Insulation System in an Integrated Motor Compressor

A high-speed and high-voltage solid-rotor induction machine provides beneficial features for natural gas compressor technology. The mechanical robustness of the machine enables its use in an integrated motor-compressor. The technology uses a centrifugal compressor, which is mounted on the same shaft with the high-speed electrical machine driving it. No gearbox is needed as the speed is determined by the frequency converter. The cooling is provided by the process gas, which flows through the motor and is capable of transferring the heat away from the motor. The technology has been used in the compressors in the natural gas supply chain in the central Europe. New areas of application include natural gas compressors working at the wellheads of the subsea gas reservoir. A key challenge for the design of such a motor is the resistance of the stator insulation to the raw natural gas from the well. The gas contains water and heavy hydrocarbon compounds and it is far harsher than the sales gas in the natural gas supply network. The objective of this doctoral thesis is to discuss the resistance of the insulation to the raw natural gas and the phenomena degrading the insulation. The presence of partial discharges is analyzed in this doctoral dissertation. The breakdown voltage of the gas is measured as a function of pressure and gap distance. The partial discharge activity is measured on small samples representing the windings of the machine. The electrical field behavior is also modeled by finite element methods. Based on the measurements it has been concluded that the discharges are expected to disappear at gas pressures above 4 – 5 bar. The disappearance of discharges is caused by the breakdown strength of the gas, which increases as the pressure increases. Based on the finite element analysis, the physical length of a discharge seen in the PD measurements at atmospheric pressure was approximated to be 40 – 120 m. The chemical aging of the insulation when exposed to raw natural gas is discussed based on a vast set of experimental tests with the gas mixture representing the real gas mixture at the wellhead. The mixture was created by mixing dry hydrocarbon gas, heavy hydrocarbon compounds, monoethylene glycol, and water. The mixture was chosen to be more aggressive by increasing the amount of liquid substances. Furthermore, the temperature and pressure were increased, which resulted in accelerated test conditions. The time required to detect severe degradation was thus decreased. The test program included a comparison of materials, an analysis of the e ects of di erent compounds in the gas mixture, namely water and heavy hydrocarbons, on the aging, an analysis of the e ects of temperature and exposure duration, and also an analysis on the e ect of sudden pressure changes on the degradation of the insulating materials. It was found in the tests that an insulation consisting of mica, glass, and epoxy resin can tolerate the raw natural gas, but it experiences some degradation. The key material in the composite insulation is the resin, which largely defines the performance of the insulation system. The degradation of the insulation is mostly determined by the amount of gas mixture di used into it. The di usion was seen to follow Fick’s second law, but the coe cients were not accurately defined. The di usion was not sensitive to temperature, but it was dependent upon the thermodynamic state of the gas mixture, in other words, the amounts of liquid components in the gas. The weight increase observed was mostly related to heavy hydrocarbon compounds, which act as plasticizers in the epoxy resin. The di usion of these compounds is determined by the crosslink density of the resin. Water causes slight changes in the chemical structure, but these changes do not significantly contribute to the aging phenomena. Sudden changes in pressure can lead to severe damages in the insulation, because the motion of the di used gas is able to create internal cracks in the insulation. Therefore, the di usion only reduces the mechanical strength of the insulation, but the ultimate breakdown can potentially be caused by a sudden drop in the pressure of the process gas.

