Charting Our Own Course: Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Opportunities, December 2008

The Office of Energy Independence presents Iowa’s second annual energy independence plan, which highlights accomplishments achieved thus far and makes recommendations for the coming year. This plan shows that Iowa has made significant progress in building the foundation for reaching energy independence in just the past year. Continued investment and further efforts will enable Iowa to push toward even greater advances, while creating new jobs and diversifying local economies. With those aims in mind, the state has been investing extensively in the new energy economy. One important example is the Iowa Power Fund, an annual appropriation from the Iowa General Assembly administered by the Office of Energy Independence. In less than one year, the Office has received more than 160 project applications totaling more than $308 million in requests. The projects approved thus far will help advance Iowa’s wind and solar industries, foster new energy efficiency practices, and develop the bio fuels industry for a more economically and environmentally sustainable future. Iowa’s position as a leader in the new energy economy is dependent on the success of the Power Fund, and on the success of this plan. This plan clearly states that Iowa must boldly pursue a strong position in the emerging energy economy worldwide.

Sustainability of the Peruvian anchoveta supply chains from sea to shelf: towards a new strategy for optimal use of resources

The research performed a sustainability assessment of supply chains of the anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) in Peru. The corresponding fisheries lands 6.5 million t per year, of which <2% is rendered into products for direct human consumption (DHC) and 98% reduced into feed ingredients (fishmeal and fish oil, FMFO), for export. Several industries compete for the anchoveta resources, generating local and global impacts. The need for understanding these dynamics, towards sustainability-improving management and policy recommendations, determined the development of a sustainability assessment framework: 1) characterisation and modelling of the systems under study (with Life Cycle Assessment and other tools) including local aquaculture, 2) calculation of sustainability indicators (i.e. energy efficiency, nutritional value, socio-economic performances), and 3) sustainability comparison of supply chains; definition and comparison of alternative exploitation scenarios. Future exploitation scenarios were defined by combining an ecosystem and a material flow models: continuation of the status quo (Scenario 1), shift towards increased proportion of DHC production (Scenario 2), and radical reduction of the anchoveta harvest in order for other fish stocks to recover and be exploited for DHC (Scenario 3). Scenario 2 was identified as the most sustainable. Management and policy recommendations include improving of: controls for compliance with management measures, sanitary conditions for DHC, landing infrastructure for small- and medium-scale (SMS) fisheries; the development of a national refrigerated distribution chain; and the assignation of flexible tolerances for discards from different DHC processes.

