Foxfonna jäätikön karakterisointi hyödyntäen historiallisia havaintoja ja numeerista mallinnusta

Small arctic glaciers have in general been consistently neglected with respect to the collection of long time-series observations. Available data is often a product of multiple independent and separate studies, thus gaps in the data sets are common. Numerical modelling provides one solution to alleviate existing gaps in knowledge, while historical observations can be used to assess model accuracy. The Foxfonna ice cap and associated glacier were investigated with the aid of the numerical modelling software, Elmer/Ice. The goal was to reproduce core glaciological characteristics of the entire glacier system from a 3D simulation based on multiple digital elevation models (DEMs) between the years 1961-2021. The methods proved capable of providing additional information on the glaciological characteristics of a small glacier system, such as Foxfonna. Issues primarily arose from the steady state assumption and the difficulty of producing simulations for a dynamically varying glacier system

High-performance and sustainable aerosol filters based on hierarchical and crosslinked nanofoams of cellulose nanofibers

Nano-structured and porous foams derived from crosslinked cellulose nanofibers (CNF) were designed and tailored as highly efficient aerosol filters. The lignin-containing CNF was prepared from a recycled milk-container board using deep eutectic solvent pretreatment and mechanical grinding. The nanofoams or aerogels were formed in different densities (initial CNF concentration of 0.2–1.0 wt%) with a freeze-drying process using two silane compounds for strengthening the structure. The filtration performance of nanofoams was studied with a Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (DMPS) setup using 10–500 nm NaCl aerosol particles. DMPS determines particle number size distribution of particles passing through nanofoams which is used to calculate the filtration performance. All nanofoams, which possessed porosity from 99.1% to 99.8% and specific surface area from 5.9 m2 g−1 to 18.6 m2 g−1, achieved good filtration performance (>96%) in the measured particle size range. Very high filtration efficiency (>99.5%) was achieved with the 0.7 wt% nanofoam sample for particles smaller than 360 nm. Based on the quality factors (QF), 0.3 wt% nanofoam produced the lowest pressure drop yet with relatively high filtration efficiency and resulted in the highest QF value that met the N95 standard requirements of respirator face masks. The structure and thickness of the nanofoam filter makes possible high particle bearing without loss on its performance.Peer reviewe

Particle telescope aboard FORESAIL-1 : Simulated performance

The Particle Telescope (PATE) of FORESAIL-1 mission is described. FORESAIL-1 is a CubeSat mission to polar Low Earth Orbit. Its scientific objectives are to characterize electron precipitation from the radiation belts and to observe energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) originating from the Sun during the strongest solar flares. For that purpose, the 3-unit CubeSat carries a particle telescope that measures energetic electrons in the nominal energy range of 80–800 keV in seven energy channels and energetic protons at 0.3–10 MeV in ten channels. In addition, particles penetrating the whole telescope at higher energies will be measured in three channels: one >800 keV electron channel, two integral proton channels at >10 MeV energies. The instrument contains two telescopes at right angles to each other, one measuring along the spin axis of the spacecraft and one perpendicular to it. During a spin period (nominally 15 s), the rotating telescope will, thus, deliver angular distributions of protons and electrons, at 11.25-degree clock-angle resolution, which enables one to accurately determine the pitch-angle distribution and separate the trapped and precipitating particles. During the last part of the mission, the rotation axis will be accurately pointed toward the Sun, enabling the measurement of the energetic hydrogen from that direction. Using the geomagnetic field as a filter and comparing the rates observed by the two telescopes, the instrument can observe the solar ENA flux for events similar to the only one so far observed in December 2006. We present the Geant4-simulated energy and angular response functions of the telescope and assess its sensitivity showing that they are adequate to address the scientific objectives of the mission.The Particle Telescope (PATE) of FORESAIL-1 mission is described. FORESAIL-1 is a CubeSat mission to polar Low Earth Orbit. Its scientific objectives are to characterize electron precipitation from the radiation belts and to observe energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) originating from the Sun during the strongest solar flares. For that purpose, the 3-unit CubeSat carries a particle telescope that measures energetic electrons in the nominal energy range of 80-800 keV in seven energy channels and energetic protons at 0.3-10 MeV in ten channels. In addition, particles penetrating the whole telescope at higher energies will be measured in three channels: one >800 keV electron channel, two integral proton channels at >10 MeV energies. The instrument contains two telescopes at right angles to each other, one measuring along the spin axis of the spacecraft and one perpendicular to it. During a spin period (nominally 15 s), the rotating telescope will, thus, deliver angular distributions of protons and electrons, at 11.25-degree clock-angle resolution, which enables one to accurately determine the pitch-angle distribution and separate the trapped and precipitating particles. During the last part of the mission, the rotation axis will be accurately pointed toward the Sun, enabling the measurement of the energetic hydrogen from that direction. Using the geomagnetic field as a filter and comparing the rates observed by the two telescopes, the instrument can observe the solar ENA flux for events similar to the only one so far observed in December 2006. We present the Geant4-simulated energy and angular response functions of the telescope and assess its sensitivity showing that they are adequate to address the scientific objectives of the mission. (C) 2019 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Particle telescope aboard FORESAIL-1: Simulated performance

