Search

Many studies have carried out on the characteristics of surfaces processed by PMEDM with various powders. However, limited works have used the tungsten carbide powder in the PMEDM process and investigated its effects on the surface properties. In this research, the influence of main process parameters, including the peak current (Ip), the pulse on time (Ton), and the powder concentration (Cp) on surface properties—i.e., surface roughness (Ra), microhardness of surfaces (HV), and surface morphology of SKD61 steel machined by PMEDM with tungsten carbide powder, was explored in two modes: the fine-finish mode and the semi-finish mode. The results show that the peak current, the pulse on time, and the powder concentration have a noticeable influence on surface properties. The surface roughness, the microhardness of surfaces, and the surface morphology at the small peak current (Ip =1 A) and the short pulse on time (Ton =16 µs) were improved better than those at the large peak current (Ip=4 A) and the long pulse on time (Ton =200 µs) with all powder concentrations. The best improvement of the surface roughness at Ip=1 A; Ton=16 μs; Cp=40 g/l is 0.471 ± 0.011µm with a reduction of 57.984% as compared to the normal EDM. The set of processing parameters {Ip=1 A; Ton=16 μs; Cp=60 g/l} has the most positive effect on the improvement of microhardness and surface morphology: The microhardness was enhanced up to 825 ± 19 HV with an increase of 129.167% as compared to the normal EDM. The surface morphology had the smooth surface, the few micro-cracks, the few voids, the few droplets, and the few globules of debris as compared to that of other process parameters and the normal EDM.

The scientific basis of the paper is the concept of renewability of oil and gas resources. In accordance with this concept, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the volumetric rate of natural replenishment of the reservoir with oil and gas using the example of long-developed Bibieybat oil and Garadag gas condensate fields in the South Caspian Basin (SCB). The methodological approach of this assessment is based on the authors' assumption that at the late stage of field development, the recoverable amount of hydrocarbon fluids is compensated by the amount of their natural inflow, as a result of which oil or gas production stabilizes. The analysis of the dynamics of hydrocarbon production for the Bibieybat oil field covered the period from 1935 to 2018, and for the Garadag gas condensate field from 1955 to 1979. The rate of natural oil replenishment calculated for 29 operating facilities of the Bibieybat field varies per well within 0.32–1.4 ton/day (averaging 0.76 ton/day) or about 277 ton/year. The rate of natural gas inflow at the Garadag gas condensate field is about 5.2 thousand m3/day per well.

Mapping the spatial distribution of crops and predicting yields are crucial for food security measures and management. Remote sensing imagery obtained from different satellite sensors has different crop identification capability owing to the different spatial and spectral resolutions. This study aims to discriminate the major crop types and to estimate the corresponding acreage in Hazaribagh district during Rabi season 2018–2019 using a multispectral satellite image of Sentinel-2B with 10 m of spatial resolution. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm was deployed for land use land cover classification and crop types mapping. The accuracy assessment for crop types showed a satisfactory overall accuracy and kappa coefficient as ~ 87.36% and 0.81, respectively. Three crops were broadly identified, namely wheat, mustard, and other Rabi crops, and their corresponding acreages were estimated as ~ 39.8, 10.7, and 70.5 km2, respectively. Furthermore, wheat and mustard yields were predicted as ~ 1.75 and 0.74 ton/ha, respectively using a regression-based yield model. These estimated yields were quite close to reported crop statistics with a mean yield of 1.7 (for wheat) and 0.6 (for mustard) ton/ha. AquaCrop model was also used to simulate the wheat yield during the Rabi season 2018–2019, and the mean yield was simulated as ~ 1.92 ton/ha. The simulated yield from the AquaCrop model was comparable with the regression-based estimates (i.e., 1.75 ton/ha) and also with the historical crop statistics (i.e., 1.70 ton/ha) of the Hazaribagh district. This comprehensive study concluded that the Sentinel-2B satellite data have the capabilities to discriminate the heterogeneous land cover features and crop types with considerable classification accuracy. The AquaCrop model is also beneficial for predicting yields and this information can be useful for agriculture policymakers.

