Deep cover bleeder entry performance and support loading: A case study

Several questions have emerged in relation to deep cover bleeder entry performance and support loading:how well do current modeling procedures calculate the rear abutment extent and loading? Does an improved understanding of the rear abutment extent warrant a change in standing support in bleeder entries? To help answer these questions and to determine the current utilization of standing support in bleeder entries, four bleeder entries at varying distances from the startup room were instrumented,observed, and numerically modeled.This paper details observations made by NIOSH researchers in the bleeder entries of a deep cover longwall panel—specifically data collected from instrumented pumpable cribs, observations of the conditions of the entries, and numerical modeling of the bleeder entries during longwall extraction.The primary focus was on the extent and magnitude of the abutment loading experienced by the standing support.As expected, the instrumentation of the standing supports showed very little loading relative to the capacity of the standing supports—less than 23 Mg load and 2.54 cm convergence.The Flac3D program was used to evaluate these four bleeder entries using previously defined modeling and input parameter estimation procedures.The results indicated only a minor increase in load during the extraction of the longwall panel.The model showed a much greater increase in stress due to the development of the gateroad and bleeder entries, with about 80% of the increase associated with development and 20% with longwall extraction.The Flac3D model showed very good correlation between expected gateroad loading during panel extraction and that expected based on previous studies.The results of this study showed that the rear abutment stress experienced by this bleeder entry design was minimal.The farther away from the startup room, the lower the applied load and smaller the convergence in the entry if all else is held constant.Finally, the numerical modeling method used in this study was capable of replicating the expected and measured results near seam.     

An Efficient Algorithm for the Single Machine Total Tardiness Problem

This paper presents an exact algorithm for the single machine total tardiness problem (1// Σ T_i). We present a new synthesis of various results from the literature which leads to a compact and concise representation of job precedences, a simple optimality check, new decomposition theory, a new lower bound, and a check for presolved subproblems. These are integrated through the use of an equivalence concept that permits a continuous reformation of the data to permit early detection of optimality at the nodes of an enumeration tree. The overall effect is a significant reduction in the size of the search tree, CPU times, and storage requirements. The algorithm is capable of handling much larger problems (e.g., 500 jobs) than its predecessors in the literature (≤ 150). In addition, a simple modification of the algorithm gives a new heuristic which significantly outperforms the best known heuristics in the literature.     

Investigation of Co-Substituted Nanosized Mn2Y-Hexaferrites Synthesized by Sol-Gel Autocombustion Method

The structural and electrical properties of Co-substituted and nano-sized Y-type hexagonal ferrites have been investigated in the present work. The samples with chemical composition Ba₂Co _x Mn_2?x Fe₁₂O₂₂ (x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0) were prepared by sol-gel autocombustion method. The powdered samples and pellets were sintered simultaneously at 1000 °C for 5 h and characterized by means of DTA/TGA, FTIR spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission gun scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The XRD analysis confirms that the investigated ferrites have single phased Y-type hexagonal structure without showing any impurity phase. Lattice constants (a and c), cell volume (V), crystallite size (D), and x-ray density (ρ _x ) have also been calculated from the XRD data. DC electrical resistivity is measured within the temperature range of 30-100 °C for each sample and is observed to increase with increasing Co-substitution. The dielectric constant (∈) has also been measured which is observed to decrease with Co-substitution. Thus, high electrical resistivity and low dielectric constant make these materials suitable for multi-layer chip inductors and also for RF components and circuits.     

Geochemical characterization of sediments samples of Sembar Formation from three different wells of Southern Indus Basin

Sediment samples from three boreholes namely Paniro-II, North Akri, and Bhadmi of Sembar Formation, Southern Indus Basin were geochemically analyzed. The Soxhlet extracted bitumen were fractionated by column chromatography. The saturate fractions were further analyzed to evaluate type and quality of organic matter (OM). Total organic carbon, determined by a wet combustion titration method, indicates fair-to-good source rock potential. The plot of isoprenoids/n-Alkanes shows a mixed source of OM. Pristane/Phytane values and distribution of hydrocarbons showed dysoxic depositional environment. Carbon preference indices suggested increase in maturity with depth.     

The effect of nitrogen flow rate on TiBN coatings deposited on cold work tool steel

TiBN coatings have high hardness and high adhesion. Due to these excellent properties there has been increasing interest in TiBN coatings. In this study, TiBN coatings were deposited on AISI D2 cold work tool steel and silicon wafers by closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering (CFUBMS). The structural, mechanical and adhesion properties of these coatings were analysed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, microhardness test, indentation test and scratch tests. TiBN coatings produced by magnetron sputtering exhibited a dense and columnar structure. These results indicate that TiB₂, TiN and h-BN exist in crystalline forms at all coatings. The highest hardness was obtained at the lowest nitrogen flow rate. Very few cracks were observed at the edge of the indentation marks at the highest nitrogen flow rate. The highest critical load obtained with scratch test was identified as 102?N.     

Effect of load,processing time and due date variation on the effectiveness of scheduling rules

In real manufacturing environments, variations in production factors (i.e. processing time, demand, due-dates) are inevitable facts. All these dynamic changes, together with random disturbances (e.g. machine breakdowns) can seriously affect the system performance. In this paper we focus on load, processing time and due date variation and analyse their impacts on a scheduling system. Specifically, we investigate the impact of variation on dispatching policies in a job shop environment via simulation. The statistical analysis of the results leads to two major conclusions: first, the relative performance of rules is not threatened much by PV (processing time variation), LV (load variation) or DDV (due date variation) -- a result that can be a consolation for practitioners in the field. Secondly, the performance of the rules deteriorates, in particular at high levels of PV, LV and DDV -- a result that can provide new insights into the problem and produces useful information for researchers in their continuous effort to develop better dispatching rules.     

Improved Stirling engine performance through displacer surface treatment

This study intended to improve the performance of the beta‐type Stirling engine, being developed by the authors for solar energy and low‐grade heat sources, by means of displacer surface treatments. Three different displacers were manufactured and tested where one of them was without any surface treatment, other was zirconium coated with 0.15 mm thickness, and the other was helically knurled with 0.30 mm track depth. Because of good thermo‐physical properties, helium was used as the working fluid. The heat was supplied by an LPG burner. Tests were conducted at 360±10°C hot end temperature. The highest engine power was obtained with knurled displacer as 250 W at 545 rpm speed and corresponding to this power 4.38 Nm torque was obtained. This was followed by coated and smooth displacers. Power increments provided by the knurled displacer are 40 and 60% compared with the zirconium‐coated and untreated displacers. Increments of knurled displacer's torque compared with that of coated and untreated displacers are 13 and 30%, respectively. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fuzzy self‐organizing map algorithm for biological pattern recognition

Data clustering is a key task for various processes including sequence analysis and pattern recognition. This paper studies a clustering algorithm that aimed to increase accuracy and sensitivity when working with biological data such as DNA sequences. The new algorithm is a modified version of fuzzy C‐means (FCM) and is based on the well‐known self‐organizing map (SOM). In order to show the performance of the algorithm, seven different data sets are processed. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has the potential to outperform SOM and FCM in terms of clustering and classification accuracy abilities. Additionally, a brief comparison is made the proposed algorithm with some previously studied ‘FCM‐SOM’ hybrid algorithms from the literature.