The in-line inspection of carbon anodes for aluminum production

In this paper, methods for measuring the quality of carbon anodes consumed in the commercial production of aluminum are discussed. The electrical and mechanical qualities of these anodes are important for the economic operation of the aluminum plant. While the investigation is ongoing, results from tests made at an aluminum reduction plant are included. The methods reviewed include direct resistivity measurement using core samples, ultrasonic measurement, the hammer method, analysis of the Hall effect, the four-probe method, and use of magnetic coils (various arrangements).     

Re-engineering the Engineering Change Management process for a drawing-less environment

Currently, 3D models and 2D drawings are the main basic elements that together form and carry the product definition throughout the product lifecycle. With the advent of the Digital Product Definition trend, industries have been interested in adopting a Model-based Definition (MBD) approach that enables the integration of drawing annotations directly onto a 3D model, thereby minimizing the need to generate engineering drawings. This drawing-less environment requires a way to adequately carry the product definition throughout a product's lifecycle while supporting all of the downstream users’ specific needs. The objective of this article is to present a solution to carry the Engineering Change Management (ECM) process in a drawing-less environment. Therefore, based on ECM process requirements from two Canadian aerospace companies, we propose an MBD dataset which consists of an MBD model and a distribution file. The proposed MBD dataset is evaluated and the MBD-driven ECM process is outlined.     

Knowledgeable Cyberbrokers for electronic markets

Electronic commerce is just beginning to be realisable. A number of technological, sociological and economic developments will be required before a large-scale roll out of electronic commerce can be expected. An architectural framework should be defined and needs to incorporate the semantics of contracting and negotiation based on knowledge technology. Electronic commerce has recently increased the demand for personalisation capabilities dramatically. This would imply the use of user-adaptive agents. Because electronic commerce is intrinsically interactive with virtual catalogues, this framework should make such interaction possible. This framework is centred around the Cyber e-Broker concept based on knowledge-based agents. Electronic commerce involves parties that may belong to different domains or administrations with different ontologies. This framework should enable manipulation of such information and enable conversion between ontologies. The e-broker ensures the correct negotiation protocols, and enforces the constraints and contracts, but also interacts with the virtual catalogues.     

Nano-structured zinc oxide–cotton fibers: synthesis, characterization and applications

Zinc oxide nanoparticles were prepared and subsequently deposited onto the surface of the cotton fiber by ultrasonic irradiation. The optical, structure and morphology of the coated and un-coated cotton were examined by UV, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM)/Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis. XRD analysis revealed the presence of the crystalline metal oxide of hexagonal phase with an average crystallite size of 12 nm. These nanoparticles are probably physically adsorbed onto the cotton fiber surface. SEM analysis showed a distribution of ZnO nanorod assemblies of various diameters and lengths physically adsorbed onto the cotton fiber surface may take place. The ZnO-cotton fiber nano-composite were tested against Escherichia coli (gram negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram positive) cultures, and showed a significant antimicrobial activity.     

A Taguchi design approach for the enhancement of a detergent-biocompatible alkaline thermostable protease production by Streptomyces mutabilis strain TN-X30

The ability of microorganisms to grow at high temperature, alkaline pH, and high salinity makes them an attractive target for enzyme-production with several industrial applications. One strain TN-X30 has been selected as protease producer and identified as Streptomyces mutabilis after a phenotypic and molecular study. Its production of protease was improved using Taguchi L27 design. The strategy was carried out to identify the optimum levels and the interaction of the screened factors. Following this step, maximum protease activity (10,895 U/ml) was achieved after 6-days of incubation. The TN-X30 protease activity had an optimum of pH and temperature of 10 and 65°C, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters at 60°C were enthalpy 14.26 kJ/mol, entropy −220 J/mol/K, and Gibbs free energy 90.53 kJ/mol. TN-X30 protease production displayed a 16-fold increase reaching 175,000 U/ml in a 100-L fermentor. Furthermore, the lyophilization in presence of sorbitol enhanced the stability of the TN-X30 protease which remained active at 75% after 24-months of storage. The lyophilized TN-X30 protease exhibited exceptional stability indexes in presence of some known commercialized detergent components as NEODOL® 25-7, Dehydol® LT 7, Na₂ CMC, Galaxy LAS, Galaxy LES 70, Galaxy 110, Galaxy CAPB Plus, and Sulfacid K. The lyophilized enzyme also displayed high stability with respect to both solid and liquid detergents. Finally, TN-X30 protease exhibited remarkable destaining of blood, egg, and chocolate stained cloth pieces. These findings may promote TN-X30 protease for use as bioadditive in detergent formulation, thereby reducing environmental chemical threat.     

Determination of the optical properties of a two-layer tissue model by detecting photons migrating at progressively increasing depths

We have investigated a method for solving the inverse problem of determining the optical properties of a two-layer turbid model. The method is based on deducing the optical properties (OPs) of the top layer from the absolute spatially resolved reflectance that results from photon migration within only the top layer by use of a multivariate calibration model. Then the OPs of the bottom layer are deduced from relative frequency-domain (FD) reflectance measurements by use of the two-layer FD diffusion model. The method was validated with Monte Carlo FD reflectance profiles and experimental measurements of two-layer phantoms. The results showed that the method is useful for two-layer models with interface depths of >5 mm; the OPs were estimated, within a relatively short time (<1 min), with a mean error of <10% for the Monte Carlo reflectance profiles and with errors of <25% for the phantom measurements.     

Improvement of synchronizing power and damping power by means of SSSC and STATCOM: A comparative study

This paper examines the influence of Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) and STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM) on the synchronizing power and damping power of a single-machine infinite bus system. The main function of SSSC is to compensate for the voltage drop across the impedance transmission line while the STATCOM provides voltage support at the point of connection at the transmission line. Beside their main function, SSSC and STATCOM can also be used to improve the synchronizing power and damping power, which in turns improve the small signal stability of power systems and thus more power can be transmitted. The SSSC has two modes of operation: (1) constant reactance mode and (2) constant quadrature voltage mode. It was shown that SSSC provides higher synchronizing and damping powers when operated in constant reactance mode than constant quadrature voltage mode. Comparing SSSC with STATCOM, the SSSC, in constant reactance mode, has been found to provide higher synchronizing and damping powers than the STATCOM. However, the STATCOM provides higher synchronizing and damping power than the SSSC when it operates on constant quadrature voltage mode.     

Synergistic verification and validation of systems and software engineering models

In this paper, we present a unified approach for the verification and validation of software and systems engineering design models expressed in UML 2.0 and SysML 1.0. The approach is based on three well-established techniques, namely formal analysis, programme analysis and software engineering (SwE) techniques. More precisely, our contribution consists of the synergistic combination of model checking, static analysis and SwE metrics that enables the automatic and efficient assessment of design models from static and dynamic perspectives. Additionally, we present the design and implementation of an automated computer-aided assessing framework integrating the proposed approach. Moreover, we discuss the related technical details and the underlying synergism. Finally, we illustrate the proposed approach by assessing a design case study that is composed of state machine and sequence diagrams.