A theoretical investigation of the emerging standards for web services

Currently, standards for web services are being developed via three different initiatives (W3C, Semantic web services and ebXML). To the best of our knowledge, no theoretical perspectives underlie these standardization efforts. Without the benefit of a strong theoretical basis, the results, within and across these initiatives, have remained piecemeal. We suggest ‘Language–Action Theories’ as a plausible perspective that can effectively define, assess and refine web services standards. In this paper, we first investigate the existing initiatives to identify commonalities that point to theories of ‘Language–Action’ as an appropriate theoretical basis for web services standards. Next, we adapt work from these theories to develop a comprehensive reference framework for understanding web services standards. Finally, we use this reference framework to assess the three initiatives, and analyze the findings to provide insights for future development and refinement of web services standards.

A Critical Assessment of Industrial Coal Drying Technologies: Role of Energy,Emissions, Risk and Sustainability

Low-rank coals (LRCs) constitute about 45% of the total coal reserves and hence will soon be the fossil fuel of choice in many countries despite their high moisture content on mining, which varies from 30% to as high as 66%. It is important to reduce their water content to enhance the heating value and reduce transportation costs while enhancing combustion efficiency, safety, and reduction of emissions on combustion. The level of moisture to be achieved upon drying LRCs depends on the end application; it varies from as low as 0% for hydrogenation processes to 15% for briquetting and gasification processes. Numerous drying technologies have been proposed for drying coal; they include pulse combustion, vacuum, fluid bed, rotary, flash, microwave, and superheated steam drying. Each technology has some pros and cons, which are not always clearly spelled out in the literature. In addition, it is necessary to develop sustainable rather than just cost-effective drying systems for LRC. In this article we assess various coal drying techniques critically and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Some theoretical comparisons of different dryer types are carried out based on energy utilization and carbon footprints. The jury is still out on optimal drying technology for LRC and innovative design concepts should be evaluated before finalizing the selection.     

Use of vegetable oil as fuel to improve the efficiency of cooking stove

In this study, an attempt has been made to use waste vegetable oil as a fuel for a cooking stove. Suitable modifications have been made in the kerosene stove for use with vegetable oil as fuel. The efficiency of the stove using vegetable oil as fuel is observed to be as high as 48.9% as compared to 34.9% with that of a conventional stove when a flat copper bottom vessel is used. Corresponding efficiency increase is also observed with other vessels.     

Effectiveness of Ni-based diffusion barriers in preventing hard zone formation in ferritic steel joints

A numerical procedure based on finite difference method was used to simulate the formation of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ zones, in dissimilar weldments of 9Cr–1Mo and 2¼Cr–1Mo steels during high temperature exposure. Kinetic analysis of the calculated diffusion profiles showed that the activation energy for carbon diffusion in Cr–Mo steels is marginally higher than that in Fe–C system. Calculations were extended to incorporate the effect of Ni-based interlayers between 2¼Cr–1Mo and 9Cr–1Mo ferritic steels. The presence of a diffusion barrier was found to reduce the propensity for formation of hard and soft zones, which is related to the interaction parameter \( \varepsilon_{\rm C}^{\rm M}. \) Thickness of the interlayer required to suppress the formation of hard zone was optimized by the calculations. Transition joints of ferritic steels with Inconel 182 as the interlayer of thickness close to that predicted by the computations were fabricated and exposed to elevated temperature. Microstructural studies and hardness measurements further confirmed the effectiveness of Ni-based interlayers in preventing hard zone formation.     

Empirical analysis of anticipatory standardization processes: a case study

The processes followed for developing anticipatory standards such as those for web services are still not well-understood. In spite of the openness of the process, there are few analyses that shed light on the roles that different participants play or the actions they engage in during the development of these standards. We analyze archival documents that capture development of SOAP, a core web service standard. Our analysis shows that participants spend a bulk of their time discussing technical issues, identifying action items, and engaging in discussion to reach consensus. These activities reveal prototypical roles that participants take on such as: Advocate, Architect, Bystander, Critic, Facilitator, Guru, and Procrastinator. Together, the findings support the existence of three clusters in standards development processes: design activities performed by Architects, sense-making activities performed by Critics, and managerial activities performed by Facilitators; along with the important activity of coordinating the work of multiple participants. We discuss implications of our findings and identify opportunities for future work.     

