards standardization of hepcidin quantification methods. Six and 8 laboratories participated in an international inter-laboratory evaluation of hepcidin levels from a common human urinary (n=8) and plasma (n=7) sample set, respectively, exploiting MS (n=5) and IC (n=3) based methods. Participating laboratories were requested to perform 3 hepcidin measurements for each sample on 4 different days, making a total of 96 urine and 84 plasma measurements per laboratory. The methods differed widely in mean urine and plasma hepcidin level, i.e. range 2.9–427.1 nmol/mmol creatinine and 11.4–124.6 nM, respectively. Coefficient of variation (CV)-ranges for the between-sample and withinsample variation were 126.1–191.5 % and 10.8–33.8%, respectively, for urine and 40.4–96.6 % and 5.5–31.0%, respectively, for plasma. The ratio between-sample CV/within-sample CV varies between 15.3 and 4.1 for urine and 15.1 and 2.4 for plasma. Hepcidin results of most methods mutually correlated (plasma: R range 0.82–1.00; urine: R range 0.73–0.99). We conclude that for the various methodsabsolute hepcidin values differ widely, but generally correlate andthe ratio between-sample and within sample CV vary greatly, suggesting relevant differences in ability to detect small differences in hepcidin concentrations.To allow future comparison, exchangeability and transferability of hepcidin data, we recommendpublication of all hepcidin results according to STARD (www.stard-statement.org) to ensure complete reporting of analytical characteristics andto develop initiatives for standardization of assays.

Micro‐mechanical modelling of ductile damage and tearing – results of a European numerical round robin

ABSTRACT Results of a European numerical round robin on the application of constitutive equations for ductile damage to simulate tearing of a ferritic steel are presented. The analysis of deformation and failure of a standard smooth tensile specimen is used to characterize the material and identify critical damage parameters for ductile tearing. Ductile crack growth in a C(T) specimen is then numerically simulated by applying the constitutive models of Gurson or Rousselier in order to predict a JR‐curve. Although the tensile tests were satisfactorily described, two main problems arose. The first one is that the participants' results differ considerably from each other with respect to the critical damage parameter obtained in the first task and the predicted JR‐curves in the second. The reasons were partially found in the strategies for parameter identification and the non‐unique definitions for crack initiation and crack growth used in the simulations. Further reasons are expected in the individual realization of the damage model in the FE programmes or user subroutines. The second problem is a general discrepancy between the simulations and the experiment: most of the predicted JR‐curves are too flat compared with the experimental one. Manifold conclusions can be drawn for future work aiming at improving the reliability of the numerical models and promoting their application in engineering practice.

ＴｉＡｌ金属間化合物のクリープき裂成長試験方法に関する検討とクリープき裂成長特性

VAMAS project which aims to establish the standard test method of creep crack growth for creep brittle advanced materials is being conducted. The round robin tests on TiAl intermetallic compound with fully lamellar structure were carried out. Based on the results of round robin, the recommended test method was proposed. Fatigue pre-cracking was not applicable to this material as a standard method because fatigue crack deviated along the lamellar structure. In the present study, the machined V-notch specimen was recommended based on the experimental results and stress distribution analysis ahead of the V-notch. Creep crack growth properties and creep fracture mechanism of the present TiAl were clarified. Creep crack growth properties depending on test temperatures were also investigated in terms of the creep fracture mechanism for this material.

Results of the NIST National Ball Plate Round Robin.

This report examines the results of the ball plate round robin administered by NIST. The round robin was part of an effort to assess the current state of industry practices for measurements made using coordinate measuring machines. Measurements of a two-dimensional ball plate (240 mm by 240 mm) on 41 coordinate measuring machines were collected and analyzed. Typically, the deviations of the reported X and Y coordinates from the calibrated values were within ± 5 μm, with some coordinate deviations exceeding 20.0 μm. One of the most significant observations from these data was that over 75 % of the participants failed to correctly estimate their measurement error on one or more of the ball plate spheres.

Comparisons of room acoustics measurement systems.

