• Title/Summary/Keyword: G-Force

Search Result 1,519, Processing Time 0.028 seconds

Effect of Perch Type and Height on the Growth Performance, Behavioral Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Broilers (홰 종류 및 높이 설정에 따른 육계 생산성, 행동특성, 계육품질에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Hyunsoo;Kim, Hee-Jin;Jeon, Jin-Joo;Son, Jiseon;You, Are-Sun;Kang, Bo-Seok;Hong, Eui-Chul;Kang, Hwan-Ku
    • Korean Journal of Poultry Science
    • /
    • v.48 no.4
    • /
    • pp.227-238
    • /
    • 2021
  • This study investigates the effect of perch type and height on the growth performance, footpad dermatitis (FPD), blood parameters, behavioral characteristics, and meat quality of broilers. A total of 912 one-day-old male Ross 308 broilers (48.23±0.264 g) were subjected to a three x two factorial design of three types of perch (wood, steel, plastic) and two levels of perch height (10→30 cm change, 10 cm fixed) over a five-week experiment. Growth performance, perch availability, litter quality, FPD incidence, serum biochemical parameters, and meat quality of the broilers were evaluated. There were no significant differences in the body weight, feed conversion ratio, and biochemical parameters (except for aspartate aminotransferase), pH, color, and water holding capacity. The incidence of FPD was significantly higher in the plastic perch group than in the wood and steel perch groups (P<0.05) at five weeks of age. Perch use was high in the order of wood, steel, and plastic groups in the daytime and nighttime at one, three, and five weeks of age (P<0.05). Perch use was higher in the 10 cm fixed group than the 10→30 cm group (P<0.05). The shear force of the breast significantly increased in the order of wood, steel, and plastic groups (P<0.05). In conclusion, the group with a fixed perch height of 10 cm had high perch usage. Additionally, the use of wooden perches was higher than that of other materials, and it lowered the incidence of FPD in broilers.

Effect of Hypotonic and Hypertonic Solution on Brining Process for Pork Loin Cube: Mass Transfer Kinetics (돼지고기 등심의 염지공정에서 소금농도의 영향: 물질전달 동역학을 중심으로)

  • Park, Min;Lee, Nak Hun;In, Ye-Won;Oh, Sang-Yup;Cho, Hyung-Yong
    • Food Engineering Progress
    • /
    • v.23 no.1
    • /
    • pp.7-15
    • /
    • 2019
  • The impregnation of solid foods into the surrounding hypotonic or hypertonic solution was explored as a method to infuse NaCl in pork loin cube without altering its matrix. Mass transfer kinetics using a diffusive model as the mathematical model for moisture gain/loss and salt gain and the resulting textural properties were studied for the surrounding solutions of NaCl 2.5, 5.0, 10.0 and 15% (w/w). It was possible to access the effects of brine concentration on the direction of the resulting water flow, quantify water and salt transfer, and confirm tenderization effect by salt infusion. For brine concentrations up to 10% it was verified that meat samples gained water, while for processes with 15% concentration, pork loin cubes lost water. The effective diffusion coefficients of salt ranged from 2.43×10-9 to 3.53×10-9 m2/s, while for the values of water ranged from 1.22×10-9 to 1.88×10-9 m2/s. The diffusive model was able to represent well salt gain rates using a single parameter, i.e. an effective diffusion coefficient of salt through the meat. However, it was not possible to find a characteristic effective diffusion coefficient for water transfer. Within the range of experimental conditions studied, salt-impregnated samples by 5% (w/w) brine were shown with minimum hardness, chewiness and shear force.

Effects of Emotional Regulation Processes on Adaptive Selling Behavior and Sales Performance

