Techno-economic feasibility study for mobile small scale combined heat and power incineration plant

Maailmalla on kasvava jäteongelma. Tämän diplomityön tarkoitus on selvittää, kannattaako Ferroplan Oy:n kehittää uutta jätteenpolttokonseptia hajautettuun energiatuotantoon ja paikallisten jäteongelmien ratkaisuksi. Tavoitteena on polttaa jätteet ja tuottaa samalla sähköä ja lämpöä yhteistuotannolla. Tässä työssä selvitetään, onko tällainen uusi konsepti teknisesti mahdollista toteuttaa, ja onko se taloudellisesti kannattava Suomessa. Työssä simuloidaan kannattavuuslaskennan menetelmin uuden konseptin soveltuvuutta eri asiakasryhmille. Lisäksi tutkitaan, löytyykö markkinoilta soveltuvaa teknologiaa konseptin toteuttamiseksi. Kirjallisuusselvityksen ja tarjouskyselyjen mukaan haasteita voi tulla löytää sopiva arinapolttolaite pienen kokoluokan jätteenpolttoon ja sopiva höyryä tuottava lämmöntalteenottokattila. Muun tekniikan osalta uusi konsepti on mahdollista toteuttaa Suomessa kohtuullisin kustannuksin. Kannattavuuslaskelma ja herkkyystarkastelut osoittivat, että hajautettu jätteenpolttoon perustuva sähkön ja lämmön yhteistuotanto voi olla kannattavaa liiketoimintaa. Tämän työn tulosten pohjalta on mahdollisuus kehittää uusi voimalaitoskonsepti kannattavaksi liiketoiminnaksi, kun potentiaalisille asiakkaille pystytään perustelemaan investoinnin kannattavuus.The waste problem in the world is rising. Company in case, the Ferroplan Oy want’s to develop a new waste incineration concept. This Master’s thesis purpose is to evaluate, if there is a good cause to develop a new waste incineration concept, to answer the waste problems locally. The object is to incinerate different kind of waste and produce energy as decentralized solution. In this thesis it was examined, if this kind of new concept has a technical feasibility and profitability. The profitability analysis was done by calculation simulations for various customer cases. Also the technology availability for the main equipment was investigated from market. Availability of the grate furnace and steam producing waste heat recovery boiler might be a challenge. Other main equipment’s for the small scale combined heat and power plant are mature technology. According to the literature survey and the quotations made for the main equipment delivering companies, the new concept is possible to implement in Finland with reasonable investment cost. Profitability study and sensitive analysis indicate that small scale incineration based on the combined heat and power production can be a profitable economic activity. This study can be a platform for developing a new power plant concept for profitable business as the reason for the investment can be demonstrated for potential customers

Certification of breast centres in Germany: proof of concept for a prototypical example of quality assurance in multidisciplinary cancer care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main study objectives were: to develop a set of requirements of comprehensive breast centres; to establish a nationwide voluntary certification programme for breast centres based on such requirements, a certified quality management system (QMS), and scheduled independent, external audits and periodic recertification; and to demonstrate the general acceptance of such a certification programme with a view to introducing similar certification programmes for other major cancers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Breast centres introduced a QMS and voluntarily participated in an external certification procedure based on guideline-derived Requirements of Breast Centres specifically developed for the application procedure, all subsequent audits and recertification. All data (numbers of pending and successful applications, sites/centre, etc.) were collected by a newly founded, independent organisation for certification of cancer services delivery. Data analysis was descriptive.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Requirements of Breast Centres were developed by the German Cancer Society (DKG), the German Society of Senology (DGS) and other relevant specialist medical societies in the form of a questionnaire comprising 185 essential items based on evidence-based guidelines and the European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists' (EUSOMA) requirements of specialist breast units. From late 2002 to mid 2008, the number of participating breast centres rose from 1 to 175. As of mid 2008, 77% of an estimated 50,000 new breast cancers in Germany were diagnosed and treated at certified breast centres, 78% of which were single-site centres.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Nationwide voluntary certification of breast centres is feasible and well accepted in Germany. Dual certification of breast centres that involves certification of breast services to guideline-derived requirements in conjunction with independent certification of a mandatory QMS can serve as a model for other multidisciplinary site-specific cancer centres.</p

