Hot tool temperature analysis though infrared images

Textile manufacture occupies a prominent place in the national economy. Because of its importance researches have been made on the development of new materials, equipment and methods used in the production process. The cutting of textiles starts in the basic stage, to be followed by the process of the making of clothes and other articles. In the hot cutting of fabric, one of the variables of great importance in the control of the process is the contact temperature between the tool and the fabric. This work presents a technique for the measurement of the temperature based on the processing of infrared images. With this purpose, it was developed a system which is composed of an infrared camera, a framegrabber PC board and a software which analyses the punctual temperature in the cut area enabling the operator to achieve the necessary control of other variables involved in the process.

Spatial multicriteria decision analysis for the siting of on-shore wind power in Kemiönsaari

Wind power is a low-carbon energy production form that reduces the dependence of society on fossil fuels. Finland has adopted wind energy production into its climate change mitigation policy, and that has lead to changes in legislation, guidelines, regional wind power areas allocation and establishing a feed-in tariff. Wind power production has indeed boosted in Finland after two decades of relatively slow growth, for instance from 2010 to 2011 wind energy production increased with 64 %, but there is still a long way to the national goal of 6 TWh by 2020. This thesis introduces a GIS-based decision-support methodology for the preliminary identification of suitable areas for wind energy production including estimation of their level of risk. The goal of this study was to define the least risky places for wind energy development within Kemiönsaari municipality in Southwest Finland. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA) has been used for searching suitable wind power areas along with many other location-allocation problems. SMCDA scrutinizes complex ill-structured decision problems in GIS environment using constraints and evaluation criteria, which are aggregated using weighted linear combination (WLC). Weights for the evaluation criteria were acquired using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with nine expert interviews. Subsequently, feasible alternatives were ranked in order to provide a recommendation and finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for the determination of recommendation robustness. The first study aim was to scrutinize the suitability and necessity of existing data for this SMCDA study. Most of the available data sets were of sufficient resolution and quality. Input data necessity was evaluated qualitatively for each data set based on e.g. constraint coverage and attribute weights. Attribute quality was estimated mainly qualitatively by attribute comprehensiveness, operationality, measurability, completeness, decomposability, minimality and redundancy. The most significant quality issue was redundancy as interdependencies are not tolerated by WLC and AHP does not include measures to detect them. The third aim was to define the least risky areas for wind power development within the study area. The two highest ranking areas were Nordanå-Lövböle and Påvalsby followed by Helgeboda, Degerdal, Pungböle, Björkboda, and Östanå-Labböle. The fourth aim was to assess the recommendation reliability, and the top-ranking two areas proved robust whereas the other ones were more sensitive.

Machine vision methods for process measurements in pulping

The papermaking industry has been continuously developing intelligent solutions to characterize the raw materials it uses, to control the manufacturing process in a robust way, and to guarantee the desired quality of the end product. Based on the much improved imaging techniques and image-based analysis methods, it has become possible to look inside the manufacturing pipeline and propose more effective alternatives to human expertise. This study is focused on the development of image analyses methods for the pulping process of papermaking. Pulping starts with wood disintegration and forming the fiber suspension that is subsequently bleached, mixed with additives and chemicals, and finally dried and shipped to the papermaking mills. At each stage of the process it is important to analyze the properties of the raw material to guarantee the product quality. In order to evaluate properties of fibers, the main component of the pulp suspension, a framework for fiber characterization based on microscopic images is proposed in this thesis as the first contribution. The framework allows computation of fiber length and curl index correlating well with the ground truth values. The bubble detection method, the second contribution, was developed in order to estimate the gas volume at the delignification stage of the pulping process based on high-resolution in-line imaging. The gas volume was estimated accurately and the solution enabled just-in-time process termination whereas the accurate estimation of bubble size categories still remained challenging. As the third contribution of the study, optical flow computation was studied and the methods were successfully applied to pulp flow velocity estimation based on double-exposed images. Finally, a framework for classifying dirt particles in dried pulp sheets, including the semisynthetic ground truth generation, feature selection, and performance comparison of the state-of-the-art classification techniques, was proposed as the fourth contribution. The framework was successfully tested on the semisynthetic and real-world pulp sheet images. These four contributions assist in developing an integrated factory-level vision-based process control.

