Finnish general contracting in the USSR

When dealing with a Soviet client, tendering, scheduling, consideration of available resources, management responsibilities, start-up and hand-over must be approached from a slightly different angle than when dealing with Western clients. Aspects of project management from feasibility analysis to hand-over are described, based on the experience of a Finnish general contractor, Finn Stroi.     

Energy efficiency of dynamic management of virtual cluster with heterogeneous hardware

Cloud computing is an essential part of today’s computing world. Continuously increasing amount of computation with varying resource requirements is placed in large data centers. The variation among computing tasks, both in their resource requirements and time of processing, makes it possible to optimize the usage of physical hardware by applying cloud technologies. In this work, we develop a prototype system for load-based management of virtual machines in an OpenStack computing cluster. Our prototype is based on an idea of ‘packing’ idle virtual machines into special park servers optimized for this purpose. We evaluate the method by running real high-energy physics analysis software in an OpenStack test cluster and by simulating the same principle using the Cloudsim simulator software. The results show a clear improvement, 9–48 % , in the total energy efficiency when using our method together with resource overbooking and heterogeneous hardware.     

Effects of submerged macrophytes on sediment resuspension and internal phosphorus loading in Lake Hiidenvesi (southern Finland)

The effects of submerged macrophytes on sediment resuspension and internal phosphorus loading in the shallow Kirkkoj?rvi basin of Lake Hiidenvesi were studied by sedimentation traps and sediment and water samples. During the 83 d study period, 793 g DW m(-2) of sediment was resuspended within the stand formed by Ranunculus circinatus, Ceratophyllum demersum and Potamogeton obtusifolius. Outside the stand, 1701g DW m(-2) sediment resuspension was measured during the same period. Water turbidity and concentration of suspended solids (SS) were significantly lower within the plant bed compared with the surrounding water area. Despite the higher concentration of inorganic suspendoids, the concentration of chlorophyll a was higher in the open water than within the submerged plant bed, owing to the enhanced nutrient recycling rate in the absence of submerged plants. With the resuspended sediment, 11.8 mg Pm(-2)d(-1) was brought into the water column within the stand and 24.5 mg Pm(-2)d(-1) outside the stand. Within the macrophyte stand, resuspended particles absorbed phosphorus from the water (indicated by the inverse relationship between SS and soluble reactive phosphorus), which was probably connected to the lowered phosphorus concentration of surface sediment due to uptake by macrophytes.     

Mobile 3D City Maps

A research team created a living mobile 3D city by lightweight modeling and 3D optimizations, and implementing an efficient, scalable dynamic entity management solution. They designed a mobile 3D navigation interface and verified the system by field experiments. Based on the results, they discuss implications for future.     

Effect of intracerebroventricular and intravenous administration of nitric oxide donors on blood pressure and heart rate in anaesthetized rats

1. The effects of nitric oxide (NO) releasing substances, sodium nitroprusside, 3-morpholino sydnonimine (SIN-1) and a novel oxatriazole derivative, GEA 3162, on blood pressure and heart rate were studied after peripheral or central administration in anaesthetized normotensive Wistar rats. 2. Given as cumulative intravenous injections, both nitroprusside and GEA 3162 (24-188 nmol kg-1) induced short-lasting and dose-dependent decreases in mean arterial pressure, while SIN-1 decreased blood pressure only slightly even after larger doses (94-3000 nmol kg-1). Heart rate increased concomitantly with the hypotensive effect of the NO-releasing substances. 3. Cumulative intracerebroventricular administration of GEA 3162 (24-188 nmol kg-1) induced a dose-dependent hypotension with slight but insignificant increases in heart rate. In contrast, intracerebroventricular nitroprusside induced little change in blood pressure, while a large dose of SIN-1 (3000 nmol kg-1, i.c.v.) slightly increased mean arterial pressure. However, intracerebroventricular nitroprusside and SIN-1 increased heart rate at doses that did not significantly affect blood pressure. 4. To determine whether the cardiovascular effects of GEA 3162 were attributable to an elevation of cyclic GMP levels, pretreatments with methylene blue, a putative guanylate cyclase inhibitor, were performed. This substance failed to attenuate the cardiovascular effects of peripherally or centrally administered GEA 3162, suggesting that the effects were independent of guanylate cyclase. 5. In conclusion, the centrally administered NO-donor, GEA 3162, induced a dose-dependent. hypotensive response without significant changes in heart rate. Furthermore, intracerebroventricular injections of nitroprusside and SIN-1 increased heart rate without affecting blood pressure. These results suggest that NO released by these drugs may affect central mechanisms involved in cardiovascular regulation independently of cyclic GMP.     

