COMPUTATION OF THE FLOW FIELD IN A RECIRCULATING TURBULENT GAS JET

As part of an overall investigation of flash-smelting processes, numerical computations were performed for the turbulent recirculating flow field of a gas jet in a confined cylindrical system. The two-equation (k - e) model was used to describe turbulence. The two-dimensional elliptic partial differential equations cast into finite difference forms were solved by the TEACH code (Gosman and Pun, 1973), and the pressure field was computed by the SIMPLER method (Patankar, 1980). Various correlations for the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy at the inlet were tested, and the relation yielding the best results was obtained as E= C_μK^1.5/(0.015d_e where d_e = 4 x hydraulic radius. Extensive comparisons have been made between the computed results using the proposed form of e at the inlet and experimental data taken from the literature. Much better predictions than previously possible have been obtained     

A study on the student pilot's mental workload due to personality types of both instructor and student

The main purpose of this paper is to provide the ideal flight crew combination for instructor and student pilots in order to enhance the flight training effects based on Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) theory. In addition to personality, various levels of flight difficulty are considered in order to investigate their potential interaction effect in terms of student pilots' mental workload measured in heart rate, altitude deviation, NASA-TLX (Task Load Index) and subjective degree of personality harmony. Based on an experiment performed in a real flight situation, we found significant effects of personality combinations in terms of all four outcome measures. Both group C types of instructors and students who are concrete, realistic and have mechanical skills turn out to be the ideal flight crew combination. A structural equation model, fitted to analyse causality among the four response variables, implied that as the heart rate increased, the altitude deviation increased. In addition, as the altitude deviation and personality harmony increased, NASA-TLX increased. The results of this study are expected to provide a theoretical basis for manning the flight crew combinations and thereby enhancing the efficiency of flight training.     

Experimental study for the comparison of classifier combination methods

In this paper, we compare the performances of classifier combination methods (bagging, modified random subspace method, classifier selection, parametric fusion) to logistic regression in consideration of various characteristics of input data. Four factors used to simulate the logistic model are: (a) combination function among input variables, (b) correlation between input variables, (c) variance of observation, and (d) training data set size. In view of typically unknown combination function among input variables, we use a Taguchi design to improve the practicality of our study results by letting it as an uncontrollable factor. Our experimental study results indicate the following: when training set size is large, performances of logistic regression and bagging are not significantly different. However, when training set size is small, the performance of logistic regression is worse than bagging. When training data set size is small and correlation is strong, both modified random subspace method and bagging perform better than the other three methods. When correlation is weak and variance is small, both parametric fusion and classifier selection algorithm appear to be the worst at our disappointment.     

Patterns of self-disclosure in psychotherapy and marriage.

This study compared patterns of self-disclosure in psychotherapy and marriage. Participants (48 married, current psychotherapy patients, mean age = 42) completed a 101-item Disclosure to Therapist Inventory and a companion measure, a 101-item Disclosure to Spouse Inventory. Results indicated a pattern of greater disclosure to one's therapist in regard to issues involving despair (e.g., feelings of depression), and to one's spouse in regard to procreation and body concerns (e.g., birth control) and values (e.g., feelings about religion, race, or politics). Issues involving sex were infrequently discussed in either context. Discrepancy scores (differences between extent of disclosure and perceived importance) were greater in the spouse condition. Outcome predictors varied by situation, with overall disclosure predicting therapeutic outcome and both overall disclosure and discrepancy scores predicting marital satisfaction. Findings suggest that although there is substantial overlap in issues discussed in these two contexts, certain intimate disclosures are perceived as situation-specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modified Notch Filter-based Instantaneous Phasor Estimation for High-speed Distance Protection

A novel method for estimating the instantaneous phasor of a fault current signal is proposed for high-speed distance protection immune to a DC-offset. The method uses a modified notch filter in order to eliminate the fundamental frequency component from the fault current signal. Since the output of the modified notch filter is the delayed DC-offset, delay compensation results in the same waveform as the original DC-offset. Subtracting the obtained DC-offset from the fault current signal yields a sinusoidal waveform, which becomes the real part of the instantaneous phasor. The imaginary part of the instantaneous phasor is based on the first difference of the fault current signal. Since a DC-offset also appears in the first difference, the DC-offset is removed from the first difference using the results of the delay compensation. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated for a–phase to ground faults on a 345 kV 100 km overhead transmission line. The Electromagnetic Transient Program was used to generate fault current signals for different fault locations and fault inception angles. The performance evaluation showed that the proposed method can estimate the instantaneous phasor of a fault current signal with high speed and high accuracy. The paper concludes by describing the hardware implementation of the proposed method on a prototype unit based on a digital signal processor.     