Additional revenue opportunities in pulp mills and their impacts on the kraft process

Although the concept of multi-products biorefinery provides an opportunity to meet the future demands for biofuels, biomaterials or chemicals, it is not assured that its implementation would improve the profitability of kraft pulp mills. The attractiveness will depend on several factors such as mill age and location, government incentives, economy of scale, end user requirements, and how much value can be added to the new products. In addition, the effective integration of alternative technologies is not straightforward and has to be carefully studied. In this work, detailed balances were performed to evaluate possible impacts that lignin removal, hemicelluloses recovery prior to pulping, torrefaction and pyrolysis of wood residues cause on the conventional mill operation. The development of mill balances was based on theoretical fundamentals, practical experience, literature review, personal communication with technology suppliers and analysis of mill process data. Hemicelluloses recovery through pre-hydrolysis of chips leads to impacts in several stages of the kraft process. Effects can be observed on the pulping process, wood consumption, black liquor properties and, inevitably, on the pulp quality. When lignin is removed from black liquor, it will affect mostly the chemical recovery operation and steam generation rate. Since mineral acid is used to precipitate the lignin, impacts on the mill chemical balance are also expected. A great advantage of processing the wood residues for additional income results from the fact that the pulping process, pulp quality and sales are not harmfully affected. For pulp mills interested in implementing the concept of multi-products biorefinery, this work has indicated possible impacts to be considered in a technical feasibility study.

CTQ process flow development and the impact for cost of quality

Tämä työ tehtiin Kone Industrial Oy:lle Major Projects yksikköön, laatuosastolle. Kone Major Projects yksikkö keskittyy erikoisiin ja suuriin hissi- ja liukuporras projekteihin. Työn tavoitteena oli luoda harmonisoitu prosessi hissikomponenttien laaduntarkkailua varten sekä tarkastella ja vertailla kustannussäästöjä, jota tällä uudella prosessilla voidaan saavuttaa. Tavoitteena oli saavuttaa 80-prosentin kustannussäästöt laatukustannuksissa uuden laatuprosessin avulla. Työn taustana ja tutkimusongelmana ovat lisääntyneet erikoisprojektit ja niiden myötä lisääntynyt laaduntarkkailun tarve. Ongelmana laaduntarkkailussa voitiin pitää harmonisoidun ja selkeän prosessin puuttumista C-prosessikomponenttien valmistuksessa. Lisäksi kehitysprosessin aikana luotiin vanhojen työkalujen pohjalta keskeinen laaduntarkkailutyökalu, CTQ-työkalu. Työssä käsitellään ensin Konetta yhtiönä ja selvitetään Koneen keskeisimmät prosessit työn taustaksi. Teoria osuudessa käsitellään prosessin kehitykseen liittyviä teorioita sekä yleisiä laatukäsitteitä ja esitetään teorioita laadun asemasta nykypäivänä. Lopuksi käsitellään COQ eli laatukustannusten teoriaa ja esitellään teoria PAF-analyysille, jota käytetään työssä laatukustannusten vertailuun case esimerkin avulla. Työssä kuvataan CTQ prosessin luominen alusta loppuun ja case esimerkin avulla testataan uutta CTQ prosessia pilottihankkeessa. Tässä case esimerkissä projektin bracket eli johdekiinnitysklipsi tuotetaan uuden laatuprosessin avulla sekä tehdään kustannusvertailu saman projektin toisen bracketin kanssa, joka on tuotettu ennen uuden laatuprosessin implementoimista. Työn lopputuloksena CTQ prosessi saatiin luotua ja sitä pystyttiin testaamaan käytännössä case esimerkin avulla. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että CTQ prosessin käyttö vähentää laatukustannuksia huomattavasti ja helpottaa laadunhallintaa C-prosessikomponenttien tuotannossa.

PDM system functions and utilizations analysis to improve efficiency of sheet metal product design and manufacturing

This study will concentrate on Product Data Management (PDM) systems, and sheet metal design features and classification. In this thesis, PDM is seen as an individual system which handles all product-related data and information. The meaning of relevant data is to take the manufacturing process further with fewer errors. The features of sheet metals are giving more information and value to the designed models. The possibility of implementing PDM and sheet metal features recognition are the core of this study. Their integration should make the design process faster and manufacturing-friendly products easier to design. The triangulation method is the basis for this research. The sections of this triangle are: scientific literature review, interview using the Delphi method and the author’s experience and observations. The main key findings of this study are: (1) the area of focus in triangle (the triangle of three different point of views: business, information exchange and technical) depends on the person’s background and their role in the company, (2) the classification in the PDM system (and also in the CAD system) should be done using the materials, tools and machines that are in use in the company and (3) the design process has to be more effective because of the increase of industrial production, sheet metal blank production and the designer’s time spent on actual design and (4) because Design For Manufacture (DFM) integration can be done with CAD-programs, DFM integration with the PDM system should also be possible.