  • Kim, Joonhwan;Lee, Sungho;Shin, Dongwoo;Song, Ji-Hee
    • Asia Marketing Journal
    • /
    • v.16 no.1
    • /
    • pp.71-100
    • /
    • 2014
  • While the role of emotional antecedents of effective selling behavior would be important, the issue has not been fully addressed in the sales literature. To fill this gap, we conceptualize and empirically examine the relationships among salesperson's emotional regulation processes such as emotional intelligence (EI) and emotional labor (EL), effective selling behavior, and sales performance on the basis of educational, occupational, social psychology literature and marketing literature (e.g., Henning-Thurau, Groth, Paul, and Gremler 2006; Kidwell et al. 2011; Liu et al. 2008; Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso 2008). First, salesperson's EI is defined as his or her capability that enables correct perceptions about emotional situations in sales interactions. The EI is expected to work as psychological resources for different types of EL (i.e., deep acting and surface acting) to be performed by salesperson as emotional expression strategies (e.g., Lie et al. 2008). It is, then, expected that the features of EL selected by the salesperson would lead to different levels of adaptive selling behavior (ASB) and thereby sales performance (Monaghan 2006). Further, given that salesperson's customer orientation (CO) is found to be an important correlate of ASB (Franke and Park 2006), it is expected that CO would moderate the relationship between EL and ASB (Rozell, Pettijohn, and Parker 2004). Hence, this research attempts to shed additional light on emotionally-driven (EL) as well as cognitively-driven (CO) antecedents of ASB (Frank and Park 2006). The findings of the survey research, done with 336 salespersons in insurance and financial companies, are summarized as follows. First, salespersons with a high level of EI are found to use both deep acting (regulating the emotions themselves) and surface acting (controlling only emotional expressions) in a versatile way, when implementing EL. Second, the more the salesperson performs deep acting, the more he or she shows ASB. It is, then, important for salespersons to use deep acting more frequently in the EL process in order to enhance the quality of interacting with customers through ASB. On the other hand, the salesperson's surface acting did not have a significant relationship with ASB. Moreover, CO was found to moderate the relationship between the salesperson's deep acting and ASB. That is, the context of high CO culture and individual salesperson's deep acting would synergistically make the selling efforts adaptive to customer preferences. Conceptualizing and empirically verifying the antecedent roles of important emotional constructs such as EI and EL in salesperson's effective selling behavior (ASB) and sales performance is a major theoretical contribution in the sales literature. Managerially, this research provides a deeper understanding on the nature of tasks performed by salespersons in service industries and a few guidelines for managing the sales force. First, sales organizations had better consciously assess EI capacity in the selection and nurturing processes of salespersons, given that EI can efficiently drive EL and the resulting effective selling behavior and performance. Further, the concept of EL could provide a framework to understand the salespersons' emotional experiences in depth. Especially, sales organizations may well think over how to develop deep acting capabilities of their sales representatives. In this direction, the training on deep acting strategies would be an essential task for improving effective selling behavior and performance of salespersons. This kind of training had better incorporate the perspectives of customers such that many customers can actually discern whether salespersons are doing either surface acting or deep acting. Finally, based on the synergistic effects of deep acting and CO culture, how to build and sustain CO is always an ever-important task in sales organizations. While the prior sales literature has emphasized the process and structure of highly customer-oriented sales organization, our research not only corroborates the important aspects of customer-oriented sales organization, but also adds the important dimension of competent sales representatives who can resonate with customers by deep acting for sales excellence.

  • PDF

A Study of Endothelium-dependent Pulmonary Arterial Relaxation and the Role of Nitric oxide on Acute Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction in Rats (흰쥐 폐동맥의 내피세포의존성 혈관이완과 급성 저산소성 폐동맥수축에서 산화질소의 역할)