The Particle Telescope (PATE) of FORESAIL-1 mission is described. FORESAIL-1 is a CubeSat mission to polar Low Earth Orbit. Its scientific objectives are to characterize electron precipitation from the radiation belts and to observe energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) originating from the Sun during the strongest solar flares. For that purpose, the 3-unit CubeSat carries a particle telescope that measures energetic electrons in the nominal energy range of 80–800 keV in seven energy channels and energetic protons at 0.3–10 MeV in ten channels. In addition, particles penetrating the whole telescope at higher energies will be measured in three channels: one >800 keV electron channel, two integral proton channels at >10 MeV energies. The instrument contains two telescopes at right angles to each other, one measuring along the spin axis of the spacecraft and one perpendicular to it. During a spin period (nominally 15 s), the rotating telescope will, thus, deliver angular distributions of protons and electrons, at 11.25-degree clock-angle resolution, which enables one to accurately determine the pitch-angle distribution and separate the trapped and precipitating particles. During the last part of the mission, the rotation axis will be accurately pointed toward the Sun, enabling the measurement of the energetic hydrogen from that direction. Using the geomagnetic field as a filter and comparing the rates observed by the two telescopes, the instrument can observe the solar ENA flux for events similar to the only one so far observed in December 2006. We present the Geant4-simulated energy and angular response functions of the telescope and assess its sensitivity showing that they are adequate to address the scientific objectives of the mission

Intonational Speaker Verification: A Study on Parameters and Performance Under Noisy Conditions

Prosody-based speaker verification using fundamental frequency (f0) is considered. Our study consists of two phases. First, we do extensive optimization of parameters to establish a baseline system before dealing with noisy conditions. This includes a study of f0 extractor parameters, choice of features (discrete cosine transform, discrete Fourier transform, Legendre polynomials, linear prediction), f0 track interpolation (none, linear, Hermite), framing parameters and windowing (none, Hamming), f0 representation domain (linear, log), number of transformation coefficients and, finally, use of higher-level delta coefficients. Using the optimized parameters, we then explore the robustness of prosody features under white noise and factory noise degradations. Using a GMM-UBM system on the NIST 2006 SRE corpus, we reach an EER of 28.4 % and 27.6 % for the intonational and MFCC features respectively at-20 dB SNR white noise contamination; fusion of the two yields an EER o

3D bioprinting of the kidney—hype or hope?

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an evolving technique that is expected to revolutionize the field of regenerative medicine. Since the organ donation does not meet the demands for transplantable organs, it is important to think of another solution, which may and most likely will be provided by the technology of 3D bioprinting. However, even smaller parts of the printed renal tissue may be of help, e.g. in developing better drugs. Some simple tissues such as cartilage have been printed with success, but a lot of work is still required to successfully 3D bioprint complex organs such as the kidneys. However, few obstacles still persist such as the vascularization and the size of the printed organ. Nevertheless, many pieces of the puzzle are already available and it is just a matter of time to connect them together and 3D bioprint the kidneys. The 3D bioprinting technology provides the precision and fast speed required for generating organs. In this review, we describe the recent developments in the field of developmental biology concerning the kidneys; characterize the bioinks available for printing and suitable for kidney printing; present the existing printers and possible printing strategies. Moreover, we identify the most difficult challenges in printing of the kidneys and propose a solution, which may lead to successful bioprinting of the kidney

3D bioprinting of the kidney:hype or hope?

Abstract Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an evolving technique that is expected to revolutionize the field of regenerative medicine. Since the organ donation does not meet the demands for transplantable organs, it is important to think of another solution, which may and most likely will be provided by the technology of 3D bioprinting. However, even smaller parts of the printed renal tissue may be of help, e.g. in developing better drugs. Some simple tissues such as cartilage have been printed with success, but a lot of work is still required to successfully 3D bioprint complex organs such as the kidneys. However, few obstacles still persist such as the vascularization and the size of the printed organ. Nevertheless, many pieces of the puzzle are already available and it is just a matter of time to connect them together and 3D bioprint the kidneys. The 3D bioprinting technology provides the precision and fast speed required for generating organs. In this review, we describe the recent developments in the field of developmental biology concerning the kidneys; characterize the bioinks available for printing and suitable for kidney printing; present the existing printers and possible printing strategies. Moreover, we identify the most difficult challenges in printing of the kidneys and propose a solution, which may lead to successful bioprinting of the kidney