Effect of spark discharge parameters on the ignition of gas mixtures

The influence of the duration and spatial extent of a heat-releasing spark discharge on the critical conditions of spark ignition of a reactive gas is considered. A region insensitive to the effect of these parameters and, thus, suitable for work with the instantaneous source model is defined. Tomsk. Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 3–7, September–October, 1993.     

Effect of Microstructure on the Tribological and Mechanical Properties of CuO-Doped 3Y-TZP Ceramics

Dense 8 mol% CuO-doped 3Y-TZP ceramics were prepared by pressureless sintering for 8 h at 1500° and 1550°C, respectively. Transmission electron spectroscopy revealed that the ceramic sintered at 1500°C exhibits grain boundaries free of any amorphous phase, while crystalline copper-oxide grains were found in the zirconia matrix, whereas the sample sintered at 1550°C contains a Cu-rich amorphous grain boundary layer. The tribological behavior of these materials was tested under dry-sliding conditions using a pin-on-disk tribometer. The material sintered at 1500°C showed self-lubrication resulting in a low coefficient of friction ( f ) of 0.2–0.3 and a low specific wear rate ( k ) ≪ 10⁻⁶ mm³·(N·m)⁻¹. In contrast, the material sintered at 1550°C showed poor tribological behavior ( f =0.8–0.9; k ≫ 10⁻⁶ mm³·(N·m)⁻¹ under the same conditions. The difference in the tribological behavior of these two materials was interpreted on the basis of mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics.     

Tuning On-Air Signatures for Balancing Performance and Confidentiality

In this paper, we investigate the trade off between performance and confidentiality in signature-based air indexing schemes for wireless data broadcast. Two metrics, namely, false drop probability and false guess probability, are defined to quantify the filtering efficiency and confidentiality loss of a signature scheme. Our analysis reveals that false drop probability and false guess probability share a similar trend as the tuning parameters of a signature scheme change and it is impossible to achieve a low false drop probability and a high false guess probability simultaneously. In order to balance the performance and confidentiality, we perform an analysis to provide a guidance for parameter settings of the signature schemes to meet different system requirements. In addition, we propose the jump pointer technique and the XOR signature scheme to further improve the performance and confidentiality. A comprehensive simulation has been conducted to validate our findings.     

The prospects and problems of utilizing biomass and combustible wastes to produce heat and electricity

Peculiarities of using biomass and combustible wastes as renewable sources of energy are considered. Positive outcomes resulting from involving these types of fuel in the fuel balance and the problems arising from this involvement are noted. Data on the use of biomass abroad are given.     

Improving database performance with a mixed fragmentation design

The performance of database operations can be enhanced with an efficient storage structure design using attribute partitioning and/or tuple clustering. Previous research deals mostly with attribute partitioning. We address here the combined problem of attribute partitioning and tuple clustering. We propose a novel approach for this mixed fragmentation problem by applying a genetic algorithm iteratively to attribute partitioning and tuple clustering sub-problems. We compared our results to attribute-only partitioning and random search solution, resulting in a database access cost reduction of upto 70% and 67% respectively. We analyzed the effect of varying genetic parameters on the optimal solution through experimentation.     

Hydrogenation of Bituminous Sand

The effect of the conditions of bituminous sand hydrogenation on the yields and properties of the resulting liquid hydrocarbons was studied. It was found that, on the hydrogenation of bituminous sand, hydrocarbon products of higher quality can be obtained with a higher yield, as compared with the products of pyrolysis. The conditions affording a maximum yield of synthetic oil or an increased yield of light hydrocarbons were determined.     

Ignition of heterogeneous systems by radiant energy

Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 24, No. 4 pp. 3–10, July–August, 1988.     

Spark ignition of atomized liquid fuel

Tomsk. Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 11–15, January–February, 1990.