The development of new heterogeneous catalysts for Knoevenagel condensation reaction is critical for practical applications. Herein, we prepared three organophosphonate-functionalized polyoxomolybdates, Cs2Na9H9[{Co(H2O)4}(TeMo6O21)2{Co(OOCCH2NCH2PO3)2}3]·41H2O (1), Cs2Na8[H6{Co(H2O)4}3(SeMo6O21)2{Co(OOCCH2NCH2PO3)2}3]·31H2O (2) and Cs2Na9H3[H6{Ni(H2O)4}(SeMo6O21)2{Ni(OOCCH2NCH2PO3)2}3]·28H2O (3), which exhibit high catalytic activity for gram-scale Knoevenagel condensation of benzaldehyde with ethyl cyanoacetate. Especially, under the optimal conditions, compound 1 can achieve a satisfactory yield (98%) and show high TON value (1960), which is superior to that of compounds 2 and 3. Notably, the TON value is much higher than that of previously reported catalysts. Such high catalytic performance could be attributed to the co-existence of Lewis acid and Lewis base sites in catalysts. In addition, based on substrates screening and recyclability tests, 1 has exhibited broad catalytic generality and good recyclability.

Problems related to the effective processing of refractory gold ores containing carbon and arsenic are discussed. In the search for technologies for the extraction of gold from such ores, including those obtained from the Sayak-4 gold deposit, pyrometallurgical processing represents a possible direction. The results of an experimental study of the Reducing Pyrometallurgical Selection (RPS) process carried out in relation to this ore are presented. To this end, the ore was smelted with flux additives and a reducing agent leading to the extraction of noble metals in the metallized phase. The experiments were carried out using the following ore composition, wt. %: 3.5 g/ton Au; 1.76 g/ton Ag; 3.95 Fe; 0.01 Cu; 1.93 C; 1.0 S; 3.3 As; 0.05 Co; 38.30 SiO2; 23.6 CaO; 4.56 Al2O3; 0.73 MgO with addition of iron, copper oxides, and coke. The optimal temperature conditions of melting were determined. The possibility of obtaining a metallized phase containing 16.2–16.4 g/ton gold with gold recovery of ∼ 90% was demonstrated. Preliminary calculations show that the economic efficiency of the new process can be achieved with a gold content of more than 5 g/ton in ore. Pyrometallurgical processing is shown to be promising for treating ores obtained from refractory and double-refractory gold deposits.

Organic acids have exhibited great potential as an antibiotic replacement and as an additive work tremendously for health maintenance of broiler chicken. To explore more about organic acids, a total of 900 day-old broiler chicks (Cobb-500) were procured from a local hatchery and distributed into 9 treatment groups having 5 replicates of 20 birds each; duration of the biological trial was of 35 days. Group T1 served as control group without any dietary supplementation. Other groups T2 and T3 were boosted with different levels (125 g/ton and 250 g/ton) of enramycin (antibiotic), T4, T5, and T6 were supplemented with different levels (2 kg/ton, 3 kg/ton, and 4 kg/ton) of ammonium formate and ammonium propionate, and T7, T8, and T9 were fed with different levels (2 kg/ton, 3 kg/ton, and 4 kg/ton) of calcium formate and calcium propionate. The findings declared significant improvement (P 0.05) in body weight gain and FCR in groups T3, T5, and T9 while feed intake was not affected. Carcass evaluation depicted significantly better (P 0.05) dressed and eviscerated weight along with carcass yield (T5, T7, T8, T9). Broilers fed organic acid supplemented diet had significantly lower (P 0.05) total bacterial count (T3, T5, T8, T9) and positively improved (P 0.05) villi length (T5, T6, T9) as compared with control group. However, total protein, globulin, HDL, and LDL levels were determined to be non-significant (P 0.05) among different organic acids treatments. Hence, organic acids can be utilized as a better replacement for antibiotics. Supplementation of organic acids at a dose rate of 3 kg/ton and 4 kg/ton is recommended for efficient performance of broilers.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the technoeconomic prospect of hydrochar production through co-hydrothermal carbonization of coal waste (CW) and food waste (FW). A process flow diagram was developed that considered seven reactors, six pumps, and other necessary equipment for producing 49,192 kg/h hydrochar. Three different cases were considered for the economic analysis. Case II considered both CW and FW transportation cost while cases I and III considered only FW and only CW transportation, respectively. The economic analysis revealed the break-even costs to be $62.24 per ton for case I, $69.90 per ton for case II, and $60.26 per ton for case III. The fixed capital investment (FCI) was $11.4M for all the cases while total capital investment (TCI), working capital (WC), and manufacturing costs were higher for case II compared to cases I and III. A sensitivity analysis examined the effect of nine different variables on the break-even cost. The raw materials’ cost as well as their transportation costs significantly affected the corresponding break-even cost. Additionally, increasing the hydrochar production capacity has drastically decreased the break-even cost. However, the analysis also revealed that excessive increase of production capacity can have negative impact on the process economics.

