Kinetics of naphthalene sulphonation with 96 wt % sulphuric acid

An empirical approach to the kinetic investigation of naphthalene sulphonation with 96% sulphuric acid is presented. The best parameter estimates for the proposed kinetic model were obtained by non-linear regression of experimental data.     

Automatic control of the activated sludge process—I. Development of a simplified dynamic model

A set of simplified dynamic models was developed for the activated sludge process (primary settler, biological reactor, and final settler). The models incorporate variable gains, variable time constants, and fixed dead times. Because the parameters may be easily evaluated on site, the models will be particularly useful for process analysis, control system design, and automatic control of a particular plant. Two different cases were studied; one for a plant in which the steady state concentration of suspended solids in the final effluent is directly proportional to the mixed liquor suspended solids, and one in which it is inversely proportional. Due to this difference in steady state gains the final performance of the system is quite different for the two cases although the dynamics are very similar. Therefore, care should be taken in characterizing the final settler.     

Scalable communication architectures for massively parallel hardware multi-processors

Modern complex embedded applications in multiple application fields impose stringent and continuously increasing functional and parametric demands. To adequately serve these applications, massively parallel multi-processor systems on a single chip (MPSoCs) are required. This paper is devoted to the design of scalable communication architectures of massively parallel hardware multi-processors for highly-demanding applications. We demonstrated that in the massively parallel hardware multi-processors the communication network influence on both the throughput and circuit area dominates the processors influence, while the traditionally used flat communication architectures do not scale well with the increase of parallelism. Therefore, we propose to design highly optimized application-specific partitioned hierarchical organizations of the communication architectures through exploiting the regularity and hierarchy of the actual information flows of a given application. We developed related communication architecture synthesis strategies and incorporated them into our quality-driven model-based multi-processor design methodology and related automated architecture exploration framework. Using this framework we performed a large series of architecture synthesis experiments. Some of the results of the experiments are presented in this paper. They demonstrate many features of the synthesized communication architectures and show that our method and related framework are able to efficiently synthesize well scalable communication architectures even for the high-end massively parallel multi-processors that have to satisfy extremely stringent computation demands.     

Rough Mereological Calculi of Granules: A Rough Set Approach To Computation

Rough Mereology is a paradigm allowing for a synthesis of main ideas of two potent paradigms for reasoning under uncertainty: Fuzzy Set Theory and Rough Set Theory. Approximate reasoning is based in this paradigm on the predicate of being a part to a degree . We present applications of Rough Mereology to the important theoretical idea put forth by Lotfi Zadeh (1996, 1997), i.e., Granularity of Knowledge: We define granules of knowledge by means of the operator of mereological class and we extend the idea of a granule over complex objects like decision rules as well as decision algorithms. We apply these notions and methods in the distributed environment discussing complex problems of knowledge and granule fusion. We express the mechanism of complex granule formation by means of a formal grammar called Synthesis Grammar defined over granules of knowledge, granules of classifying rules, or over granules of classifying algorithms. We finally propose hybrid rough-neural schemes bridging rough and neural computations.     

Quality-driven model-based architecture synthesis for real-time embedded SoCs

The recent spectacular progress in modern microelectronics created a big stimulus towards development of embedded systems. Unfortunately, it also introduced unusual complexity which results in many serious issues that cannot be resolved without new more adequate development methods and electronic design automation tools for the system-level design. This paper discusses the problem of an efficient model-based multi-objective optimal architecture synthesis for complex hard real-time embedded systems, when using as an example a system-level architecture exploration and synthesis method that we developed.     

Mie and Bragg Plasmons in Subwavelength Silver Semi‐Shells

2D arrays of silver semi‐shells of 100 and 200 nm diameter display complex reflection and transmission spectra in the visible and near‐IR. Here these spectral features are deconstructed and it is demonstrated that they result from the coupling of incident light into a delocalized Bragg plasmon, and the latter's induction of localized Mie plasmons in the arrays. These phenomena permit the excitation of transverse dipolar plasmon resonances in the semi‐shells despite an ostensibly unfavorable orientation with respect to normally incident light. The resulting spectral feature in the mid‐visible is strong and tunable.     

The Influence of Induction Sintering on Microstructure and Deformation Behavior of Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr Alloy

The influence of the induction sintering process at different temperatures on the behavior of the powder metallurgy Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr alloy was investigated. Material for the research was produced by elemental powder blending, followed by the uniaxial cold compacting process. Powder compacts were induction heated and sintered within the temperature range of 1000 °C to 1300 °C. The influences of process parameters on the material behavior during sintering and its properties were studied. The microstructure examination was performed with particular attention to the pore size and distribution as well as the homogenization of the microstructure. The sintering temperature of 1200 °C proved to be critical for the dissolution of most alloying powder particles. Hot compression tests were performed to determine the formability of the obtained material. Significant differences in flow stress behavior between samples sintered at temperatures below and above 1200 °C were observed. The mechanical properties of the material before and after deformation were compared. The evolution of the microstructure of sintered Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr alloy after hot deformation was analyzed with an emphasis on its influence on the material properties. Based on the conducted research, it was found that the adequate homogenization of the chemical composition and microstructure was achieved at the temperature of 1250 °C, and a further increase did not reflect in a significant improvement.

     

Fatigue design of welded double‐sided T‐joints and double‐sided cruciform joints in steel marine structures: A total stress concept

Fatigue is a governing design limit state for marine structures. Welded joints are important in that respect. The weld notch stress (intensity) distributions contain essential information and formulations have been established to obtain a total stress fatigue damage criterion and corresponding fatigue resistance curve; a total stress concept. However, the involved weld load carrying stress model does not provide the required estimates and trends for varying geometry dimensions and loading & response combinations. A new one has been developed and performance evaluation for T‐joints and cruciform joints in steel marine structures shows that in comparison with the nominal stress, hot spot structural stress and effective notch stress concept based results up to 50% more accurate fatigue design life time estimates can be obtained. Taking advantage of the weld notch stress formulations, the effective notch stress concept performance has improved adopting a stress‐averaged criterion rather than a fictitious notch radius‐based one.     

Time,Budget, And Functionality?—IT Project Success Criteria Revised

The purpose of this article is to explore the relevance of classic project success measures of Enterprise Systems implementation projects' success from the adopting organizations' perspective. Based on a mixed quantitative-qualitative approach, the results show that, although the organizations valued project management criteria, they did not perceive them as determinants of success if the goals of the project were achieved. A refined set of success criteria is proposed on the basis of these findings.     

Evaluation of melt flow as a measure of low density polyethylene processability into blown films

Melt capillary flow and extrudate swelling for low density polyethylenes (LDPE), differing in ease of heavy-duty, blownfilm extrusion, have been employed as processability criteria. LDPE of good processability is characterized by a unique combination of melt fluidity, temperature, shear rate dependence and melt elasticity. These characteristics of flow are correlated with LDPE film blowing process variables such as maximum take-up speed, film thickness scatter, and extruder temperatures profile. Intuitively, these melt flow criteria should be extended to Trouton's viscosity and the tensile strength of the melt. The limited development of the elongation viscometry techniques, however, has limited their application.