  • In, Kwang-Ho;Lee, Jin-Goo;Cho, Jae-Youn;Shim, Jae-Jung;Kang, Kyung-Ho;Yoo, Se-Hwa
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
    • /
    • v.41 no.3
    • /
    • pp.231-238
    • /
    • 1994
  • Backgroud: Since the demonstration of the fact that vascular relaxation by acetylcholine(Ach) results from the release of relaxing factor from the endothelium, the identity and physiology of this endothelium-derived relaxing factor(EDRF) has been the target for many researches. EDRF has been identified as nitric oxide(NO). With the recent evidences that EDRF is an important mediator of vascular tone, there have been increasing interests in defining the role of the EDRF as a potential mediator of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. But the role of EDRF in modulating the pulmonary circulation is not compeletely clarified. To investigate the endothelium-dependent pulmonary vasodilation and the role of EDRF during hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, we studied the effects of $N^G$-monomethyl-L-arginine(L-NMMA) and L-arginine on the precontracted pulmonary arterial rings of the rat in normoxia and hypoxia. Mothods: The pulmonary arteries of male Sprague Dawley(300~350g) were dissected free of surrounding tissue, and cut into rings. Rings were mounted over fine rigid wires, in organ chambers filled with 20ml of Krebs solution bubbled with 95 percent oxygen and 5 percent carbon dioxide and maintained at $37^{\circ}C$. Changes in isometric tension were recorded with a force transducer(FT.03 Grass, Quincy, USA) Results: 1) Precontraction of rat pulmonry artery with intact endothelium by phenylephrine(PE, $10^{-6}M$) was relaxed completely by acetylcholine(Ach, $10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$) and sodium nitroprusside(SN, $10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$), but relaxing response by Ach in rat pulmonary artery with denuded endothelium was significantly decreased. 2) L-NMMA($10^{-4}M$) pretreatment inhibited Ach($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$)-induced relaxation, but L-NMMA ($10^{-4}M$) had no effect on relaxation induced by SN($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$). 3) Pretreatment of the L-arginine($10^{-4}M$) significantly reversed the inhibition of the Ach ($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$)-induced relaxation caused by L-NMMA($10^{-4}M$) 4) Pulmonary arterial contraction by PE($10^{-6}M$) was stronger in hypoxia than normoxia but relaxing response by Ach($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$) was decreased, 5) With pretreatment of L-arginine($10^{-4}M$), pulmonary arterial relaxation by Ach($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$) in hypoxia was reversed to the level of relaxation in normoxia. Conclusion: It is concluded that rat pulmonary arterial relaxation by Ach is dependent on the intact endothelium and is largely mediated by NO. Acute hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction is related to the suppression on NO formation in the vascular endothelium.

  • PDF

Dry etching of polycarbonate using O2/SF6, O2/N2 and O2/CH4 plasmas (O2/SF6, O2/N2와 O2/CH4 플라즈마를 이용한 폴리카보네이트 건식 식각)

  • Joo, Y.W.;Park, Y.H.;Noh, H.S.;Kim, J.K.;Lee, S.H.;Cho, G.S.;Song, H.J.;Jeon, M.H.;Lee, J.W.
    • Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
    • /
    • v.17 no.1
    • /
    • pp.16-22
    • /
    • 2008
  • We studied plasma etching of polycarbonate in $O_2/SF_6$, $O_2/N_2$ and $O_2/CH_4$. A capacitively coupled plasma system was employed for the research. For patterning, we used a photolithography method with UV exposure after coating a photoresist on the polycarbonate. Main variables in the experiment were the mixing ratio of $O_2$ and other gases, and RF chuck power. Especially, we used only a mechanical pump for in order to operate the system. The chamber pressure was fixed at 100 mTorr. All of surface profilometry, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterization of the etched polycarbonate samples. According to the results, $O_2/SF_6$ plasmas gave the higher etch rate of the polycarbonate than pure $O_2$ and $SF_6$ plasmas. For example, with maintaining 100W RF chuck power and 100 mTorr chamber pressure, 20 sccm $O_2$ plasma provided about $0.4{\mu}m$/min of polycarbonate etch rate and 20 sccm $SF_6$ produced only $0.2{\mu}m$/min. However, the mixed plasma of 60 % $O_2$ and 40 % $SF_6$ gas flow rate generated about $0.56{\mu}m$ with even low -DC bias induced compared to that of $O_2$. More addition of $SF_6$ to the mixture reduced etch of polycarbonate. The surface roughness of etched polycarbonate was roughed about 3 times worse measured by atomic force microscopy. However examination with scanning electron microscopy indicated that the surface was comparable to that of photoresist. Increase of RF chuck power raised -DC bias on the chuck and etch rate of polycarbonate almost linearly. The etch selectivity of polycarbonate to photoresist was about 1:1. The meaning of these results was that the simple capacitively coupled plasma system can be used to make a microstructure on polymer with $O_2/SF_6$ plasmas. This result can be applied to plasma processing of other polymers.