Mikael Agricolan teosten kielen ala-, ylä-, ja -pää-vartaloiset adpositiot

Adpositions with the stems ala, ylä and pää in the language of Mikael Agricola’s writings The language of Mikael Agricola’s (c 1510–1557) writings represents an interesting phase in the development of the Finnish system for adpositions. In the Finnish language, the older Uralic system of postpositions has undergone expansion and a new system of prepositions has been adopted. On the other hand, the adposition system found in Agricola’s writings has also been strongly affected by foreign models, because Agricola’s texts are mainly translations of religious texts, which by and large use a word-for-word translation strategy. In the thesis, I explore Agricola’s use of adpositions; more specifically, which adpositions carry the meaning of ‘being under’ or ‘being over’ something, and in what other functions these adpositions are used. My main focus is on the semantics of the adpositions. I also study the syntactic features of adpositions and adposition structures; these are intertwined with semantics, since the meaning of adpositions is established in the adposition clause. Finally, I compare Agricola’s use of adpositions to the corresponding adpositions of present-day Finnish. Adpositions with stems ala, ylä and pää form an interesting subject for research. Their frequency in the data, however, is highly uneven. The overwhelming majority of the adpositions studied in the thesis are päälle; there are only two occurrences of adpositions with the stem ylä. Adpositions typically denote a location ‘under’ or ‘above’ something. Almost half of the adpositions, however, can be classified as semantically unmotivated and as representing a foreign model in terms of the Finnish language; they do not occur in present-day Finnish. In Agricola’s texts they act in more grammatical roles than the corresponding adpositions of present-day Finnish. In the thesis, the corresponding adpositions in the source languages are carefully analysed. All other uses of the adpositions are marginal in relation to spatial ones and those based on foreign models. The original meanings of the adpositions have not changed much since Agricola, but adpositions considered to originate from foreign models have been intentionally eliminated in presentday standard Finnish. It is also noteworthy that the system of adpositions with the stems ala, ylä and pää has changed since Agricola. His texts include the adposition ala, which corresponds to the modern adposition alle. Likewise the adposition yllä is absent in Agricola, as are the internal locative cases of the adposition pää.

White mold intensity on common bean in response to plant density, irrigation frequency, grass mulching, Trichoderma spp., and fungicide

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of integrated managements on white mold control on common bean. Initially, in vitro testing was made to assess the antagonism of 11 Trichoderma isolates against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and to investigate fungicides (fluazinam and procymidone) inhibitory effects on those fungi. In two field experiments the following combinations were tested: irrigation frequencies (seven or 14 days), plant densities (six or 12 plants per meter), and three disease controls (untreated control, fungicide or Trichoderma spp.). In a third experiment plant densities were replaced by grass mulching treatments (with or without mulching). Fluazinam was applied at 45 and 55 days after emergence (DAE). The antagonists T. harzianum (experiments 1 and 3) and T. stromatica (experiment 2) were applied through sprinkler irrigation at 10 and 25 DAE, respectively. Most of the Trichoderma spp. were effective against the pathogen in vitro. Fluazinam was more toxic than procymidone to both the pathogen and the antagonist. Fungicide applications increased yield between 32 % and 41 %. In field one application of Trichoderma spp. did not reduce disease intensity and did not increase yield. The reduction from 12 to six plants per meter did not decrease yield, and disease severity diminished in one of the two experiments. It is concluded that of the strategies for white mold control just reduction of plant density and applications of fungicide were efficient.

The progress and obstacles of implementing and improving e-government in Islamic Republic of Iran

To improving efficiency and transparency of government services, government authorities may increase the frequency of interaction between citizens and government as well as improving the quality of the government services and trust. Electronic Government (E-Government) in definition is the delivery of government services to citizens, businesses, and government organizations through the use of internet, web based applications, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is the solution to build more reliable and efficient contact with citizens. Like the developing and developed countries, Iran also has been processing the various aspects of ICT, IT, and e-Government. Though, in order to implement and improve e-Government; Iran has faced with some obstacles. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to study progress of e- Government and identify obstacles of implementing and improving e Government in Iran. In this thesis, based on the literature review, the progress of e-Government in Iran was studied and various obstacles were identified. Therefore, as a result, e- Government of Iran is said to be in the transactional stage of the United Nations’ e-Government maturity stages. In addition, establishing more reliable, efficient, and accurate e-Government initiatives, plans, guidelines, and strategies will extremely enhance e-Government status of Iran. On the other hand, the needs of the citizens should always be under consideration when implementing and improving e-Government services; because citizens are considered to be at the core of every e-Government services and the responsibilities of the authorities.

