A NONDESTRUCTIVE METHOD TO MEASURE RESIDUAL ADSORPTION CAPACITY OF CHARCOAL FILTERS

High surface area charcoal bed filters have been used for over a half a century to adsorb undesirable vapors from gas streams. One problem encountered when using these niter beds is that there is presently no simple, reliable, nondestructive method to measure their Residual Adsorption Capacity, RAC. This is particularly critical in situations where harmful vapors are being adsorbed.

An investigation has been underway to use pulses of weakly adsorbed gases such as ethane and/or methane to measure RAC. The hypothesis being that these weakly adsorbed gases will “count” unoccupied adsorption sites. In the present study, dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) was used to “irreversibly” occupy available siles to various extents on different niters. The Reduced Retention Time. θ, (the ratio of the adjusted retention time to the space time) and the Resolution (R) between peaks of methane and ethane were found to correlate to RAC under dry and wet (humid) conditions.     

Fruit oil composition and characteristics of two spurge species of Turkish origin

Content and characteristics of the triglyceride fruit oils of two spurge (Euphorbia L.) subspecies, namelyE. glaerosa Pallas ex Bieb. (var.lasiocarpa Boiss.) andE. niciciana Borbas ex Novak, were investigated. For both taxa, oil content of the capsules enclosing the seeds ranged between 15.7 and 16.4% on dry basis, while the decapsulated seeds contained 33.0–34.0% oil, also on dry basis. The average saponification, iodine and acid values were 192, 190 and 6.0, respectively; linolenic acid was detected as the major constituent fatty acid. Consequently, these seed oils are characterized as typical drying oils.     

Learning bayesian classifiers for scene classification with a visual grammar

A challenging problem in image content extraction and classification is building a system that automatically learns high-level semantic interpretations of images. We describe a Bayesian framework for a visual grammar that aims to reduce the gap between low-level features and high-level user semantics. Our approach includes modeling image pixels using automatic fusion of their spectral, textural, and other ancillary attributes; segmentation of image regions using an iterative split-and-merge algorithm; and representing scenes by decomposing them into prototype regions and modeling the interactions between these regions in terms of their spatial relationships. Naive Bayes classifiers are used in the learning of models for region segmentation and classification using positive and negative examples for user-defined semantic land cover labels. The system also automatically learns representative region groups that can distinguish different scenes and builds visual grammar models. Experiments using Landsat scenes show that the visual grammar enables creation of high-level classes that cannot be modeled by individual pixels or regions. Furthermore, learning of the classifiers requires only a few training examples.     

Optimal management of remanufacturing systems with server vacations

In this paper, we introduce a near optimal buffer allocation plan specifically developed for a remanufacturing system with finite buffers and server vacations. During server vacations, the server stops service for a random amount of time during which arrivals continue to occur. The term server vacation may be used for cases where the server leaves the primary queuing system to work on alternative duties for a random duration every time the server becomes idle (e.g., server could leave to work on additional tasks that he is responsible for or perform preventive maintenance on equipments). The remanufacturing system considered here consists of three modules, viz., the disassembly and testing modules for returned products and the remanufacturing module. In order to analyze the system, we propose an algorithm that uses an open queueing network, decomposition principle, and expansion methodology. The buffer allocation algorithm distributes the given number of available buffer slots among the remanufacturing system stations to optimize the system’s performance. The algorithm has been thoroughly tested using a variety of experimental conditions. The results show that the performance of the algorithm is consistent, robust, and produces excellent results.