敏捷到底是什么？

在支持软件工程(比如Rational统一过程RUP)与敏捷阵营(比如SCRUM或是XP)之间,人们一直存在着冲突。也不难理解,因为这两种方法间都是在用着彼此并不兼容的方式来描述的。其实大可不必,因为他们背后的观点全然是相辅相成的。关键在于该如何用对两者来说都公平的方式来融合它们。在软件世界里,我们都喜欢跟风。我     

Exergetic comparison of efficiency indicators for combined heat and power (CHP)

Legislative regulations in favor of combined heat and power (CHP) production have been implemented in many countries. Although these regulations put different emphasis on power production vs. process heat production, they are based on energy quantities and not on exergy. In order to analyze and compare the exergetic consequences of the various legislations, a relative avoided irreversibility (RAI) is defined. This can be regarded as the exergy loss that is avoided when reference plants with separate production are replaced by an actual CHP plant. Some series of industrial and district heating CHP plants, under varying operational conditions, are used as test cases. It is seen that some, but not all, CHP cases are exergetically beneficial to separate generation. Comparison with the RAI allows a quantitative assessment of the various performance indicators. It is seen that exergetic improvements were only captured to a limited degree by the various energy-based efficiency indicators. Some legislatively defined indicators even appear to discourage thermodynamic improvements.     

Surface Exchange of Oxygen in La1−x Sr x FeO3−δ (x = 0, 0.1)

The electronic charge carrier concentration in La_1?x Sr _x FeO_3?δ was shown to depend on the partial pressure of O₂ (pO ₂). Chemical diffusion coefficient and surface exchange coefficient, k _chem, were determined by conductivity relaxation in O₂/N₂ and CO/CO₂ mixtures. k _chem was proportional to pO ₂ ^1.06 in O₂/N₂, while in CO/CO₂ k _chem was controlled by a reaction mechanism involving both CO and CO₂.     

Uncertainties in heat-pump coefficient of performance (COP) and exergy efficiency based on standardized testing

The uncertainties allowed in testing following international (ISO) and European (CEN) standards for testing of residential heat pumps (HPs) were investigated and quantified. For air/air HPs, the relative uncertainties of COP and exergy efficiency allowed by the CEN standard were found to be from 7% to 9%. For the ISO standard the figures were from 5% to 10%. For air/water HPs, the CEN standard allowed up to 9% relative uncertainty in the COP and 7% in the exergy efficiency. In addition to the uncertainties described in the standards, it was also shown how to estimate the uncertainty of COP due to uncertainties in the levels of temperature where the heat transfer occurs. For air/air HPs at standard rating conditions, this contributed 3% to the relative uncertainty of the COP and the exergy efficiency. Exemplary calculations based on published test data showed that very few HPs had performance clearly above or below those with the median results. The exergy efficiency of the air/air HPs, with some exceptions, showed a decrease with increasing outdoor temperature. A similar, but weaker tendency was observed for air/water HPs. The exergy efficiencies for air/water HPs were typically found in the range from 0.3 to 0.4.     

THERMODYNAMICS OF ASPHALTENE PRECIPITATION AND DISSOLUTION INVESTIGATION OF TEMPERATURE AND SOLVENT EFFECTS

ABSTRACT

Petroleum asphaltenes have been precipitated in solvent mixtures of n-heptane and toluene at various temperatures, likewise n-heptane asphaltenes have been dissolved in under similar conditions. This give added evidence to apparent hysteresis phenomenon between the two processes. The Asphaltenes have been characterized showing that although data is scattered convergence to certain structural parameters as incipient flocculation is approached. The asphaltenes are seen to consist of an associating and a non-associating part. The solubility of asphaltenes has been correlated/modelled using the Flory-Huggins equation using two different terms for the Flory parameter. A process for evaluation of best choice of solubility parameter and molar volume for the asphaltenes is proposed. Dissolution processes are seen to be best fitted by the equations. Based on these findings the asphaltenes are proposed to be formed by a colloidal and a true solution part.     

SEPARATION OF ASPHALTENES BY POLARITY USING LIQUID-LIQUID EXTRACTION

ABSTRACT

In order to investigate the nature of petroleum asphaltenes in terms of polarity a process was developed using initial liquid-liquid extraction of the oil phase followed by precipitation of the asphaltenes using n-heptane. The liquid-liquid extraction was performed using toluene-methanol mixtures with increasing content of toluene. Although large fractions of the crude oil (Alaska '93) was extracted in the higher polarity solvents (high concentration of methanol), the asphaltene content of the dissolved material was low As the toluene content increased more asphaltenes were transferred to the solvent phase. The asphaltenes were analysed using FTir, Elemental analysis, and HPLC-SEC with a diode array detector. With increasing content of toluene in the methanol the molecular weight distribution of the asphaltenes significantly move to higher molecular weights. The content of nitrogen and sulfur of the mallene phase also increase while H/C decreases. The content of heteroatoms in the asphaltenes are relatively higher and apparently increase with the polarity of the solvent. It is concluded that these asphaltenes are indeed dominated by high molecular weight substances that cannot be extracted in the high polarity solvents     

Zero stress aging in notched multi-component glass fibers

Degradation of glass under zero applied load in the presence of humidity at ambient temperature is of great interest to the container and fiber glass industries. The phenomenon is well documented for fused silica used in optical fibers, but has not been studied in detail for multi-component glasses. In this work notches of varying length (500-1500 nm) were placed with a focused ion beam into two types of multi-component glass fibers, E-glass (48 μm diameter) and soda-lime-silicate (35 μm diameter). Notched specimens were exposed to dry and humid conditions for up to 32 days. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of extensive reaction products within the root of the notch, even after only 1 day of aging in the nominally dry environment for the soda-lime-silicate glass. Surprisingly, the extensive reactions have no measurable effect on the fiber strength. The uniaxial tensile strength of the notched glass fibers, measured with the fracture surface mirror radius method, does not follow a classic fracture mechanics prediction, implying that the notches are not classic Griffith flaws. Fracture mechanics is applied to show that sharpness at the notch base may be important, especially when subcritical crack growth is present during the strength measurement.     

The influence of carbon on the microstructure and wear resistance of alumina

The influence of carbon as a dopant on grain growth and wear resistance of polycrystalline alumina was evaluated. Carbon was introduced into alumina by sintering in a carbon-rich environment (graphite furnace under flowing He), and/or by residual carbon from organic binders used during the green body consolidation process. Samples were sintered at 1600°C for 2 h. Doping alumina with carbon resulted in a reduced grain size after sintering, correlated to solute-drag, and graphite particle-drag for high concentrations of carbon (~3 wt.%). The material response to abrasive wear was quantified by measuring the sample area cut for a defined time using a diamond wafering saw, as a function of grain size and carbon content. Sintering alumina with carbon resulted in a significant increase in wear resistance, as a result of the reduced grain size.     

Some practical issues in anomaly detection and exploitation of regions of interest in hyperspectral images

We address method of detection of anomalies in hyperspectral images that consists in performing the detection when the spectral signatures of the targets are unknown. We show that, in real hyperspectral images, use of the full spectral resolution may not be necessary for detection but that the correlation properties of spectral fluctuations have to be taken into account in the design of the detection algorithm. Anomaly detectors are useful for detecting regions of interest (ROIs), but, as they are prone to false alarms, one must analyze the ROIs obtained further to decide whether they correspond to real targets. We propose a method of exploitation of these ROIs that consists in generating a single image in which the contrast of the ROI is optimized.