The Role of networks in the internationalization process of Finnish design companies

Finnish design has attracted global attention lately and companies within the industry have potential in international markets. Because networks have been found to be extremely helpful in a firm’s international business operations and usefulness of networks is not fully exploited, their role in Finnish design companies is investigated. Accordingly, this study concentrates on understanding the role of networks in the internationalization process of Finnish design companies. This was investigated through describing the internationalization process of Finnish design companies, analyzing what kind of networks are related to internationalization process of Finnish design companies, and analyzing how networks are utilized in the internationalization process of Finnish design companies. The theoretical framework explores the Finnish design industry, internationalization process and networks. The Finnish design industry is introduced in general and the concept of design is defined to refer to the industries of textiles, furniture, clothing, and lighting equipment in the research. The theories of internationalization process, the Uppsala model and Luostarinen’s operation modes, are explored in detail. The Born Global theory, which is a contrary view to stage models, is also discussed. The concept of network is investigated, networks are classified into business and social networks, and network approach to internationalization is discussed. The research is conducted empirically and the research method is a descriptive case study. In this study, four case companies are investigated: the interior decoration unit of L-Fashion Group, Globe Hope, Klo Design, and Melaja Ltd. Data is collected by semi-structured interviews and the analysis is done in the following way: the case companies are introduced, their internationalization processes and networks are described and, finally, the comparison of the case companies is done in a form of cross-case analysis. This research showed that cooperation with social networks, such as locals or employees who have experience from the target market can be extremely helpful in the beginning of a Finnish design company’s internationalization process. This study also indicated that public organizations do not necessarily enhance the internationalization process in a design company point-of-view. In addition, the research showed that there is cooperation between small Finnish design companies whereas large design companies are not as open to cooperation with competitors.

