Assessment of remote cavitation detection methods with flow visualization in a full scale francis turbine

This paper describes the experimental investigations carried out in the Francis turbine at Svorka power plant operated by Statkraft in Norway. The unit, with a head of 260 m, can deliver a maximum output load of 25 MW. The rated flow rate is 11 m3/s and the machine rotates at 600 rpm. The turbine runner shows cavitation pitting on the suction side of the blades but some blades present more erosion than others. Moreover, preliminary studies based on remote monitoring of vibrations and acoustic emissions in this particular unit have predicted risk of erosion at high loads and the presence of a draft tube swirl affecting the cavity dynamics. In order to assess the sensitivity of these methods and the validity of the predictions, several acrylic-glass windows have been installed on the draft tube wall to visualize the runner outlet flow during operation. A high speed camera has been used to record the flow field during the tests with rates up to 5000 frames per second. A cavitation detection system has been installed comprising three high-frequency uniaxial integrated electronics piezoelectric (IEPE)-type accelerometers and an acoustic emission sensor, mounted in the turbine guide bearing pedestal and a guide vane arm. In particular, a series of measurements at different operation conditions have been carried out to correlate the simultaneous camera observations with the acceleration and acoustic emission overall levels in high frequency bands. The preliminary analysis of the camera records permits to certify the existence of erosive blade cavitation with the closure region close to the eroded areas at high loads. It can be seen that cavitation appears only in some blades and that it presents different cavity sizes for the same operation condition. As the load increases towards maximum powers, both the number of blades with cavitation and the size of the cavities grow. Moreover, the overall vibration levels also rise as expected.Postprint (published version

Separating content-specific retrieval from post-retrieval processing

According to cortical reinstatement accounts, neural processes engaged at the time of encoding are re-engaged at the time of memory retrieval. The temporal precision of event-related potentials (ERPs) has been exploited to assess this possibility, and in this study ERPs were acquired while people made memory judgments to visually presented words encoded in two different ways. There were reliable differences between the scalp distributions of the signatures of successful retrieval of different contents from 300 to 1100 ms after stimulus presentation. Moreover, the scalp distributions of these content-sensitive effects changed during this period. These findings are, to our knowledge, the first demonstration in one study that ERPs reflect content-specific processing in two separable ways: first, via reinstatement, and second, via downstream processes that operate on recovered information in the service of memory judgments

Transport Properties Calculation for a Quasi-Bidimensional System using T-Matrix Approximation

We performed a self-consistent calculation using T-Matrix approximation for a quasi-bidimensional system. We calculated the one particle spectrum function A(k,\omega) in the presence of strong d-wave attractive interaction. The c-axis charge dynamics was studied by considering incoherent interlayer hopping and ab-plane charge dynamics was studied in the coherent limit. It is shown that the c-axis charge dynamics is mainly governed by the scattering from the in plane fluctuations. We also present results for c-axis and ab-plane resistivity and for thermopower coefficient.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Physica

Transport Properties Calculation in the Superconducting State for a Quasi-Twodimensional System

We performed a self-consistent calculation of the transport properties of a d-wave superconductor. We used for calculations the T-matrix approximation. The coresponding equations were evaluated numerically directly on the real frequecy axis. We studied the ab-plane charge dynamics in the coherent limit. For the c-axis charge dynamics, we considered both, the coherent and the incoherent limit. We also have calculated the penetration depth in this model.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Physica

The think/no-think alcohol task: a new paradigm for assessing memory suppression in alcohol-related contexts