Changes of Quality Characteristics of Manufactured Press Ham using Conjugated Linoleic Acid(CLA) Accumulated Pork during Storage Periods (CLA가 축적된 돈육으로 제조된 Press Ham의 저장기간중 품질변화)

  • Lee, J.I.;Ha, Y.J.;Jung, J.D.;Kang, K.H.;Hur, S.J.;Park, G.B.;Lee, J.D.;Do, C.H.
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.46 no.4
    • /
    • pp.645-658
    • /
    • 2004
  • To investigate the effects of conjugated linoleic acid added diet feeding on CLA accumulation and quality characteristics of manufactured press ham using CLA accwnulated pork loin meat. The CLA used to add in diet was chemically synthesized by alkaline isomerization method with com oil. Pigs were divided into 5 treatment groups(4 pigs/group) and subjected to one of five treatment diets(0, 1.25% CLA for 2weeks, 2.5% CLA for 2weeks, 1.25% CLA for 4weeks and 2.5% CLA for 4weeks, CLA diets; total fed diets) before slaughter. Pork loin were collected from the animals(110kg body weight) slaughtering at the commercial slaughter house. Manufacture press ham using CLA accumulated pork loin meat were vacuum packaged and then stored during 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days at 4$^{\circ}C$. Samples were analyzed for general compositions, physico-chemical properties(pH, color, shear force value), TBARS. pH value of CLA treatment(T4) was increased significantly than that of oontrol(P<0.05). pH of control and CLA treatments were increased significantly as the storage period passed(P< 0.05). Crude fat content of CLA treatment groups was significantly higher than the control pork (P<0.05). Meat color(CIE $L^*$, $a^*$$b^*$

Studies on the Physical and Chemical Denatures of Cocoon Bave Sericin throughout Silk Filature Processes (제사과정 전후에서의 견사세리신의 물리화학적 성질변화에 관한 연구)

  • 남중희
    • Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
    • /
    • v.16 no.1
    • /
    • pp.21-48
    • /
    • 1974
  • The studies were carried out to disclose the physical and chemical properties of sericin fraction obtained from silk cocoon shells and its characteristics of swelling and solubility. The following results were obtained. 1. The physical and chemical properties of sericin fraction. 1) In contrast to the easy water soluble sericin, the hard soluble sericin contains fewer amino acids include of polar side radical while the hard soluble amino acid sach as alanine and leucine were detected. 2) The easy soluble amino acids were found mainly on the outer part of the fibroin, but the hard soluble amino acids were located in the near parts to the fibroin. 3) The swelling and solubility of the sericin could be hardly assayed by the analysis of the amino acid composition, and could be considered to tee closely related to the compound of the sericin crystal and secondary structure. 4) The X-ray patterns of the cocoon filament were ring shape, but they disappeared by the degumming treatment. 5) The sericin of tussah silkworm (A. pernyi), showed stronger circular patterns in the meridian than the regular silkworm (Bombyx mori). 6) There was no pattern difference between Fraction A and B. 7) X-ray diffraction patterns of the Sericin 1, ll and 111 were similar except interference of 8.85A (side chain spacing). 8) The amino acids above 150 in molecular weight such as Cys. Tyr. Phe. His. and Arg. were not found quantitatively by the 60 minutes-hydrolysis (6N-HCI). 9) The X-ray Pattern of 4.6A had a tendency to disappear with hot-water, ether, and alcohol treatment. 10) The partial hydrolysis of sericin showed a cirucular interference (2A) on the meridian. 11) The sericin pellet after hydrolysis was considered to be peptides composed with specific amino acids. 12) The decomposing temperature of Sericin 111 was higher than that of Sericin I and II. 13) Thermogram of the inner portioned sericin of the cocoon shell had double endothermic peaks at 165$^{\circ}C$, and 245$^{\circ}C$, and its decomposing temperature was higher than that of other portioned sericin. 14) The infrared spectroscopic properties among sericin I, II, III and sericin extracted from each layer portion of the cocoon shell were similar. II. The characteristics of seriein swelling and solubility related with silk processing. 1) Fifteen minutes was required to dehydrate the free moisture of cocoon shells with centrifugal force controlled at 13${\times}$10$^4$ dyne/g at 3,000 R.P.M. B) It took 30 minutes for the sericin to show positive reaction with the Folin-Ciocaltue reagent at room temperature. 3) The measurable wave length of the visible radiation was 500-750m${\mu}$, and the highest absorbance was observed at the wave length of 650m${\mu}$. 4) The colorimetric analysis should be conducted at 650mu for low concentration (10$\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$), and at 500m${\mu}$ for the higher concentration to obtain an exact analysis. 5) The absorbing curves of sericin and egg albumin at different wave lengths were similar, but the absorbance of the former was slightly higher than that of the latter. 6) The quantity of the sericin measured by the colorimetric analysis, turned out to be less than by the Kjeldahl method. 7) Both temperature and duration in the cocoon cooking process has much effect on the swelling and solubility of the cocoon shells, but the temperature was more influential than the duration of the treatment. 8) The factorial relation between the temperature and the duration of treatment of the cocoon cooking to check for siricin swelling and solubility showed that the treatment duration should be gradually increased to reach optimum swelling and solubility of sericin with low temperature(70$^{\circ}C$) . High temperature, however, showed more sharp increase. 9) The more increased temperature in the drying of fresh cocoons, the less the sericin swelling and solubility were obtained. 10) In a specific cooking duration, the heavier the cocoon shell is, the less the swelling and solubility were obtained. 11) It was considered that there are differences in swelling or solubility between the filaments of each cocoon layer. 12) Sericin swelling or solubility in the cocoon filament was decreased by the wax extraction.. 13) The ionic surface active agent accelerated the swelling and solubility of the sericin at the range of pH 6-7. 14) In the same conditions as above, the cation agent was absorbed into the sericin. 15) In case of the increase of Ca ang Mg in the reeling water, its pH value drifted toward the acidity. 16) A buffering action was observed between the sericin and the water hardness constituents in the reeling water. 17) The effect of calcium on the swelling and solubility of the sericin was more moderate than that of magnecium. 18) The solute of the water hardness constituents increased the electric conductivity in the reeling water.

