Microclimate and ventilation in Estonian and Finnish dairy buildings

A series of ventilation, thermal and indoor air quality measurements were performed in 14 different dairy buildings in Estonia and Finland. The number of animals in the buildings varied from 30 to 600. Measurements were made all year round with ambient temperatures ranging between −40 °C and +30 °C. The results showed that microclimatic conditions in the dairy buildings were affected by the design of the building, outside temperature, wind, ventilation and manure handling method. The average inside air concentration of carbon dioxide was 950 ppm, ammonia 5 ppm, methane 48 ppm, relative humidity 70% and inside air velocity was 0.2 m/s. Although occasionally exceeded, the ventilation and average indoor air quality in the dairy buildings were mainly within the recommended limits.     

Emotional scenes in peripheral vision: Selective orienting and gist processing, but not content identification.

Emotional-neutral pairs of visual scenes were presented peripherally (with their inner edges 5.2° away from fixation) as primes for 150 to 900 ms, followed by a centrally presented recognition probe scene, which was either identical in specific content to one of the primes or related in general content and affective valence. Results indicated that (a) if no foveal fixations on the primes were allowed, the false alarm rate for emotional probes was increased; (b) hit rate and sensitivity (A') were higher for emotional than for neutral probes only when a fixation was possible on only one prime; and (c) emotional scenes were more likely to attract the first fixation than neutral scenes. It is concluded that the specific content of emotional or neutral scenes is not processed in peripheral vision. Nevertheless, a coarse impression of emotional scenes may be extracted, which then leads to selective attentional orienting or--in the absence of overt attention--causes false alarms for related probes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of 5G as an ambient signal for outdoor backscattering communications

Wireless Networks - The aim of this article is to evaluate the applicability of 5G technology as a possible ambient signal for backscattering communications (AmBC). This evaluation considers both...     

The effect of water‐soluble polymers on rheology of microfibrillar cellulose suspension and dynamic mechanical properties of paper sheet

Rheological properties of fiber/polymer suspensions and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of paper sheets containing the same polymers were measured. Correlations between viscoelastic properties of suspensions and strength of paper sheet are presented. Rheological properties of suspensions of microfibrillar cellulose (MFC) and a set of water soluble polymers were measured. Rheological properties of these complex fluids vary considerably depending on the added polymer. A suspension of fiber and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) exhibits a viscosity higher than the sum of the viscosity of the individual components in the suspension. In contrast, when cationic starch (CS) is used together with the fiber, the yielding behavior rather than the viscosity is characteristic of the suspension. Dynamic mechanical properties of paper sheets containing CMC or CS as additives were studied at different humidity levels. Different yielding behavior observed in oscillatory rheology can be correlated with straining behavior in dynamic mechanical properties. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Resin Bonding to Silicatized Zirconia with Two Isocyanatosilanes and a Cross-linking Silane. Part I: Experimental

In this paper we discuss and interpret the results of shear bond strengths achieved after the use of two silane coupling agents with isocyanato functionality, viz. 3-isocyanatopropyltrimethoxysilane and 3-isocyanatopropyltriethoxysilane. The silanes were used alone and also blended with a non-functional cross-linking silane on silicatized zirconia before light-curing of resin stubs on the surface, as described elsewhere in the first part of our study (see “Part I: Experimental”). A series of reaction mechanisms and conceptual diagrams are also presented. The reaction mechanisms illustrating the effect of adding a cross-linking silane into a silane blend, the silane hydrolysis and the behavior of two organofunctional groups (isocyanate and alkene) of silanes upon reaction with Rely X Unicem Aplicap resin-composite cement are discussed in detail.     