Background Research with the Think/No-Think (TNT) task has shown that voluntary suppression of an unwanted memory may lead to its later forgetting. To date, however, no study has assessed the memory suppression abilities in alcohol-related contexts despite the potential implications that it might have for alcohol research. With this aim, we developed a new version of the TNT paradigm, the TNT Alcohol (TNTA) task, which consists of 36 neutral pictures paired with 36 alcohol/no-alcohol images that are instructed to be suppressed or recollected. Methods Electroencephalographic activity was recorded from 64 electrodes while 20 young healthy females performed the TNTA task. The event-related potentials (ERPs) typically involved in memory suppression/recollection were analyzed, namely the fronto-central N2, the late parietal positivity (LPP), and the frontal slow wave (FSW). Results Findings revealed reduced recall for previously learned images that were subsequently instructed to be suppressed (No-Think) relative to those instructed to be retrieved (Think) and those not cued to be suppressed or retrieved (Baseline). This reduction seemed to be more prominent for alcohol-related memories. In addition, ERP analysis showed that compared to attempts of recollection, attempts of memory suppression were associated with attenuated LPP amplitude-more pronounced for alcohol-related memories-(indicating reduced conscious recollection for No-Think images) as well as with increased FSW (suggesting strategic control aiming at decrease accessibility of unwanted memories). Conclusions These results replicate and extend previously reported behavioral and ERP findings in the TNT paradigm and suggest that the TNTA task may be a useful instrument to measure the ability to suppress alcohol-related memories.This study was supported by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-028672, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). EL-C and AC were supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship of the FCT (SFRH/BPD/109750/2015 and SFRH/BPD/91440/2012, respectively), as well as by the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)

Проблеми правового забезпечення процедури державного нагородження в Україні

Досліджується деякі проблемні аспекти процедури державного нагородження, зокрема, порядок представлення до нагородження, порядок подання документів особи, що представляється до нагороди, звертається увага на розмежування повноважень Президента України і Комісії державних нагород та геральдики при Президентові України при ухваленні остаточного рішення щодо нагородження.Исследуются некоторые проблемные аспекты процедуры государственного награждения, в частности, порядок представления к награждению, обращается вни­мание на порядок представления документов лица, которое представляется к награде, а также разграничения полномочий Президента Украины и Комиссии государственных наград и геральдики при Президенте Украины при принятии окончательного реше­ния относительно награждения.Some problem aspects of the state rewarding procedure, in particular, the order of presentation to the rewarding, the main attention is paid to the order of presentation of the person»s documents, who is represented to the award, and also the differentiating of powers of the President of Ukraine and the Commission of the State Awards and Heraldry by the President of Ukraine by making final decision concerning rewarding, are probed in the article

Multi-modal representation of effector modality in frontal cortex during rule switching.

We report a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study which investigated whether brain areas involved in updating task rules within the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex show activity related to the modality of motor response used in the task. Participants performed a rule switching task using different effector modalities. In some blocks participants responded with left/right button presses, whilst in other blocks left/right saccades were required. The color of a Cue event instructed a left or right response based upon a rule, followed by a Feedback which indicated whether the rule was to stay the same or "Flip" on the next trial. The findings revealed variation in the locus of activity within the ventrolateral frontal cortex dependent upon effector modality. Other frontal areas showed no significant difference in activity between response epochs but changed their pattern of connectivity with posterior cortical areas dependent upon response. Multivariate analysis revealed that the pattern of activity evoked by Flip rule Feedbacks within an apparently supra modal frontal region (dorsolateral frontal cortex) discriminated between response epochs. The results are consistent with the existence of multi-modal representations of stimulus-response (SR) rules within the frontal cerebral cortex

Task-Selective Memory Effects for Successfully Implemented Encoding Strategies

Previous behavioral evidence suggests that instructed strategy use benefits associative memory formation in paired associate tasks. Two such effective encoding strategies–visual imagery and sentence generation–facilitate memory through the production of different types of mediators (e.g., mental images and sentences). Neuroimaging evidence suggests that regions of the brain support memory reflecting the mental operations engaged at the time of study. That work, however, has not taken into account self-reported encoding task success (i.e., whether participants successfully generated a mediator). It is unknown, therefore, whether task-selective memory effects specific to each strategy might be found when encoding strategies are successfully implemented. In this experiment, participants studied pairs of abstract nouns under either visual imagery or sentence generation encoding instructions. At the time of study, participants reported their success at generating a mediator. Outside of the scanner, participants further reported the quality of the generated mediator (e.g., images, sentences) for each word pair. We observed task-selective memory effects for visual imagery in the left middle occipital gyrus, the left precuneus, and the lingual gyrus. No such task-selective effects were observed for sentence generation. Intriguingly, activity at the time of study in the left precuneus was modulated by the self-reported quality (vividness) of the generated mental images with greater activity for trials given higher ratings of quality. These data suggest that regions of the brain support memory in accord with the encoding operations engaged at the time of study