Simulation of Dust Loaded V-I Characteristics of a Commercial Thermal Power Plant Precipitator

A new approach based on finite difference method, is proposed for the simulation of electrical conditions in a dc energized wire-duct electrostatic precipitator with and without dust loading. Simulated voltage-curren characteristics with and without dust loading were compared with the measured characteristics for analyzing the performance of a precipitator. The simple finite difference method gives sufficiently accurate results with reduced mesh size. The results for dust free simulation were validated with published experimental data. Further measurements were conducted at a thermal power plant in India and the results compares well with the measured ones.

Accountability for good faith in commercial dealing: The Carter v Boehm legacy 250 years on

In common law jurisdictions such as England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand good faith in contracting has long been recognised in specific areas of the law such as insurance law and franchising, and more recently the implied duties of good faith and mutual trust and convenience in employment contracts have generated a considerable volume of case law. Outside of these areas of law that may be characterised as being strongly‘relational’ in character,the courts in common law jurisdictions have been reluctant to embrace a more universal application of good faith in contracting and performance. However increasingly there are cases which support the proposition that there is a common law duty of good faith of general application to all commercial contracts. Most important in this context is the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Bhasin v Hrynew.1 However, this matter is by no means resolved in all common law jurisdictions. This article looks at the recent case law and literature and at various legislative incursions including statutes, codes of conduct and regulations impacting good faith in commercial dealings.

Muuttoliike ja vetovoimatekijät Helsingissä : - Kyselyaineiston analyysi

This thesis explores migration and the attractiveness of urban living in the Greater Helsinki region. The aim of the thesis is to explore the attractiveness of the city of Helsinki in terms of regional migration and to identify what characterizes migration to Helsinki. The study focuses in particular on housing, which is a key factor influencing migration decisions in the region. Other central themes in the study are housing policy and regional competition among municipalities. This study focuses solely on households moving within Finnish borders excluding international migration. Migration is examined by comparing in- and out-migration in Helsinki, as well as studying migration to the city s inner and outer areas. The primary research material in the study is a questionnaire data collected by the National Consumer Research Centre. In this thesis the data is used for studying migrants aged 25 45. The main research method is analyzing the data statistically using the SPSS software. Methods include frequency analysis, cross tabulation, factor analysis and descriptive analysis. Additionally, statistical data is used to complement the questionnaire data. The research results indicate that Helsinki s in- and out-migration differs both in terms of the type of households that migrate as well as in the reasons why they migrate. Furthermore, differences can also be detected between migration to the inner and outer parts of Helsinki. According to the research results, a household s current phase of life is crucial in determining where and why they move within the Greater Helsinki region. A household s set of values on the other hand, seems to have a lesser impact on migration within the region, even though households moving to Helsinki seem to value a somewhat more urban lifestyle than the ones moving out of the city. The research also shows a direct correlation between the values of migrants and their current phase of life. Decisions of migrating are heavily influenced by wider societal issues. In the Greater Helsinki region the labor and housing market appear to have a great influence on the direction of migration streams. According to the results, households move to and from Helsinki for different reasons. The primary reasons for moving to Helsinki are related to the city s diverse labor market and to the working careers of households. Issues related to urban living and an urban lifestyle seem to be relevant although not the main reason why people move to Helsinki. The research material indicates that Helsinki s urban environment is both a pull and a push factor affecting the decisions of migrants. The city attracts those seeking urban living, but on the contrary does not appeal to households seeking more space and wishing to live closer to nature. According to the research, Helsinki with its densely built urban environment mainly attracts singles and childless couples, whereas the city region s other municipalities are more attractive for families with children. Housing policy is one of the main reasons determining where people move within the Helsinki region. As for the city of Helsinki, improving the city s attractiveness seems to be closely linked to how well the city manages to execute its future housing policies and how well alternative living preferences can be taken into account in planning.

Nainen, mies, rakkaus, seksi : Heterosuhteen kulku, kulttuurinen malli ja sitä selittävät diskurssit kahden omaelämäkerta-aineiston valossa