Target audience analysis in cyber domain

This thesis aims to find an effective way of conducting a target audience analysis (TAA) in cyber domain. There are two main focal points that are addressed; the nature of the cyber domain and the method of the TAA. Of the cyber domain the object is to find the opportunities, restrictions and caveats that result from its digital and temporal nature. This is the environment in which the TAA method is examined in this study. As the TAA is an important step of any psychological operation and critical to its success, the method used must cover all the main aspects affecting the choice of a proper target audience. The first part of the research was done by sending an open-ended questionnaire to operators in the field of information warfare both in Finland and abroad. As the results were inconclusive, the research was completed by assessing the applicability of United States Army Joint Publication FM 3-05.301 in the cyber domain via a theory-based content analysis. FM 3- 05.301 was chosen because it presents a complete method of the TAA process. The findings were tested against the results of the questionnaire and new scientific research in the field of psychology. The cyber domain was found to be “fast and vast”, volatile and uncontrollable. Although governed by laws to some extent, the cyber domain is unpredictable by nature and not controllable to reasonable amount. The anonymity and lack of verification often present in the digital channels mean that anyone can have an opinion, and any message sent may change or even be counterproductive to the original purpose. The TAA method of the FM 3-05.301 is applicable in the cyber domain, although some parts of the method are outdated and thus suggested to be updated if used in that environment. The target audience categories of step two of the process were replaced by new groups that exist in the digital environment. The accessibility assessment (step eight) was also redefined, as in the digital media the mere existence of a written text is typically not enough to convey the intended message to the target audience. The scientific studies made in computer sciences and both in psychology and sociology about the behavior of people in social media (and overall in cyber domain) call for a more extensive remake of the TAA process. This falls, however, out of the scope of this work. It is thus suggested that further research should be carried out in search of computer-assisted methods and a more thorough TAA process, utilizing the latest discoveries of human behavior. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on löytää tehokas tapa kohdeyleisöanalyysin tekemiseksi kybertoimintaympäristössä. Työssä keskitytään kahteen ilmiöön: kybertoimintaympäristön luonteeseen ja kohdeyleisöanalyysin metodiin. Kybertoimintaympäristön osalta tavoitteena on löytää sen digitaalisesta ja ajallisesta luonteesta juontuvat mahdollisuudet, rajoitteet ja sudenkuopat. Tämä on se ympäristö jossa kohdeyleisöanalyysiä tarkastellaan tässä työssä. Koska kohdeyleisöanalyysi kuuluu olennaisena osana jokaiseen psykologiseen operaatioon ja on onnistumisen kannalta kriittinen tekijä, käytettävän metodin tulee pitää sisällään kaikki oikean kohdeyleisön valinnan kannalta merkittävät osa-alueet. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä vaiheessa lähetettiin avoin kysely informaatiosodankäynnin ammattilaisille Suomessa ja ulkomailla. Koska kyselyn tulokset eivät olleet riittäviä johtopäätösten tekemiseksi, tutkimusta jatkettiin tarkastelemalla Yhdysvaltojen armeijan kenttäohjesäännön FM 3-05.301 soveltuvuutta kybertoimintaympäristössä käytettäväksi teorialähtöisen sisällönanalyysin avulla. FM 3-05.301 valittiin koska se sisältää kokonaisvaltaisen kohdeyleisöanalyysiprosessin. Havaintoja verrattiin kyselytutkimuksen tuloksiin ja psykologian uusiin tutkimuksiin. Kybertoimintaympäristö on tulosten perusteella nopea ja valtava, jatkuvasti muuttuva ja kontrolloimaton. Vaikkakin lait hallitsevat kybertoimintaympäristöä jossakin määrin, on se silti luonteeltaan ennakoimaton eikä sitä voida luotettavasti hallita. Digitaalisilla kanavilla usein läsnäoleva nimettömyys ja tiedon tarkastamisen mahdottomuus tarkoittavat että kenellä tahansa voi olla mielipide asioista, ja mikä tahansa viesti voi muuttua, jopa alkuperäiseen tarkoitukseen nähden vastakkaiseksi. FM 3-05.301:n metodi toimii kybertoimintaympäristössä, vaikkakin jotkin osa-alueet ovat vanhentuneita ja siksi ne esitetään päivitettäväksi mikäli metodia käytetään kyseisessä ympäristössä. Kohdan kaksi kohdeyleisökategoriat korvattiin uusilla, digitaalisessa ympäristössä esiintyvillä ryhmillä. Lähestyttävyyden arviointi (kohta 8) muotoiltiin myös uudestaan, koska digitaalisessa mediassa pelkkä tekstin läsnäolo ei sellaisenaan tyypillisesti vielä riitä halutun viestin välittämiseen kohdeyleisölle. Tietotekniikan edistyminen ja psykologian sekä sosiologian aloilla tehty tieteellinen tutkimus ihmisten käyttäytymisestä sosiaalisessa mediassa (ja yleensä kybertoimintaympäristössä) mahdollistavat koko kohdeyleisöanalyysiprosessin uudelleenrakentamisen. Tässä työssä sitä kuitenkaan ei voida tehdä. Siksi esitetäänkin että lisätutkimusta tulisi tehdä sekä tietokoneavusteisten prosessien että vielä syvällisempien kohdeyleisöanalyysien osalta, käyttäen hyväksi viimeisimpiä ihmisen käyttäytymiseen liittyviä tutkimustuloksia.

Ultrastructural analysis of in vitro direct and indirect organogenesis

This is a comparative study of the ultrastructural characteristics of the cells involved in the organogenesis in vitro of Bauhinia forficata Link (indirect system) and Glycine max (L.) Merrill (direct system). B. forficata calli after 30 days culture and G. max meristemoids after 10 days culture were prepared for ultrastructural analysis using conventional methods. Concentrically arranged rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and plastids containing starch grains were seen during G. max and B. forficata organogenesis. The amitotic process, the presence of plastids around the nucleus and nuclear envelope with conspicuous pores were found in B. forficata.

How and why to measure the germination process?

