Discussion of "Partitioning of synchronous machine windings forinternal fault analysis" [Comments and authors' reply]

M.T. Holmberg et al. comment on the original paper by P.P. Reichmeider et al. (see ibid., vol.15, no.4, p.372-9, 2000). They point out that the authors do not appear to have mentioned as to how leakage inductance for part of the winding would be determined once the winding is partitioned. The original authors reply to the comments     

Ventilation system design for a church pipe organ using numerical simulation and on-site measurement

Since old churches have had heating installed, more complaints have arisen of organs sounding out of tune. Sound frequency of organ pipes is dependent on air temperature. Old churches tend to have very large volumes, so are typically heated just before and during services in wintertime, in order to reduce energy usage. Warm air plumes rise at radiators and spread out into the room, finally reaching the cold organ casing where they cause a non-uniform temperature distribution within. If pipes standing in different temperature zones are played at the same time the organ sounds out of tune due to clearly audible beats (interference between two slightly different frequencies). The purpose of this study was to design a ventilation system inside the organ casing, able to create a uniform temperature distribution around the pipes. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed for the St. Martin church in Oberesslingen, Germany. It was validated by on-site measurements that had been carried out in the organ casing of the church. Four organ divisions containing 300–500 pipes were represented by equivalent porous material zones. Their properties were determined using an auxiliary two-dimensional model of a staggered array consisting of 392 pipes. The effect of different ventilation system settings on the temperature field in the organ casing was examined. Best results were achieved by a system consisting of two ventilation lines together with a thin, synthetic net placed at the open interface between church and organ casing in order to reduce warm air inflow.     

Design of OSPF networks using subpath consistent routing patterns

We address the problem of designing IP networks where the traffic is routed using the OSPF protocol. Routers in OSPF networks use link weights set by an administrator for determining how to route the traffic. The routers use all shortest paths when traffic is routed to a destination, and the traffic is evenly balanced by the routers when several paths are equally short. We present a new model for the OSPF network design problem. The model is based on routing patterns and does not explicitly include OSPF weights. The OSPF protocol is modeled by ensuring that all pairs of routing patterns are subpath consistent, which is a necessary condition for the existence of weights. A Lagrangean heuristic is proposed as solution method, and feasible solutions to the problem are generated using a tabu search method. Computational results are reported for random instances and for real-life instances.     

Survival patterns in fast-moving software

To survive, fast-moving software organizations must respond quickly to changing market needs and technological options as well as deliver high-quality products and services at competitive prices. They must therefore constantly improve their capabilities. The authors learned important lessons on how to deal effectively with the dilemmas and opportunities involved in such a goal     

Bandwidth limitations of impedance matched ideal dipoles

Using circuit theory and Chu's network representations of the wave impedance of the lowest spherical multipole field, the Ideal dipole, an explicit expression is derived for the upper limit for the impedance bandwidth obtainable for an ideal, lossless, linearly polarized antenna. The expression embodies the network character of an ideal antenna and its role in the guidance of energy between the feed point and the free-space interface, making it more appropriate as a reference than the theoretical radiation quality factor (Q). Moreover, practical antennas do not always manifest a clear single-pole behavior, undermining the basic assumption of a reciprocal relation between Q and the bandwidth.     

Beta-carotene intake and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer

Improved procedure for efficient cryopreservation of single human spermatozoa in cell-free human zona pellucida is reported. We used a diode laser system for efficient and precise creation of a single hole into the zona pellucida of a degenerated or immature human oocyte. This allowed the extraction of the cytoplasm using a micropipette with a diameter of 10-15 microns. Through the same opening, human spermatozoa were inserted into the empty zona. We used motile and laser immobilized spermatozoa. Immobilized sperm were obtained by a single laser irradiation delivered in the vicinity of the sperm tail prior to insertion. This new immobilization procedure was shown to have no deleterious effect on membrane integrity and sperm viability. Following sperm transfer into the zona, the laser-drilled hole was closed with an oil droplet which was expelled from the micropipette during withdrawal to avoid loss of spermatozoa. This facilitated detection of the otherwise translucent zona during the cryopreservation procedure. After thawing, all cryopreserved zonae (20/20) could be successfully retrieved. Spermatozoa were recovered from the zona pellucida through the hole used for insertion. The rate of sperm recovery for initially motile spermatozoa was 80% vs. 92% for laser immobilized spermatozoa. Sperm viability was 81% and 84%, respectively, detected by a Hoechst stain. This technique makes cryopreservation of single human spermatozoa easy and feasible and appears beneficial for couples with severe male infertility and for those facing repeated surgical sperm extraction.     

Possibilities of texture based motion analysis

Analysis of motion patterns in the human locomotion apparatus is important in many clinical areas like orthopaedics, physiotherapy, neurology, and sports medicine. Today marker based human motion analysis (HMA) is completely dominant in the clinical context. Technically, these systems are stable and dependable, and about a dozen variants are commercially available. One drawback of such systems is the time consuming and error prone marker placement. The purpose of the present contribution is to show that it is possible, with existing simple technology and methods, to build systems that do not depend on anatomically placed markers and yet produce an accuracy in knee joint center estimation comparable to marker based systems. It is shown that texture based methods can give estimates of knee joint center of rotation that can be compared to knee joint center estimates from marker based systems. Due to different definitions of the knee joint center position some bias is seen between the two estimates.     

Tribological performance of PBT/PC/TPE ternary polymer alloy

Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)/Polycarbonate (PC)/thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) ternary polymer alloy (TPA) is one of a new generation of PBT based polymer alloys with good thermal conductive, mechanical, and physical properties. TPA-59 was chosen as representative material factorially-de-signed experiment and has been studied, in the present work, to evaluate its potential as a tribological material. Its sliding, friction, and wear behaviour under unlubricated conditions was investigated with a pin-on-disc machine using various loads, sliding velocities, sliding distances, and disc surface roughnesses. The specific wear rates were found to be comparable to those of commercial materials currently used in bearings.     

The Role of Sulfur Dioxide in the Regulation of Mitochondrion-Related Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis in Rats with Isopropylarterenol-Induced Myocardial Injury

The authors investigated the regulatory effects of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) on myocardial injury induced by isopropylarterenol (ISO) hydrochloride and its mechanisms. Wistar rats were divided into four groups: control group, ISO group, ISO plus SO₂ group, and SO₂ only group. Cardiac function was measured and cardiomyocyte apoptosis was detected. Bcl-2, bax and cytochrome c (cytc) expressions, and caspase-9 and caspase-3 activities in the left ventricular tissues were examined in the rats. The opening status of myocardial mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) and membrane potential were analyzed. The results showed that ISO-treated rats developed heart dysfunction and cardiac injury. Furthermore, cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the left ventricular tissues was augmented, left ventricular tissue bcl-2 expression was down-regulated, bax expression was up-regulated, mitochondrial membrane potential was significantly reduced, MPTP opened, cytc release from mitochondrion into cytoplasm was significantly increased, and both caspase-9 and caspase-3 activities were increased. Administration of an SO₂ donor, however, markedly improved heart function and relieved myocardial injury of the ISO-treated rats; it lessened cardiomyocyte apoptosis, up-regulated myocardial bcl-2, down-regulated bax expression, stimulated mitochondrial membrane potential, closed MPTP, and reduced cytc release as well as caspase-9 and caspase-3 activities in the left ventricular tissue. Hence, SO₂ attenuated myocardial injury in association with the inhibition of apoptosis in myocardial tissues, and the bcl-2/cytc/caspase-9/caspase-3 pathway was possibly involved in this process.