The subject matter of this study is the cultural knowledge concerning romantic male-female relationships in autobiographies written by so called ordinary Finnish men and women born between 1901 and 1965. The research data (98 autobiographies) is selected from two collections by the Finnish Literature Society s folklore archives in the early 1990 s. Autobiographies are cultural representations where negotiation of shared cultural models and personal meanings given to hetero-relationship is evident in an interesting manner. In this research I analyze autobiographies as a written folklore genre. Information concerning male-female relationships is being analyzed using theoretically informed close readings thematic analysis, intertextual reading and reflexive reading. Theoretical implications stem from cognitive anthropology (the idea of cultural models) and an adaptation of discourse theory inspired by Michel Foucault. The structure of the analysis follows the structure of the shared knowledge concerning romantic male-female relationship: the first phase of analysis presents the script of a hetero-relationship and then moves into the actual structure, the cultural model of a relationship. The components of the model of relationship are, as mentioned in the title of the research, woman, man, love and sex. The research shows that all the writers share this basic knowledge concerning a heterosexual relationship despite their age, background or gender. Also the conflicts described and experienced in the relationships of the writers were similar throughout the timespan of the early 1900 s to 1990 s: lack of love, inability to reconcile sexual desires, housework, sharing the responsibility of childcare and financial problems. The research claims that the conflicts in relationships are a major cause for the binary view on gender. When relationships are harmonious, there seems to be no need to see men and women as opposites. The research names five important discourses present in the meaning giving processes of autobiographers. In doing so, the stabile cultural model of male-female relationship widens to show the complexity and variation in data. In this way it is possible to detect some age and gender specific shifts and emphasis. The discourses give meaning to the components of the cultural model and determine the contents of womanhood, manhood, sexuality and love. The way these discourses are spread and their authority are different: the romantic discourse evident in the autobiographies appeal to the authority of love supreme love is the purpose of male-female relationship and it justifies sexuality. In this discourse sex can be the place for confluence of genders. The ideas of romantic love are widely spread in popular culture. Popular scientific discourse defines a relationship as a site to become a man and a woman either from a psychological or a biological point of view. Genders are seen as opposites. These ideas are often presented in media and their authority in science which is seen as infallible. The Christian discourse defines men and women: both should work for the benefit of the nuclear family under the undisputed authority of God. Marital love is based on Christian virtues and within marriage sexuality is acceptable. The discourse I ve named folk tradition defines women and men as guardians of home and offspring. The authority of folk tradition comes from universal truth based in experience and truths known to the mediators of this discourse grandparents, parents and other elders or peers. Societal discourse defines the hetero relationship as the mainstay of society. The authority in societal discourse stems from the laws and regulations that control relationship practices.

Profligate Descent : The Cultural Transformations of Evolutionary Narrative

This dissertation traces a set of historical transformations the Darwinian evolutionary narrative has undergone toward the end of the twentieth century, especially as reflected in Anglo-American popular science books and novels. The study has three objectives. First, it seeks to understand the organizing logic of evolutionary narratives and the role that assumptions about gender and sexuality play in that logic. Second, it asks what kinds of cultural anxieties evolutionary theory raises and how evolutionary narratives negotiate them. Third, it examines the possibilities and limits of narrative transformation both as a historical phenomenon and as a theoretical question. This interdisciplinary dissertation is situated at the intersection of science studies, cultural studies, literary studies, and gender studies. Its understanding of science as a cultural practice that both emerges from and contributes to cultural expectations and institutional structures follows the tradition of science studies. Its focus on the question of popular appeal and the mechanisms of cultural change arises from cultural studies. Its view of narrative as a structural phenomenon is grounded in literary studies in general and feminist narrative theory in particular. Its understanding of gender and sexuality as implicated in discourses of epistemic authority builds on the view of gender and sexuality as contingent cultural categories central to gender studies. The primary material consists of over 25 British and American popular science books and novels, published roughly between 1990 and 2005. In order to highlight historical transformations, these texts are read in the context of Darwin s The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, on the one hand, and such sociobiological classics as E. O. Wilson s On Human Nature and Richard Dawkins s The Selfish Gene, on the other. The research method combines feminist narrative analysis with cultural and historical contextualization, emphasizing discursive abruptions, recurrent narrative patterns, and underlying continuities. The dissertation demonstrates that the relationship between Darwin s evolutionary narrative and late twentieth-century evolutionary narratives is characterized by reemphasis, omissions, and continuous rewriting. In particular, contemporary evolutionary discourse extends the role assigned to reproduction both sexual and narrative in Darwin s writing, generating a narrative logic that imagines the desire to reproduce as the driving force of evolution and posits the reproductive sex act as the endlessly repeated narrative event that keeps the story going. The study argues that the popular appeal of evolutionary accounts of gender, sexuality, and human nature may arise, to an extent, from this reproductive narrative dynamic. This narrative dynamic, however, is not logically invulnerable. Since the continuation of the evolutionary narrative relies on successful reproduction, the possibility of reproductive failure poses a constant risk to narrative futurity, arousing cultural anxieties that evolutionary narratives need to address. The study argues that evolutionary narratives appease such anxieties by evoking a range of cultural narratives, especially romantic, religious, and national narratives. Furthermore, the study shows that the event-based logic of evolutionary narratives privileges observable acts over emotions, pleasures, identities, and desires, thus engendering a set of conceptual exclusions that limits the imaginative scope of evolution as a cultural narrative.