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process used in a wide spectrum of industrial applications. AISI 1045 is medium carbon steel, because of its excellent physical and chemical properties, it is used in many applications. However, the review of the state of the art literature reveals that literature is lacking research to optimize WEDM process for machining AISI 1045 steel. The objectives of this research are building ANN model to predict metal removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) values for machining AISI 1045 steel, identifying the significance of the pulse on-time (TON), pulse off time (TOFF) and servo feed (SF) for the MRR and Ra, and selecting optimal machining parameters that give maximum MRR value and that give the minimum Ra value. Taguchi method (Design of Experiments), artificial neural network (ANN), and analysis of variances (ANOVA) used in this research as a methodology to fulfill research objectives. This research reveals that the architecture (3-5-1) of ANN models is the best architecture to predict the Ra and MRR with about 98.136% and 97.3% accuracy respectively. It can be realized that TON is the most significant cutting parameter affecting Ra by P % value 42.922% followed by TOFF with a P % value of 24.860%. SF was not a significant parameter for Ra because of Fα > F. For MRR, the most significant parameter is TON with a P % value of (71.733%), i.e. about three times the TOFF P % value (21.796%) and the SF parameter has a small influence with P % value 3.02%. The analysis confirmed that the optimal cutting parameters for maximum MRR were: TON at the third level (25 µs), TOFF at the first level (20 µs), and SF at the third level (700 mm/min). On the other hand, the optimal cutting parameters for minimum Ra were: TON at the first level (10 µs), TOFF at the third level (40 µs), and SF at the first level (500 mm/min). Future work may focus on optimizing the WEDM process for machining other types of materials or other sets of parameters and performance measures.

Economic estimation of an environmental-friendly biomethanation process based on economic values of consumed and produced gases would be a unique attitude. In this paper, time and space dependent concentration profiles of components involved in a batch process, designed for biomethanation, were predicted through a mass transfer modelling. The reaction terms used in the modeling required bio-kinetic parameters of μmax, m, kL, YC/L, YX/L, and YP/L which were globally optimized via a predefined algorithm using some experimental data as 0.0987 day1, 0.1374 day1, 1.5422 mole m−3, 1.3636, 0.0183, 0.0908. Upon model verification, process income was calculated for a long-term scenario under a variety of factors and maximized through response surface methodology. The maximum income achieved was $-0.4/m3 bioreactor. A term carbon subsidy was considered in the income equation in order to find a break-even income for subsidy value of $363/ton CO2. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the amount of carbon subsidy directly influenced the selection of low or high levels of some process parameters to make the process profitable. In addition, it was found that pressure and liquid volume were the most important factors to achieve maximum income when $30 and $300/ton CO2 carbon subsidy were allocated to the process, respectively.

Cement is one of the most widely used materials in construction. This study presents a process-wise evaluation of energy use and CO2 emissions for clinker, Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) using the principles of life-cycle assessment. Two cement plants located in India are considered as typical case studies. The gate-to-gate system boundary condition is considered. The energy use for clinker is found to be 3990 and 3626 MJ/ton for case studies 1 and 2, respectively. The associated CO2 emissions for clinker are 849 and 868 kg CO2/ton. The energy use for OPC is 4015 and 3821 MJ/ton for case studies 1 and 2, respectively. The related CO2 emissions are 802 and 855 kg CO2/ton. The energy use for PPC is 3077 and 2733 MJ/ton for case studies 1 and 2, respectively. The associated CO2 emissions are 606 and 595 kg CO2/ton. It is observed that the energy use and CO2 emission of PPC are at least 20% less compared to OPC. The results are compared with five geographical regions across the world.