In preparation towards future cellular networks: the detailed analysis of macro and micro site densification and sector densification

The next generation of cellular networks is expected to provide huge capacity, and site densification is one of the possible solution to increase the network capacity. The target of this paper is to show the impact of macro/micro site densification and higher order sectorization on signal strength, signal quality and throughput in LTE network. It also highlights the impact of site and sector densification on the cell overlapping and cell border areas. A detailed techno-economical analysis along with area power consumption and area spectral efficiency is also provided in this paper. In site densification, the intersite distance (ISD) between the base station sites is decreased, which results in strong inter cell interference. The results presented in this paper show that the spectral efficiency of the cell decreases with the site densification. However, the average area spectral efficiency increases due to a larger number of cells in the densified network. At the same time the number of cell border users overlapped by multiple servers also increases with the site and sector densification. It is shown that in one square kilometer, increasing the number of cells from 14 (3-sector site with 500 m ISD) to 693 (6-sector site with 100 m ISD) relatively improves the area spectral efficiency by 24.5 times at the cost of 49.5 times more number of cells. Almost identical power efficiency is provided with 3-, and 6-sector site. However, a higher order sectored site was found to be more cost efficient.     

Kinematic Coagulation of Charged Droplets in an Alternating Electric Field

An analytic-numerical model has been developed to study kinematic coagulation caused by the vibrational motion of charged particles in an alternating electric field. The primary aim of this study was to find out the reduction in the number concentration of fine particles of diameter 0.1 μm-1.0 μm caused by collisions with larger, supermicron particles. Three cases are considered: (1) unipolar charging, (2) fine particles are neutral, and (3) fine particles and large particles have opposite polarity. We find out that in cases 1 and 2 the rate of kinematic coagulation in negligible and in case 3 significant. The results are demonstrated with two sample calculations with total mass loadings of 2 and 20 g/m³. In the former, where the mass median diameter is 3.0 μm, we discover a 20%-50% reduction in number concentration of particles in the range 0.5–1.0 μm and less significant reduction in smaller particles. The latter (MMD = 6.0 μm) represents power plant conditions. In this case the reduction varies from 10% (0.1 μm) to 95% (1.0 μm).     

CONDEBELT BOARD AND PAPER DRYING

Abstract

The history of development of the Condebelt process is outlined. The functioning principle of the various types of existing or proposed Condebelt dryers is clarified

Condebelt drying, being a type of press drying, imparts certain quality characteristics, due to the simultaneous high z-pressure and high temperature in the presence of moisture, to the web. Some typical quality characteristics of Condebelt-dried sheets are presented for some usual paper and board grades. The web strength values of densified Condebelt-dried sheets are usually much higher than those of conventionally dried sheets. This is mostly due to the much enlarged contact areas between flattened fibers, and to the flow of surface hemicellulose and lignin under the Condebelt drying conditions. In particular, wet strength values, as well as dimensional stability under changing environmental humidity conditions, are very much improved     

Determination of organic silicon compounds in biogas from wastewater treatments plants,landfills, and co-digestion plants

The study determined the organic silicon compounds in biogases from landfills, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and biogas plants processing different organic material. The aim was to provide information for gas utilisation applications, as siloxanes are reported to shorten the life time of engines when biogas is used for energy production. In total, 48 samples were measured. The total concentration of organic silicon compounds in landfill and WWTP gases varied from 77 to 2460 μg/m³ while the concentrations in biogases from biogas plants varied from 24 to 820 μg/m³. The total concentration of organic silicon compounds was lowest (24 μg/m³) in the biogas plant processing grass and maize, and highest (2460 μg/m³) in one of the studied WWTP. The most common compounds in WWTPs and in biogas plants processing also sewage sludge were D4 and D5 while in landfills the most common compounds were D4 and L2 followed by trimethyl silanol. The effect of condensation of biogas on concentrations of organic silicon compounds was studied in one of the landfills and a negligible effect on concentrations was detected.     

Almost Stable Matchings by Truncating the Gale–Shapley Algorithm

We show that the ratio of matched individuals to blocking pairs grows linearly with the number of propose–accept rounds executed by the Gale–Shapley algorithm for the stable marriage problem. Consequently, the participants can arrive at an almost stable matching even without full information about the problem instance; for each participant, knowing only its local neighbourhood is enough. In distributed-systems parlance, this means that if each person has only a constant number of acceptable partners, an almost stable matching emerges after a constant number of synchronous communication rounds.