An investigation of governance frameworks for public projects in Norway and the UK

This paper describes four case studies which formed a key part of an investigation into public investment project governance frameworks in Norway and the UK. The studies looked at how the embedded governance principles worked out in practice, how they affected PM, and how consistent their effects were with their aims. Conclusion is made about the actual effects of the frameworks, and various areas for improvement or further study are highlighted.     

Reference values of the chronoamperometric response at cylindrical and capped cylindrical electrodes

This work provides accurate solutions of the cylinder flux function I(0,1;T), first solved by Jaeger and Clarke, which can serve as reference values for electrochemical amperometric diffusion limited currents at a cylinder, as well as heat fluxes under equivalent conditions (fixed temperature at the cylinder surface). For the capped cylinder of varying lengths, reference values of time-dependent electrochemical currents are provided. Steady state currents at capped cylinders are presented and a function is provided that fits the simulated values to within 1%. All of these are more accurate than in previous works.     

A constructive speed observer design for general Euler–Lagrange systems

Astolfi, Ortega, and Venkatraman (2010) recently proved the existence of a globally exponentially convergent speed observer for general Euler–Lagrange systems. Key to their result, is a function defined by certain integrals which cannot be solved a priori, and may not have explicit analytic solutions. In this paper, this obstacle to a constructive design is removed and equations that solve the speed observer problem are given in closed form. The design is further simplified by removing up to one third of the observer states used in Astolfi et al. (2010). With the significant reduction in complexity, the new observer is easily applied to estimate the angular velocities in a Furuta pendulum example.     

Supercritical wood impregnation

The use of supercritical fluids for delivering biocides into wood and wood composites is an attractive technique because of the high penetration capacity of these solvents compared to the liquids used in conventional treatment methods. During the past two decades supercritical wood impregnation has moved from lab scale to commercial scale.This review presents an overview of the main research efforts that has been carried out within the field of supercritical wood impregnation. Results and conclusions of research within four main categories, i.e. (1) effects of impregnation on physical properties of samples, (2) retention and distribution of biocide in impregnated samples, (3) biological performance of impregnated samples, and (4) mathematical modeling of supercritical impregnation are reviewed and discussed.     

Load and health monitoring in glass fibre reinforced composites with an electrically conductive nanocomposite epoxy matrix

Fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) are an important group of materials in lightweight constructions. Most of the parts produced from FRPs, like aircraft wings or wind turbine rotor blades are designed for high load levels and a lifetime of 30 years or more, leading to an extremely high number of load cycles to sustain. Consequently, the fatigue life and the degradation of the mechanical properties are aspects to be considered. Therefore, in the last years condition monitoring of FRP-structures has gained importance and different types of sensors for load and damage sensing have been developed.

In this work a new approach for condition monitoring was investigated, which, unlike other attempts, does not require additional sensors, but instead is performed directly by the measurement of a material property of the FRP. An epoxy resin was modified with two different types of carbon nanotubes and with carbon black, in order to achieve an electrical conductivity. Glass fibre reinforced composites (GFRP) were produced with these modified epoxies by resin transfer moulding (RTM). Specimens were cut from the produced materials and tested by incremental tensile tests and fatigue tests and the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) was measured. During the mechanical tests the electrical conductivity of all specimens was monitored simultaneously, to assess the potential for stress/strain and damage monitoring.

The results presented in this work, show a high potential for both, damage and load detection of FRP structures via electrical conductivity methods, involving a nanocomposite matrix.     

Cofiring coal and straw in a 150 MWe power boiler experiences

In 1995 ELSAM/MIDTKRAFT equipped the 150 MW_e pulverised coal-fired Studstrup power station, unit 1, for a technology demonstration cofiring of coal and straw. The conversion consisted of establishing a straw pre-processing plant and modifying the burner system. After plant commissioning in January 1996, a 2-year demonstration program was initiated. The objective of the program was to evaluate the influence of cofiring on boiler plant performance, combustion chemistry, heat surface deposits and corrosion, residue quality, emissions, and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. This paper presents the plant conversion and results from the demonstration period.     

Study of sialated neoglycoconjugates by surface enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy

Neoglycoconjugates based on polyacrylamide and sialic acid with N-acetylneuraminic acid or sialooligosaccharides as side chains were studied by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. It had previously been found that these polymers can effectively inhibit influenza virus adhesion. This study revealed the possibility to evaluate, based on the intensity of SERS signals, the overall availability for interaction and the conformational freedom of sialic acid residues in glycoconjugates. The dependence of these two factors on the structure and density of sialylated side chains was studied. The uniformity of distribution of sialylated side chains in conjugates was shown. Comparison of the results of the SERS spectroscopic study of the conjugates and the data on their inhibitory effect on the adhesion of specific strains of influenza virus allowed the identification of the conjugates for which the availability and conformational freedom of sialic acid are the main factors determining their inhibitory properties. A conclusion was also reached about the predominance of one of the mechanisms (competitive inhibition or steric stabilization) in the inhibitory properties of the specific conjugates.     

A new spd tight-binding model of magnetism in transition metals

We present the extension of an efficient spd tight-binding model to the case of spin polarized materials by including electron–electron interactions, in an extended Hubbard–Hartree–Fock formalism. It is applied with success to rhodium and palladium clusters and slabs.     

丹麦区域供热水处理标准简介

在丹麦，许多区域供热系统都曾经有过由于有垢形成或由于腐蚀而造成的管道破坏及能源损失，这是由于水处理不充分或缺乏水处理造成的。当原有的区域供热系统被更新的时候，在某些部位需要修理之前将水处理水平提高通常是非常重要的。因为只有水质符合要求我们才能使系统能使用更长时间。１９８８年，ＤａｎｓｋｅＦｊｅｒｖａｒｍｅｖｅｒｋｅｒｓＦｏｒｅｎ－ｉｎｇ（丹麦区域供热协会）为适应发展需要提供了如今丹麦区域供热系统应用的给水和循环水的建议。这些标准应用的温度范围为３５℃至１８０℃，而且必须强调的是系统中不能有铝材存…     

Projecting demand and supply of forest biomass for heating in Norway

This paper assesses the increase in demand and supply for forest biomass for heating in Norway in 2020. By then there is a political aim to double the national production of bioenergy from the level in 2008. The competitiveness of woody biomass in central and district heating is analyzed in a model selecting the least-cost heating technology and scale in municipalities given a set of constraints and under different fuels price scenarios. The supply of forest biomass from roundwood is estimated based on data of forest inventories combined with elasticities regarding price and standing volumes. The supply of biomass from harvesting residues is estimated in an engineering approach based on data from the national forest inventories and roundwood harvest. The results show how the production of bioenergy is affected by changes in energy prices and support schemes for bioenergy. One conclusion from the analyses is that the government target of 14 TWh more bioenergy by 2020 is not likely to be met by current technologies and policy incentives. The contribution of the analysis is the detailed presentation of the heat market potentials and technology choices combined with supply functions for both roundwood and harvesting residues.