Downy mildew is the main leaf disease of onion in southern Brazil. The management of the disease is carried out through frequent applications of fungicides. The objective of this study was to evaluate the fungicide efficiency in controlling downy mildew, under field conditions, during 2016–18 crop seasons. We evaluated the effect of weekly sprays of different active ingredients on the area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) and on commercial yield. There was variation among the best treatments in the three years of the test. However, we observed that sprays with metalaxyl-M (100 g/ha) + mancozeb (1600 g/ha) or mancozeb (1875 g/ha) were always allocated to the most productive groups: i) metalaxyl-M + mancozeb in the most productive group in 2016 (41.61 ton/ha), in the most productive group in 2017 (21.25 ton/ha), and in the second most productive group in 2018 (16.70 ton/ha); ii) mancozeb in the second most productive group in 2016 (32.62 ton/ha), in the most productive group in 2017 (19.88 ton/ha), and in the second most productive group in 2018 (16.00 ton/ha). The results demonstrated that metalaxyl-M and mancozeb are important molecules in the management of the disease. The use of fungicides composed only of molecules with systemic action is not recommended for the management of onion downy mildew under Brazilian conditions.

Recycled steel is a key material for sustainable development. However, not all steel demand can be met by recycling, and therefore, new metallic iron must be introduced in the global cycle. The transformation of iron oxides into steel requires carbon which is oxidized into CO2. This paper focuses on the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) where molten iron is converted into liquid steel. In order to assess the effect of molten iron temperature on CO2 emissions, the process has been modelled using mass and energy balances. Model results show that, for a typical converter charge, a slight increase of 10 °C can lead to a direct reduction of 0.006 t of CO2 per ton of liquid steel. A total variation of 0.17 t of CO2 per ton of liquid steel is found depending on plant strategy and process constraints. Finally, different actuation levers for carbon mitigation are assessed. It can be concluded that operation and modelling improvements should be jointly addressed to exploit their full potential for carbon footprint reduction.

In Tadzhikistan the volume of gold-containing waste converted to gold is 18 tons. This waste is products of amalgamation and cyaniding processes., and with respect to end component content they may be classified as a very rich type of raw material since they contain 1.7–8.5 g/ton of gold, whereas the average gold content in ores extracted for processing in one of the richest deposits of the republic, i.e., Tarror, comprises 2.4 g/ton. In addition, treatment of these dumps does not require crushing and refining since they have adequate coarseness of a finished class. In view of this the research object is goldcontaining waste of Tarror ore and a number of other adjacent deposits that have been accumulated over a long time. Results are provided for the raw material substance composition of the test raw material and the possibilities of using thiourea leaching for processing them. The main process parameters are optimized and the degree of gold extraction at the level of 80% is demonstrated. A fundamental production scheme is presented for processing dumps, including the following operations: preliminary acid treatment; sorption thiourea leaching; desorption; reactivation; electrolysis; melting.

China, the largest developing country, is the world largest cement producer and the largest cement-consuming nation. Although China's cement output reached its peak in 2014, regions, i.e., Fujian and Yunnan provinces, were no peaking until 2016. At the same time, rare studies referred to China's cement consumption and CO2 emissions from the perspective of cement consumption at the provincial level. We developed the S-Logistic, polynomial model, and ARIMA model to study the peaking time of cement consumption at the provincial level, and we also projected China's cement consumption and CO2 emissions toward 2030. Meanwhile, the discrepancies of peaking time and cumulative cement consumption per capita (CCCPC) among provinces were also studied based on GDP per capita and urbanization rate (UR). The results are that the CCCPC respectively in the range of 22-34 ton, 18-25 ton, and 17-27 ton in the eastern, intermediate, and western zone when cement consumption reached its peak. We draw the following conclusions that the CCCPC in 2030 could reach ~ 43 ton and the projected cement consumption is ~ 1252.72 Mt, which accounts for 50% of that in 2017, and cement CO2 emissions are at the range of 488.19-510.90 MtCO2 in 2030. Furthermore, capacity replacement, controlling new capacity and eliminating backward capacity are significant of greenhouse gas emission reduction not only for China, but also for the global cement industry.

Data analysis has been performed concerning the limiting values of heat losses in the cooling system and consumption of coke to compensate for them in the blast furnaces, depending on their volume, technical condition, and smelting technology. It was shown that the consumption of coke to compensate for heat losses may vary from 10 to 55 kg of coke or more per ton of cast iron.