Histopathological features of infections caused by Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani in purple passionfruit plants (Passiflora edulis Sims)

The purple passionfruit plant, Passifloraedulis Sims, ranks second in fruit exportation in Colombia, and its main destination is the European market. However, its production is affected by several diseases, including fusariosis. This paper presents the histopathological features of different tissues affected by the pathogens Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium solani. Both microorganisms produce similar responses on the plant: colonization of xylem vessels by hyphae and microconidia, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the cambium, xylem and phloem; destruction of xylem fibers and amyloplasts in parenchymatous cells; and production of gels by the plant. However, there are differences in the colonization mechanism, F. solani penetrates and is concentrated especially at the collar zone, while F. oxysporum penetrates the roots and moves through the vascular system to colonize the plant.

Monitoring of centrifugal pump operation by a frequency converter

Centrifugal pumps are widely used in industrial and municipal applications, and they are an important end-use application of electric energy. However, in many cases centrifugal pumps operate with a significantly lower energy efficiency than they actually could, which typically has an increasing effect on the pump energy consumption and the resulting energy costs. Typical reasons for this are the incorrect dimensioning of the pumping system components and inefficiency of the applied pump control method. Besides the increase in energy costs, an inefficient operation may increase the risk of a pump failure and thereby the maintenance costs. In the worst case, a pump failure may lead to a process shutdown accruing additional costs. Nowadays, centrifugal pumps are often controlled by adjusting their rotational speed, which affects the resulting flow rate and output pressure of the pumped fluid. Typically, the speed control is realised with a frequency converter that allows the control of the rotational speed of an induction motor. Since a frequency converter can estimate the motor rotational speed and shaft torque without external measurement sensors on the motor shaft, it also allows the development and use of sensorless methods for the estimation of the pump operation. Still today, the monitoring of pump operation is based on additional measurements and visual check-ups, which may not be applicable to determine the energy efficiency of the pump operation. This doctoral thesis concentrates on the methods that allow the use of a frequency converter as a monitoring and analysis device for a centrifugal pump. Firstly, the determination of energy-efficiency- and reliability-based limits for the recommendable operating region of a variable-speed-driven centrifugal pump is discussed with a case study for the laboratory pumping system. Then, three model-based estimation methods for the pump operating location are studied, and their accuracy is determined by laboratory tests. In addition, a novel method to detect the occurrence of cavitation or flow recirculation in a centrifugal pump by a frequency converter is introduced. Its sensitivity compared with known cavitation detection methods is evaluated, and its applicability is verified by laboratory measurements for three different pumps and by using two different frequency converters. The main focus of this thesis is on the radial flow end-suction centrifugal pumps, but the studied methods can also be feasible with mixed and axial flow centrifugal pumps, if allowed by their characteristics.

Bag-of-Features Approach to Unsupervised Visual Object Categorisation

The large and growing number of digital images is making manual image search laborious. Only a fraction of the images contain metadata that can be used to search for a particular type of image. Thus, the main research question of this thesis is whether it is possible to learn visual object categories directly from images. Computers process images as long lists of pixels that do not have a clear connection to high-level semantics which could be used in the image search. There are various methods introduced in the literature to extract low-level image features and also approaches to connect these low-level features with high-level semantics. One of these approaches is called Bag-of-Features which is studied in the thesis. In the Bag-of-Features approach, the images are described using a visual codebook. The codebook is built from the descriptions of the image patches using clustering. The images are described by matching descriptions of image patches with the visual codebook and computing the number of matches for each code. In this thesis, unsupervised visual object categorisation using the Bag-of-Features approach is studied. The goal is to find groups of similar images, e.g., images that contain an object from the same category. The standard Bag-of-Features approach is improved by using spatial information and visual saliency. It was found that the performance of the visual object categorisation can be improved by using spatial information of local features to verify the matches. However, this process is computationally heavy, and thus, the number of images must be limited in the spatial matching, for example, by using the Bag-of-Features method as in this study. Different approaches for saliency detection are studied and a new method based on the Hessian-Affine local feature detector is proposed. The new method achieves comparable results with current state-of-the-art. The visual object categorisation performance was improved by using foreground segmentation based on saliency information, especially when the background could be considered as clutter.

