Polymerization Kinetics of Fischer‐Tropsch Reaction on Iron Based Catalysts and Product Grade Optimization

The polymerization kinetics of Fischer‐Tropsch reactions on a K‐promoted Fe catalyst was studied. To represent the product distribution, a kinetic model was developed based on alkyl and alkenyl mechanisms for hydrocarbon chain propagation, which were assumed to occur simultaneously in the Fischer‐Tropsch synthesis. The conclusion was drawn that superimposed Anderson‐Schulz‐Flory (ASF) distributions with different chain growth probabilities, on iron catalysts, can be the result of different chain growth mechanisms. The polymerization mechanism was used to obtain the product distribution for several conditions, and the optimum conditions for the production of transportation fuels were found.     

D-side: A facility and workforce planning group multi-criteria decision support system for Johnson Space Center

“To understand and protect our home planet, to explore the universe and search for life, and to inspire the next generation of explorers” is NASA's mission. The Systems Management Office at Johnson Space Center (JSC) is searching for methods to effectively manage the Center's resources to meet NASA's mission. D-Side is a group multi-criteria decision support system (GMDSS) developed to support facility decisions at JSC. D-Side uses a series of sequential and structured processes to plot facilities in a three-dimensional (3-D) graph on the basis of each facility's alignment with NASA's mission and goals, the extent to which other facilities are dependent on the facility, and the dollar value of capital investments that have been postponed at the facility relative to the facility's replacement value. A similarity factor rank orders facilities based on their Euclidean distance from Ideal and Nadir points. These similarity factors are then used to allocate capital improvement resources across facilities. We also present a parallel model that can be used to support decisions concerning allocation of human resources investments across workforce units. Finally, we present results from a pilot study where 12 experienced facility managers from NASA used D-Side and the organization's current approach to rank order and allocate funds for capital improvement across 20 facilities. Users evaluated D-Side favorably in terms of ease of use, the quality of the decision-making process, decision quality, and overall value-added. Their evaluations of D-Side were significantly more favorable than their evaluations of the current approach.     

Artificial Neural Network Modeling of Osmotic Dehydration Mass Transfer Kinetics of Fruits

Artificial neural network (ANN) models were developed for the prediction of transient moisture loss (ML) and solid gain (SG) in osmotic dehydration of fruits using process kinetics data from the literature. ANN models for ML and SG were developed based on data over a broad range of operating conditions and ten common processing variables: temperature and concentration of osmotic solution, immersion time, initial water and solid content of the fruit, porosity, surface area, characteristic length, solution-to-fruit mass ratio, and agitation level. The trained models were able to accurately predict the outputs with associated regression coefficients (r) of 0.96 and 0.93, respectively, for ML and SG. These ANN models performed much better than those obtained from linear multivariate regression analysis. The large number of process variables and their wide ranges considered along with their easy implementation in a spreadsheet make them very useful and practical for process design and control.     

Leaching kinetics of Cs and Co radionuclides fixed in cement and cement-based materials

Leach characteristics of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁶⁰Co radionuclides from both ordinary Portland cement and cement mixed with two different ratios of silica fume and ilmenite have been studied using International Atomic Energy's (IAEA) standard leach method. A mathematical model has been simulated to predict the release rate of each nuclide from cubic geometry waste matrix and the predicted values are discussed in relation to experimentally observed leach rates to confirm the validity of the proposed mechanism in the model. The effect of temperature on the radionuclides leaching rates was also studied and the effective diffusion coefficients were obtained at different temperatures. The net fractional release of the two radionuclides from different waste forms showed a decreasing pattern as ¹³⁷Cs>⁶⁰Co, indicating the largest diffusion coefficient for cesium in all waste matrices.     

Modeling the Absorption of Acidic Gases by Alkanolamine Solutions Incorporating Several Reactions

A general model, based on double film theory, is developed to study absorption with chemical reactions. In the liquid film region, the model is a set of differential equations that describe the mass transfer accompanying several chemical reactions; the resolution of the system is achieved by the finite difference method using an implicit scheme combined with Newton's method. Continuity equations and equilibrium coefficients are exploited in the treatment of the bulk region, which is based on the Newton‐Raphson method; the results are used directly as boundary conditions in the liquid film equations. Maxwell‐Stefan equations have been used as a rigorous approach in this model.     

The Danish Twin Apartment Study – Part II: Mathematical modeling of the relative strength of sources of indoor air pollution

Abstract This study deals with the modeling of air pollution in apartments from laboratory measurements of source strengths, using formaldehyde and Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) as model pollutants. The sources in two test apartments were grouped into two: building-related sources and occupant-related sources. The measured source strengths and ventilation rates were used for the prediction of concentrations expected in the apartments. These predictions were compared to measurements in the apartment over 12 months. The conclusions were that the model predictions based on emission rates measured in the laboratory can be used to predict the long-term concentration of the two model pollutants in the apartments. Considering the measured differences in ventilation between the apartments, an occupant emission rate of between 0.2 and 0.3 mg/h/kg body weight could be estimated. Based on previous suggested limits of acceptable exposures of humans to VOCs, an acceptable average emission rate of VOCs from building materials in general was estimated to be about 30 (μ/m²/h. The modeling showed that during the first 200 days, building materials dominated the emissions. After this, sources relating to the occupants dominated. On average about half of the VOC pollution originated from the building materials.     

Polymeric materials

Summary The Polymer Section of the Santa Barbara Workshop on Modeling of Materials is briefly reviewed. Motivation and need for modeling in polymer-based materials are outlined and the recommendations resulting from the workshop reported.     

Using information-systems constructs to study online- and telephone-banking technologies

The research literature has seen a number of studies aimed at understanding customer attitudes towards banking technologies, and thereby providing implications for developmental planning and marketing. However, even though banking technologies have a significant amount of information systems (IS) component to them, there is a paucity of research that considers them from the IS perspective. In this paper, we fill this gap by considering three constructs, namely usefulness, ease of use and usage, that are all rooted in the IS literature. We study user’s perceptions of these constructs, as well as the relationships among them, for both online and telephone banking.     

Automatically modeling, simulating and explaining physical systems

This paper presents an interactive framework for constructing models from high-level specifications of real physical systems, deriving low-level simulations from the constructed models and then generating explanations of the simulated behavior to help engineers interpret and control the real physical systems. To demonstrate our method, we show an example of modeling river networks, which are eco-environmental engineering systems, to provide a computer-based solution to problems of simulating and controlling concentrations of water quality constituents in river networks[1].