We study the process of hydrogen release from magnesium hydride under the conditions of uniaxial pressing in a vacuum at room temperature up to pressures of about 2.4 ton/cm2. It is shown that the desorption of hydrogen occurs under loading. The amount of hydrogen almost linearly depends on the applied pressure. The measured coefficient is 5 ·10– 3 wt.%· cm2 /ton.

The electric energy consumed in every ton of acceptable product, namely energy consumption per ton (ECT), is an important overall index for the production process of a fused magnesium furnace. The furnace is the equipment for producing the fused magnesia. The ECT value depends on the current in the smelting process. The optimal operation for a fused magnesium furnace is supposed to have the ECT as low as possible, where the key is to predict ECT accurately. By introducing an unknown high-order nonlinear term, this paper builds a dynamic ECT model for different production batches based on the static ECT model for one batch. The average current is taken as the input of the dynamic ECT model, which is composed of the unknown high-order nonlinear term and a nonlinear model with unknown parameters. The order of the nonlinear term is determined by the distance correlation and the nonlinear term is estimated by the stochastic configuration network, while the parameters of the nonlinear model is identified by the least square method. The estimation of the nonlinear term alternates with the parameter identification. This paper proposes a prediction method for ECT, which is composed of the order identification of the nonlinear term, the alternating identification of the model and the ECT prediction model. The simulation experiments are conducted by the on-site data, and the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed prediction method.

This study presents the wear behavior of 316L stainless steel material machined with wire electric discharge machine (EDM) at different machining conditions by varying the machining parameters pulse on time (TON), peak current (IP), servo voltage (SV) and wire tension (WT). Sliding wear tests are conducted on the cylindrical specimens using pin on disc apparatus and the worn morphology of the specimens are analyzed by SEM and XRD. The experimental investigation revealed that the wear resistance is highly influenced by the wire EDM parameters. TON and IP are identified to be the most influencing factors effecting wear resistance. At similar values of the product of TON and IP, the wear resistance remained constant and the wear resistance increased with decrease in the product of TON and IP. The obtained parameters setting can be used in die making industries where wear behavior is of importance.

The paper by J.M. Dewey (Shock Waves 29(4):583–587, 2019) described the development of an Excel-based interface that provides the physical properties of blast waves generated by propane/oxygen explosions. The interface was developed using the data from a nominal 20 ton explosion of an assumed stoichiometric propane/oxygen mixture. Comparisons of data from the interface with measurements of small-scale stoichiometric propane/oxygen explosions show discrepancies. Further studies revealed that the 20 ton explosion was not stoichiometric and had a 43% oxygen deficiency. The interface has been redeveloped assuming that only 57% of the available propane had been detonated. The revised interface produces results which agree with measurements from both the 20 ton explosion and the small-scale (

This paper estimates production efficiency and shadow prices of CO2 emissions for coal-fired thermal power plants in India. It employs a unique sample of 56 power plants for 2000–2013 acquired primarily by invoking the Right to Information Act 2005. It estimates parametric quadratic directional output distance function using linear programming approach. We find that CO2 intensity of electricity generation could be reduced by about 16 and 23% if the power plants were made to operate efficiently. The estimated average shadow prices of US$ 14.54 and 18.68 for a ton of CO2 emission, depending upon a plant’s strategies for enhancing electricity and reducing CO2 emissions, reflect that the prevailing Clean Energy Cess of US$ 6.15 on a ton of coal or US$ 3.81 on a ton of CO2 emissions is not enough to induce the required emission mitigation. Significant variation in the estimates of shadow prices across the thermal power plants calls for use of economic instruments to reduce the emissions.

Pearl-millet yield in arid zone vary from being 4 times of long-term average yield due to variations in rainfall. Thus, it is difficult to assess sustainable yield levels and manure and/or urea needed to sustain them. A long-term field experiment (1993–2013) was conducted and results were statistically inferred for above purpose. 80% variation in annual grain yield could statistically be attributed to rainfall and 10% to manure/urea and even this response was not significant in all the years. 20 kg urea-N significantly increased grain yield in five out of 21 years whereas 5 ton manure + 40 kg urea-N increased it in 17 years. Grain yield of pearl-millet cultivated without any manure/urea-N decreased at the rate of 44.9 kg ha−1 year−1. 20 and 40 kg urea-N ha−1 and 2.5 ton manure retarded this decline however 2.5 tons of manure + 20 kg urea-N, reversed this trend. 5.0 ton manure + 40 kg urea-N ha−1 increased grain yield by 33.3 kg ha−1 year−1 and maximum grain production over 21 years was also recorded in this treatment. 2.5 ton manure + 20 kg urea-N ha−1 was selected to provide highest food security. This is also supported by sustainable yield index.

