The effects of temperature on the partial wet oxidation of peat

The effects of three reaction temperatues, 180, 200 and 220°C, on the partial wet oxidation of peat were investigated. A stirred reactor with a five litre working volume and continuous feed of peat slurry and air was used for the experiments. The effluent was separated into liquid and solid fractions and analyzed to quantify the effects of temperature. The carbon content and heating value of the recovered solids increased with temperature but yields were lower. The composition of the wastewater was only slightly dependent on the reaction temperature, and in all cases contained high concentrations of organics.     

Dielectric behavior of natural rubber composites in microwave fields

In this article, we report the preparation of conducting natural rubber (NR) with polyaniline (Pani). NR was made into a conductive material by the compounding of NR with Pani in powder form. NR latex was made into a conductive material by the in situ polymerization of aniline in the presence of NR latex. Different compositions of Pani–NR semi‐interpenetrating networks were prepared, and the dielectric properties of all of the samples were determined in microwave frequencies. The cavity perturbation technique was used for this study. A HP8510 vector network analyzer with a rectangular cavity resonator was used for this study. S bands 2–4 GHz in frequency were used. Thermal studies were also carried out with thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 2682–2686, 2007     

Volatile aroma compounds of raw and roasted palm kernel

The volatile aroma compounds of raw and roasted palm kernel, isolated by hydrodistillation, were analysed by g.l.c. and g.c.-m.s. A number of compounds have been identified for the first time in this commodity. It was found that δ-lactones and ethyl esters were predominant in the flavour profile. In roasted palm kernels, flavour analysis showed the presence of a number of pyrazines formed during heating. Most of the lactones and esters identified in raw palm kernel were present in the roasted samples also. The flavour concentrate included a number of fatty acids in both the raw and roasted samples, in small amounts.     

Robust Transportation Network Design Under Demand Uncertainty

Abstract:   This article addresses the problem of a traffic network design problem (NDP) under demand uncertainty. The origin–destination trip matrices are taken as random variables with known probability distributions. Instead of finding optimal network design solutions for a given future scenario, we are concerned with solutions that are in some sense good for a variety of demand realizations. We introduce a definition of robustness accounting for the planner's required degree of robustness. We propose a formulation of the robust network design problem (RNDP) and develop a methodology based on genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the RNDP. The proposed model generates globally near-optimal network design solutions, f, based on the planner's input for robustness. The study makes two important contributions to the network design literature. First, robust network design solutions are significantly different from the deterministic NDPs and not accounting for them could potentially underestimate the network-wide impacts. Second, systematic evaluation of the performance of the model and solution algorithm is conducted on different test networks and budget levels to explore the efficacy of this approach. The results highlight the importance of accounting for robustness in transportation planning and the proposed approach is capable of producing high-quality solutions.     

Evaluation of Nd:YAG-pumped Raman shifter as a broad-spectrum light source

We have examined the utility of a gas-filled, Nd:YAG-laser-pumped Raman shifter as a possible broad-spectrum light source. Six to nine new output frequencies with pulse energies above 1 μJ are produced when a pure-hydrogen or pure-methane Raman shifter is pumped with 40 mJ of secondharmonic, 20 mJ of third-harmonic, or 11 mJ of fourth-harmonic pump pulse energy. Optimum output occurs at pressures of approximately 10 atm for the pure-gas experiments. We also report the output frequencies and pulse energies of a mixed hydrogen-methane Raman shifter pumped by 20 mJ of the third harmonic of the laser for various proportions of the two gases at pressures up to nearly 20 atm. Depending on composition and pressure, over a dozen new output lines with pulse energies over 1 μJ can be produced. We discuss the nonlinear processes involved, the optimum operating conditions, and the suitability of the source for our application of groundwater monitoring.     

Amidinothiourea as a secondary accelerator in a binary system for the sulphur vulcanization of natural rubber

A study of a binary accelerator system using amidinothiourea as a secondary accelerator with mercaptobenzothiazyl disulfíde (MBTS), in sulphur vulcanization of natural rubber has been undertaken. This system was found to boost MBTS accelerator activity considerably. From the results, a nucleophilic reaction mechanism was established for this system. Different compositions of the amidinothiourea were tried in different mixes using standard recipes, and reference mixes were also vulcanized. Different cure characteristics of the mixes and important physical properties of the vulcanizates were evaluated. Optimum concentrations of amidinothiourea required were derived and the experimental mixes were found to have better cure characteristics, including an advantageous reduction in the optimum cure time. Many of the physical properties of the vulcanizates studied were also found to be better compared to those of the reference mixes. Evaluation of these properties both before and after ageing showed good retention of these properties as well. An attempt was also made to correlate the variation in physical properties to chemical crosslink formation in the various vulcanizates.     

Energy optimization for CAN bus and media controls in electric vehicles using deep learning algorithms

The Journal of Supercomputing - This study offers a neural network-based deep learning method for energy optimization modeling in electric vehicles (EV). The pre-processed driving cycle is...     

Task Planning For A Mobile Robot In An Indoor Environment Using Object-oriented Domain Information

For a mobile robot to be practical, it needs to navigate in dynamically changing environments and manipulate objects in the environment with operating ease. The main challenges to satisfying these requirements in mobile robot research include the collection of robot environment information, storage and organization of this information, and fast task planning based on available information. Conventional approaches to these problems are far from satisfactory due to their requirement of high computation time. In this paper, we specifically address the problems of storage and organization of the environment information and fast task planning in the area of robotic research. We propose an special object-oriented data model (OODM) for information storage and management in order to solve the first problem. This model explicitly represents domain knowledge and abstracts a global perspective about the robot's dynamically changing environment. To solve the second problem, we introduce a fast task planning algorithm that fully uses domain knowledge related to robot applications and to the given environment. Our OODM based task planning method presents a general frame work and representation, into which domain specific information, domain decomposition methods and specific path planners can be tailored for different task planning problems. This method unifies and integrates the salient features from various areas such as database, artificial intelligence, and robot path planning, thus increasing the planning speed significantly     

Scalable approach to uncertainty quantification and robust design of interconnected dynamical systems

Development of robust dynamical systems and networks such as autonomous aircraft systems capable of accomplishing complex missions faces challenges due to the dynamically evolving uncertainties coming from model uncertainties, necessity to operate in a hostile cluttered urban environment, and the distributed and dynamic nature of the communication and computation resources. Model-based robust design is difficult because of the complexity of the hybrid dynamic models including continuous vehicle dynamics, the discrete models of computations and communications, and the size of the problem. We will overview recent advances in methodology and tools to model, analyze, and design robust autonomous aerospace systems operating in uncertain environment, with stress on efficient uncertainty quantification and robust design using the case studies of the mission including model-based target tracking and search, and trajectory planning in uncertain urban environment. To show that the methodology is generally applicable to uncertain dynamical systems, we will also show examples of application of the new methods to efficient uncertainty quantification of energy usage in buildings, and stability assessment of interconnected power networks.