Electrical Rooms in Cement Plants: Sealing and Fire Stopping

Electrical equipment for a cement plant should be placed in rooms for protection of the equipment itself and to avoid unauthorized persons from coming in contact with the equipment. Electrical equipment generates heat, and this heat must be dissipated in order to maintain the ambient temperature within the proper limits. There is also a possibility of electrical fires due to faults in the electrical equipment, and steps must be taken to prevent fire from spreading throughout the room and the rest of the facility. Some of the recommendations reflect the typical approach used in Germany and may not necessarily be used in the United States.     

A new colorimetric method to quantify β-1,3-1,6-glucans in comparison with total β-1,3-glucans in edible mushrooms

Mushroom β-glucans are known for their activity as biological response modifiers and anticarcinogenic agents. β-1,3-1,6 Branched glucans with a triple helix tertiary structure are recognised as the most potent ones. In the present work, a colorimetric method for β-1,3-1,6-glucan quantification based on the dye Congo red is introduced. This method is specific for β-glucans with a triple helix. The β-1,3-1,6-glucan content of mycelia and fruiting bodies from various mushrooms was determined and compared with the total β-1,3-glucan content, measured by a fluorimetric method. The results show equal amounts of β-1,3-1,6- and total β-1,3-glucans in the analysed species but obvious differences between mycelia and fruiting bodies. On the average, 3% of mycelia and 8% of fruiting body dry mass consist of β-1,3-1,6-glucans. The average percentage of β-1,3-1,6-glucans in the total β-1,3-glucan content differs between mycelia (46%) and fruiting bodies (87%).     

Quasielastic scattering from dilute polymer solutions

The initial slope $\text{Ω(q)}$ of the time-dependent scattering function and the static structure factor S(q) of macromolecules in good solvents are calculated without using the Gaussian assumption. For S(q), the scaling relation S(q)～q^?1.7 is confirmed in the intermediate q range, whereas no q dependent cross-over behaviour can be observed. The calculation of $\text{Ω(q)}$ reveals a q³ dependence in this range and no evidence is seen for an exponent apart from 3. The time-dependent scattering function S(q,t) is treated within the framework of the Gaussian assumption. Hydrodynamic as well as excluded volume interactions are incorporated. It has been found that excluded volume effects decrease the decay of the scattering function in comparison with the Gaussian chain.     

Locality constraints within multiscale model for non‐linear material behaviour

This paper presents a two‐scale approach for the mechanical and numerical modelling of materials with microstructure‐like concrete or fibre‐reinforced concrete in the non‐linear regime. It addresses applications, where the assumption of scale separation as the basis for classical homogenization methods does not hold. This occurs when the resolution of micro and macro scale does not differ ab initio or when evolving fluctuations in the macro‐fields are in the order of the micro scale during the loading progress. Typical examples are localization phenomena. The objective of the present study is to develop an efficient solution method exploiting the physically existing multiscale character of the problem. The proposed method belongs to the superposition‐based methods with local enrichment of the large‐scale solution ū by a small‐scale part u ′. The main focus of the present formulation is to allow for locality of the small‐scale solution within the large‐scale elements to achieve an efficient solution strategy. At the same time the small‐scale information exchange over the large‐scale element boundaries is facilitated while maintaining the accuracy of a refined complete solution. Thus, the emphasis lies on finding appropriate locality constraints for u ′. To illustrate the method the formulation is applied to a damage mechanics based material model for concrete‐like materials. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving reliability of large software systems

Improving field performance of telecommunication systems is the key objective of both telecom suppliers and operators, as an increasing amount of business critical systems worldwide are relying on dependable telecommunication. Early defect detection improves field performance in terms of reduced field failure rates and reduced intrinsic downtime. This paper describes an integrated approach to improve early defect detection and thus field reliability of telecommunication switching systems. The assumptions at the start of the projects discussed in this paper are: Wide application of code inspections and thorough module testing must lead to a lower fault detection density in subsequent phases. At the same time criteria for selecting the most critical components for code reviews, code inspections and module test are provided in order to optimize efficiency. The primary goal is to identify critical components and to make failure predictions as early as possible during the life cycle and hence reduce managerial risk combined with too early or too late release of such a system to the field. During test release time prediction and field performance prediction are both based on tailored and superposed ENHPP reliability models. Experiences from projects of Alcatel’s Switching and Routing Division are included to show practical impacts. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of Melt Processing on Crystallization Behavior and Rheology of Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and its Blends

Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is sensitive to high processing temperatures. This leads to a decrease in molar mass as well as a lower melt viscosity. The crystallization temperature shifts to lower values, and crystallization kinetics is slow. A mixture was developed in order to improve the manufacturing properties and the final product. The blends exhibit a slight reduction in molar mass because they have a lower melting point than pure PHB, and can be extruded at their melt temperature of 170 to 180°C. Then they immediately crystallize at 125 to 100°C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) shows the effect of holding time in the melt on crystallization behavior. It has been shown that the crystallization time has to be longer in the case of PHB and shorter for the blends. Thermal degradation of PHB and its blends has been investigated using thermogravimetry analysis (TG). Derivative thermogravimetry coupled with TG (TG/DTG) curves show three decomposition stages for blends at 290, 340 and 445°C, respectively. Acetic acid, water, carbon dioxide and methane are produced by degradation at a higher temperature.     

Synthesis of 6‐amino acid substituted 4,6,7,12‐tetrahydro‐4‐oxoindolo[2,3‐a]quinolizines

In the presence of Na₂CO₃ (1S,3S)‐ and (1R,3S)‐1‐(2,2‐dimethoxyethyl)‐2‐(1,3‐dioxobutyl)‐3‐(1,3‐dioxo‐butyl)oxymethyl‐1,2,3,4‐tetrahydrocarboline ( 1 ) were transformed into (1S,3S)‐ and (1R,3S)‐1‐(2,2‐dimethoxyethyl)‐2‐(1,3‐dioxobutyl)‐3‐hydroxymethyl‐1,2,3,4‐tetrahydrocarboline ( 2 ), which were cyclized to (6S)‐3‐acetyl‐6‐hydroxymethyl‐4,6,7,12‐tetrahydro‐4‐oxoindolo[2,3‐a]quinolizine ( 4 ), via(6S,12bS)‐ and (6S,12bR)‐3‐acetyl‐2‐hydroxyl‐6‐hydroxymethyl‐1,2,3,4,6,7,12,12b‐octahydro‐4‐oxoindolo[2,3‐a]quinoline ( 3 ). (6S)‐ 4 was coupled with Boc‐Gly, Boc‐L‐Asp(β‐benzyl ester), or Boc‐L‐Gln to give 6‐amino acid substituted (6S)‐3‐acetyl‐4,6,7,12‐tetrahydro‐4‐oxoindolo[2,3‐a]quinolizines 5a , 5b , or 5c , respectively. After the removal of Boc from (6S)‐ 5a (6S)‐3‐acetyl‐6‐glycyl‐4,6,7,12‐tetrahydro‐4‐oxoindolo[2,3‐a]quinolizine ( 6 ) was obtained. The anticancer activities of (6S)‐ 5 and (6S)‐ 6 in vitro were tested.