In the last two centuries, papers have been published including measurements of the germination process. High diversity of mathematical expressions has made comparisons between papers and some times the interpretation of results difficult. Thus, in this paper is included a review about measurements of the germination process, with an analysis of the several mathematical expressions included in the specific literature, recovering the history, sense, and limitations of some germination measurements. Among the measurements included in this paper are the germinability, germination time, coefficient of uniformity of germination (CUG), coefficient of variation of the germination time (CVt), germination rate (mean rate, weighted mean rate, coefficient of velocity, germination rate of George, Timson’s index, GV or Czabator’s index; Throneberry and Smith’s method and its adaptations, including Maguire’s rate; ERI or emergence rate index, germination index, and its modifications), uncertainty associated to the distribution of the relative frequency of germination (U), and synchronization index (Z). The limits of the germination measurements were included to make the interpretation and decisions during comparisons easier. Time, rate, homogeneity, and synchrony are aspects that can be measured, informing the dynamics of the germination process. These characteristics are important not only for physiologists and seed technologists, but also for ecologists because it is possible to predict the degree of successful of a species based on the capacity of their harvest seed to spread the germination through time, permitting the recruitment in the environment of some part of the seedlings formed.

Ionic liquid mediated biomass deconstruction: from analysis challenges to fermentable sugars

Ionic liquids, ILs, have recently been studied with accelerating interest to be used for a deconstruction/fractionation, dissolution or pretreatment processing method of lignocellulosic biomass. ILs are usually utilized combined with heat. Regarding lignocellulosic recalcitrance toward fractionation and IL utilization, most of the studies concern IL utilization in the biomass fermentation process prior to the enzymatic hydrolysis step. It has been demonstrated that IL-pretreatment gives more efficient hydrolysis of the biomass polysaccharides than enzymatic hydrolysis alone. Both cellulose (especially cellulose) and lignin are very resistant towards fractionation and even dissolution methods. As an example, it can be mentioned that softwood, hardwood and grass-type plant species have different types of lignin structures leading to the fact that softwood lignin (guaiacyl lignin dominates) is the most difficult to solubilize or chemically disrupt. In addition to the known conventional biomass processing methods, several ILs have also been found to efficiently dissolve either cellulose and/or wood samples – different ILs are suitable for different purposes. An IL treatment of wood usually results in non-fibrous pulp, where lignin is not efficiently separated and wood components are selectively precipitated, as cellulose is not soluble or degradable in ionic liquids under mild conditions. Nevertheless, new ILs capable of rather good fractionation performance have recently emerged. The capability of the IL to dissolve or deconstruct wood or cellulose depends on several factors, (e.g. sample origin, the particle size of the biomass, mechanical treatments as pulverization, initial biomassto-IL ratio, water content of the biomass, possible impurities of IL, reaction conditions, temperature etc). The aim of this study was to obtain (fermentable) saccharides and other valuable chemicals from wood by a combined heat and IL-treatment. Thermal treatments alone contribute to the degradation of polysaccharides (e.g. 150 °C alone is said to cause the degradation of polysaccharides), thus temperatures below that should be used, if the research interest lies on the IL effectiveness. On the other hand, the efficiency of the IL-treatment can also be enhanced to combine other treatment methods, (e.g. microwave heating). The samples of spruce, pine and birch sawdust were treated with either 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, Emim Cl, or 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, Emim Ac, (or with ionized water for comparison) at various temperatures (where focus was between 80 and 120 °C). The samples were withdrawn at fixed time intervals (the main interest treatment time area lied between 0 and 100 hours). Double experiments were executed. The selected mono- and disaccharides, as well as their known degradation products, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, 5-HMF, and furfural were analyzed with capillary electrophoresis, CE, and high-performance liquid chromatography, HPLC. Initially, even GC and GC-MS were utilized. Galactose, glucose, mannose and xylose were the main monosaccharides that were present in the wood samples exposed to ILs at elevated temperatures; in addition, furfural and 5-HMF were detected; moreover, the quantitative amount of the two latter ones were naturally increasing in line with the heating time or the IL:wood ratio.