Eficiència energètica aplicada a les instal·lacions de la Universitat de Vic

En termes generals, es pot definir l’Eficiència Energètica com la reducció del consum d’energia mantenint els mateixos serveis energètics, sense disminuir el nostre confort i qualitat de vida, protegint el medi ambient, assegurant el proveïment i fomentant un comportament Sostenible al seu ús. L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball, és reduir el consum d’energia i terme de potència contractat a la Universitat de Vic, aplicant un programa d’estalvi amb mesures correctores en el funcionament de les seves instal·lacions o espais. Per tal de poder arribar a aquest objectiu marcat, prèviament s’ha realitzat un estudi acurat, obtenint tota la informació necessària per poder aplicar les mesures correctores a la bossa més important de consum. Un cop trobada, dur a terme l’estudi de la viabilitat de la inversió de les mesures correctores més eficients, optimitzant els recursos destinats. L’espai on s’ha dut a terme l’estudi, ha estat a l’edifici F del Campus Miramarges, seguint les indicacions d’Arnau Bardolet (Cap de Manteniment de la UVIC). Aquest edifici consta d’un entresol, baixos i quatre plantes. L’equip de mesura que s’ha fet servir per realitzar l’estudi, és de la marca Circutor sèrie AR5-L, aquests equips són programables que mesuren, calculen i emmagatzemen en memòria els principals paràmetres elèctrics en xarxes trifàsiques. Els projectes futurs complementaris que es podrien realitzar a part d’aquest són: instal·lar sensors, instal·lar mòduls convertidors TCP/IP, aprofitar la xarxa intranet i crear un escada amb un sinòptic de control i gestió des d’un punt de treball. Aquest aplicatiu permet visualitzar en una pantalla d’un PC tots els estats dels elements controlats mitjançant un sinòptic (encendre/parar manualment l’enllumenat i endolls de les aules, estat d’enllumenat i endolls de les aules, consums instantanis/acumulats energètics, estat dels passadissos entre altres) i explotar les dades recollides a la base de dades. Cada espai tindria la seva lògica de funcionament automàtic específic. Entre les conclusions més rellevants obtingudes en aquest treball s’observa: · Que és pot reduir la potència contractada a la factura a l’estar per sota de la realment consumida. · Que no hi ha penalitzacions a la factura per consum de reactiva, ja que el compensador funciona correctament. · Que es pot reduir l’horari de l’inici del consum d’energia, ja que no correspon a l’activitat docent. · Els valors de la tensió i freqüència estan dintre de la normalitat. · Els harmònics estan al llindar màxim. Analitzant aquestes conclusions, voldria destacar les mesures correctores més importants que es poden dur a terme: canvi tecnològic a LED, temporitzar automàticament l’encesa i apagada dels fluorescents i equips informàtics de les aules “seguint calendari docent”, instal·lar sensors de moviment amb detecció lumínica als passadissos. Totes les conclusions extretes d’aquest treball, es poden aplicar a tots els edificis de la facultat, prèviament realitzant l’estudi individual de cadascuna, seguint els mateixos criteris per tal d’optimitzar la inversió.

Memory-based scheduling of scientific computing clusters

This study looks at how increased memory utilisation affects throughput and energy consumption in scientific computing, especially in high-energy physics. Our aim is to minimise energy consumed by a set of jobs without increasing the processing time. The earlier tests indicated that, especially in data analysis, throughput can increase over 100% and energy consumption decrease 50% by processing multiple jobs in parallel per CPU core. Since jobs are heterogeneous, it is not possible to find an optimum value for the number of parallel jobs. A better solution is based on memory utilisation, but finding an optimum memory threshold is not straightforward. Therefore, a fuzzy logic-based algorithm was developed that can dynamically adapt the memory threshold based on the overall load. In this way, it is possible to keep memory consumption stable with different workloads while achieving significantly higher throughput and energy-efficiency than using a traditional fixed number of jobs or fixed memory threshold approaches.

Totally implantable robot to treat chronic atrial fibrillation

Chronic atrial fibrillation affects millions of people worldwide. Its surgical treatment often fails to restore the transport function of the atrium. This study first introduces the concept of an atrial assist device (AAD) to restore the pump function of the atrium. The AAD is developed to be totally implantable in the human body with a transcutaneous energy transfer system to recharge the implanted battery. The ADD consists of a motorless pump based on artificial muscle technology, positioned on the external surface of the atrium to compress it and restore its muscular activity. A bench model reproduces the function of a fibrillating atrium to assess the circulatory support that this pump can provide. Atripump (Nanopowers SA, Switzerland) is a dome-shaped silicone-coated nitinol actuator 5 mm high, sutured on the external surface of the atrium. A pacemaker-like control unit drives the actuator that compresses the atrium, providing the mechanical support to the blood circulation. Electrical characteristics: the system is composed of one actuator that needs a minimal tension of 15 V and has a maximum current of 1.5 A with a 50% duty cycle. The implantable rechargeable battery is made of a cell having the following specifications: nominal tension of a cell: 4.1 V, tension after 90% of discharge: 3.5 V, nominal capacity of a cell: 163 mA h. The bench model consists of an open circuit made of latex bladder 60 mm in diameter filled with water. The bladder is connected to a vertically positioned tube that is filled to different levels, reproducing changes in cardiac preload. The Atripump is placed on the outer surface of the bladder. Pressure, volume and temperature changes were recorded. The contraction rate was 1 Hz with a power supply of 12 V, 400 mA for 200 ms. Preload ranged from 15 to 21 cm H(2)O. Maximal silicone membrane temperature was 55 degrees C and maximal temperature of the liquid environment was 35 degrees C. The pump produced a maximal work of 16 x 10(-3) J. Maximal volume pumped was 492 ml min(-1). This artificial muscle pump is compact, follows the Starling law and reproduces the hemodynamic performances of a normal atrium. It could represent a new tool to restore the atrial kick in persistent atrial fibrillation.