Acceleration of ortho ester Claisen rearrangement by a commercial microwave oven

Microwave irradiation, using a commercial microwave oven accelerates (in 10–15 min) the three-step ortho ester Claisen rearrangement of allyl and propynyl alcohols in dry DMF in open Erlenmeyer flasks.

Constructing and negotiating entrepreneurial agency : A social psychological approach to entrepreneurship discourse in the farm context

Entrepreneurship, understood as the autonomous, effective pursuit of opportunities regardless of resources, is currently subject to a multitude of interests, expectations, and facilitation efforts. On the one hand, such entrepreneurial agency has broad appeal to individuals in Western market democracies and resonates with their longing for an autonomous, personally tailored, meaningful, and materially rewarding way of life. On the other hand, entrepreneurship represents a tempting and increasingly popular means of governance and policy making, and thus a model for the re-organization of a variety of societal sectors. This study focuses on the diffusion and reception of entrepreneurship discourse in the context of farming and agriculture, where pressures to adopt entrepreneurial orientations have been increasingly pronounced while, on the other hand, the context of farming has historically enjoyed state protection and adhered to principles that seem at odds with aspects of individualistic entrepreneurship discourse . The study presents an interpretation of the psychologically and politically appealing uses of the notion of entrepreneurial agency , reviews the historical and political background of the current situation of farming and agriculture with regard to entrepreneurship, and examines their relationships in four empirical studies. The study follows and develops a social psychological, situated relational approach that guides the qualitative analyses and interpretations of the empirical studies. Interviews with agents from the farm sector aim to stimulate evaluative responses and comments on the idea of entrepreneurship on farms. Analysis of the interview talk, in turn, detects the variety of evaluative responses and argumentative contexts with which the interviewees relate themselves to the entrepreneurship discourse and adopt, use, resist, or reject it. The study shows that despite the pressures towards entrepreneurialism, the diffusion of entrepreneurship discourse and the construction of entrepreneurial agency in farm context encounter many obstacles. These obstacles can be variably related to aspects dealing with the individual agent, the action situation, the characteristics of the action itself, or to the broader social, institutional and cultural context. Many aspects of entrepreneurial agency, such as autonomy, personal initiative and achievement orientation, are nevertheless familiar to farmers and are eagerly related to one s own farming activities. The idea of entrepreneurship is thus rarely rejected outright. The findings highlight the relational and situational preconditions for the construction of entrepreneurial agency in the farm context: When agents demonstrate entrepreneurial agency, they do so by drawing on available and accessed relational resources characteristic of their action context. Likewise, when agents fail or are reluctant to demonstrate entrepreneurial agency, they nevertheless actively account for their situation and demonstrate personal agency by drawing on the relational resources available to them.

The Commercial Structure of Pedestrian Streets and Shopping Districts - Three Cases from Finland