Top gas recycling oxygen blast furnace (TGR-OBF) process is a promising ironmaking process. The biggest challenge of the TGR-OBF in operation is the dramatic decrease of top gas volume (per ton hot metal), which once led to hanging-up and shutdowns in practice of the Toulachermet. In order to avoid this weakness, the strategy of medium oxygen blast furnace was presented. The maneuverable zone of the TGR-OBF was determined by the top gas volume, which should not be far from the data of the traditional blast furnace. The deviation of ±12.5% was used, and then the maneuverable blast oxygen content is from 0.30 to 0.47 according to the calculation. The flame temperature and the top gas volume have no much difference compared to those of the traditional blast furnace. The minimum carbon consumption of 357 kg per ton hot metal in the maneuverable zone occurs at the oxygen content of 0.30 (fuel saving of 14%). In the unsteady evolution, the N2 accumulation could approach nearly zero after the recycling reached 6 times. Thus far, some TGR-OBF industrial trials have been carried out in different countries, but the method of medium oxygen enriched TGR-OBF has not been implemented, because the accumulation of N2 was worried about. The presented strategy of medium oxygen enriched TGR-OBF is applicable and the strategy with good operational performance is strongly suggested as a forerunner of the full oxygen blast furnace.

This article describes the main principles behind a method developed at the Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (IChM NANU) to validate an efficient configuration that was found for the vent system of a 250-ton steel-pouring ladle in the BOF shop at the Dneprovskiy Metallurgical Combine (DMKD). Statistical analysis of production data over a three-year period of use of ladles with such an injection system showed that the campaign of the linings had increased by amounts ranging from 10.7 to 18.8%.

The mining, secondary extraction, supply, market price and recycling of the metals tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb) were modelled using the WORLD6 model. The ultimately recoverable resource estimates resulted in significantly larger amounts than earlier studies with a best estimate of the ultimately recoverable resources of about 2 million ton of tantalum and 95 million ton of niobium. There is uncertainty in the resource estimates and they vary in the range from 0.790 million to 2 million ton of tantalum and from 52 million to 160 million ton of niobium. Niobium deposit contents were assessed with respect to extractability, and 56% seems to be extractable. The WORLD6 model outputs show that the use efficiency of these metals will be low unless the degree of recycling will be significantly improved. A sensitivity analysis was done with respect to resource size and different future demand levels, with significant supply sustainability impacts for niobium from resource size, but little impacts for tantalum. We show that for the amount resource available, price and demand dynamics will have greater impact on supply than resource size above 50 million ton of niobium. Peak production is estimated to take place 2020–2055 for tantalum and niobium. The model suggests that there will be soft scarcity in niobium and hard scarcity in tantalum after 2020–2030 with the present regime of recycling. The niobium and tantalum extraction and ore grades were modelled with good success when tested against observed data.

Energy efficiency has been well recognized as an important objective in IP over WDM mesh networks. In this paper, we study the problem of green IP over WDM mesh networks with connection availability guarantee under static traffic demands. We first present a virtual link power model for the two-layer networks, which is built on the power consumption value of the commercial network devices. Based on the energy-aware two-layer auxiliary graph, we propose a new heuristic algorithm named Availability-Guaranteed Energy-Efficient Design for Two-Layer Optical Networks (AGED_TON). The AGED_TON algorithm first constructs initial energy-efficient virtual topology on which connection requests are carried, and then routes working path and backup path of lightpaths on physical topology. In the procedure of AGED_TON algorithm, connection availability is considered for path calculating to achieve a good tradeoff between connection availability and energy efficiency. Compared with previous green networking algorithms, our proposed AGED_TON algorithm reduces energy consumption significantly and guarantees connection availability at the satisfactory level.