Three essays on major trends in a slow clockspeed industry : the case of industrial automation

The motivation for this research initiated from the abrupt rise and fall of minicomputers which were initially used both for industrial automation and business applications due to their significantly lower cost than their predecessors, the mainframes. Later industrial automation developed its own vertically integrated hardware and software to address the application needs of uninterrupted operations, real-time control and resilience to harsh environmental conditions. This has led to the creation of an independent industry, namely industrial automation used in PLC, DCS, SCADA and robot control systems. This industry employs today over 200'000 people in a profitable slow clockspeed context in contrast to the two mainstream computing industries of information technology (IT) focused on business applications and telecommunications focused on communications networks and hand-held devices. Already in 1990s it was foreseen that IT and communication would merge into one Information and communication industry (ICT). The fundamental question of the thesis is: Could industrial automation leverage a common technology platform with the newly formed ICT industry? Computer systems dominated by complex instruction set computers (CISC) were challenged during 1990s with higher performance reduced instruction set computers (RISC). RISC started to evolve parallel to the constant advancement of Moore's law. These developments created the high performance and low energy consumption System-on-Chip architecture (SoC). Unlike to the CISC processors RISC processor architecture is a separate industry from the RISC chip manufacturing industry. It also has several hardware independent software platforms consisting of integrated operating system, development environment, user interface and application market which enables customers to have more choices due to hardware independent real time capable software applications. An architecture disruption merged and the smartphone and tablet market were formed with new rules and new key players in the ICT industry. Today there are more RISC computer systems running Linux (or other Unix variants) than any other computer system. The astonishing rise of SoC based technologies and related software platforms in smartphones created in unit terms the largest installed base ever seen in the history of computers and is now being further extended by tablets. An underlying additional element of this transition is the increasing role of open source technologies both in software and hardware. This has driven the microprocessor based personal computer industry with few dominating closed operating system platforms into a steep decline. A significant factor in this process has been the separation of processor architecture and processor chip production and operating systems and application development platforms merger into integrated software platforms with proprietary application markets. Furthermore the pay-by-click marketing has changed the way applications development is compensated: Three essays on major trends in a slow clockspeed industry: The case of industrial automation 2014 freeware, ad based or licensed - all at a lower price and used by a wider customer base than ever before. Moreover, the concept of software maintenance contract is very remote in the app world. However, as a slow clockspeed industry, industrial automation has remained intact during the disruptions based on SoC and related software platforms in the ICT industries. Industrial automation incumbents continue to supply systems based on vertically integrated systems consisting of proprietary software and proprietary mainly microprocessor based hardware. They enjoy admirable profitability levels on a very narrow customer base due to strong technology-enabled customer lock-in and customers' high risk leverage as their production is dependent on fault-free operation of the industrial automation systems. When will this balance of power be disrupted? The thesis suggests how industrial automation could join the mainstream ICT industry and create an information, communication and automation (ICAT) industry. Lately the Internet of Things (loT) and weightless networks, a new standard leveraging frequency channels earlier occupied by TV broadcasting, have gradually started to change the rigid world of Machine to Machine (M2M) interaction. It is foreseeable that enough momentum will be created that the industrial automation market will in due course face an architecture disruption empowered by these new trends. This thesis examines the current state of industrial automation subject to the competition between the incumbents firstly through a research on cost competitiveness efforts in captive outsourcing of engineering, research and development and secondly researching process re- engineering in the case of complex system global software support. Thirdly we investigate the industry actors', namely customers, incumbents and newcomers, views on the future direction of industrial automation and conclude with our assessments of the possible routes industrial automation could advance taking into account the looming rise of the Internet of Things (loT) and weightless networks. Industrial automation is an industry dominated by a handful of global players each of them focusing on maintaining their own proprietary solutions. The rise of de facto standards like IBM PC, Unix and Linux and SoC leveraged by IBM, Compaq, Dell, HP, ARM, Apple, Google, Samsung and others have created new markets of personal computers, smartphone and tablets and will eventually also impact industrial automation through game changing commoditization and related control point and business model changes. This trend will inevitably continue, but the transition to a commoditized industrial automation will not happen in the near future.

