Cost effectiveness of ash interception in the combustion of fuel oil

Chemical and Petroleum Engineering -     

An algorithm for solving multi-point boundary value problems

We describe a method for computing solutions of multi-point boundary value problems, where the polychotomic structure of the underlying solution space is specifically exploited. After the system is integrated in a multiple shooting way, the resulting linear system is solved by a special decoupling algorithm that takes into account the fact that the dichotomy on each interval is potentially different (in contrast to the two point case). A number of examples sustains the theory.     

Understanding community receptivity to water re-use: Ku-ring-gai Council case study.

This social research project investigated community receptivity to using rainwater and greywater as alternative domestic water sources. It was focused in the Ku-ring-gai local government area in northern Sydney, and involved a household questionnaire followed by community leader interviews and resident focus groups. Trends, such as a prolonged drought and increasing population, compound the current crisis and concern facing Sydney's available water supply. Substitution of domestic potable water has been promoted as part of the solution. The research results revealed that community receptivity was highest for external uses, such as watering gardens and flushing toilets, and progressively decreased with increasing personal contact. Receptivity to greywater reuse fell more rapidly with the community believing there was a higher health risk associated with its use. Gender and cultural background were revealed as significant variables and give insight into the design of strategies to target these demographic groups. This evidence provides a reliable stocktake of current receptivity revealing that the community has good awareness and positive association with water reuse for many household activities. This now needs to be harnessed through programs targeted at developing skills, resources and motivation for new water reuse practices and technologies across diverse social groupings.     

Lipoamide dehydrogenase, citrate synthase and beta-hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase in skeletal muscle. 12. The influence of electric stimulation of beef carcasses on activity and subcellular distribution

The effect of electrical stimulation (ES) of beef carcasses at 450 V on the total extractable activity and subcellular distribution of the mitochondrial enzymes lipoamide dehydrogenase, citrate synthase and beta-hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase in skeletal muscle (activities in the supernatant of a phosphate buffer extract and in muscle press juice) was studied. There was no influence of ES on the total activity and the subcellular distribution of these enzymes in the muscle tissue stored at +2 degrees C for 7 days nor did ES influence the extent of the release of the three enzymes from the mitochondria into the sarcoplasm by freezing (-20 degrees C) and thawing. From these results it can be concluded that ES does not result in an appreciable disintegration of the inner membrane of muscle mitochondria.     

On the use of elliptical side branches to thick-walled cylinders

The boundary integral equation (boundary element) method of numerical stress analysis is used to compute stress concentration factors at the intersections between side branches and thick-walled tubes or pressure vessels. Cases of both circular and elliptical side branch cross sections are considered, the effect of the latter being to significantly reduce the maximum stresses generated under internal pressure. For the typical geometries considered, reductions of more than 20% are obtained at optimum ellipse aspect ratios of about 0·8.     

Compound formation in the mercury-cadmium-tellurium-oxygen system

We report on compound formation in the system HgCdTeO. Samples were prepared by solid state reaction of mixtures of the binary oxide components. Specific phases were identified and characterized by X-ray and microprobe techniques. For some of these compounds small single crystals could be prepared and structural data of which are reported. Three groups of phases could be distinguished, most of them being of low symmetry, with Te in +4, +6, and in mixed oxidation states. The monotellurites HgTeO₃ and CdTeO₃ are structurally different and exhibit a large miscibility gap, whereas for the di-tellurites complete solid solution between CdTe₂O₅ and HgTe₂O₅ was found. As to the tellurates, phases with the compositions MTeO₄ and M₃Te₂O₉ (M = Hg, Cd) have been prepared. The Cd₃Te₂O₉-structure is stabilized by 30 mole% Hg. Another tellurate, monoclinic Hg₂TeO₄, was found to be isomorphous to the respective selenate and sulfate and is identical with the mineral magnolite. The interaction of Te₂O₅ with the metal oxides led to the formation of mixed valence compounds with both Te(+4) and Te(+6) of the types M₂Te₂O₇ and MTe₂O₆.     

A lower bound for structuring element decompositions

A theoretical lower bound on the number of points required in the decomposition of morphological structuring elements is described. It is shown that the decomposition of an arbitrary N-point structuring element will require at least [3 ln N/ln 3]points. Using this lower bound it is possible to find the optimal decompositions (in terms of the minimum number of unions or the minimum number of points) for all one-dimensional connected line segments. L-dimensional rectangles may be decomposed by optimally decomposing the L one-dimensional line segments that describe the rectangle     

Memory and age differences in spatial manipulation ability.

Young and old adults were asked, in 3 experiments, to make decisions about the identity of line segment patterns after either adding or subtracting line segments from the original pattern. On some of the trials, the line segments from the initial display were presented again in the second display to minimize the necessity of remembering early information during the processing of later information. Although this manipulation presumably reduced the importance of memory in the tasks, it had little effect on the magnitude of the age differences in any of the experiments. Because the 2 groups were equivalent in accuracy of simple recognition judgments, but older adults were less accurate when the same types of decisions were required in the context of an ongoing task, the results suggested that older adults may be impaired in the ability to retain information while simultaneously processing the same or other information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stable neurovisual servoing for robot manipulators

In this paper, we propose a stable neurovisual servoing algorithm for set-point control of planar robot manipulators in a fixed-camera configuration an show that all the closed-loop signals are uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) and converge exponentially to a small compact set. We assume that the gravity term and Jacobian matrix are unknown. Radial basis function neural networks (RBFNNs) with online real-time learning are proposed for compensating both gravitational forces and errors in the robot Jacobian matrix. The learning rule for updating the neural network weights, similar to a back propagation algorithm, is obtained from a Lyapunov stability analysis. Experimental results on a two degrees of freedom manipulator are presented to evaluate the proposed controller.     

A stacking mechanism for setting bills upright in an automated teller machine

 To deal with circulated bills in various conditions regarding size, shape, and rigidity, we have developed a new bill-stacking cassette that can accept and re-dispense various-sized bills. This cassette stacks the bills upright by using deforming guides and sheet rollers under our newly developed “phase control”. It was experimentally verified by stacking tests that the cassette can handle bills in various conditions; thus, we conclude that the new cassette is practical for stacking circulated bills and re-dispensing them securely. Received: 14 August 2001/Accepted: 11 December 2001