Can The Data Output of CyberRat Pass a “Turing Test”?

There are benefits from laboratory experiences, like increased student engagement (Ra’anon, 2005) and preparation for graduate school (McDonough, n.d.). Specifically, there are benefits from working in a live animal laboratory using operant chambers. It is not feasible for many universities to have live animal laboratories due to factors such as cost of animal care, maintenance, and ethical concerns, so many students have no laboratory experience. The current study sought to evaluate the CyberRat (Ray, 2019) software as an alternative to live rat laboratories. The variability of CyberRat was assessed via a Turing test, thus determining how realistic CyberRat is. To assess CyberRat’s variability three areas were analyzed: the latency to the first bar press, the total number of bar presses, and the cumulative records of the graphs. Results demonstrated multiple areas where variability is present. There are areas for further evaluation, but through analysis of the data output, CyberRat has passed another Turing test

Strategies in declining industries

Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Business, International business - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2017An increasing pace in globalization and technological innovation has changed industry landscapes in different sectors. In fact, a growing number of industries are characterized by rapid decline. While there has been much research conducted about life-cycles and its respective stages, knowledge of industries operating in the decline stage has received less attention. The aim of this research is to discover which types of decline exists, which strategies are available and appropriate to cope with decline, through an investigating of the Norwegian Pulp and Paper Industry. In order to answer these questions, an examination of the theoretical approaches within Strategy is conducted, more specifically the perspectives of Industrial Organization within Strategy and Population Ecology. Applying these two perspectives in the context of the Norwegian Pulp and Paper Industry allows the identification of the most suitable perspective. The research is primarily qualitative in nature, through a case study approach. Information is gathered by conducting twelve in-depth interviews with informants from all major companies representing the Norwegian Pulp and Paper Industry. Our findings suggest that the intuitive perception that the Norwegian Pulp and Paper Industry as a whole faces declining demand is incorrect. More than half of the industry is in fact enjoying growth, and the remaining companies clustered at the mature and decline phase. It appears that companies operating in growing segments appear to be more proactive and fits better to the strategies representing Industrial Organization within Strategy. In contrast, companies operating in mature and declining segments seem to be more reactive, and strategic adjustments on the basis of Population Ecology seem more appropriate

A critical review and discussion on emission factors for wood stoves

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The Process of Batch Combustion of Logs in Wood Stoves – Transient Modelling for Generation of Input to CFD Modelling of Stoves and Thermal Comfort Simulations

CFD modelling of wood stoves are a challenge due to the transient behavior of the combustion process, due to their batch combustion principle. Various initial and boundary conditions needs to be specified to carry out a CFD simulation of a wood stove, and many of these will be a result of sub-models that again can be partly based on experimental results. This paper deals with these boundary conditions and the generation of representative values for these as input to stationary and transient CFD simulations throughout the batch combustion process as well as thermal comfort simulations. Additionally, heat production profiles and stove wall properties are needed to calculate heat release profiles to the room in which the stove is placed. These heat release profiles are essential input for evaluating the thermal comfort of wood stoves in houses, a subject which has received considerable attention recently as energy efficient houses are increasingly introduced. Necessary boundary conditions relates to the fuel and air introduction into the computational domain and the thermal and radiative properties of the surfaces within and enclosing the computational domain. In addition initial conditions must be specified as starting point for the transient models generating the boundary conditions at any time in the batch combustion process. The ultimate goal would be to carry out transient CFD simulations where the boundary conditions are derived for each new stationary simulation based on the results from the previous time step. The choice of models and the degree of detail of these regarding e.g. the handling of the gas phase chemistry are very important. In this paper a feasible modelling approach is presented that together with experiments could be used to cost-efficiently design future's high performance wood stoves.publishedVersionCopyright © 2015, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. Open Access

Comparison of test method EN 16510-1:2018 with EN-PME test method vs NS 3058-1/2:1994 and NS 3059:1994

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Gasification of wood powder in a small-scale entrained flow gasifier