Nitrogen metabolism in Zucker rats is affected by moderate reduction, but not by moderate incerase in dietary protein

Marked changes in the content of protein in the diet affects the rat"s pattern of growth, but there is not any data on the effects to moderate changes. Here we used a genetically obese rat strain (Zucker) to examine the metabolic modifications induced to moderate changes in the content of protein of diets, doubling (high-protein (HP): 30%) or halving (low-protein (LP): 8%) the content of protein of reference diet (RD: 16%). Nitrogen, energy balances, and amino acid levels were determined in lean (L) and obese (O) animals after 30 days on each diet. Lean HP (LHP) animals showed higher energy efficiency and amino acid catabolism but maintained similar amino acid accrual rates to the lean RD (LRD) group. Conversely, the lean LP (LLP) group showed a lower growth rate, which was compensated by a relative increase in fat mass. Furthermore, these animals showed greater efficiency accruing amino acids. Obesity increased amino acid catabolism as a result of massive amino acid intake; however, obese rats maintained protein accretion rates, which, in the OHP group, implied a normalization of energy efficiency. Nonetheless, the obese OLP group showed the same protein accretion pattern as in lean animals (LLP). In the base of our data, concluded that the Zucker rats accommodate their metabolism to support moderates increases in the content of protein in the diet, but do not adjust in the same way to a 50% decrease in content of protein, as shown by an index of growth reduced, both in lean and obese rats.

Secure Dynamic MANET On-demand (SEDYMO) Routing Protocol

This paper describes the state of the art of secure ad hoc routing protocols and presents SEDYMO, a mechanism to secure a dynamic multihop ad hoc routing protocol. The proposed solution defeats internal and external attacks usinga trustworthiness model based on a distributed certification authority. Digital signatures and hash chains are used to ensure the correctness of the protocol. The protocol is compared with other alternatives in terms of security strength, energy efficiency and time delay. Both computational and transmission costs are considered and it is shown that the secure protocol overhead is not a critical factor compared to the high network interface cost.

Induktiomoottorin hyötysuhdemittaukset verkko- ja taajuusmuuttajasyötössä

Hyötysuhde on tärkeätekijä moottorimarkkinoilla, sillä moottorin ostajan kannalta moottorin hyvä hyötysuhde merkitsee taloudellisuutta pitkällä aikavälillä. Tästä johtuen hyötysuhde on merkittävä kriteeri moottorisuunnittelussa. Moottorin hyötysuhteen määrittämisen mittausmenetelmät on määritelty IEC- ja IEEE-standardeissa. Diplomityössäkäydään läpi eri standardimenetelmillä tehtäviä mittauksia ja vertaillaan niitäkeskenään, koska hyötysuhteen määrityksen tarkkuus riippuu käytettävästä mittausmenetelmästä. Työssä keskitytään sinimuotoisella jännitteellä syötetyn induktiomoottoriin hyötysuhteen määritysmenetelmiin perehtyen erityisesti IEEE 112-standardin B-menetelmään, ja mitataan erään induktiomoottorin hyötysuhde B-menetelmällä. Työssä tehdään selkoa sinisyötölle tarkoitettujen hyötysuhdemittausmenetelmien soveltamisesta epäsinimuotoiseen taajuusmuuttajasyöttöön sekä tutkitaan taajuusmuuttajalla syötetyn moottorin sähköisten suureiden mittaamiseen liittyvää mittausepävarmuutta. Lisäksi selvitetään kokeellisesti taajuusmuuttajasyötöllä tehdyistä mittauksista saatujen tulosten riippuvuutta käytetystä virranmittaustavasta.

