(Press-News.org) A University of Texas at Arlington researcher is working with a not-for-profit cooperative to develop and test a smart, automated cart that could replace humans who conduct fire hazard safety checks in nuclear power facilities.
Chan Kan, a UT Arlington assistant professor in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering (IMSE), will lead the $250,000 project with the cooperative Utilities Service Alliance.
“We will develop and build a cart with state-of-the-art equipment that could replace human testing of nuclear facilities,” Kan said.
Currently, when the primary fire-sensing system fails or is under maintenance, human operators must enter and inspect each room in the plant every hour around the clock to ensure all potential fire hazards are identified and addressed properly. Kan said his team will design two FireWatch carts with state-of-the-art sensing, computing and communication devices.
Kan’s colleagues on the project include Brian Huff, associate professor in IMSE, Victoria Chen, professor in IMSE, Jay Rosenberger, professor and interim chair in IMSE and three graduate students. Th U.S. Department of Energy is funding their work.
Kan said fire incidents are extremely dangerous in nuclear facilities, given the potential for catastrophic consequences like a damaged reactor that could release radioactive materials.
“The industry has embraced machine learning for the potential of this technology,” Kan said. “However, there’s a critical research gap in developing a FireWatch system that integrates hardware and software components in a unified framework. We will pilot test the system under real-world settings to assess its usability and effectiveness.”
The proposed carts will include smoke detectors, infrared cameras, multi-gas sensors, Amazon Web Services/Internet of Things-edge computing devices and uninterruptible power supply battery systems.
“Results of pilot testing will be used to refine the cart and enhance its usability and effectiveness,” Kan said. “That will pave the way for practical implementation and potential future scalability.”
Rosenberger said the technology could help the nuclear energy sector operate more efficiently.
“This technology has the means to ensure better operation,” Rosenberger said. “We want to make sure the public sees this as better accountability of nuclear energy.”
END
Smart carts could detect fire hazards in nuclear facilities
UTA team developing automated FireWatch system under Department of Energy grant
2023-09-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Understanding of mechanisms behind post-exercise lack of appetite can open new paths to obesity treatment
2023-09-26
The complex relationship between physical activity and energy balance – food intake versus energy expenditure – is still a challenge for science, especially in light of the rising worldwide prevalence of overweight and obesity. Some of the medications available on the market to combat obesity work analogously to hormones associated with appetite control, and for some time researchers have focused on understanding how processes involving metabolites (products of cell metabolism) affect hunger and satiety.
A ...
Living donor liver transplant access is optimal for high-risk waitlisted cirrhosis patients
2023-09-26
“Access to LDLT in a transplant program can optimize the timing of transplant for the increasingly older, frail patient population [...]”
BUFFALO, NY- September 26, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 17, entitled, “Availability of living donor optimizes timing of liver transplant in high-risk waitlisted cirrhosis patients.”
Liver transplant (LT) candidates have become older and frailer. Growing non-alcoholic steatohepatitis ...
ACC releases guide to home-based cardiac care
2023-09-26
The health care landscape has undergone rapid changes in recent years, requiring clinicians and stakeholders to consider innovative ways to provide care in traditional and non-traditional settings. The American College of Cardiology has released a workbook on home-based cardiac care that provides the cardiovascular care team with tools and resources to incorporate high-quality, patient-centered care in the home setting.
Home-based care is defined as any form of medical care that takes place in the home of the patient; this includes the acceleration of virtual ...
Transgenic T cells against malignant brain tumors
2023-09-26
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University Medical Center Mannheim (UMM) successfully tested a new form of cellular immunotherapy against brain tumors in mice for the first time.
Glioblastomas are the most aggressive of all brain tumors. They spread diffusely in the brain and are difficult to remove completely by surgery. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy also often have limited effectiveness. To find new, more effective treatment options for those affected, doctors and scientists are testing numerous immunotherapeutic approaches, including so-called "adoptive" T-cell therapies: This involves isolationg ...
Aston University research pioneers making renewable hydrogen and propane fuel gases from glycerol
2023-09-26
Research shows way forward for making renewable hydrogen from glycerol
Crude glycerol from biodiesel production plants cheap and abundant
Could benefit the environment and reduce reliance on fuel imports.
26 September 2022 | Birmingham, UK
Aston University research has shown the way forward for making renewable hydrogen and propane fuel gases from glycerol.
An organic compound, glycerol is produced mainly from fats and oils and is often used in health and beauty products.
With crude glycerol from biodiesel production plants cheap and abundant the researchers have ...
SRI spins off AI-powered drug discovery platform Synfini, Inc.
2023-09-26
SRI International announced today it is spinning off Synfini, a biosciences platform that accelerates the process by which pharmaceutical and other companies can design, synthesize, and bring to market molecules for drug development.
The technology brings together a suite of software and hardware solutions developed at SRI through a significant, multi-year development effort. The suite includes a neuro-symbolic AI molecule designer, a computational synthetic planning tool, a high-throughput automated chemistry system, and a flow chemistry hardware platform that reliably performs multi-step synthesis.
“At SRI we are always tremendously excited to ...
Research reveals why our skin feels ‘tight’
2023-09-26
When we wash our face with a cleanser, our skin can start to feel tight. With the application of a favorite moisturizer, that feeling often goes away. This perception of our skin might seem subjective, but researchers at Stanford recently revealed the mechanism behind these feelings.
Their work, published this week in PNAS Nexus, demonstrates how mechanical changes at the outer surface of our skin translate into sensations and provides a quantitative approach for determining how people will perceive their skin after using a moisturizer or cleanser.
“This work provides ...
World-class neutron source takes a break for major Proton Power Upgrade
2023-09-26
The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory — already the world’s most powerful accelerator-based neutron source — will be on a planned hiatus through June 2024 as crews work to upgrade the facility.
Much of the work — part of the facility’s Proton Power Upgrade project — will involve building a connector between the accelerator and the planned Second Target Station at SNS. When complete, the PPU project will bring the accelerator up to 2.8 megawatts from its current record-breaking ...
Study sheds new light on strange lava worlds
2023-09-26
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Lava worlds, massive exoplanets home to sparkling skies and roiling volcanic seas called magma oceans, are distinctly unlike the planets in our solar system.
To date, nearly 50% of all rocky exoplanets yet discovered have been found capable of maintaining magma on their surfaces, likely because these planets are so close to their host stars they orbit in fewer than 10 days. Being so close causes the planet to be bombarded by harsh weather and forces surface temperatures to the extreme, making it all but completely inhospitable to life as we know it today.
Now, in a new study, scientists have ...
Latest version of the Healthy Eating Index covers toddler diet quality
2023-09-26
Philadelphia, September 26, 2023 – In four articles in the Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier, leading nutrition experts describe and evaluate the latest versions of the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), issued to correspond to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). For the first time, there are two new HEIs, one for children and adults 2 years and older, and one for young children aged 12 through 23 months.
The Call to Action of the ninth edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is “Make Every Bite Count.” These guidelines form the basis of nutrition policy ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power
Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health
Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world
Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on
A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice
ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle
Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air
GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients
Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds
Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity
Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests
Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows
Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer
SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events
Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design
New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients
Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?
Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain
Decoding plants’ language of light
UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC
New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury
New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows
Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?
1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5
In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day
Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds
Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production
Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago
Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP
Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024
[Press-News.org] Smart carts could detect fire hazards in nuclear facilitiesUTA team developing automated FireWatch system under Department of Energy grant