The shortcomings of Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) have been a topic of discussion for over two decades. Repeated attempts to address these limitations have resulted in over 50 HRA methods, and the HRA research community continues to develop new methods. However, there remains a gap between the methods developed by HRA researchers and those actually used by HRA practitioners. Bayesian Network...

We describe our SPAR-Key query engine that implements indexing, ranking, and query processing techniques to run a new kind of SPARQL-fulltext queries that were provided in the context of the INEX 2013 Jeopardy Task.

A multi-objective optimization method for the structural design of horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) blades is presented. The main goal is to minimize the weight and cost of the blade which uses glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) coupled with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials. The number and the location of layers in the spar cap, the width of the spar cap and the position o...

Eph receptors play critical roles in the establishment and remodeling of neuronal connections, but the signaling pathways involved are not fully understood. We have identified a novel interaction between the C terminus of the EphA4 receptor and the PDZ domain of the GTPase-activating protein spine-associated RapGAP (SPAR). In neuronal cells, this binding mediates EphA4-dependent inactivation of...

In the beginning, SPAR, the National Library of France's repository, was designed as the OAIS softwarified. It was intended to be a "full OAIS", covering all preservation needs in one tidy system. Then as its potential revealed itself across the library, high hopes arose for a do-it-all digital curation tool. Yet in day to day preservation activities of the BnF, it turns out that SPAR's growth ...

SPAR (Speech-Pattern Algorithms and Representations) is the name given to the consortium of University College London, Imperial College, GEC Hirst Research Centre, Plessey Research and Leeds University funded under Alvey Project MMI-09. The project is concerned with advanced speech analysis algorithms, and from the outset saw the need for a system for speech data management. The SPAR Speech Fil...

Quantifying the mechanical properties of nanomaterials is challenged by its small size, difficulty of manipulation, lack of reliable measurement techniques, and grossly varying measurement conditions and environment. A recently proposed approach is to estimate the elastic modulus from a force-deflection physical model based on the continuous bridged-deformation of a nanobelt/nanowire using an a...

When a system design approach is applied to wind turbine blades, manufacturing and structural requirements are included along with aerodynamic considerations in the design optimization. The resulting system-driven design includes several innovative structural features such as flat-back airfoils, a constant thickness carbon spar-cap, and a thin, large diameter root. Subscale blades were manufact...

As data integration over the Web has become an increasing demand, there is a growing desire to use XML as a standard format for data exchange. For sharing their grammars efficiently, most of the XML documents in use are associated with a document structure description, such as DTD or XML schema. However, the document structure information is not utilized efficiently in previously proposed techn...

The design, calibration, and deployment of a buoy and gas-capture assembly for measuring bubbling gas flux in oceans and lakes are described. The assembly collects gas in a chamber while continuously measuring the position of the gas–water interface that forms as gas accumulates. Interface position is determined from the differential pressure between the chamber and ambient seawater. A spar buo...