The extraction, supply, market price and recycling of the metal wolfram (W) were modelled using a wolfram submodule developed for the WORLD6 system dynamics model. The resource estimates made for wolfram resulted in significantly larger estimates than earlier studies (URR = 28 million ton in 2015, where at least 24 million ton is in primary ore and about 2 million ton is secondary resources). The model can well reconstruct the observed extraction rates and price histories. The model outputs demonstrate that wolfram is a finite resource and that there is a risk for supply scarcity, unless the degree of recycling will be significantly improved from the present level. The model outputs suggest that there will be a soft scarcity around 2030 and hard scarcity after 2200. When pictured as supply per person per year or stocks-in-use, there will be a supply problem in the distant future. There are substitutes for some applications, but for some key uses there are none that are optimal. Without wolfram, several advanced technologies seen as important at the present time will become difficult to produce.

The catalytic activity of VO(acac)2 for the cyclohexane(Cy) oxidation was studied. The effects of various parameters, such as the amounts of H2O2, HNO3, H2O and Cy were investigated. The highest total turnover number(TON) is 234, which can be increased to 353, 342 and 403, respectively with the adding of o-phthalic, m-phthalic or p-phthalic acid. A reaction mechanism was also supposed primarily.

Based on the theory of system energy-saving, a multilevel input-output computational model of the iron and steel enterprise was established. And one example was calculated using this model to analyze the product energy value, the process of energy consumption and energy consumption per ton of steel of an iron and steel enterprise. The influences of factory layout, steel ratio and production structure arc calculated and analyzed. The calculation example indicates that reasonable factory layout is helpful to reduce its transportation energy consumption, decrease loss of heat, improve product rate and reduce environmental contamination; ore to steel ratio and iron to steel ratio decrease at the same degree; the influence of ore to steel ratio on energy intensity per ton is less than that of iron to steel ratio. The lord process product structure has a certain effect on comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel.

To obtain advanced quality pure copper, the microstructure of solidified copper was optimized by imposing electric pulse on liquid copper in this study. Experiments were performed to determine the effect of electric pulse voltage, arrangement mode of electrodes, and energy input on the microstructure of solidified copper. The results show that, when the energy input of electric pulse is bigger than 28.95 kJ per ton copper, the percent of fine grains increases noticeably with the increase of energy input; but when the energy input of electric pulse is smaller than 28.95 kJ per ton copper, the percent of fine grains decreases with the increase of energy input. The influence order of above factors on grain refinement is electric pulse voltage > arrangement mode of electrodes > energy input. According to the above experimental results, the optimum process conditions are chosen as the voltage being 400 V and the energy input greater than 28.95 kJ per ton copper. Meanwhile, the best arrangement mode of electrodes should be that, one electrode is immerged in the middle of liquid copper in the crystallizer, and the other is connected to the inner wall of the crystallizer, which is divided into two electrode poles for the symmetrical electric field distribution.

The modernization of steel production facilities at the Asha Metallurgical Plant is discussed. The modernization was performed in stages during the period 2003–2010 and included the following: construction of a complex for treating steel outside the furnace (2005); introduction of a dual-strand continuous caster (2007) that was designed to cast 170–240 × 900–1550 mm slabs and currently has the best indices in Russia for usable output (0.982); installation of a Consteel DSP-120 furnace with conveyor-charging (2010). In 2011, average heat time was 60 min, electric-power consumption was 416 kWh/ton, and electrode consumption was 1.6 kg/ton.

This article discusses the current state of scientific support for the production of manganese alloys and ways to make their production more efficient. A mathematical model is obtained to describe the recovery of manganese and how the yield of manganese is affected by geometric, electrical, and technological parameters. Substantiation is provided for changing the geometric parameters of furnaces so as to increase the ohmic resistance of the furnace bath, and it shown to be expedient to separate unit electric-power consumption into two components: useful power per ton of the alloy product; active power loss per ton of the alloy product.

An automated system has been introduced on model 73-219 and model 20-102 electric-welded pipe mills (EWPMs) to determine the thickness of the pipe wall. The system makes it possible to use thinner skelp and reduce metal consumption by 35–50 kg/ton theoretical pipe weight. A draw bending machine for skelp was then introduced on EWPM 73-219, which further reduced metal consumption by 7 kg/ton theoretical pipe weight. Reconstruction of this machine and the planned introduction of a better method of controlling the skelp’s deformation during draw bending on EWPM 73-219 will make it possible to decrease metal use by another 20–25 kg/ton theoretical pipe weight. The planned introduction of an automated system to control the flying cutoff shears used to cut pipes lengthwise on EWPM 73-219 (in 2015) and EWPM 20-102 (in 2016) will lower metal consumption by additional amounts of 55 and 27 kg/ton theoretical and physical pipe weight, respectively.