Dimensions of Religious-Spiritual Well-Being and the dark side of personality

Es besteht ein großer Mangel an Forschung, welche religiös/spirituelle Aspekte mit problematischen Facetten der Persönlichkeit (z. B. Narzissmus) in Beziehung setzt. Aus diesem Grund untersuchten wir den Zusammenhang zwischen religiös-spirituellen Befinden (RSB) und der dunklen Seite der Persönlichkeit. Letztere sprachen wir mit Hilfe der Konzepte ?dunkle Triade? (Narzissmus, Machiavellismus, Psychopathie) und ?strukturelles Defizit? der Persönlichkeit an. 312 StudentInnen füllten das Multidimensionale Inventar zum Religiös/Spirituellen Befinden (MI-RSB), die überarbeite Version des Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-R), das Mach-IV Inventar (Mach-IV) und die Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Skala (LSRP) zusammen mit der Kurzskala des Inventar zur Persönlichkeitsorganisation (IPO-16) aus. Insgesamt zeigte sich ein negativer Zusammenhang zwischen RSB und der dunklen Seite der Persönlichkeit. Dennoch wies die RSB Subdimension ?Allverbundenheit? eine positive Assoziation mit ?Narzissmus? und ?Strukturellem Defizit? auf. Weiterführende Implikationen werden diskutiert.Stichwörter: Wohlbefinden, Spiritualität, Religion, dunkle Triade, strukturelles Defizit, PersönlichkeitsorganisationThere is still a lack of research relating religious/spiritual issues to less favorable facets of personality, e.g. narcissism. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the relationship between dimensions of Religious/Spiritual Well-being (RSWB) and the dark side of personality: ?Dark Triad? (?Narcissism?, ?Machiavellianism?, ?Psychopathy?) and ?Structural Deficit? in personality. 312 college students completed the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-being (MI-RSWB), the revised Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-R), the Mach-IV inventory (Mach-IV) and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP) together with the Inventory for Personality Organization (IPO-16). In general RSWB turned out to be negatively related with the dark side of personality. However, there was a positive connection of the RSWB sub-dimension ?Connectedness? with ?Narcissism? and ?Structural Deficit?. Further implications are discussed.Keywords: well-being, spirituality, religion, dark triad, structural deficit, personality organizationMonika KämmerleZsfassung in dt. und engl. SpracheGraz, Univ., Dipl.-Arb., 2013(VLID)23194

No evidence for spatial variation in predation risk following restricted-area fox culling

Abstract Background Predation and predator abundance may significantly affect bird populations, especially ground nesting species, because nest predation is often the major cause of nest failure. Predator control by means of culling is frequently employed to benefit threatened prey species or to increase the abundance of small game species for hunting. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes), a generalist mesopredator of global relevance, is a major target of predator control. Commonly, in central Europe, red fox culling efforts intended to benefit prey species remain restricted to small areas. It is unclear, however, whether such restricted-area culling effectively lowers predation risk at a site or whether red fox abundance is more important than culling in shaping predation risk. We conducted an experiment using 273 camera supervised artificial nests at multiple study sites in clusters of hunting concessions with or without targeted fox culling in a fragmented montane forest landscape in Germany. Results Using generalized additive models, we assessed whether incentivized recreational culling of red foxes was associated with local reductions in an index of predation risk and fox occurrence probability, or whether both were explained by red fox abundance instead. Final models indicated that restricted-area culling of red foxes was not associated with local reductions in predation risk, nor lower probability of a fox sighting, even for the plots with the largest hunting bags. Predation risk at a plot instead appeared to be driven by variation in the abundance of red foxes in the landscape surrounding the plots. After accounting for fox abundance, we found no additional relationship of artificial nest predation risk with landscape configuration. Conclusions Our results imply that the scale and intensity of predator control achieved by incentivized recreational hunting was ineffective at altering fox abundance patterns and associated predation risk. We thus find no evidence to support incentives for uncoordinated recreational red fox culling as a conservation measure