Kävelykadut ovat tunnustettu tapa elävöittää keskusta-alueiden kauppaa. Aluksi moni kauppias epäilee kävelykadun tuomia muutoksia, mutta kokemus osoittaa, että kävelykadut ovat olleet menestyksekkäitä ja nostavat siellä olevien yritysten myyntiä. Jotkut yritykset eivät kuitenkin hyödy kävelykaduista, kun taas toiset hyötyvät paljon kun katu muuttuu kävelykaduksi. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma tutkii kävelykatujen kaupallista rakennetta, jotta saataisiin selville minkätyyppiset yritykset löytyvät kävelykadulta. Tuloksia verrataan sen kaupallisen keskusvyöhykkeen kaupalliseen rakenteeseen missä kävelykatu sijaitsee. Näin saadaan selville erot kaupallisessa rakenteessa. Pro gradu tutkii myös miten tavallisia ketjuyritykset ovat kävelykaduilla ja kaupallisissa keskusvyöhykkeissä. Tutkimusaineisto koottiin kaupallisen inventoinnin avulla, joka suoritettiin kolmessa suomalaisessa kaupungissa: Tammisaaressa, Keravalla ja Porissa. Saatu aineisto luokiteltiin ja tulokset piirrettiin kartalle. Perustilastollisia menetelmiä käytettiin tulosten analysoimisessa. Tulokset eriteltiin kävelykadun, kauppakeskusten ja muiden paikkojen osalta ja luokiteltiin yleisluokkiin vähittäiskauppa, ravintola ja muu palvelu. Tulokset näyttävät, että on olemassa selkeitä eroja kun vertaa kävelykatuja ja kaupallisia keskusvyöhykkeitä. Kävelykaduilla on paljon enemmän vähittäiskauppoja, etenkin muotikauppoja, kuin muilla kaduilla. Kauppakeskuksilla on samantapainen kaupallinen rakenne kuin kävelykaduilla kun taas muilla kaduilla esiintyy vähemmän vähittäiskauppoja ja enemmän palveluyrityksiä. Ravintolat ovat melkein yhtä tavallisia koko kaupallisessa keskusvyöhykkeessä. Ketjuyritysten osalta tulokset ovat epäselviä. On olemassa osviittaa siitä, että ne ovat tavallisempia kävelykaduilla, etenkin suurissa kaupungeissa. Saatua tulosta ei ole kuitenkin tarpeeksi, jotta varmaa tietoa olisi saatu. Viimeisten 10–15 vuoden ajan Suomen kävelykadut ovat muuttuneet enemmän ravintolavaltaisiksi muiden palveluiden kustannuksella. Vähittäiskauppojen määrä on pysynyt vakaana. Suomalaiset kävelykadut eroavat kaupalliselta rakenteeltaan pohjoismaisista kävelykaduista, joilla on enemmän vähittäiskauppoja ja vähemmän palveluyrityksiä. Tapauskohtaisissa tuloksissa esiintyy paljon eroavaisuuksia. Paikalliset tekijät ovat usein voimakkaampia kuin yleiset teoriat kauppojen sijainnista kävelykaduilla. Yleisesti ottaen tulokset tukevat teoreettista viitekehystä. Tulokset antavat tarkempaa tietoa kävelykatujen ja kaupallisten keskusvyöhykkeiden kaupallisesta rakenteesta ja siitä, mitkä tekijät tähän vaikuttaa.

Influence of initial texture on the microstructural instabilities during compression of commercial ?-Titanium at 25 °C to 400 °C

Cylindrical specimens of textured commercial pure alpha-titanium plate, cut with the cylinder axis along the rolling direction for one set of experiments and in the long transverse direction for the other set, were compressed at strain rates in the range of 0.001 to 100 s-1 and temperatures in the range of 25-degrees-C to 400-degrees-C. At strain rates greater-than-or-equal-to 1 s-1, both sets of specimens exhibited adiabatic shear bands, but the intensity of shear bands was found to be higher in the rolling direction specimens than in the long transverse direction specimens. At strain rates -0.1 s-1, the material deformed in a microstructurally inhomogeneous fashion. For the rolling direction specimens, cracking was observed at 100-degrees-C and at strain rates -0.1 s-1. This is attributed to dynamic strain aging. Such cracking was not observed in the long transverse specimens. The differences in the intensity of adiabatic shear bands and that of dynamic strain aging between the two sets of test specimens are attributed to the strong crystallographic texture present in these plates.

Electrochemical Determination of L-Dopa in Mucuna pruriens Seeds, Leaves and Commercial Siddha Product Using Gold Modified Pencil Graphite Electrode

In the present work a gold modified pencil graphite electrode (GPGE) was used for the determination of L-dopa present in the aqueous extracts of Mucuna pruriens seeds (MPS), Mucuna pruriens leaves (MPL) and Commercial Siddha Product (CSP). The GPGE shows excellent electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of both L-dopa and ascorbic acid (AA), with the separation of peak potential of 98 mV. The differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) results indicated that the detection limit for L-dopa was 1.54 mu M (S/N=3). This method can be successfully applied for the determination of L-dopa in real samples.

Synthesis and Microstructure of Laser Surface Alloyed Al–Sn–Si Layer on Commercial Aluminum Substrate

A new type of bearing alloy containing ultrafine sized tin and silicon dispersions in aluminum was designed using laser surface alloying and laser remelting techniques. The microstructures of these non-equilibrium processed alloys were studied in detail using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The microstructures revealed three distinct morphologies of tin particles namely elongated particles co-existing with silicon, globular particles, and very fine particles. Our detailed analyses using cellular growth theories showed that the formation of these globular tin particles was due to the pinching off of the tin rich liquid in the inter-cellular space by the growth of aluminum secondary dendrite arms. Evidence of fine recrystallized aluminum grains at the top layer due to constrained solidification was shown. Thermal analyses suggested that melting of the spherical shaped tin particles was controlled by the binary aluminum-tin eutectic reaction, whereas non-spherical tin particles melted via the tin-silicon eutectic reaction.