A Structural Solution to Communication Dilemmas in a Virtual Community

In a many-to-many communication setting like a virtual community, individuals may be strongly tempted to free-ride on others' contributions, which would eventually lead to the collapse of the community. To find a structural solution to the "communication dilemma," this study compared the performances of 2 communication structures—one based on the interpersonal networks (network-generalized exchange: N_EX; e.g., blogs) and the other based on a public electronic bulletin board (group-generalized exchange: G_EX). In a 2 × 2 × 2 longitudinal between-subject experiment, it was found that changing G_EX to N_EX could increase the contributions made by individuals. Furthermore, N_EX was found to be an effective structure for N-person communication particularly when a large number of individuals were involved. The findings imply that an individual's cooperative motivation is a function of the incentive structure of a particular form of information exchange, which means that altering the exchange form may be a possible solution to the communication dilemmas in virtual communities.     

Evaluating the calibration of MTSAT‐1R infrared channels using collocated Terra MODIS measurements

The calibration of four MTSAT‐1R infrared channels was evaluated by comparing MTSAT measurements with Terra/MODIS inferred MTSAT‐equivalent brightness temperatures during August 2005 and August 2006. Theoretical relationships converting MODIS brightness temperatures to MTSAT‐equivalent values were obtained and used for the comparison. Results indicate that MTSAT two split window channels are well calibrated, and no serious systematic errors or biases are found; and the MTSAT water‐vapour channel shows a good linear relationship but with a warm bias up to 2 K. The significant cold bias of MTSAT 3.7 µm channel about ?6.7 K in August 2005 is found to be much removed in August 2006, after correction of the electrical crosstalk between MTSAT‐1R SWIR channel and WV channel starting from March 2006. Since then, calibration performances of MTSAT‐1R split window channels and shortwave IR channel seem to be comparable with MODIS calibration, while the water‐vapour channel shows more uncertainties up to 2 K of bias.     

A novel cyclic process using CaSO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/CaS pellets for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur without generating secondary pollutants: Part I. Feasibility and kinetics of the reduction of sulfur dioxide with calcium-sulfide pellets

Certain new sulfide-smelting processes and coal-gasification processes generate high-strength sulfur dioxide streams, for which a new process for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur needs to be developed because no process exists that is generally and economically applicable to the treatment of such streams. A thermodynamic and experimental investigation to develop a new process for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur by a cyclic process involving calcium sulfide and calcium sulfate without generating secondary pollutants was carried out. In this process, the starting raw material, calcium sulfate, is reduced by a suitable reducing agent, such as hydrogen, to produce calcium sulfide, which is used to reduce sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur vapor and calcium sulfate. The latter is, in turn, reduced to regenerate calcium sulfide. In this Part I, detailed experimental results are presented on the kinetics of the reaction between sulfur dioxide and calcium-sulfide pellets, which produces elemental sulfur and calcium sulfate. The experiments were carried out at temperatures between 1023 and 1088 K and sulfur-dioxide partial pressures between 9 and 60 kPa by the use of a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) technique. The rate of this reaction was demonstrated by the conversion of 40 pct calcium-sulfide pellets obtained from the hydrogen reduction of fresh calcium sulfate in 10 minutes at 1073 K under a sulfur-dioxide partial pressure of 43 kPa. The reactivity decreased somewhat during the first three cycles but remained largely unchanged thereafter up to the tenth cycle. This characteristic of the pellets is important because the solids must be reusable for repeated cycles to avoid generating secondary pollutants. A pore-blocking model was found to fit the reaction rate. The reaction is first order with respect to sulfur-dioxide partial pressure and has an activation energy of 101 to 134 kJ/mol (24 to 32 kcal/mol) for calcium-sulfide pellets reacted and regenerated several different times. Sulfur dioxide-containing streams from certain sources, such as the regenerator off-gas from an integrated-gasification, combined-cycle, desulfurization unit and new sulfide-smelting plants, contain much higher partial pressures of SO₂. In these cases, the rate of the first reaction is expected to be proportionally higher than in the test conditions reported in this article. The reduction kinetics of calcium-sulfate pellets with hydrogen gas is reported in the accompanying Part II.     

Design of an integrated optical pickup with NA of 0.85 for small form factor optical disk drives

We design an integrated optical pickup for small form factor optical disk drives. The specifications of the pickup are compatible with those of the Blu-ray disk (BD) in terms of numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens, the wavelength of the laser diode, and the thickness of the cover layer. The objective lens unit with NA of 0.85 consists of two aspherical refractive lenses and a diffractive optical element for compensation of the chromatic aberration. Each element of objective lens unit will be fabricated on a wafer as an array type, and the three wafers will be aligned and bonded to form an objective lens array. Therefore, elements of the objective lens unit are designed to have sufficient alignment tolerances for various directions such as de-center and tilt. The optical performances of the objective lens unit are evaluated by simulation against various disturbances such as wavelength change of emitting light from laser diode, misalignments, etc. We also design a quarter wave plate, a polarized holographic optical element, and the shape of photodiode integrated circuit array to generate focusing and tracking error signals. The entire height of the pickup including working distance is 2 mm, and the effective pupil diameter of the objective lens unit is less than 1 mm.