Die OncoBox Research als Instrument für Versorgungsforschung

Background. One of the objectives of certification of organ cancer centers is the continuous improvement of the quality of care. This is achieved through the fulfillment and further development of the certification requirements, comparison of own performance data with those of the other centers and mutual learning. To date, performance data have been documented as an aggregate at the center level. Aim. Currently, the OncoBox Research is being developed to enable analyses that take into account the different distribution of patient characteristics (case mix) between the centers. This article provides a brief overview of the current state of health services research and documentation in certified centers, shows examples of the limitations of previous evaluations and outlines the potentials of OncoBox Research. Material and methods. The OncoBox Research is a further development of the OncoBox, which is already used by breast, colorectal and prostate cancer centers in order to make the data between the centers comparable and to allow the centers quality assurance during data collection. The OncoBox Research is intended to allow the use of these data for research purposes. Key fields of application are case mix adjusted center comparisons and the investigation of specific research questions. For example, such specific questions on key figures can consider how strong guideline adherence between patient groups and centers varies and based on which features. Results and discussion. The OncoBox Research is currently under development. The potential consists of the combination of a technical data analysis with a social, research cooperative innovation. Its success is essentially dependent on the interest of the contributing centers

Circadian activity patterns of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in montane forests under different culling regimes

Mammals display a great variety of activity patterns. Although red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are generally well studied, differences in their activity patterns related to seasonality and anthropogenic impacts remain not well known. Hunting is a major anthropogenic influence on fox populations across the globe. In this paper, we assess how circadian activity patterns of red foxes in a central European montane forest change throughout the year and test whether activity patterns differ between areas with different culling regimes. We found pronounced activity peaks around dawn and particularly dusk and high levels of activity throughout the night. Foxes generally avoided daylight hours, except in wintertime, potentially indicating an avoidance of human presence. The onset and cessation of activity tracked changes in day length. Circadian activity patterns were highly similar at sites with and without targeted culls during all seasons, not suggesting a direct reaction of red foxes to hunting. Red fox activity patterns in our study were thus overall comparable with those in other environmental contexts

Methods for assessing small-scale variation in the abundance of a generalist mesopredator.

Estimating animal abundance is essential for research, management and conservation purposes. Although reliable methods exist to estimate absolute density for populations with individually marked animals, robust relative abundance indices (RAIs) may allow to track changes in population size when individual identification is not possible. Their performance, however, needs be thoroughly evaluated. We investigated the relative performance of several common faeces-based and camera-based RAIs for estimating small-scale variation in red fox abundance, a mesopredator of high relevance for management, in two different study areas. We compared precision, cost and performance of the methods in capturing relationships with covariates of local abundance. Random transect-based RAIs had a low mean, a comparatively high coefficient of variation and a high proportion of zeros, prohibiting or impeding analysis in relation to environmental predictors. Rectangular scat plots and transects along linear landscape features had an intermediate amount of zeros while retaining a high precision, but were less sensitive to local variation in abundance related to environmental predictors and required a large field effort. Camera trap-based RAIs yielded low to intermediate precision, but were more sensitive to small-scale variation in relative abundance than faeces-based methods. Camera traps were the most expensive methods for an initial monitoring session, but required the lowest field effort, were cheapest in the long run and were the least susceptible to observer bias and detection error under a robust sampling protocol. Generally, faeces count-based RAIs appear more suitable for studies that aim to compare local abundance between several study sites of equal landscape composition under constant detection probability. Camera traps provide more flexible data for studies that require accounting for influences of landscape composition on local abundance and are more cost-effective for long-term or continuous monitoring and more suitable to achieve high replication. Accordingly, the choice of the most suitable method and plot design is context-dependent