  • PDF

Accelerometer-based Gesture Recognition for Robot Interface (로봇 인터페이스 활용을 위한 가속도 센서 기반 제스처 인식)

  • Jang, Min-Su;Cho, Yong-Suk;Kim, Jae-Hong;Sohn, Joo-Chan
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.17 no.1
    • /
    • pp.53-69
    • /
    • 2011
  • Vision and voice-based technologies are commonly utilized for human-robot interaction. But it is widely recognized that the performance of vision and voice-based interaction systems is deteriorated by a large margin in the real-world situations due to environmental and user variances. Human users need to be very cooperative to get reasonable performance, which significantly limits the usability of the vision and voice-based human-robot interaction technologies. As a result, touch screens are still the major medium of human-robot interaction for the real-world applications. To empower the usability of robots for various services, alternative interaction technologies should be developed to complement the problems of vision and voice-based technologies. In this paper, we propose the use of accelerometer-based gesture interface as one of the alternative technologies, because accelerometers are effective in detecting the movements of human body, while their performance is not limited by environmental contexts such as lighting conditions or camera's field-of-view. Moreover, accelerometers are widely available nowadays in many mobile devices. We tackle the problem of classifying acceleration signal patterns of 26 English alphabets, which is one of the essential repertoires for the realization of education services based on robots. Recognizing 26 English handwriting patterns based on accelerometers is a very difficult task to take over because of its large scale of pattern classes and the complexity of each pattern. The most difficult problem that has been undertaken which is similar to our problem was recognizing acceleration signal patterns of 10 handwritten digits. Most previous studies dealt with pattern sets of 8~10 simple and easily distinguishable gestures that are useful for controlling home appliances, computer applications, robots etc. Good features are essential for the success of pattern recognition. To promote the discriminative power upon complex English alphabet patterns, we extracted 'motion trajectories' out of input acceleration signal and used them as the main feature. Investigative experiments showed that classifiers based on trajectory performed 3%~5% better than those with raw features e.g. acceleration signal itself or statistical figures. To minimize the distortion of trajectories, we applied a simple but effective set of smoothing filters and band-pass filters. It is well known that acceleration patterns for the same gesture is very different among different performers. To tackle the problem, online incremental learning is applied for our system to make it adaptive to the users' distinctive motion properties. Our system is based on instance-based learning (IBL) where each training sample is memorized as a reference pattern. Brute-force incremental learning in IBL continuously accumulates reference patterns, which is a problem because it not only slows down the classification but also downgrades the recall performance. Regarding the latter phenomenon, we observed a tendency that as the number of reference patterns grows, some reference patterns contribute more to the false positive classification. Thus, we devised an algorithm for optimizing the reference pattern set based on the positive and negative contribution of each reference pattern. The algorithm is performed periodically to remove reference patterns that have a very low positive contribution or a high negative contribution. Experiments were performed on 6500 gesture patterns collected from 50 adults of 30~50 years old. Each alphabet was performed 5 times per participant using $Nintendo{(R)}$ $Wii^{TM}$ remote. Acceleration signal was sampled in 100hz on 3 axes. Mean recall rate for all the alphabets was 95.48%. Some alphabets recorded very low recall rate and exhibited very high pairwise confusion rate. Major confusion pairs are D(88%) and P(74%), I(81%) and U(75%), N(88%) and W(100%). Though W was recalled perfectly, it contributed much to the false positive classification of N. By comparison with major previous results from VTT (96% for 8 control gestures), CMU (97% for 10 control gestures) and Samsung Electronics(97% for 10 digits and a control gesture), we could find that the performance of our system is superior regarding the number of pattern classes and the complexity of patterns. Using our gesture interaction system, we conducted 2 case studies of robot-based edutainment services. The services were implemented on various robot platforms and mobile devices including $iPhone^{TM}$. The participating children exhibited improved concentration and active reaction on the service with our gesture interface. To prove the effectiveness of our gesture interface, a test was taken by the children after experiencing an English teaching service. The test result showed that those who played with the gesture interface-based robot content marked 10% better score than those with conventional teaching. We conclude that the accelerometer-based gesture interface is a promising technology for flourishing real-world robot-based services and content by complementing the limits of today's conventional interfaces e.g. touch screen, vision and voice.