This paper gives a summary of the results of an international room acoustics measurement system round robin. Twenty‐three different measurement systems were compared by measuring three settings of the same digital reverberator that was shipped to each measurement group. This was equivalent to testing three standard rooms, but the tests did not include variations due to different types and placements of transducers. The various measurements were made over a one year period and the reverberator and measurements were shown to be stable and very reproducible over this period. The means of the closely clustering results were used to represent the best estimate of the ‘‘correct’’ answers. The standard deviations of the closely clustering results were used to evaluate the divergence of the measurements from the central trend. Approximately 2/3 of the results were within two of these standard deviations from the central trend. Two specific problems were identified and solutions recommended. While most results wer...

A room acoustics measurement system round robin

This paper reports preliminary results of a room acoustics measurement system round robin. The round robin uses a commercial digital reverberator to represent three standard rooms that can be sent from one measurement group to another. Thus the tests compare basic calculation procedures and do not include the effects of variations due to types and placement of transducers. Each participant measures octave band values of monaural measures such as decay times, early/late ratios, and RASTI values on three different reverberator settings. Where possible, participants can also measure interaural cross correlations. Initial comparisons include both commercially available measurement systems and the measurement systems of individual research groups. The initial results will compare measurements from groups in North America, Japan, and Europe. Subsequent work will seek to explain the cause of the observed differences.

Inter-laboratory comparison of the chemical analysis of silicon nitride

The results of a round robin for the determination of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon and the common metallic impurities like Al, Ca, Fe, Mg and Na in silicon nitride are reported. The following analytical methods have been tested: nitrogen by acid decomposition under pressure followed by Kjeldahl distillation; oxygen by carrier-gas hot extraction; carbon by combustion in oxygen and infrared detection; metallic impurities after acid decomposition under pressure and evaporation of silicon fluoride by AAS or ICP-OES.

Results of a SIMS round robin sponsored by ASTM committee E‐42 on surface analysis

AbstractThe results of a round robin involving the quantitative depth profile analysis of ion‐implanted boron in silicon by secondary ion mass spectrometry are reported. This study was a blind analysis; each participant was provided with three samples, a standard for which the implantation does was known and two other samples of unknown dose. The study compares the accuracy and precision of the quantitative analysis of boron in silicon, background signal levels, detection limits, dynamic range and sputter depth profile shapes obtained using fifteen SIMS instruments (fourteen commercial instruments manufactured by five different companies and one home‐built system). The quantitative SIMS analysis of boron in silicon, using similar standards, was found to have a relative standard deviation of approximately 10–12%, which also turned out to be the variation in sample homogeneity over the implanted samples, and a relative error of <10%. Comparison of sputter profile shapes shows a good degree of precision extending over six decades of signal intensity. The highest dynamic range of 6.1 × 105 and the best detection limit of 3.7 × 1020 atoms m−3 were found for analyses using the ‘mini‐chip’ method of v. Criegern and Weitzel. Results of a test concerning the lateral homogeneity of the depth distribution of the implanted species are presented and discussed.

Results of the JCPDS-ICDD Intensity Round Robin

Last year at this conference we submitted a preliminary report on an X-ray powder diffraction round robin sponsored by the JCPDS-ICDD. This round robin was designed primarily to study the intensities of diffraction lines found by users in routine work. At that time only a portion of the data had been analyzed, and we reported initial findings on the α-Al2O3, and Zn0 /CaCO3 samples. These included studies on counting statistics, resolution, and the effect of software on intensity precision. Since that time, all the data from the round robin has been entered into Lotus 1-2-3 (*) spread-sheets and numerous additional tests have been carried out. This paper discusses some of the more interesting findings. A complete paper on all of the tests performed is in preparation for submission to the "Methods and Practices Manual" published by the JCPDS-ICDD.

Integration of nondestructive examination reliability and fracture mechanics

A multi-year program at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory is in progress to determine the reliability of ultrasonic ISI that is performed on light-water reactor primary systems, using probabilistic fracture mechanics (FM) analysis to determine the impact of NDE unreliability on system safety, and to evaluate advanced ultrasonic techniques. This paper is a review of the last year's highlights. Emphasis is placed upon the results of a pipe inspection round robin, advanced technique evaluation, joint study with Westinghouse, qualification document, underclad crack detection sizing studies, and a FM analysis using the PRAISE code for studying inspection parameters.