Indoor atmospheric corrosion in Cuba. A report about indoor localized corrosion

Indoor weight loss of steel, chloride, sulphur compounds and dust deposition rate were determined in six storehouses having different characteristics. Relative humidity and temperature were determined in three storehouses. A model for indoor corrosion of steel depending on time of exposure and deposition of dust, sulphur compounds and chlorides is proposed. Dust deposition plays an important role indoors. The position of the sample has also a significant influence on corrosion. Indoor corrosion aggressivity in Cuban storehouses ranges in classification IC3 and IC4 according to the new ISO proposal of indoor aggressivity.A report about the presence of localized corrosion indoors (filiform like) using a special designed sample is made.     

A New Geometric Subproblem to Extend Solvability of Inverse Kinematics Based on Screw Theory for 6R Robot Manipulators

Geometric inverse kinematics procedures that divide the whole problem into several subproblems with known solutions, and make use of screw motion operators have been developed in the past for 6R robot manipulators. These geometric procedures are widely used because the solutions of the subproblems are geometrically meaningful and numerically stable. Nonetheless, the existing subproblems limit the types of 6R robot structural configurations for which the inverse kinematics can be solved. This work presents the solution of a novel geometric subproblem that solves the joint angles of a general anthropomorphic arm. Using this new subproblem, an inverse kinematics procedure is derived which is applicable to a wider range of 6R robot manipulators. The inverse kinematics of a closed curve were carried out, in both simulations and experiments, to validate computational cost and realizability of the proposed approach. Multiple 6R robot manipulators with different structural configurations were used to validate the generality of the method. The results are compared with those of other methods in the screw theory framework. The obtained results show that our approach is the most general and the most efficient.

     

Development of bilinear power system representations for small signal stability analysis

In this paper, a new analysis technique for predicting and characterizing nonlinear behavior of stressed power networks is proposed. Making use of an analytical approximation of the system nonlinear model via the use of a truncated Carleman linearization technique, a bilinear state-space model of the power system is developed in which the second and higher order nonlinear terms are explicitly incorporated in the series expansion representation of the system model.     

综合性公园公共交通可达性及规划配置均衡性

公共交通出行方式下,综合性公园的可达性及配置的均衡性是评价城市公园绿地配置和本地居民享有公共服务设施权利的重要指标。以南京市为例,建立公共交通复合网络,以时间成本距离分析综合性公园服务的区域水平和基于站点位置的可达性;以基尼系数判断全局和15分钟生活圈下综合性公园分布的均衡性及贡献度;建立新公园选址采样点,分析增加新公园选址后的基尼系数变化的空间分布。结果表明：以可达性为前提,以基尼系数为衡量指标,可以量化分析公园分布均衡性,通过基尼系数更新变化的空间分布,可以明确新规划公园对综合性公园分布均衡性的影响,能够确定优化选址区域。为城市新综合性公园规划提供量化的区域范围参考,优化城市公园布局并提高城市公园可达性和分布均衡性。     

Punch-through protection of SSDs in beam accidents

We have tested the effectiveness of punch-through protection (PTP) structures on n-on-p AC-coupled Silicon strip detectors using pulses from an 1064 nm IR laser, which simulate beam accidents. The voltages on the strips are measured as a function of the bias voltage and compared with the results of DC I-V measurements, which are commonly used to characterize the PTP structures. We find that the PTP structures are only effective at very large currents (several mA), and clamp the strips to much larger voltages than assumed from the DC measurements. We also find that the finite resistance of the strip implant compromises the effectiveness of the PTP structures.     

Long-range effect of cyanide on mercury methylation in a gold mining area in southern Ecuador

Small-scale gold mining in Portovelo-Zaruma, Southern Equador, performed by mercury amalgamation and cyanidation, yields 9-10 t of gold/annum, resulting in annual releases of around 0.65 t of inorganic mercury and 6000 t of sodium cyanide in the local river system. The release of sediments, cyanide, mercury, and other metals present in the ore such as lead, manganese and arsenic significantly reduces biodiversity downstream the processing plants and enriches metals in bottom sediments and biota. However, methylmercury concentrations in sediments downstream the mining area were recently found to be one order of magnitude lower than upstream or in small tributaries. In this study we investigated cyanide, bacterial activity in water and sediment and mercury methylation potentials in sediments along the Puyango river watershed, measured respectively by in-situ spectrophotometry and incubation with ³H-leucine and ²⁰³Hg²⁺.Free cyanide was undetectable (< 1 μg·L^− 1) upstream mining activities, reached 280 μg·L^− 1 a few km downstream the processing plants area and was still detectable about 100 km downstream. At stations with detectable free cyanide in unfiltered water, 50% of it was dissolved and 50% associated to suspended particles. Bacterial activity and mercury methylation in sediment showed a similar spatial pattern, inverse to the one found for free cyanide in water, i.e. with significant values in pristine upstream sampling points (respectively 6.4 to 22 μgC·mg wet weight^− 1·h^− 1 and 1.2 to 19% of total ²⁰³Hg·g dry weight^− 1·day^− 1) and undetectable downstream the processing plants, returning to upstream values only in the most distant downstream stations. The data suggest that free cyanide oxidation was slower than would be expected from the high water turbulence, resulting in a long-range inhibition of bacterial activity and hence mercury methylation. The important mercury fluxes resultant from mining activities raise concerns about its biomethylation in coastal areas where many mangrove areas have been converted to shrimp farming.     

The influence of airborne salinity on the atmospheric corrosion of steel

A model of the influence of chloride deposition rate and SO₂ deposition rate on atmospheric corrosion of steel has been proposed. Accumulated corrosion and pollution data obtained since 1979 from different Cuban sites were statistically processed. A model is obtained when data from all corrosion stations are processed independently of the type of climatic territory. The influence of chloride ions is very significant in determining corrosion rate when there is already a corrosion products layer; however, when this layer is not completely formed the influence of time of wetness is the controlling factor. The existence of a competitive adsorption process between chloride and sulphur compounds present in airborne salinity is very possible.     

Multiphase precipitation of carbides in Fe-C system: Part II. Model based on kinetics of complex reactions

The precipitation of carbides in the Fe-C system aged at constant temperature is simulated considering two transformation kernels of complex reactions, involving different impingement and rate-time factors. The metastable and stable phase are identified by deconvolution of the experimental kinetics. The activation energy of carbides is found to depend, slightly, on the transformation kernel in which it is used.     

Parallel Inversion of Sparse Matrices.

This paper presents a parallel algorithm for obtaining the inverse of a large, nonsingular symmetric matrix A of dimension nxn. The inversion method proposed is based on the triangular factors of A. The task of obtaining the "sparse inverse' of A is represented by a directed acyclic graph. The relation between the triangulation graph and the sparse inversion graph is given. The algorithm and the graph for the full inversion of A is also given. It is shown that for any sparse symmetric matrix, and assuming enough processors are available, the full inverse of the matrix can be calculated in the same amount of time as the sparse inverse. For ideally sparse matrices (such as tridiagonal matrices) the order of computation required in both cases is of order log2n. For full matrices the order of computation is n log2n. Claims are substantiated using test data from several power systems.