Ballast Water Treatment systems: “Old” and “New” ones

This paper offers an overview of the currently available Ballast Water Treatment systems, their efficacy in reducing the number of organisms in relation with the IMO and other, future standards, and explores potentially new and promising technologies and current gaps.     

FEM-BEM Coupling for the Modelling of Induction Heating Processes Including Moving Parts

IntroductiollAnyelectricalconductorplacedinatime-varyingmagneticfieldistheseatofeddycurrentsthatdissipatepowerthroughJouleeffect.ThispowerisconcentratedinthesurfaceofthecomPonent,inaverysmallthicknesswhichdependsontheelectricalconductivityandmagneticpermeabilityofthematerial,butalsoonthefrequencyofthecurrents.Inductionhardeningprocessestakeadvantageofthiseffectbecauseitthereforepossibletocontrolthethicknessofthetreatedlayer.InductionhardeningofsteelcomPonentsisrealisedintwosteps.First,anindu…     

Multivariate assimilation in MERCATOR project: New statistical parameters from forecast error estimation

The new operational prototype of Mercator (french Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment contribution) is composed of a North Atlantic primitive equation ocean model OPA (Ocean Parallel Algorithm between 20°S and 70°N, [Madec, G., P. Delecluse, M. Imbard and C. Lévy (1998). OPA8.1 ocean general circulation model reference manuel. Notes du pôle de modélisation IPSL. n°11: 91p]) and of a multivariate and multidata assimilation scheme [De Mey, P. and M. Benkiran (2002). “A multivariate reduced-order optimal interpolation method and its application in Mediterranean basin-scale circulation.” Ocean Forecasting : Conceptual basis and application, Pinardi, N., Springer Verlag.] This system has already given some significant improvements from previous Mercator configurations (M. Benkiran, personal communication). However some biases on ocean state still remain in the tropics where the reduced-order optimal interpolation scheme is suspected to be ill-parameted in the model forecast error. Indeed the guess error covariance matrix is decomposed into an error variance value and a spatio-temporal correlation function which are assumed to have some “good” properties (spatial homogeneity of the correlation function, constant ratio between signal and error variance). This study shows how we can use ensemble methods to validate these assumptions. We can see that the correlation function can reach negative values locally, mostly in regions of high variability contradictory with the homogeneous hypothesis. The reduced space used in the operational configuration is based on the signal seasonal Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs). An empirical relationship between signal and error variance has been set and the correlation function is the same on every dimension of the reduced space. By projection of the estimated guess error variance onto the reduced space, we find a repartition of this quantity quite different to what was set in the system. The error statistics is found to be inhomogeneous compared to hypothesis made in the assimilation scheme. These two new parameters tested separately in the assimilation scheme gives significant improvements of the forecast and analysis results. This is particularly obvious in the tropics. But relationship between signal and error statistics (as assumed in the optimal interpolation) is found to be complex.     

Mental flexibility impairment in drivers with early Alzheimer's disease: A simulator-based study

After memory impairment, one of the most common troubles of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the impairment of executive functioning. However, it can have major consequences on daily life, notably on the driving activity. The present study focused on one important executive function involved in driving: mental flexibility; and considered how this impairment can affect driving. Ten patients with early AD were matched with 29 healthy older drivers. All participants were given an evaluation of mental flexibility through neuropsychological tests and an experimental test developed on a static driving simulator. The experiment was divided in two conditions; one without mental flexibility and another condition with a mental flexibility demand. AD patients showed impairments in the neuropsychological tests evaluating mental flexibility. These deficits are linked to the deficits they showed in the driving simulator flexibility tests. This study contributes to the understanding of mental flexibility mechanisms and on their role in driving activity. It also confirms that the driving simulator is a suitable tool to explore cognitive disorders and driving ability.     

给学院派男装找碴

"清新的空气,宽敞的空间,伟大的梦想和重生的感觉",传奇导演约翰·福特在1950年代这样描述美国西部片。在60年后的今天,这句话正好可以用来形容亚当·基梅尔(ADAM KIMMEL)最新的男装。在众多男设计师之中我们大爱的他,能以极快的速度并在极少的时装季里通过男模来表现出他对潮流的看法。     

Investigating the irregularity of bus routes: highlighting how underlying assumptions of bus models impact the regularity results

A bus route is inherently unstable: when the system is uncontrolled, buses fail to maintain their time‐headways and tend to bunch. Several mathematical bus motion models were proposed to reproduce the bus behavior and assess management strategies. However, no work has established how the choice of a model impacts the irregularity of modeled bus systems, that is, the non‐respect of scheduled headways. Because of this gap, a large body of existing works assumes that the ability of these models to reproduce instability comes only from stochasticity, although the link between stochastic inputs and the level of irregularity remains unknown. Moreover, some recognized phenomena such as a change of travel conditions during a day or delays at signalized intersections are ignored. To address these shortcomings, this paper provides an overview of existing dynamic bus‐focused models and proposes a simple way to classify them. Commonly used deterministic and stochastic models are compared, which allows quantifying the relative influence of stochasticity of each model component on outputs. Moreover, we show that a change in the system equilibrium in a full deterministic system can lead to irregularity. Finally, this paper proposes a refinement of travel time models to account for non‐dynamic signals. In presence of traffic signals, we show that a bus system can be self‐regulated. Especially, these insights could help to calibrate bus model inputs to better reproduce real data. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite Element Simulation of Processes Involving Moving Heat Sources. Application to Welding and Surface Treatment

IntroductionAwiderangeofweldingorsurfacetreatmentprocessesinvolvetheuseofaheatsourcemovingataconstantspeedoverthesurfaceofthecomPonent.ThreedimensionalcomPutationofresidualstressesanddistortionsinducedbythiskindofprocesses,usingtheusualfiniteelementmethod,needsveryrefinedmeshesinordertocorrectlydescribethepropertiesandstressgradientsintheheataffCctCdzonealongthepathoftheheatsource.Inthispaper,wediscussthedifferentnumericalaPproaches,imPlementedinSYSWELD@software,whichcanbeusedtodorealisti…     

OSCAR statement of methods

OSCAR (Outil de Simulation du CAptage pour la Reconnaissance des défauts) is the pantograph–catenary dynamic software developed by Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) since 2004. A three-dimensional finite element (FE) mesh allows the modelling of any catenary type: alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) designs, and conventional or high-speed lines. It is a representative of the real overhead line geometry, with contact wire (CW) irregularities, staggered alignment of the CW, dropper spacing, wire tension, etc. Nonlinearities, such as slackening of droppers and unilateral contact between the pantograph and the CW, are taken into account. Several pantograph models can be used, with a complexity level growing from the three-lumped-mass model to the multibody model. In the second case, a cosimulation between the FE method catenary and the multibody pantograph models has been developed. Industrial features for pre- and post-treatments were developed to increase robustness of results and optimise computation time. Recent developments include volume meshing of the CW for stress computation or statistical analysis and lead to new fields of studies such as fatigue failure or design optimisation. OSCAR was fully validated against in-line measurements for its different AC and DC catenary models as well as its different pantograph models (with independent strips for instance) and has continuously been certified against EN50318 since 2008.