Kinetics of reduction of nickel chloride with hydrogen

The kinetics of reduction of nickel chloride with hydrogen were investigated in the temperature range of 533 (260 °) to 788 K (515 °). Most experiments were done with porous NiCl2 granules having ?8+10 mesh (Tyler) size. The effects of temperature, sample size, granule size and hydrogen partial pressure on the reduction kinetics were investigated. In the temperature range 533 (260 °) to 651 K (378 °) the reduction is dominated by chemical kinetic factors. At higher temperatures diffusional effects appear to become quite significant. The temperature-dependence of the chemical kinetic rate constantK is given by $$\log K = 6.744 - \frac{{22,240}}{{2.303RT}};K\,\,is\,\,in\,\,\min ^{ - 1} $$ The activation energy for the reduction was found to be 22,240 cal /mol (or 93,050 J/mol) in the chemical kinetic regime.     

Estimating the Natural Illumination Conditions from a Single Outdoor Image

Given a single outdoor image, we present a method for estimating the likely illumination conditions of the scene. In particular, we compute the probability distribution over the sun position and visibility. The method relies on a combination of weak cues that can be extracted from different portions of the image: the sky, the vertical surfaces, the ground, and the convex objects in the image. While no single cue can reliably estimate illumination by itself, each one can reinforce the others to yield a more robust estimate. This is combined with a data-driven prior computed over a dataset of 6 million photos. We present quantitative results on a webcam dataset with annotated sun positions, as well as quantitative and qualitative results on consumer-grade photographs downloaded from Internet. Based on the estimated illumination, we show how to realistically insert synthetic 3-D objects into the scene, and how to transfer appearance across images while keeping the illumination consistent.     

Operational Fault Detection in cellular wireless base-stations

The goal of this work is to improve availability of operational base-stations in a wireless mobile network through non-intrusive fault detection methods. Since revenue is generated only when actual customer calls are processed, we develop a scheme to minimize revenue loss by monitoring real-time mobile user call processing activity. The mobile user call load profile experienced by a base-station displays a highly non-stationary temporal behavior with time-of-day, day-of-the-week and time-of-year variations. In addition, the geographic location also impacts the traffic profile, making each base-station have its own unique traffic patterns. A hierarchical base-station fault monitoring and detection scheme has been implemented in an IS-95 CDMA Cellular network that can detect faults at - base station level, sector level, carrier level, and channel level. A statistical hypothesis test framework, based on a combination of parametric, semi-parametric and non-parametric test statistics are defined for determining faults. The fault or alarm thresholds are determined by learning expected deviations during a training phase. Additionally, fault thresholds have to adapt to spatial and temporal mobile traffic patterns that slowly changes with seasonal traffic drifts over time and increasing penetration of mobile user density. Feedback mechanisms are provided for threshold adaptation and self-management, which includes automatic recovery actions and software reconfiguration. We call this method, Operational Fault Detection (OFD). We describe the operation of a few select features from a large family of OFD features in Base Stations; summarize the algorithms, their performance and comment on future work.     

ANALYSIS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL MACHINING USING AN EXTENDED OBLIQUE MACHINING THEORY

This paper presents an extended oblique machining theory applicable to the analysis of 3-D machining. Existing theories are evaluated to identify suitable formulations which are used with necessary modifications for predicting various quantities pertaining to cutting conditions of three dimensional machining. Actual chip flow angles extracted from measured forces, to account for the nose radius effect, are used, instead of available models, to predict important quantities such as shear plane angle, effective rake angle and shear flow angle. Experiments are conducted in the realms of conventional and high speed machining using AISI 4140 steel and aluminum 7075-T6 respectively with uncoated carbide inserts, and various process conditions pertaining to the cutting mechanics are calculated. The extended oblique machining theory is experimentally validated in predicting temperatures at the tool-chip interface and shear plane for conventional machining. Simulation results from the finite element modeling are used for verifying the shear stress and shear plane temperature predicted by the extended oblique machining theory.     

功率分流式封闭行星减速器的设计研究

本文较详细地讨论了功率分流式封闭行星齿轮减速器的设计计算，文中阐述了该封闭传动的特点， 比计算，受力分析和效率计算，同时还研究报其封闭功率和功率分流等问题，因此，本文对于同类型的封闭行星减速器的设计工作具有较重要的指导意义。     

Influence of Osmotic Suction on the Soil-Water Characteristic Curves of Compacted Expansive Clay

Unsaturated clays are subject to osmotic suction gradients in geoenvironmental engineering applications and it therefore becomes important to understand the effect of these chemical concentration gradients on soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs). This paper brings out the influence of induced osmotic suction gradient on the wetting SWCCs of compacted clay specimens inundated with sodium chloride solutions/distilled water at vertical stress of 6.25 kPa in oedometer cells. The experimental results illustrate that variations in initial osmotic suction difference induce different magnitudes of osmotic induced consolidation and osmotic consolidation strains thereby impacting the wetting SWCCs and equilibrium water contents of identically compacted clay specimens. Osmotic suction induced by chemical concentration gradients between reservoir salt solution and soil-water can be treated as an equivalent net stress component, (pπ) that decreases the swelling strains of unsaturated specimens from reduction in microstructural and macrostructural swelling components. The direction of osmotic flow affects the matric SWCCs. Unsaturated specimens experiencing osmotic induced consolidation and osmotic consolidation develop lower equilibrium water content than specimens experiencing osmotic swelling during the wetting path. The findings of the study illustrate the need to incorporate the influence of osmotic suction in determination of the matric SWCCs.     

Parallel exponential queues with dependent service rates

A system of two parallel single-server exponential queues is considered. These queues operate independently except that the service rate in each queue changes whenever the other queue is empty. By treating one of the queues as bounded, this model can be shown to have a matrix-geometric steady state vector which can be computed efficiently. Algorithms are also developed to compute the characteristics of the departure stream of customers from each queue. Some numerical results are presented, and based on these results an efficient approximation scheme for the system is developed which may possibly be extended to systems with more than two parallel queues.     

A computer simulation of LiKSO4

Molecular-dynamics computer-simulation of an ionic molecular solid LiKSO₄ has been carried out at 300 and 1000 K using the atom-atom potentials obtained from lattice dynamical studies. We observe hopping of lithium ions to interstitial positions which is related to reorientations of sulphate tetrahedra.