Selvitys yliopistorakennuksen energiatehokkuudesta

Rakennusten energiatehokkuusdirektiivi astui voimaan vuonna 2003. Yksi direktiivinkeskeisimmistä kohdista on energiatodistuksen hankkiminen silloin kun rakennusta tai sen osaa myydään tai vuokrataan. Kiinteistön omistaja voi hankkia energiatodistuksen joko erillisenä todistuksena, isännöitsijäntodistuksen osana tai katselmuksen yhteydessä. Tässä työssä verrataan jo olemassa olevaa katselmusmenettelyä erilliseen energiatodistukseen ja energiatodistuksen myöntämiseen isännöitsijätodistuksen yhteydessä case-kohteen kautta arvioituna. Vertailun suorittamiseksi tehtiin osana diplomityötä energiakatselmus Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston rakennusvaiheesta 7. Energiakatselmukseen verrattuna energiatodistus on huomattavasti suppeampi selvitys rakennuksen energiankulutuksesta. Arvioitu energiankulutuksen säästöpotentiaali energiatodistuksessa oli noin puolet energiakatselmuksessa löydetyistä, kustannusten ollessa huomattavasti alhaisemmat. Erillisenä osana työssä käsitellään tilaustehojen tarkistusta Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston rakennuskannasta. Rakennusvaiheen 7 tilausteho oli oikeansuuruinen, muiden rakennusvaiheiden osalta tilaustehojen uudelleen tarkastamista kannattaa harkita.

Vesivoiman ajosuunnittelu

Diplomityön tavoitteena oli tutkia UPM-Kymmene Oyj:n keskusvalvomossa tapahtuvaa vesivoiman ajosuunnittelua. Pääkohdat tarkastelussa olivat vesistöjen säännöstely, erilaiset vesivuodet ja sähkömarkkinatilanteet. Vesivoiman ajosuunnittelua tarkasteltiin pääasiassa erilaisten vesivuosien ja sähkömarkkinatilanteiden näkökulmasta. Lähtötietoina käytettiin Suomen ympäristökeskuksen vesistömallijärjestelmän ja UPM-Kymmene Oyj:n energianhallintajärjestelmän numeerisia historia-arvoja. Työssäselvitettiin UPM-Kymmene Oyj:n vesivarannoista hyödynnettävissä olevat energiamäärät. Energiamäärien avulla määritettiin skenaario UPM-Kymmene Oyj:n vesivoimantuotannon vaihtelusta. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin vesivoimaa sähkötaseen säätövoimana. Teoreettisessa osassa perehdyttiin Suomen sähköntuotantorakenteeseen, vesivoiman asemaan sähköntuotannossa ja vesivoiman ohjausmekanismeihin. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin UPM-Kymmene Oyj:n sähkön käyttöä ja vesivarantoja. Soveltavassa osassa tarkasteltiin, miten vesivoiman ohjausmekanismit toimivat käytännössä. Lisäksi analysoitiin sähkömarkkinatilanteiden vaikutuksia ja vesivoimalaitosten ajon tehostamismahdollisuuksia. Työn tuloksena laadittiin ennuste-simulaattori, jolla voidaan optimoida vesivoimanja lauhdevoiman ajoa. Tulevaisuudessa simulaattorin avulla voidaan ennustaa poikkeuksellisia sähkömarkkinatilanteita.