Meat Quality and Nutritional Properties of Hanwoo and Imported New Zealand Beef (한우고기와 뉴질랜드산 냉장수입육의 육질 및 영양성분 비교)

  • Cho, Soo-Hyun;Kang, Geun-Ho;Seong, Pil-Nam;Park, Beom-Young;Jung, Seok-Geun;Kang, Sun-Moon;Kim, Young-Chun;Kim, Ji-Hee;Kim, Dong-Hun
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
    • /
    • v.31 no.6
    • /
    • pp.935-943
    • /
    • 2011
  • This study was conducted to investigate the proximate composition, meat color, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBS), cooking loss (CL), fatty acids composition, amino acid composition and mineral contents of Hanwoo beef (QG $1^+$, 1) and imported New Zealand black Angus beef with loin, strip loin, eye of round and chuck tender. The intramuscular fat contents were higher in the strip loin, loin and chuck tender of Hanwoo beef than New Zealand beef (p<0.05). Hanwoo QG 1 beef had higher Fe contents in the strip loin (30.52 mg/100g) and chuck tender (40.70 mg/100g) (p<0.05). Hanwoo beef had lower cooking loss and than those of New Zealand beef, whereas New Zealand beef had higher protein and amino acids contents (%) than their counterpart. There was no significant difference in the WBS between two origin samples except the chuck Hanwoo beef had significantly lower saturated fatty acids (SFA) and higher monounsaturated fatty acids contents than New Zealand beef (p<0.05). WBS values indicated that Hanwoo and New Zealand beef had similar tenderness in the loin, striploin and eye of round due to the longer aging periods of the New Zealand beef than Hanwoo beef during the distribution.

