Control of reactive distillation production of high-purity isopropanol

The process characteristics and control strategy of a high-purity IPA reactive distillation column were investigated. A robust nominal operation was found by maintaining an excess of propylene feed to the column and recycling the unreacted propylene to the feed instead of the top stage. Stage temperature and propylene composition with one-to-one relationship with reboiler duty and propylene feed are selected as controlled variables for maintaining bottom purity and feed ratio in the presence of possible measurement bias respectively. High nonlinearity between selected input–output pair was reduced by using variable transformation. Dynamic simulations demonstrated that such a control scheme with nonlinear transformed variable was capable of providing much superior control performance than the one using natural variable.     

Dissociating uncertainty responses and reinforcement signals in the comparative study of uncertainty monitoring.

Although researchers are exploring animals' capacity for monitoring their states of uncertainty, the use of some paradigms allows the criticism that animals map avoidance responses to error-causing stimuli not because of uncertainty monitored but because of feedback signals and stimulus aversion. The authors addressed this criticism with an uncertainty-monitoring task in which participants completed blocks of trials with feedback deferred so that they could not associate reinforcement signals to particular stimuli or stimulus-response pairs. Humans and 1 of 2 monkeys were able to make cognitive, decisional uncertainty responses that were independent of feedback or reinforcement history within a task. This finding unifies the comparative literature on uncertainty monitoring. The dissociation of performance from reinforcement has theoretical implications, and the deferred-feedback technique has many applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strain hardening due to deformation twinning in α-titanium: Mechanisms

Novel experiments were conducted to elucidate the effect of deformation twinning on the mechanical response of high-purity α-titanium deformed at room temperature. Orientation-imaging microscopy (OIM), microhardness, and nanohardness evaluations were employed in conjunction with optical microscopy and quasi-static compression testing to obtain insight into the deformation mechanisms. Hardness measurements revealed that the newly formed deformation twins were harder than the matrix. This observation is perhaps the first experimental evidence for the Basinski mechanism for hardening associated with twinning, arising from the transition of glissile dislocations to a sessile configuration upon the lattice reorientation by twinning shear. This work also provided direct evidence for two competing effects of deformation twinning on the overall stress-strain response: (1) hardening via both a reduction of the effective slip length (Hall-Petch effect) and an increase in the hardness of twinned regions (Basinski mechanism) and (2) softening due to the lattice reorientation of the twinned regions.     

Across the great divide [global trading system]

Some 30 or 40 years ago, when computers were becoming established in business and government, these new machines drew complaints from people who disliked the standardization that they imposed. Global trade has indeed destroyed local industries but, at the same time, it has generally given the world a higher standard of living. Like the computer age, the era of global trade has come with a new sense of standardization. Trade agreements are technical documents that include lengthy sections of technical definitions, rules, and standards. Hence, it is probably not surprising that the goods and services that have moved most easily from economy to economy and from culture to culture are those that are easily standardized.     

1,5-己二烯交联烯烃聚合物的合成及其抗剪切稳定性

以金属配合物为催化剂、1,5-己二烯为交联剂,采用本体聚合法合成了交联超高相对分子质量烯烃类聚合物(简称交联聚合物)。用傅里叶变换红外光谱、核磁共振、凝胶渗透色潜表征交联聚合物的结构和相对分子质量。用旋转黏度计和超声波仪研究了1,5-己二烯用量对交联聚合物溶液表观黏度的影响及交联聚合物的相对分子质量对交联聚合物溶液抗剪切稳定性的影响。实验结果表明,在最佳聚合条件(单体80mL、助催化剂0．4mL、CS-1催化剂0．090g、1,5-己二烯0．40mL、0℃、24 b)下所合成的交联聚合物的重均相对分子质量为7．7×106,数均相对分子质量3．6×106。加入少量1,5-己二烯能提高交联聚合物的抗剪切能力,同时也能提高交联聚合物的相对分子质量。交联聚合物的相对分子质量越大,抗剪切稳定性越好。1,5-己二烯用量约为0．1 mL时(单体40 mL),交联聚合物溶液的表观黏度达到最大值(16．8 mPa·s)。     

Optimizing the tapping regime on a blast furnace operating at variable speed

The main factors that determine the uniformity with which smelting products are tapped from a blast furnace are the rate of accumulation of the products in the hearth and the tapping rate. The first parameter is in turn determined by the stability of the furnace’s operation and can vary significantly even over the course of 24 h. The second parameter is determined mainly by the condition of the iron notch, the maintenance it receives, any changes that occur in the diameter of the channel of the notch, and the quality of the materials used to form the notch. Recommendations are presented to optimize tapping of the smelting products.     

The day of the week when you were born in 700 ms: Calendar computation in an autistic savant.

Some individuals are able to determine the weekday of a given date in a few seconds (finding for instance that June 12, 1900, was a Tuesday). This ability has fascinated scientists for many years because it is predominantly observed in people with limited intelligence and may appear very early in life. Exceptional visual memory, exceptional concentration abilities, or privileged access to lower levels of information not normally available through introspection have been advanced to explain such phenomena. In the present article, the authors show that a simple cognitive model can explain all aspects of the performance of Donny, a young autistic savant who is possibly the fastest and most accurate calendar prodigy ever described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recent-onset ecstasy use: Association with deviant behaviors and psychiatric comorbidity.

Background: Despite increases in ecstasy (MDMA) use in the United States, little is known about characteristics linked with recent-onset ecstasy use, especially psychiatric symptoms and deviant behaviors. Aims: To test whether individuals with high levels of other drug use are more likely to be recent-onset ecstasy users; to test whether psychiatric symptoms in adults are associated with recent-onset ecstasy use; to explore the association between recent-onset ecstasy use and concomitant deviant behaviors in adolescents and adults. Methods: Data from the 2001 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Findings: Recent-onset ecstasy use was significantly more likely to occur among adolescents and adults (18-34 years old) who engaged in deviant behaviors during the past year as compared with those who did not engage in deviant behaviors during the past year. Higher levels of deviancy indicated a higher likelihood of being a recent-onset ecstasy user, and associations were strongest with nonviolent deviant behaviors such as selling illegal drugs and stealing. Associations between deviant behaviors and recent-onset ecstasy use were similar in strength to associations between deviant behaviors and recent-onset cocaine and marijuana use, respectively. Adults who had past-year psychiatric symptoms (both depressive and panic symptoms) were twice as likely to be recent-onset ecstasy users as compared with those without past-year psychiatric symptoms. Greater levels of drug involvement increased the odds of being a recent-onset ecstasy user. Conclusion: Recent-onset ecstasy use seems to be associated with a range of other behavioral problems and may reflect one aspect of a larger problem behavior syndrome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)