Raaka-aine- ja energiatehokkuuden parantaminen Oras Oy:n valimossa

Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli tutkia toimintatapoja ja edellytyksiä parantaa Oras Oy:n valimon raaka-aine- ja energiatehokkuutta. Tarkastelu suoritettiin ekotehokkuusajattelun näkökulmasta. Valimon ekotehokkuutta mitattiin metallin saannon sekä valu-uunien energiatehokkuuden avulla. Tutkimustyö suoritettiin valitsemalla tarkastelun kohteeksi 20 valutuotetta. Metallin saantoa selvitettäessä punnittiin tuotteita eri työvaiheissa,jolloin saatiin selville valukanavien sekä koneistus- ja hiontavarojen osuudet valutuotteisiin panostetusta messingistä. Saantoa laskettaessa tuli myös huomioida vuosittain hylättävien tuotteiden määrät sekä messingin raaka-ainekierto kokonaisuudessaan. Valu-uunien osalta selvitettiin toiminta-ajan ja energiankulutuksen jakautuminen messingin sulattamisen ja sulan kuumanapidon kesken. Työssä tarkasteltiin, kuinka paljon metallin saantoa voitaisiin parantaa pienentämällä valukanavien ja työvarojen osuutta valoksissa sekä vähentämällähylkyjen määrää. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin muutosten vaikutuksia raaka-ainekustannuksiin sekä jätteiden määrään. Valu-uunien energiatehokkuuden parantamisen osaltatarkasteltiin käyttöasteen nostamisen eli viikoittaisen käyntiajan lisäämisen vaikutuksia energiankulutukseen ja -kustannuksiin sekä edellytyksiä pitää osa uuneista kylmänä.

Energiatehokkaiden tuotteiden myynti voimalaitoksiin

Tämän diplomityö käsittelee energiasäästömahdollisuuksia taajuusmuuttajien ja korkean hyötysuhteen moottoreiden avulla Suomen voimalaitoksissa. Energiatehokkuuden parantaminen voimalaitosten tuotantoprosessissa tarjoaa suuria myyntimahdollisuuksia ja on siten mielenkiintoinen tutkimuksen kohde. Työn tavoitteena on analysoida voimalaitostoimialaa Suomessa ja selvittäävoimalaitosten energiansäästöpotentiaalia suurimpien sähköä kuluttavien laitteiden osalta. Työn perusteella saadaan muodostettua kuva taajuusmuuttaja ja korkean hyötysuhteen moottorien markkinoista voimalaitoksiin. Työnalkuosassa keskitytään voimalaitostoimialan ja energiamarkkinoiden analyysiin. Analyysissä käydään läpi yleisimpien voimalaitosten toimintaperiaatteet ja energiatehokkaiden tuotteiden markkinakehitys sekä teollisuuden investointeihin liittyviä tekijöitä. Työn loppuosa käsittelee voimalaitosten suurimpien pumppujen ja puhaltimien energiansäästömahdollisuutta taajuusmuuttajien avulla. Työn tuloksena on muodostettu analyysi eri voimalaitostyyppien laittokannasta ja arvio energiasäästöstä sekä myyntipotentiaalista, jos laitteet muutetaan taajuusmuuttajakäytöiksi.

A high-mobility, low-cost phenotype defines human effector-memory CD8+ T cells.

T cells move randomly ("random-walk"), a characteristic thought to be integral to their function. Using migration assays and time-lapse microscopy, we found that CD8+ T cells lacking the lymph node homing receptors CCR7 and CD62L migrate more efficiently in transwell assays, and that these same cells are characterized by a high frequency of cells exhibiting random crawling activity under culture conditions mimicking the interstitial/extravascular milieu, but not when examined on endothelial cells. To assess the energy efficiency of cells crawling at a high frequency, we measured mRNA expression of genes key to mitochondrial energy metabolism (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1beta [PGC-1beta], estrogen-related receptor alpha [ERRalpha], cytochrome C, ATP synthase, and the uncoupling proteins [UCPs] UCP-2 and -3), quantified ATP contents, and performed calorimetric analyses. Together these assays indicated a high energy efficiency of the high crawling frequency CD8+ T-cell population, and identified differentially regulated heat production among nonlymphoid versus lymphoid homing CD8+ T cells.

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in North-West Russia - Finnish Business Opportunities

Tutkimus suomalaisten yritysten liiketoimintamahdollisuuksista hiilidoksidipäästöjen vähentämisen parissa Luoteis-Venäjällä.