Plasma characterization of dry ��-EDM

An attempt was made to characterize the dry microelectric discharge machining (??-EDM) plasma systematically by using optical emission spectroscopy. In order to characterize the plasma and its parameters such as plasma temperature, electron density, Debye length, and gamma parameter, the optical spectra were recorded for different energies and with different diameters of tool electrode. From the recorded spectra, using line pair method and modified Saha equation, plasma temperature and electron density, respectively were calculated. From these two, Debye length and plasma parameter were also calculated. These studies indicate that the plasma produced in dry ??-EDM is ideal. In addition to this, we found that the dry ??-EDM region is below the conventional EDM region in log electron density and log temperature plot. Morphological analysis was carried out on crater produced by different energies on the workpiece using a scanning electron microscope. The crater shape may dependent on the geometry of the tool tip, number of discharges, and energy of discharge.     

Characterisation and recovery of sodium chloride from salt-laden solid waste generated from leather industry

In this present investigation, physical and chemical characteristics of salt-laden solid waste (SLSW) generated from leather industry during soaking process of raw skins/hides and reverse osmosis reject stream were determined. The disposal of SLSW onto landfill was banned due to the possibility of ground water contamination by leachate, and its treatment process becomes tedious and cost intensive. The detailed characterisation of SLSW was evaluated for the development of effective methods for the treatment and/or disposal of SLSW. In the present study, sodium chloride was recovered to reduce the impact of the disposal of SLSW. The recovery of sodium chloride was achieved by selective precipitation using hydrogen chloride gas as a precipitating agent. The optimum conditions for the precipitation of sodium chloride were concentration of SLSW, 60 % (w/w); HCl gas purging, time 3 min (for a batch volume of 100 mL); pH, 8.0; and temperature, 30–40 °C. The scanning electron microscopy images of SLSW and the recovered sodium chloride were captured to observe the surface morphology. The recovered salt showed purity equivalent to that of standard reference salt. The recovered salt can be reused within leather sector or to the other process industries that meet their specification.     

Temperature dependence of the thermophysical properties of Neodymium doped borate glasses

We have experimentally measured the temperature dependence of the thermophysical properties of Nd₂O₃ doped borate glasses using a combination of the time resolved thermal lens technique with optical interferometry, thermal relaxation calorimetry and photoluminescence methods. Thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, fluorescence quantum efficiency, linear thermal expansion coefficient and thermal coefficient of the electronic polarizability were determined. The results showed the ability of these techniques to perform measurements very close to the glass transition region providing the absolute values of the measured physical quantities and the glass transition temperatures. In conclusion, it was observed that thermal lens and optical interferometry are advantageous methods for measurements as a function of temperature especially when low temperature scanning rate is required.     

Spectroscopic and glass transition investigations on Nd-doped NaF-Na2O-B2O3 glasses

New developments in photonic technology need new materials for various applications. In the present report, Nd³⁺-doped NaF-Na₂O-B₂O₃ glasses were prepared and the spectroscopic and glass transition properties were analysed. The Fourier transform infrared spectral studies reveal that the glass contains BO₃ and BO₄ units as the local structures and the Na⁺ ions as the network modifiers. The absorption studies were carried out by using Judd-Ofelt theory, the experimental and theoretical oscillator strengths were also calculated. The emission spectral study was done for the 1 mol% Nd-doped glass and the spontaneous emission probability and stimulated emission cross-sections for the , transitions were calculated using the J-O parameters.     

Analysis of Mechanical Milling in Simoloyer: An Energy Modeling Approach

A model was developed to estimate the energy transfer from milling media to the powder during milling carried out in Simoloyer CM 01 (Zoz GmbH, Wenden, Germany), a horizontal attritor high-energy ball mill. The model was then used to estimate the energy transfer in milling of iron at 1000 rpm. Furthermore, the time required to achieve a particular grain size was formulated as a function of milling speed, using the model developed for the energy transfer. The results were verified at 500 rpm and 1500 rpm for iron and aluminum.