Outline of a fault diagnosis system for a large-scale board machine

Global competition forces process industries to continuously optimize plant operation. One of the latest trends for efficiency and plant availability improvement is to set up fault diagnosis and maintenance systems for online industrial use. This paper presents a methodology for developing industrial fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) systems. Since model or data-based diagnosis of all components cannot be achieved online on a large-scale basis, the focus must be narrowed down to the most likely faulty components responsible for abnormal process behavior. One of the key elements here is fault analysis. The paper describes and briefly discusses also other development phases, process decomposition, and the selection of FDD methods. The paper ends with an FDD case study of a large-scale industrial board machine including a description of the fault analysis and FDD algorithms for the resulting focus areas. Finally, the testing and validation results are presented and discussed.Peer reviewe

Long-Term Follow-Up After Maxillary Sinus Balloon Sinuplasty and ESS

Objectives: The aim of this controlled follow-up study was to compare the need for revision surgery, long-term efficacy, and satisfaction in chronic rhinosinusitis patients who had undergone maxillary sinus operation with either balloon sinuplasty or traditional endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) technique. Methods: Thirty-nine ESS patients and 36 balloon patients of our previously described cohort, who had been primarily operated in 2008 to 2010, were contacted by phone. Symptoms, satisfaction, and need for revision surgery were asked. In addition, we collected data of patients who had undergone primary maxillary sinus balloon sinuplasty in the Helsinki University Hospital during the years 2005 to 2019. As a control group, we collected data of patients who had undergone primary maxillary sinus ESS at 3 Finnish University Hospitals, and 1 Central Hospital in years 2005, 2008, and 2011. Results: Altogether, 77 balloon patients and 82 ESS patients were included. The mean follow-up time was 5.3 years in balloon group and 9.8 years in ESS group. Revision surgery was performed on 17 balloon patients and 6 ESS patients. In the survival analysis, the balloon sinuplasty associated significantly with a higher risk of revision surgery compared to ESS. According to the phone interviews, 82% of ESS patients and 75% of balloon patients were very satisfied with the primary operation. Conclusion: Although the patient groups expressed equal satisfaction and change in symptoms after the operations, the need for revision surgery was higher after balloon sinuplasty than after ESS. This should be emphasized when counselling patients regarding surgical options.Peer reviewe

Factors Affecting Revision Rate of Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Peer reviewe

Strong Interactive Effects of Warming and Insect Herbivory on Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics at Subarctic Tree Line

Warming will likely stimulate Arctic primary production, but also soil C and N mineralization, and it remains uncertain whether the Arctic will become a sink or a source for CO2. Increasing insect herbivory may also dampen the positive response of plant production and soil C input to warming. We conducted an open-air warming experiment with Subarctic field layer vegetation in North Finland to explore the effects of warming (+3°C) and reduced insect herbivory (67% reduction in leaf damage using an insecticide) on soil C and N dynamics. We found that plant root growth, soil C and N concentrations, microbial biomass C, microbial activity, and soil NH4+ availability were increased by both warming and reduced herbivory when applied alone, but not when combined. Soil NO3– availability increased by warming only and in-situ soil respiration by reduced herbivory only. Our results suggest that increasing C input from vegetation under climate warming increases soil C concentration, but also stimulates soil C turnover. On the other hand, it appears that insect herbivores can significantly reduce plant growth. If their abundance increases with warming as predicted, they may curtail the positive effect of warming on soil C concentration. Moreover, our results suggest that temperature and herbivory effects on root growth and soil variables interact strongly, which probably arises from a combination of N demand increasing under lower herbivory and soil mineral N supply increasing under higher temperature. This may further complicate the effects of rising temperatures on Subarctic soil C dynamics.</p

Long-term follow-up after ESS and balloon sinuplasty : Comparison of symptom reduction and patient satisfaction

Conclusion This is the first controlled study of balloon sinuplasty's long-term efficacy with the follow-up time over 5 years. The results are in accordance with a previous 2-year-follow-up study. Both techniques retained the efficacy and patient satisfaction on average 6 years after the surgery. Background Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) and balloon sinuplasty are considered as a treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) after a failure of conservative therapy. High cost and lack of long-term follow-up studies restrain the use of balloon sinuplasty. Objective The aim of this study was to compare long-term efficacy and satisfaction in CRS patients who had undergone maxillary sinus operation with either balloon sinuplasty or ESS technique. Previous or additional sinonasal operations were exclusion criteria. Materials and methods Study patients were recruited from 208 CRS-patients who underwent either ESS or balloon sinuplasty. Patients with nasal polyposis (gradus >= 2), previous sinonasal surgery, unilateral disease, or immune deficiency were excluded. Altogether 45 patients in the ESS group and 40 patients in the balloon group were included. Of these, 30 and 28, respectively, answered to a phone interview held on average 6 years after primary surgery. Symptom reduction and long-term satisfaction were evaluated by using symptom scores of 19 parameters altogether. Results Both groups experienced improvement in symptoms and were equally satisfied with the operation. The number of patient-reported acute exacerbations was higher among the balloon dilated patients. Also, the reduction of thick nasal discharge was less evident in the balloon sinuplasty group. Four patients in the balloon sinuplasty group underwent revision surgery. There were no revisions in the ESS group.Peer reviewe

