995 research outputs found
Uncertainty quantification in the assessment of human exposure to pulsed or multi-frequency fields
No full textObjective: pulsed fields or waveforms with multi-frequency content have to be assessed with suitable methods. This paper deals with the uncertainty quantification associated to these methods. Approach: among all possible approaches, the weighted peak method (WPM) is widely employed in standards and guidelines, therefore, in this paper, we consider its implementation both in time domain and frequency domain. For the uncertainty quantification the polynomial chaos expansion theory is used. By means of a sensitivity analysis, for several standard waveforms, the parameters with more influence on the exposure index are identified and their sensitivity indices are quantified. The output of the sensitivity analysis is used to set up a parametric analysis with the aim of evaluating the uncertainty propagation of the analyzed methods and, finally, also several measured waveforms generated by a welding gun are tested. Main results: it is shown that the time domain implementation of the weighted peak method provides results in agreement with the basilar mechanisms of electromagnetic induction and electrostimulation. On the opposite, the WPM in frequency domain is found to be too sensitive to parameters that should not influence the exposure index because its weight function includes sharp variations of the phase centered on real zeros and poles. To overcome this issue, a new definition for the phase of the weight function in frequency domain is proposed. Significance: it is shown that the time domain implementation of the WPM is the more accurate and precise. The standard WPM in frequency domain has some issues that can be avoided with the proposed modification of the phase definition of the weight function. Finally, all the codes used in this paper are hosted on a GitHub and can be freely accessed at https://github.com/giaccone/wpm_uncertainty
Economical comparison of CHP systems for industrial user with large steam demand
No full textIn this paper cogeneration benefits applied to a user with a high steam demand are analyzed. The methodology for the feasibility study and the economical analysis of the investment is presented under the Italian legislative framework. The methodology is applied to an actual case and a detailed description and discussion of all data input is provided. Especially this last key point will be faced using starting data usually available in these kind of studies (i.e., not very detailed for thermal consumption). Finally a comparison of different CHP technologies and a sensitivity analysis is done
Compliance of non-sinusoidal or pulsed magnetic fields generated by industrial sources with reference to human exposure guidelines
No full textIn this paper theory and methodology to analyze non-sinusoidal/pulsed fields created by industrial sources in the low frequency range are presented. The methodologies to analyze non-sinusoidal fields are introduced by recalling the fundamental electrostimulation mechanisms. Finally, a case study of a resistance spot welding gun is considered and the results are discussed. Regarding the resolution of the human model, it is found that using a 1 × 1 × 1 mm3 discretization and then apply a spatial averaging in a volume of 2 × 2 × 2 mm3 is almost equivalent to the direct use of a resolution equal to 2×2 × 2 mm3. Furthermore, several metrics to remove numerical artifacts are also tested. Some of them are based on the percentile filtering whereas others are based on a statistical procedure aimed to filter out the outliers in the numerical solution. It is pointed out that, for a localized exposure, the statistically based approaches goes in the direction to define a metric able to adapt to each specific exposure condition, the 99th percentile can underestimate the actual maximum that, on the contrary, it is better estimated by the 99.9th percentile
PMCA Applications for Prion Detection in Peripheral Tissues of Patients with Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
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PMCA Applications for Prion Detection in Peripheral Tissues of Patients with Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
by Giorgio Giaccone
and Fabio Moda
* [ORCID]
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Division of Neurology 5—Neuropathology, 20133 Milan, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biomolecules 2020, 10(3), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10030405
Submission received: 13 February 2020 / Revised: 2 March 2020 / Accepted: 5 March 2020 / Published: 5 March 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prion Disease Biomarkers: Recent Advances)
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Abstract
Prion diseases are neurodegenerative and invariably fatal conditions that affect humans and animals. In particular, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) are paradigmatic forms of human and animal prion diseases, respectively. Human exposure to BSE through contaminated food caused the appearance of the new variant form of CJD (vCJD). These diseases are caused by an abnormal prion protein named PrPSc (or prion), which accumulates in the brain and leads to the onset of the disease. Their definite diagnosis can be formulated only at post-mortem after biochemical and neuropathological identification of PrPSc. Thanks to the advent of an innovative technique named protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), traces of PrPSc, undetectable with the standard diagnostic techniques, were found in peripheral tissues of patients with vCJD, even at preclinical stages. The technology is currently being used in specialized laboratories and can be exploited for helping physicians in formulating an early and definite diagnosis of vCJD using peripheral tissues. However, this assay is currently unable to detect prions associated with the sporadic CJD (sCJD) forms, which are more frequent than vCJD. This review will focus on the most recent advances and applications of PMCA in the field of vCJD and other human prion disease diagnosis
The high magnetic coupling passive loop: A steady-state and transient analysis of the thermal behavior
No full textThis paper deals with a new concept of technology for the mitigation of the magnetic field produced by underground power lines called "High Magnetic Coupling Passive Loop" (HMCPL). The working principle of this technique is the creation of a current with the same amplitude but opposite phase for each source conductor, in order to nullify the magnetic field in a specified region. Since the number of thermal sources in the shielding region is roughy doubled, the aim of the paper is the investigation of the thermal behavior of HMCPL directly buried in the ground, both in transient and in steady-state conditions. The study is carried out with simulations in order to verify any possible configurations of the shield. Results confirm that HMCPL is a safe technology which does not modify the thermal behavior of the power lin
On the interaction between TCP-like sources and throughput-efficient scheduling policies
No full textExploiting Space Diversity and Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling in Multiplane Network-on-Chips
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Real-time optimization of active loops for the magnetic field minimization
No full textThis paper deals with the design and the final implementation of a low-cost active shielding system for the mitigation of magnetic fields generated by electrical installations like power lines or substations. In this paper a new working prototype is built and tested. It is shown that the developed control strategy is effective also for field sources with complex geometries. Moreover, a real-time optimizer is added to the control strategy in order to guarantee the minimization of the source field at any working conditions of the source (i.e. different from the rated power). The control algorithm and the real-time optimizer are fully described in the paper, moreover, their behavior is verified through simulations and experimental tests
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