FLOWERING AND POLLINATORS OF THREE DISTYLOUS SPECIES OF Psychotria (Rubiaceae) CO-OCCURRING IN THE BRAZILIAN ATLANTIC FOREST1

ABSTRACT This study investigates the flowering and pollinators of the floral morphs of three co-occurring distylous species, Psychotria conjugens Müll, P. hastisepala Müll. Arg. and P. sessilis Vell., in two consecutive flowering seasons in an Atlantic Forest fragment in southeastern Brazil. The species have diurnal, cream-colored, tubular, nectariferous flowers and their flowering occurs in the rainy season, from September to April, with little or no overlapping between species, characterizing a staggered flowering. The flowering of the long-and short-styled floral morphs of each species was synchronous, but the number of open flowers per day per morph tended to vary in each flowering season. These numbers were higher in P. sessilis and P. conjugens and, probably, resulted in higher total numbers of visits on its flowers (up to 1084 visits in P. sessilis and 756 in P. conjugens), compared to that observed in P. hastisepala (up to 71). There was a higher frequency of visits to long-styled flowers of all species. The bee Ariphanarthra palpalis was a common pollinator to all species. This bee is native to Brazil, solitary, considered relatively rare and its host plants were unknown. Other native bees (Melipona spp.) also visited the flowers of the Psychotria species. The availability of flowers with similar floral features over eight months, the staggered flowering and common pollinators appear to be part of a strategy to attract floral visitors, minimizing the competition for pollinators and then favoring the legitimate pollination of these plants.

Mild developmental dyslexia in university students: diagnosis and performance features in L1, L2, and L3

Avhandling visar att lindrig dyslexi påverkar läs- och skrivprestationer hos högpresterare. Särdrag träder tydligast fram i främmande språk och vid hantering av språkljud i krävande testuppgifter. Även om dyslexirelaterade problem vanligtvis är lindriga hos universitetsstudenter, är det centralt att dessa identifieras, eftersom de ses påverka akademiska prestationer. Avhandlingen lägger fram det första finlandssvenska dyslexitestet normerat för universitetsnivå (FS-DUVAN) och ger verktyg för utredning av läs- och skrivsvårigheter hos unga vuxna i Svenskfinland. Avhandlingen utforskar också språkspecifika särdrag av dyslexi hos högpresterande finlandssvenska universitetsstudenter i läs- och skrivuppgifter i svenska, finska och engelska. Detaljerade felanalyser visar att studenter med dyslexi speciellt har problem med kopplingar mellan språkljud och bokstav i det främmande språket engelska, som också i detta avseende är komplext. Resultat i komplexa kognitiva testuppgifter som förutsätter hantering av språkljud pekar på svikt i fonologisk processering, som betecknas som den huvudsakliga underliggande kognitiva nedsättningen vid utvecklingsbetingad dyslexi.

Frequency-Domain and Wide-Pulse Time-Domain Measurements of Lanthanide Luminescence and Lanthanide-Based Resonance Energy Transfer