Mechanical design and analysis of modular active magnetic bearing test rig

Tässä työssä on tutkittu modulaarisen aktiivimagneettilaakeroidun koelaitteen mekaanista suunnittelua ja analysointia. Suurnopeusroottorin suunnittelun teoria on esitelty. Lisäksi monia analyyttisiä mallinnusmenetelmiä mekaanisten kuormitusten mallintamiseksi on esitelty. Koska kyseessä on suurnopeussähkökone, roottoridynamiikka ja sen soveltuvuus suunnittelussa on esitelty. Magneettilaakerien rakenteeseen ja toimintaan on tutustuttu osana tätä työtä. Kirjallisuuskatsaus nykyisistä koelaitteista esimerkiksi komponenttien ominaisuuksien tunnistamiseen ja roottoridynamiikan tutkimuksiin on esitelty. Työn rajauksena on konseptisuunnittelu muunneltavalle magneettilaakeroidulle (AMB) koelaitteelle ja suunnitteluprosessin dokumentointi. Muunneltavuuteen päädyttiin, koska se mahdollistaa erilaisten komponenttiasetteluiden testaamisen erilaisille magneettilaakerikokoonpanoille ja roottoreille. Pääpaino tässä työssä on suurnopeus induktiokoneen roottorin suunnittelussa ja mallintamisessa. Modulaaristen toimilaitteiden kuten magneettilaakerien ja induktiosähkömoottorin rakenne on esitelty ja modulaarisen rakenteen käytettävyyden hyödyistä koelaitekäytössä on dokumentoitu. Analyyttisiä ja elementtimenetelmään perustuvia tutkimusmenetelmiä on käytetty tutkittaessa suunniteltua suurnopeusroottoria. Suunnittelun ja analysoinnin tulokset on esitelty ja verrattu keskenään eri mallinnusmenetelmien välillä. Lisäksi johtopäätökset sähkömagneettisten osien liittämisen monimutkaisuudesta ja vaatimuksista roottoriin ja toimilaitteisiin sekä mekaanisten että sähkömagneettisten ominaisuuksien optimoimiseksi on dokumentoitu.

Belt conveyor energy efficiency analysis and energy model development

An energy model of a belt conveyor was designed. Operation of a belt conveyor was researched. Operational indexes were calculated. Energy optimization process and recommendations were presented.

Feasibility study of submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) as an alternative to conventional activated sludge process (CASP) for municipal wastewater treatment: A pilot scale study

The conventional activated sludge processes (CAS) for the treatment of municipal wastewater are going to be outdated gradually due to more stringent environmental protection laws and regulations. The Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are the most promising modern technology widely accepted in the world of wastewater treatment due to their highly pronounced features such as high quality effluent, less foot print and working under high MLSS concentration. This research project was carried out to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of MBR technology compare to the CAS process based on the scientific facts and results. The pilot scale MBR pilot plant was run for more than 150 days and the analysis results were evaluated. The prime focus of the project was to evaluate the correlation of permeate flux under different operating MLSS concentrations. The permeate flux was found almost constant regardless of variations in MLSS concentrations. The removal of micropollutant such as heavy metals, PCPPs, PFCs, steroidal hormones was also studied. The micropollutant removal performance of MBR process was found relatively effective than CAS process. Furthermore, the compatibility of submerged membranes within the bioreactor had truly reduced the process footprint.

Detection and analysis of apoptosis in peripheral blood cells from breast cancer patients

Apoptosis is a well-known specific process of cell death that normally occurs in physiological situations such as tissue or organ development and involution. During tumor growth there is a balance between proliferation and cell death which involves apoptotic mechanisms. In the present study genomic DNAs from 120 breast tumor biopsies were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis and none of them presented the fragmentation pattern characteristic of the apoptosis process. However, 33% of the 105 breast cancer patients clearly showed the apoptotic pattern when DNA from blood cells was analyzed. None of the DNAs from healthy volunteer blood cells showed any trace of apoptosis. Since the breast cancer patients were not receiving chemo- or hormone therapy, the possible relationship between blood cortisol levels and the apoptotic pattern found in patient blood cells was investigated. Using a chemoluminescence immunodetection assay, similar cortisol levels were observed in breast cancer patient sera presenting or not apoptotic blood cells and in healthy volunteer sera. Analysis of the clinical data obtained from 60 of these patients showed that patients bearing tumors of smaller size (under 20 mm) were more susceptible to the apoptotic effect in blood cells. According to the Elston grade, it was observed that 7 of 12 patients with grade III tumors (58%) presented apoptotic peripheral blood cells, in contrast to 10 of 48 patients with grade I and grade II tumors. These observations may reflect the immunosuppression characteristic of some breast cancer patients, which may contribute to tumor growth. Therefore, further studies are necessary to elucidate the factor(s) involved in such massive blood cell death.