Chemometrical approach in studies of membrane capacity in pulp and paper mill application

In the pulp and paper mill membrane filtration applications the volumes of processed water are huge. Due to this high and stable capacity of the membrane is required. Since the membrane capacity is a result of many different factors, finding the most suitable membrane for a certain application usually needs a considerable number of experiments, which produces huge amounts of experimental results. Traditionally experimental filtration results are examined with univariable methods. The univariable examination is time-consuming and, due to the multivariate nature of the filtration phenomena, univariable examination cannot show effectively the correlation structure between the variables in the filtration system. Thus, multivariate examination methods are needed for obtaining well-defined information about membrane performance in a certain application. In this study the experimental results from a pilot-scale paper mill filtration application were examined with multivariate methods principal component analysis (PCA) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Both methods revealed crucial information about the membrane, which was not obtained when univariable examination was used. The methods tested were evaluated to be very effective tools in the examination of membrane filtration results.     

Sunburn—using excess energy of small-scale production for distributed computing

The Sunburn solar computer system is based on the idea of consuming the excess electricity of photovoltaic energy systems for useful computing. In this way, the proposed approach allows us to move a part of computing capacity from dedicated data centers to individual solar energy systems and thereby reduce the energy consumption of the data centers. In principle, the proposed mechanism converts the excess electrical energy into valuable computation. The results of computation or data processing are easier to store and transfer than produced electricity. In small-scale systems, the benefit from storing or selling the excess electricity is small, whereas the benefit from selling the generated data is potentially larger, as we demonstrate in this study. Finally, the technical feasibility of the solution is illustrated by constructing and evaluating a prototype implementation using excess solar energy for distributed BOINC computing.     

Energy efficiency of mobile handsets: Measuring user attitudes and behavior

The purpose of this research is to understand the behavior and expectations of mobile handset users towards energy consumption. We analyze mobile handset monitoring traces from subsequent years with N = 253 and 105, and questionnaire studies with N = 155 and 150. The data allows us to study both the actual behavior of the users and their explicit attitudes, expectations, and experiences. Additional difference to prior work is the use of longitudinal data from multiple years and a user sample that is much larger than in earlier studies. We present hypotheses drawn both from literature and from our own experience, and use the datasets to support or refute them. Our results indicate that mobile device users need more detailed and clearer information of the battery status and energy consumption. Moreover, users want to understand how different applications and services affect the energy consumption and to learn what they can do to control it.     

Zolpidem 10 mg given at daytime is not antagonized by 300 mg caffeine in man

We hypothesized, on the basis of in vitro observations, that a higher oxygen partial pressure within perfluorocarbon-containing microbubbles (PCMB) would enhance inward nitrogen diffusion after venous injection, leading to improved myocardial contrast. The in vitro studies measured PCMB size and concentration after injection into arterial blood that was obtained during inhalation of either room air or 100% oxygen. We then compared the myocardial contrast produced from PCMB sonicated in the presence of either a nitrogen-free environment (100% oxygen) or room air in three closed chest dogs. PCMB exposed to oxygenated blood in vitro were significantly smaller after insonation than PCMB exposed to arterial blood obtained during room air inhalation, confirming the important role of dissolved nitrogen in stabilizing PCMB size. In vivo studies demonstrated that intravenous PCMB sonicated with 100% oxygen produced significantly greater anterior and posterior myocardial contrast than PCMB sonicated in the presence of room air.