APPLICATION OF FUZZY SET THEORY IN SAFEGUARDS

  • Fattah, A.;Nishiwaki, Y.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
    • /
    • 1993.06a
    • /
    • pp.1051-1054
    • /
    • 1993
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency's Statute in Article III.A.5 allows it“to establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that special fissionable and other materials, services, equipment, facilities and information made available by the Agency or at its request or under its supervision or control are not used in such a way as to further any military purpose; and to apply safeguards, at the request of the parties, to any bilateral or multilateral arrangement, or at the request of a State, to any of that State's activities in the field of atomic energy”. Safeguards are essentially a technical means of verifying the fulfilment of political obligations undertaken by States and given a legal force in international agreements relating to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The main political objectives are: to assure the international community that States are complying with their non-proliferation and other peaceful undertakings; and to deter (a) the diversion of afeguarded nuclear materials to the production of nuclear explosives or for military purposes and (b) the misuse of safeguarded facilities with the aim of producing unsafeguarded nuclear material. It is clear that no international safeguards system can physically prevent diversion. The IAEA safeguards system is basically a verification measure designed to provide assurance in those cases in which diversion has not occurred. Verification is accomplished by two basic means: material accountancy and containment and surveillance measures. Nuclear material accountancy is the fundamental IAEA safeguards mechanism, while containment and surveillance serve as important complementary measures. Material accountancy refers to a collection of measurements and other determinations which enable the State and the Agency to maintain a current picture of the location and movement of nuclear material into and out of material balance areas, i. e. areas where all material entering or leaving is measurab e. A containment measure is one that is designed by taking advantage of structural characteristics, such as containers, tanks or pipes, etc. To establish the physical integrity of an area or item by preventing the undetected movement of nuclear material or equipment. Such measures involve the application of tamper-indicating or surveillance devices. Surveillance refers to both human and instrumental observation aimed at indicating the movement of nuclear material. The verification process consists of three over-lapping elements: (a) Provision by the State of information such as - design information describing nuclear installations; - accounting reports listing nuclear material inventories, receipts and shipments; - documents amplifying and clarifying reports, as applicable; - notification of international transfers of nuclear material. (b) Collection by the IAEA of information through inspection activities such as - verification of design information - examination of records and repo ts - measurement of nuclear material - examination of containment and surveillance measures - follow-up activities in case of unusual findings. (c) Evaluation of the information provided by the State and of that collected by inspectors to determine the completeness, accuracy and validity of the information provided by the State and to resolve any anomalies and discrepancies. To design an effective verification system, one must identify possible ways and means by which nuclear material could be diverted from peaceful uses, including means to conceal such diversions. These theoretical ways and means, which have become known as diversion strategies, are used as one of the basic inputs for the development of safeguards procedures, equipment and instrumentation. For analysis of implementation strategy purposes, it is assumed that non-compliance cannot be excluded a priori and that consequently there is a low but non-zero probability that a diversion could be attempted in all safeguards ituations. An important element of diversion strategies is the identification of various possible diversion paths; the amount, type and location of nuclear material involved, the physical route and conversion of the material that may take place, rate of removal and concealment methods, as appropriate. With regard to the physical route and conversion of nuclear material the following main categories may be considered: - unreported removal of nuclear material from an installation or during transit - unreported introduction of nuclear material into an installation - unreported transfer of nuclear material from one material balance area to another - unreported production of nuclear material, e. g. enrichment of uranium or production of plutonium - undeclared uses of the material within the installation. With respect to the amount of nuclear material that might be diverted in a given time (the diversion rate), the continuum between the following two limiting cases is cons dered: - one significant quantity or more in a short time, often known as abrupt diversion; and - one significant quantity or more per year, for example, by accumulation of smaller amounts each time to add up to a significant quantity over a period of one year, often called protracted diversion. Concealment methods may include: - restriction of access of inspectors - falsification of records, reports and other material balance areas - replacement of nuclear material, e. g. use of dummy objects - falsification of measurements or of their evaluation - interference with IAEA installed equipment.As a result of diversion and its concealment or other actions, anomalies will occur. All reasonable diversion routes, scenarios/strategies and concealment methods have to be taken into account in designing safeguards implementation strategies so as to provide sufficient opportunities for the IAEA to observe such anomalies. The safeguards approach for each facility will make a different use of these procedures, equipment and instrumentation according to the various diversion strategies which could be applicable to that facility and according to the detection and inspection goals which are applied. Postulated pathways sets of scenarios comprise those elements of diversion strategies which might be carried out at a facility or across a State's fuel cycle with declared or undeclared activities. All such factors, however, contain a degree of fuzziness that need a human judgment to make the ultimate conclusion that all material is being used for peaceful purposes. Safeguards has been traditionally based on verification of declared material and facilities using material accountancy as a fundamental measure. The strength of material accountancy is based on the fact that it allows to detect any diversion independent of the diversion route taken. Material accountancy detects a diversion after it actually happened and thus is powerless to physically prevent it and can only deter by the risk of early detection any contemplation by State authorities to carry out a diversion. Recently the IAEA has been faced with new challenges. To deal with these, various measures are being reconsidered to strengthen the safeguards system such as enhanced assessment of the completeness of the State's initial declaration of nuclear material and installations under its jurisdiction enhanced monitoring and analysis of open information and analysis of open information that may indicate inconsistencies with the State's safeguards obligations. Precise information vital for such enhanced assessments and analyses is normally not available or, if available, difficult and expensive collection of information would be necessary. Above all, realistic appraisal of truth needs sound human judgment.

  • PDF