Resonance energy transfer (RET) is a non-radiative transfer of the excitation energy from the initially excited luminescent donor to an acceptor. The requirements for the resonance energy transfer are: i) the spectral overlap between the donor emission spectrum and the acceptor absorption spectrum, ii) the close proximity of the donor and the acceptor, and iii) the suitable relative orientations of the donor emission and the acceptor absorption transition dipoles. As a result of the RET process the donor luminescence intensity and the donor lifetime are decreased. If the acceptor is luminescent, a sensitized acceptor emission appears. The rate of RET depends strongly on the donor–acceptor distance (r) and is inversely proportional to r6. The distance dependence of RET is utilized in binding assays. The proximity requirement and the selective detection of the RET-modified emission signal allow homogeneous separation free assays. The term lanthanide-based RET is used when luminescent lanthanide compounds are used as donors. The long luminescence lifetimes, the large Stokes’ shifts and the intense, sharply-spiked emission spectra of the lanthanide donors offer advantages over the conventional organic donor molecules. Both the organic lanthanide chelates and the inorganic up-converting phosphor (UCP) particles have been used as donor labels in the RET based binding assays. In the present work lanthanide luminescence and lanthanide-based resonance energy transfer phenomena were studied. Luminescence lifetime measurements had an essential role in the research. Modular frequency-domain and time-domain luminometers were assembled and used successfully in the lifetime measurements. The frequency-domain luminometer operated in the low frequency domain ( 100 kHz) and utilized a novel dual-phase lock-in detection of the luminescence. One of the studied phenomena was the recently discovered non-overlapping fluorescence resonance energy transfer (nFRET). The studied properties were the distance and temperature dependences of nFRET. The distance dependence was found to deviate from the Förster theory and a clear temperature dependence was observed whereas conventional RET was completely independent of the temperature. Based on the experimental results two thermally activated mechanisms were proposed for the nFRET process. The work with the UCP particles involved the measurement of the luminescence properties of the UCP particles synthesized in our laboratory. The goal of the UCP particle research is to develop UCP donor labels for binding assays. In the present work the effect of the dopant concentrations and the core–shell structure on the total up-conversion luminescence intensity, the red–green emission ratio, and the luminescence lifetime was studied. Also the non-radiative nature of the energy transfer from the UCP particle donors to organic acceptors was demonstrated for the first time in aqueous environment and with a controlled donor–acceptor distance.

Intensity-duration-frequency ratios obtained from annual records and partial duration records in the locality of Pelotas - RS, Brazil

The intensity-duration-frequency occurrence ratio (IDF) is a tool commonly used for precipitation-runoff data transformation, which is established from observations of intense precipitations over a period sufficiently long as to allow the occurrence of extremes at the observation site. This study focused on verifying the existence or absence of new data, in terms of IDF ratio, by using partial duration records produced from data on maximum daily disaggregated rainfall for pre determined durations. The partial duration records considered a base value of 55 mm, totaling 279 values. After the rainfall series were established, their independence and seasonality were assessed. Using the Student's t-test statistics, it was established that no new data, as IDF ratio, emerged from the analysis of the partial duration series with the recommended base value of precipitation, as compared to the historical records.

Analysis of the relationship intensity, duration, frequency of disaggregated daily rainfall in southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

The intensity, duration, and frequency relationship (IDF) of rainfall occurrence may be done through continuous records of pluviographs or daily pluviometer values . The objective of this study was to estimate the intensity-duration-frequency relationships of precipitation, using the method of daily rainfall disaggregation, at weather stations located to the southern half of the state of Rio Grande do Sul; comparing them with those obtained by rain gauge records, in places considered homogeneous from the meteorological point of view. The IDF equation parameters were estimated from daily rainfall disaggregation data, using the method of nonlinear optimization. To validate the equations confidence indices and efficiency and the "t" Student test, among maximum intensity values obtained from the disaggregated daily rainfall durations of 10; 30; 60 min and 6; 12 and 24 h and those extracted from existing IDF equations. For all studied stations and return periods, the trust index values were regarded as "optimal", i.e., greater than 0.85. The maximal intensity of rainfall obtained by daily rainfall disaggregation have similarity with those obtained by relations IDF standards. Thus, the method constitutes a feasible alternative in obtaining the IDF relationships.

