Comment on “Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum”

Bennett et al . (Reports, 24 September 2021, p. 1528) report human footprints from Lake Otero, New Mexico, USA ~22,000 years ago. Critical assessment suggests that their radiocarbon chronology may be inaccurate. Reservoir effects may have caused radiocarbon ages to appear thousands of years too old. Independent verification of the ages of the footprint horizons is imperative and is possible through other means.

Analysis of Shear-critical reinforced concrete columns under variable axial load

Older existing reinforced concrete (R/C) frame structures often contain shear-dominated vertical structural elements, which can experience loss of axial load-bearing capacity after a shear failure, hence initiating progressive collapse. An experimental investigation previously reported by the authors focused on the effect of increasing compressive axial load on the non-linear post-peak lateral response of shear, and flexure-shear, critical R/C columns. These results and findings are used here to verify key assumptions of a finite element model previously proposed by the authors, which is able to capture the full-range response of shear-dominated R/C columns up to the onset of axial failure. Additionally, numerically predicted responses using the proposed model are compared with the experimental ones of the tested column specimens under increasing axial load. Not only global, but also local response quantities are examined, which are difficult to capture in a phenomenological beam-column model. These comparisons also provide an opportunity for an independent verification of the predictive capabilities of the model, because these specimens were not part of the initial database that was used to develop it.

Data-Driven Diagnostics and Prognostics for Modelling the State of Health of Maritime Battery Systems – a Review

Battery systems are becoming an increasingly attractive alternative for powering ocean going ships, and the number of fully electric or hybrid ships relying on battery power for propulsion and maneuvering is growing. In order to ensure the safety of such electric ships, it is of paramount importance to monitor the available energy that can be stored in the batteries, and classification societies typically require that the state of health of the batteries can be verified by independent tests – annual capacity tests. However, this paper discusses data-driven diagnostics for state of health modelling for maritime battery systems based on operational sensor data collected from the batteries as an alternative approach. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive review of different data-driven approaches to state of health modelling, and aims at giving an overview of current state of the art. Furthermore, the various methods for data-driven diagnostics are categorized in a few overall approaches with quite different properties and requirements with respect to data for training and from the operational phase. More than 300 papers have been reviewed, most of which are referred to in this paper. Moreover, some reflections and discussions on what types of approaches can be suitable for modelling and independent verification of state of health for maritime battery systems are presented.

The Implementation of Diverse Actuation System in ACPR1000 Nuclear Power Plants

In order to improve the capability of dealing with software common cause failure (CCF) of digital reactor protection and monitoring system (RPMS), the diverse actuation system (DAS) is introduced for ACPR1000 nuclear power plants. From economic and feasibility point of view, the solution of DAS sharing with RPMS sensors and actuators is suggested; after capturing the function requirement of DAS, the automatic functions and manual functions assigned to it are determined based on transient analysis of design basic accidents concurrent with software CCF of RPMS. The independent verification proves that the reactor can be fallen back to and maintained at safety shutdown state, thanks to these DAS functions. Insight into probabilistic safety assessment proves significant reductions of risks are contributed. The critical technical issues while implementing DAS, such as measures to ensure its diversity from RPMS, precautions for preventing from its spurious actuation, isolation and independency from RPMS, and its testability and maintainability, are deliberately settled to improve its engineering reliability and alleviate the impact on RPMS as far as possible. Field programmable gate array technology that is diversified from RPMS is chosen to build DAS of ACPR1000 nuclear power plant, and the commissioning test verifies that it is capable of performing its designed functions. At last, a set of DAS-specific, paper-based, and event-oriented emergency operating procedure is developed, verified, and validated. Until now, the DAS system has always been successfully operating in all ACPR1000 nuclear power plants for several years.

An integrative description of Pilatobius nuominensis sp. nov. (Tardigrada: Hypsibiidae) from China

A newly identified tardigrade species from China, Pilatobius nuominensis sp. nov., belongs to the group of species with cuticle of the dorsal and lateral caudal region with evident irregular polygonal sculpture. Nucleotide sequences of two nuclear (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA) and one mitochondrial (COI) DNA fragments of the new species are provided, which allows an independent verification of the taxonomic status of the new species. This is the first record of the genus Pilatobius in the Great Hinggan Mountains.