Compositional and structural study of ash deposits spatially distributed in superheaters of a large biomass-fired CFB boiler

Recognizing the nature and formation progress of the ash deposits is essential to resolve the deposition problem hindering the wide application of large-scale biomass-fired boilers. Therefore, the ash deposits in the superheaters of a 220 t/h biomass-fired CFB boiler were studied, including the platen (PS), the high-temperature (HTS), the upper and the lower low-temperature superheaters (LTS). The results showed that the deposits in the PSs and HTSs were thin (several millimeters) and compact, consisting of a yellow outer layer and snow-white inner layer near the tube surface. The deposits in the upper LTS appeared to be toughly sintered ceramic, while those in the lower LTS were composed of dispersive coarse ash particles with an unsintered surface. Detailed characterization of the cross-section and the initial layers in the deposits revealed that the dominating compositions in both the PSs and the HTSs were Cl and K (approximately 70%) in the form of KCl. Interestingly, the cross-section of the deposition in the upper LTS exhibited a unique lamellar structure with a major composition of Ca and S. The contents of Ca and Si increased from approximately 10% to approximately 60% in the deposits from the high temperature surfaces to the low temperature ones. It was concluded that the vaporized mineral matter such as KCl played the most important role in the deposition progress in the PS and the HTS. In addition, although the condensation of KCl in the LTSs also happened, the deposition of ash particles played a more important role.     

Wireless power transferable from unmanned aerial vehicle

Telecommunication Systems - Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could wirelessly transfer power to the devices on ground, thus recharging their batteries conveniently. Nevertheless, the efficiency of...     

Process-to-Policy (P2Pol): using carbon emission pinch analysis (CEPA) tools for policy-making in the energy sector

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Global warming is a major international issue due to rising levels of greenhouse gases such as CO2. Many countries now face the challenge to find...     

Measurement of brain activity with bolus administration of contrast agent and gradient-echo MR imaging

This study was performed to measure changes in cerebral blood volume (CBV) associated with visual activation by use of bolus administration of contrast agent and conventional, clinically configured magnetic resonance (MR) hardware and software. Fast gradient-recalled acquisition in the steady state technique was used to study five healthy subjects during visual activation and a control dark state. MR images were obtained every 2.048 seconds for 2 minutes. A bolus of gadopentetate dimeglumine was injected during visual stimulation and darkness. Cine images produced from the series of rapid images clearly depicted arterial, capillary, and venous phases. Analysis of serial concentration maps derived from the rapid images revealed expected differences between the relative CBV of gray matter and that of white matter, as well as significantly increased relative CBV in calcarine cortex during visual activation versus the control state (mean increase, 15.24%; range, 6.41%-27.78%; P < .05). These results confirm those reported in echo-planar imaging studies and demonstrate that brain function can be assessed with the bolus method by means of MR imaging hardware and software with conventional clinical configurations.     

Strict positive realness of a family of polytopic plants

Some strict positive realness results for a family of polytopic plants are presented. More specifically, it is shown that the strict positive real property of such a family of plants can be ascertained from its vertex plants     

Optimization of gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography using an automated bolus-detection algorithm (MR SmartPrep). Original investigation

Gadolinium (Gd)-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a quick method for performing noninvasive diagnostic angiography. A major technical obstacle to the successful implementation of this technique, however, is the proper coordination of the data acquisition with the contrast bolus. In this article, the use of an automated bolus-detection algorithm (MR SmartPrep), which triggers the initiation of data acquisition for Gd-enhanced 3D MRA is reviewed. Potential applications of this evolving technique are illustrated.     

An H-minimax approach to the design of robust control systems, part II: All solutions, all-pass form solutions and the ‘best’ solution

We characterize all solutions to a robustness optimization problem as the solutions of a two-parameter interpolation problem. From this characterization it is easy to show that an all-pass form solution always exists as long as a solution exists. We also study the possibility of using non-all-pass form solutions and by introducing other optimization objectives (motivated by improvements in disturbance rejection and robust stability) we search for the 'best' solution.     

RF inductors and capacitors integrated on silicon chip by CMOS compatible Cu interconnect technology

High-Q inductors and high-density capacitors have been designed and fabricated with a post-process of additional metal layers on the top of interconnect layers. The fabrication was carried out with advanced Cu interconnect technology, which was compatible with nowadays CMOS backend of line. The Q_max of inductors with inductance from 0.4 to 11 nH was over 11 on low-resistivity silicon substrates. Two kinds of structures of on-chip capacitors, MIM and MIMIM, have been studied. A capacitance of 1.75 fF/μm² has been achieved with MIMIM structure using Si₃N₄ as dielectric.     

Inhibition of signal-regulated protein kinases by plant-derived hydrolysable tannins

A reversed-phase isocratic high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of AG-331, a novel thymidylate synthase inhibitor, in human serum and urine. The method involves a solid-phase extraction from C18 cartridges without addition of an internal standard. The methanol eluent is evaporated under nitrogen at 40 degrees C, and reconstituted in mobile phase, acetonitrile-water (35:65, v/v) containing 25 mM ammonium phosphate. Separation of AG-331 was obtained on a C18 column at a flow-rate of 1 ml/min. Chromatographic signals were monitored by a photodiode-array detector at a primary wavelength of 457 nm with a bandwidth of 4.8 nm. Standard curves are linear in the range of 22-2175 ng/ml in plasma and 44-2175 ng/ml in urine, respectively. The extraction recovery ranged from 92.9-102.4%. Intra-day coefficient of variation was less than 9.5%, and inter-day coefficient of variation was less than 14.3% for an AG-331 concentration of 44 ng/ml. This method has been used to characterize the pharmacokinetics of AG-331 in cancer patients as part of ongoing Phase I trials.     

Two-way calling public CT2 telepoint system

In most current implementations of CT2 telepoint systems, only handset initiated calls are allowed. This paper describes a design to allow two-way calling for the CT2 public telepoint system with minimal modifications to the current CT2 infrastructure and the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The design makes use of centralized databases in the home location register (HLR) and visitor location registers (VLR) to track the location of handsets. This location information is stored in the VLR and HLR, and is used by the PSTN to route incoming calls destined for CT2 handsets to the appropriate CT2 telepoint base station (TBS). The TBS connect to the PSTN local exchanges (LE) through the integrated services digital network (ISDN) basic rate interfaces (BRI) for fast out-of-band signaling. We present simulation results of the system with the objective of determining where congestion might occur within the system and to understand the impact of the new implementation on the PSTN. The results indicate that the performance of the system will be limited by the VLR processing speed and the number of ISDN BRI's connecting the ISDN front end (IFE) to the PSTN