Mediatoimittajien ammatti-identiteetti

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään minkälaiseksi Yleisradion aluetoimituksissa työskentelevät mediatoimittajat kokevat ammatillisen identiteettinsä. Tutkimusmetodina käytetään teemahaastattelua. Mediatoimittajan työnkuvaa tarkastellaan kuvajournalismin käsitettä vasten, jotta selviäisi tuleeko mediatoimittajan työtä pitää journalistisena työnä. Samalla avataan mediatoimittajan työnkuvaa, sillä se vaikuttaa olevan sangen tuntematon jopa monelle journalismin alan ammattilaiselle. Mediatoimittajan koulutustausta on useimmiten joko AMK- tai ammatillinen koulutus. Journalistisiin töihin tullaan nykyään useimmiten yliopistokoulutuksen kautta. Haastattelututkimuksella selvitetään, muodostuuko mediatoimittajan ammatillinen identiteetti työssä vai jo koulutuksen aikana. Tutkimus osoittaa mediatoimittajan ammatin sopivan hyvin kuvajournalismi-käsitteen alle. Lisäksi ilmenee, että mediatoimittajat pitävät itseään ennen kaikkea journalisteina ja että he osaavat myös perustella, miksi näin on. Journalistin identiteetti heille synty ennen kaikkea työssä, koulutus ei sitä tuo

Strong Interactive Effects of Warming and Insect Herbivory on Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics at Subarctic Tree Line

Warming will likely stimulate Arctic primary production, but also soil C and N mineralization, and it remains uncertain whether the Arctic will become a sink or a source for CO2. Increasing insect herbivory may also dampen the positive response of plant production and soil C input to warming. We conducted an open-air warming experiment with Subarctic field layer vegetation in North Finland to explore the effects of warming (+3 degrees C) and reduced insect herbivory (67% reduction in leaf damage using an insecticide) on soil C and N dynamics. We found that plant root growth, soil C and N concentrations, microbial biomass C, microbial activity, and soil NH4+ availability were increased by both warming and reduced herbivory when applied alone, but not when combined. Soil NO3- availability increased by warming only and in-situ soil respiration by reduced herbivory only. Our results suggest that increasing C input from vegetation under climate warming increases soil C concentration, but also stimulates soil C turnover. On the other hand, it appears that insect herbivores can significantly reduce plant growth. If their abundance increases with warming as predicted, they may curtail the positive effect of warming on soil C concentration. Moreover, our results suggest that temperature and herbivory effects on root growth and soil variables interact strongly, which probably arises from a combination of N demand increasing under lower herbivory and soil mineral N supply increasing under higher temperature. This may further complicate the effects of rising temperatures on Subarctic soil C dynamics.Peer reviewe

The growth of the mastoid volume in children with a cochlear implant

Abstract The aim of this study was to understand the mastoid volume development in children who undergo cochlear implantation surgery. Cochlear implant (CI) database of our clinic (Kuopio University Hospital) was reviewed for computed tomography (CT) images of CI patients (age under 12 years at the time of implantation) with a minimum time interval of twelve months between their pre- and postoperative CT. Eight patients (nine ears) were found eligible for inclusion. Three linear measurements were taken by using picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) software and the volume of the MACS was measured with Seg 3D software. The mastoid volume increased on average 817.5 mm3 between the pre- and the postoperative imaging time point. The linear distances measured between anatomical points like the round window (RW)- bony ear canal (BEC), the RW-sigmoid sinus (SS), the BEC-SS, and the mastoid tip (MT)-superior semicircular canal (SSC) increased significantly with the age of the patient at both the pre-op and post-op time points. The linear measurements between key anatomical points and mastoid volume showed a positive linear correlation. The correlation between linear measurement and volume were significant between the MT-SSC (r = 0.706, p = 0.002), RW-SS (r = 0.646, p = 0.005) and RW-BEC (r = 0.646, p = 0.005). Based on our findings from the CI implanted patients and comparing it with the previous literature findings from non-CI implanted patients, we could say that the CI surgery seem to have no effect on the development of mastoid volume in children

Insect herbivory dampens Subarctic birch forest C sink response to warming

Climate warming is anticipated to make high latitude ecosystems stronger C sinks through increasing plant production. This effect might, however, be dampened by insect herbivores whose damage to plants at their background, non-outbreak densities may more than double under climate warming. Here, using an open-air warming experiment among Subarctic birch forest field layer vegetation, supplemented with birch plantlets, we show that a 2.3 degrees C air and 1.2 degrees C soil temperature increase can advance the growing season by 1-4 days, enhance soil N availability, leaf chlorophyll concentrations and plant growth up to 400%, 160% and 50% respectively, and lead up to 122% greater ecosystem CO2 uptake potential. However, comparable positive effects are also found when insect herbivory is reduced, and the effect of warming on C sink potential is intensified under reduced herbivory. Our results confirm the expected warming-induced increase in high latitude plant growth and CO2 uptake, but also reveal that herbivorous insects may significantly dampen the strengthening of the CO2 sink under climate warming. Warming is expected to increase C sink capacity in high-latitude ecosystems, but plant-herbivore interactions could moderate or offset this effect. Here, Silfver and colleagues test individual and interactive effects of warming and insect herbivory in a field experiment in Subarctic forest, showing that even low intensity insect herbivory strongly reduces C sink potential.Peer reviewe

Application of the Enhanced Dynamic Causal Digraph Method on a Three-Layer Board Machine

This brief presents an enhanced dynamic causal digraph (EDCDG) reasoning method for fault diagnosis. In order to improve the fault isolation ability of the dynamic causal digraph method, a new algorithm for separating the positive and negative fault effect contributions is proposed. The proposed method was tested with an application on a three-layer board machine process. The results show that the proposed method, compared to the conventional dynamic causal digraph method, is able to detect the correct nodes, to form a better fault propagation path and to identify the responsible arcs when the system is affected by a process fault.Peer reviewe