Dynamic replication factor model for Linux containers-based cloud systems

The Journal of Supercomputing - Infrastructure-as-a-service container-based virtualization is gaining interest as a platform for running distributed applications. With increasing scale of cloud...     

New separation method of metal/plastic micronized particles using travelling wave conveyors

The paper reports an experimental investigation for studying the movement dynamics and the separation of micronized particles on a poly-phase travelling wave conveyor (TWC). A digital balance and a sensitive electrometer controlled by Labview software were used to analyse the velocity and the material flow rate on a three-phase conveyor with respect to the variation of both the amplitude and the frequency of the applied voltage. It was found that about 80% of the particles mass move together in one single wave and that the electric charge gained by the particles increases with the intensity of the electric field. Moreover, preliminary experiments showed that it is possible to separate a granular mixture of plastic and copper micronized particles using a TWC. Successful experiments were carried out on micronized samples of both electric cable and electronic card wastes. High purity metal was recovered.     

Reduction electrochimique comparee de Mg2+ et du cryptate (221, Mg)2+ dans le carbonate de propylene

A comparison is made between the electroreduction of magnesium (II) and of magnesium (II) cryptate. The bielectronic polarographic reduction of the cryptate is more cathodic but faster than the reduction of the solvated Mg²⁺, at the half wave potential.     

Influence of manufacturing errors on the dynamic behavior of planetary gears

Planetary gears are widely used in the transmissions of helicopters, automobiles, aircraft engines, etc. They have substantial advantages such as compactness and a large torque-to-weight ratio. In this work, a plane model of a planetary gear was investigated. The energetic Lagrange formulation was used to recover the equations of motion of the system. A modal analysis was performed, and the influence of gyroscopic effect in particular was scrutinized. The dynamic response was computed by an iterative spectral method. The excitation is induced by time-varying the gearmesh stiffness. The cases of a healthy planetary gear and one with the presence of eccentricity and profile error were compared. The influence on the transmission ratio was also studied.     

Ac electrical properties and dielectric relaxation of the new mixed crystal (Na0.8Ag0.2)2PbP2O7

The effect of Mn substitution on transport and thermoelectric properties of Cr_1?xMn_xSb₂ (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05) have been investigated at the temperatures from 7 K to 313 K. The results show that similar to CrSb₂ all the doped samples are semiconducting. However, electrical resistivity of Cr_1?xMn_xSb₂ is found to decrease greatly with increasing doping content of Mn. Besides, Mn substitution leads to suppression of the plateau appearing in the plot of resistivity vs. temperature for CrSb₂ and makes the resistivity anomaly originating from antiferromagnetic transition shift to higher temperatures. Moreover, corresponding to the plateau a large peak of thermopower (?431 μV K^?1) was observed at ～60 K, which was also found to be suppressed by Mn doping. In addition, lattice thermal conductivity of Cr_1?xMn_xSb₂ was found to decrease substantially with increasing Mn content, though Mn doping also results in slow reduction in absolute value of thermopower at the temperatures T > ～200 K. As a result, at T > ～260 K the figure of merit ZT of heavily doped sample Cr_1?xMn_xSb₂ (x = 0.03 and 0.05) was improved. Specifically, at 313 K ZT value of Cr_0.95Mn_0.05Sb₂ is ～14% larger than that of CrSb₂, indicating that thermoelectric properties of CrSb₂ can be improved by proper substitution of Mn for Cr.     

Application of a Genetic Algorithm for the Optimization of a Complex Reservoir System in Tunisia

A genetic algorithm (GA) model is developed and used for optimizing the allocation of water resources within a complex multiple reservoir system located in Tunisia. The GA model considers two objectives: the water allocation to demand centers and the salinity level of the water supply to end users. These two objectives are combined into a single objective function using a weighting factor approach. Five different cases (representing five different weighting factor combinations) were analyzed by the GA model to produce the “optimum” allocation of water resources for each case. The generated solutions exhibited low variability. The results are then compared using a range of system performance indicators to measure reliability, resilience, and vulnerability. The evaluation of the system performance is an essential step to help system managers identify the preferred allocation strategy and it provides a comprehensive insight into system behavior.     

Three-dimensional modelling of geometric defaults to optimize a manufactured part setting

In manufacturing systems, it is essential to consider the functional conditions of a manufactured part. These conditions are influenced by the geometric and dimensional constraints imposed by the initial part diagram. To date, one-dimension chains of dimensions and geometric specifications have been used to ensure the manufacture of defect-free parts. This modelling technique, however, is inefficient since parts are three-dimensional. To address this problem, we have developed a three-dimensional geometric defaults modelling process using small deviation torsor (SDT) theory. This three-dimensional modelling allows for the quantification of geometric defaults in order to respect the imposed manufacturing constraints.