Preliminary studies using hybrid mediated electrochemical oxidation (HMEO) for the removal of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

This study investigates the hybrid mediated electrochemical oxidation (HMEO) technology, which is a newly developed non thermal electrochemical oxidation process for organic destruction. A combination of ozone and ultrasonication processes to the mediated electrochemical oxidation (MEO) process is termed as hybrid mediated electrochemical oxidation. The electrochemical cell was developed in this laboratory. In the present study, several organic compounds, such as phenol, benzoquinone and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), were chosen as the model organic pollutants to be destructed by the hybrid process. The organic destruction was monitored based on the CO2 generation and total organic carbon (TOC) reduction. The HMEO process was found to be extremely effective in the destruction of all the target organics chosen in this study. The information obtained from this study will provide an insight in adopting this technique for dealing with more recalcitrant organics (POPs).     

The dynamics of surge in compression systems

In air-compression systems, instabilities occur during operation close to their peak pressure-rise capability. However, the peak efficiency of a compression system lies close to this region of instability. A surge is a violent mode of instability where there is total breakdown of flow in the system and pressure-rise capability is lost drastically. Generally, all compression systems operate with a margin defined as the ‘surge margin’, and, consequently, system operational efficiency is lower. It is of interest to study compression-system surge to understand its dynamics in order to operate compression systems close to the instability for achieving high efficiency safely without encountering surge. Unsteady pressure data from a compression system, captured during surge oscillations, reveal many aspects of flow physics and are analysed to understand the surge dynamics of the system. A set of controlled experiments was conducted with a simple desktop experimental test set-up and essential aspects of surge dynamics have been characterised.     

Prediction of axial velocity profiles and solids hold-up in a rotary kiln

Axial bed depth profiles were experimentally measured in a rotary kiln containing ilmenite particles under steady state and transient conditions. The variables include feed rate of solids, inclination and rotational speed of the kiln. and dam height. The variation of the axial velocity with kiln axis was estimated. The semi-experimental model proposed by Perron and Bui (1990) was modified to include the effect of the variables of the present study. The mean residence time of solids was estimated from the fractional hold-up and expressed in terms of the process variables. The transients induced by a step change in any of the operating conditions were measured as variation of discharge rate of solids with time.     

Application of outranking methods to economic and financial justificaton of CIM systems

Traditional economic evaluation methods concentrate on maximizing or minimizing a single objective such as net present value and pay back period. In the last decade, there has been an increased awareness of the need to consider multiple attributes in the evaluation of advanced manufacturing systems. Various methods have recently been developed for the evaluation of CIM systems. This paper discusses multiattribute methods for justification of CIM systems and outranking methods including ELECTRE, ORESTE, and PROMETHEE.     

Optimal Operation of Reservoir Systems using Simulated Annealing

A stochastic search technique, simulated annealing (SA), is used to optimize the operation of multiple reservoirs. Seminal application of annealing technique in general to multi-period, multiple-reservoir systems, along with problem representation and selection of different parameter values used in the annealing algorithm for specific cases is discussed. The search technique is improved with the help of heuristic rules, problem-specific information and concepts from the field of evolutionary algorithms. The technique is tested for application to a benchmark problem of four-reservoir system previously solved using a linear programming formulation and its ability to replicate the global optimum solution is examined. The technique is also applied to a system of four hydropower generating reservoirs in Manitoba, Canada, to derive optimal operating rules. A limited version of this problem is solved using a mixed integer nonlinear programming and results are compared with those obtained using SA. A better objective function value is obtained using simulated annealing than the value from a mixed integer non-linear programming model developed for the same problem. Results obtained from these applications suggest that simulated annealing can be used for obtaining near-optimal solutions for multi-period reservoir operation problems that are computationally intractable.     

TEM and high-temperature X-ray diffractometric studies on the structural transformations in Ni3Al

High-temperature X-ray diffraction and TEM studies were conducted on nickel-rich boron-doped Ni₃Al in order to confirm our earlier observations on the existence of a structural transformation in these alloys. The results obtained are discussed through a model proposed. The L1₂ structure appears to transform to another L1₂ or to a DO₂₂ structure during heating. Such a transformation starts at around 700 °C and seems to complete around 1100 °C and appears to be of a continuous type. In the temperature range 700–1100 °C both phases coexist, which causes a tetragonal distortion of the L1₂ lattice giving rise to a tweed morphology in TEM observations. The transformation mechanism involves a periodic modulation of lattice constant. The calculated values for this periodicity (expressed as a number of unit cells in the [100] direction) obtained from X-ray diffraction (L = 62, 70, 74) matched well with that (L = 65) obtained using TEM.     

Inelastic post-buckling analysis of truss structures by dynamic relaxation method

The paper presents the inelastic post-buckling analysis of truss structures by the Dynamic Relaxation (DR) method. A simplified inelastic finite element formulation for truss element and new algorithms are proposed for Elastic Post-Buckling (EPB) analysis and Inelastic Post-Buckling (IEPB) analysis using the DR method. The post-buckling paths for elastic, EPB and IEPB analyses are completely traced using the variable-arc-length method. Four numerical examples are presented to illustrate the application of the proposed algorithms.     

Concurrent error detection of fault-based side-channel cryptanalysis of 128-bit RC6 block cipher

Fault-based side channel cryptanalysis is very effective against symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms. Although straightforward hardware and time redundancy based concurrent error detection (CED) architectures can be used to thwart such attacks, they entail significant overhead (either area or performance). In this paper we investigate two systematic approaches to low-cost, low-latency CED for symmetric encryption algorithm RC6. The proposed techniques have been validated on FPGA implementations of RC6, one of the advanced encryption standard finalists.     

日毛绒狗信息重组价值增

一只毛绒狗的故事 “大红狗”是正流行在日本京都白领女性圈子里的一款玩具。它选用毛巾布料，因此手感良好，据宣传称它的红色能够刺激脑细胞，使人充满活力，所以兼具一定的医疗保健作用。很多白领女性都喜欢将它摆放在办公室的写字台上，而现在东京都三鹰市内各大商店正以2100日元（含税）的价格热销中。