Gasification of wood powder milled from commercially available wood pellets have been performed in a small-scale entrained flow gasifier. The main aim of this study is to investigate operational and feedstock requirements (mainly particle size distribution, (PSD)) for this small-sized gasifier to perform with good carbon conversion ratio. The effects of several parameters were investigated, resulting in variable performance. The investigated parameters were equivalence ratio (lambda, λ), oxidant type (air or oxygen), thermal load, pressure, burner head configuration and PSD. The syngas quality, defined as cold gas efficiency (CGE) and/or carbon conversion efficiency (CC) was reported as function of the above parameters. The gasifier achieved a satisfactory conversion when using oxygen as oxidant and at elevated pressure (8.2 bar(a)).publishedVersio

Reducing Emissions from Current Clean-Burn Wood Stove Technology by Automating the Combustion Air Supply and Improving the End-User Interaction - Two Important Primary Measures

The current work concerns two of the most important primary measures to reduce emissions from small scale appliances for space heating; improvement and optimization of current technology and user behavior, where the latter is related to the effects of the ignition procedure, fuel quality and type, and amount of wood when loading and re-loading. Air-control both concerns user behavior and technology improvement. A recently developed in-house automatic air-control system was compared to manual operation. The ignition procedure is important and affects the quality of the combustion, not only for the ignition period itself but also for the subsequent burning periods. Two self-defined categories of primary measures were studied, primary measure A and B, as PMA (automated air flow) and PMB (manual operation varying the ignition procedure, wood specie, amount of fuel, log size and moisture content), respectively. Woodstove testing in our laboratory showed that for emissions related to primary measures, PMA, automating the combustion air reduced the particulate matter (PM) with 66% applying the Norwegian test method. Using the European test method, automation increased the efficiency with 8% and decreased PM, CO, and Organic gaseous compounds (OGC), with 12%, 34% and 55%, respectively. Comparing nominal and high fuel loads with birch, at low burn rates, automation reduced PM and CO with 4% and 61%, respectively, for a fuel load of 1.2 kg. For a 1.8 kg fuel load, automation resulted in even higher reductions in PM, CO and OGC of 68%, 52% and 82%, respectively. Automation also substantially decreased CO (70%) emissions when burning briquette presses. The effect of end-user operation as for the ignition from cold stove, and use of fuel with varying properties, as in PMB, showed significant variation in emissions over the ignition period. Good ignition, when firing according to the Norwegian standard, can be achieved repeatedly by assuring that the fuel catches fire before closing the door and/or reduce the primary/secondary air flows. Bad ignition due to over-/under firing and dense stacking, can produce at least twice as much PM and CO and 3-4 times the OGC, compared to correct ignition. No significant differences in emissions were found when comparing birch, spruce, and pine, for wood with equal moisture content. However, burning pine, showed higher emissions of total carbon particles, as elemental and organic carbon, on the same level as with poor ignitionpublishedVersio

Numerical simulation of lignin gasification: The role of gasifying agents in entrained-flow reactors

Biomass gasification using an Entrained-Flow Reactor (EFR) is an effective strategy for sustainable energy production and climate change mitigation. However, optimizing gasification efficiency and syngas quality requires a thorough understanding of the influence of gasifying agents. This study investigates the effects of different gasifying agents—air, CO2, steam, and CO2-steam mixtures—on lignin gasification in an EFR. Utilizing a validated Eulerian-Lagrangian Computational Particle Fluid Dynamics (CPFD) model, we examine how these agents impact biomass conversion to syngas, focusing on key parameters like hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio, and the lower heating value (LHV) of syngas. Our findings reveal that air, due to nitrogen dilution, results in suboptimal lignin-to-syngas conversion, yielding lower energy content and hydrogen production. In contrast, steam enhances conversion efficiency, significantly increasing hydrogen output and LHV. CO2 as a gasifying agent boosts carbon monoxide levels through interactions with solid carbon, leading to a higher energy content in the syngas. The CO2-steam mixture is particularly effective, producing syngas with a high hydrogen concentration, primarily due to the water–gas shift reaction and steam’s reaction with the lignin carbon. This research addresses the limitations of existing studies by providing detailed, quantitative insights into the impact of gasifying agents on lignin gasification in an EFR. By adjusting the CO2-to-steam ratio, operators can precisely control the composition of syngas for targeted applications such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, methanol production, and fermentation. The study highlights the potential of advanced simulation techniques to optimize biomass gasification processes, offering significant improvements in efficiency and energy yield over current methods.publishedVersio

Testing av antikvariske vedovner iht. Norsk Standard NS 3058/59

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