Method adjustment and equation set of maximum rainfall intensity, duration and frequency in the Mato Grosso do Sul State

Due to the lack of information concerning maximum rainfall equations for most locations in Mato Grosso do Sul State, the alternative for carrying out hydraulic work projects has been information from meteorological stations closest to the location in which the project is carried out. Alternative methods, such as 24 hours rain disaggregation method from rainfall data due to greater availability of stations and longer observations can work. Based on this approach, the objective of this study was to estimate maximum rainfall equations for Mato Grosso do Sul State by adjusting the 24 hours rain disaggregation method, depending on data obtained from rain gauge stations from Dourado and Campo Grande. For this purpose, data consisting of 105 rainfall stations were used, which are available in the ANA (Water Resources Management National Agency) database. Based on the results we concluded: the intense rainfall equations obtained by pluviogram analysis showed determination coefficient above 99%; and the performance of 24 hours rain disaggregation method was classified as excellent, based on relative average error WILMOTT concordance index (1982).

Descoberta simultânea de carcinomatose disseminada e carcinoma de cólon, após colecistectomia laparoscópica

A particularly rapid and fatal outcome has been noted in cases of malignant soft-tissue metastases occurring after cancer surgery. Abdominal wall metastases occurring in scars after laparotomy for cancer resection show a similar poor outcome. On the other hand, neoplasm seeding at trocar sites after laparoscopy has been reported with an increasing frequency. A case is presented of a 68-years-old woman with metastatic seeding of non-diagnosed colon cancer at the umbilical trocar site used for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The gallbladder was extracted through the umbilical incision. Pathological examination confirmed chronic cholecystitis. Eight months latter, the patient was seen with a tender umbilical mass protruded through a 4,5 cm the umbilical incision site. Biopsies of this tissue were taken and histopathological examination showed metastatic adenocarcinoma, probably of a gastrointestinal origin. A colonoscopy performed at the same time revealed a 2-cm lesion at the hepatic flexur which was shown to be a differentiated adenocarcinoma. An 8.0 x 6.0 x 6.0-cm pelvic mass without signs of liver metastases was identified by computerised tomography. Diagnostic laparoscopy showed a diffuse peritoneal carcinomatosis. The pelvis could not be approached, except for simple biopsy, and no surgical procedure was performed. It is presumed that the primary colon cancer existed prior to cholecystectomy. Laparoscopy is the procedure of choice to perform cholecystectomy and fundoplication. It has also been increasingly used to diagnose, resect and perform the staging of malignant tumours. As in any relatively new technique, questions arising about its safety and risk of complications must be extensively studied. Many questions about the specific features of laparoscopy promoting cancer growth remain unanswered.

Comparative analysis of the frequency and the severity of diagnosed lesions between pedestrians struck by motor vehicles and other blunt trauma mechanisms victims

ABSTRACTObjective:to compare the frequency and the severity of diagnosed injuries between pedestrians struck by motor vehicles and victims of other blunt trauma mechanisms.Methods:retrospective analysis of data from the Trauma Registry, including adult blunt trauma patients admitted from 2008 to 2010. We reviewed the mechanism of trauma, vital signs on admission and the injuries identified. Severity stratification was carried using RTS, AIS-90, ISS e TRISS. Patients were assigned into group A (pedestrians struck by motor vehicle) or B (victims of other mechanisms of blunt trauma). Variables were compared between groups. We considered p<0.05 as significant.Results:a total of 5785 cases were included, and 1217 (21,0%) of which were in group A. Pedestrians struck by vehicles presented (p<0.05) higher mean age, mean heart rate upon admission, mean ISS and mean AIS in head, thorax, abdomen and extremities, as well as lower mean Glasgow coma scale, arterial blood pressure upon admission, RTS and TRISS. They also had a higher frequency of epidural hematomas, subdural hematomas, subarachnoid hemorrhage, brain swelling, cerebral contusions, costal fractures, pneumothorax, flail chest, pulmonary contusions, as well as pelvic, superior limbs and inferior limbs fractures.Conclusion:pedestrian struck by vehicles sustained intracranial, thoracic, abdominal and extremity injuries more frequently than victims of other blunt trauma mechanism as a group. They also presented worse physiologic and anatomic severity of the trauma.