To decrease energy consumption of ladle furnace, exergy analysis and optimization were conducted based on the ladle furnace refining process of modern clean steelmaking. Exergy analysis results showed that exergy loss induced by unavailable electric energy is the largest, and the electric energy efficiency is 46. 20%. To cut down the unavailable electric energy, industrial experiments of submerged arc heating were carried out combined with slag composition modification. Results showed that submerged arc heating can be achieved within most heating period, average heating rate increased by 0.5 °C/min, unavailable electric energy decreased by 21. 730 MJ per ton steel, and electric energy efficiency was enhanced by 14. 84%. As the refining cycle was shortened, the exergy loss induced by heat elimination decreased from 19. 455 MJ per ton steel to 11. 066 MJ per ton steel.

Estimation of suspended sediment yield is subject to uncertainty and bias. Many methods have been developed for estimating sediment yield but they still lack accuracy and robustness. This paper investigates the use of a machine-coded linear genetic programming (LGP) in daily suspended sediment estimation. The accuracy of LGP is compared with those of the Gene-expression programming (GEP), which is another branch of GP, and artificial neural network (ANN) technique. Daily streamflow and suspended sediment data from two stations on the Tongue River in Montana, USA, are used as case studies. Root mean square error (RMSE) and determination coefficient (R2) statistics are used for evaluating the accuracy of the models. Based on the comparison of the results, it is found that the LGP performs better than the GEP and ANN techniques. The GEP was also found to be better than the ANN. For the upstream and downstream stations, it is found that the LGP models with RMSE = 175 ton/day, R2 = 0.941 and RMSE = 254 ton/day, R2 = 0.959 in test period is superior in estimating daily suspended sediments than the best accurate GEP model with RMSE = 231 ton/day, R2 = 0.941 and RMSE = 331 ton/day, R2 = 0.934, respectively.

To estimate the greenhouse gas emissions from paddy fields of Cambodia, the methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines, IPCC coefficients, and emission factors from the experiment in Thailand and another country were used. Total area under rice cultivation during the years 2005-2006 was 2,048,360 ha in the first crop season and 298,529 ha in the second crop season. The emission of methane from stubble incorporation with manure plus fertilizer application areas in the first crop season was estimated to be 192,783.74 ton higher than stubble with manure, stubble with fertilizer, and stubble without fertilizer areas. The fields with stubble burning emitted the highest emission of methane (75,771.29 ton) followed by stubble burning with manure (22,251.08 ton), stubble burning with fertilizer (13,213.27 ton), and stubble burning with fertilizer application areas (3,222.22 ton). The total emission of methane from rice field in Cambodia for the years 2005-2006 was approximately 342,649.26 ton (342.65 Gg) in the first crop season and 36,838.88 ton (36.84 Gg) in the second crop season. During the first crop season in the years 2005-2006, Battambang province emitted the highest amount of CH(4) (38,764.48 ton) and, in the second crop season during the years 2005-2006, the highest emission (8,262.34 ton) was found in Takeo province (8,262.34 ton). Nitrous oxide emission was between 2.70 and 1,047.92 ton in the first crop season and it ranged from 0 to 244.90 ton in the second crop season. Total nitrous oxide emission from paddy rice field was estimated to be 9,026.28 ton in the first crop season and 1,091.93 ton in the second crop season. Larger area under cultivation is responsible for higher emission of methane and nitrous oxide. Total emission of nitrous oxide by using IPCC default emission coefficient was approximately 2,328.85 ton. The total global warming potential of Cambodian paddy rice soil is 11,723,217.03 ton (11,723 Gg) equivalents of CO(2).

A failure investigation of the four most suspected members in the assembly of a 30 ton tripod jack was carried out. It was found that under the combined effect of corrosion and high stresses, crack(s) were generated in the weld region of the leg extension. The crack(s) propagated under the corrosion and repeated loading until it reached a threshold size and the tripod jack collapsed. The problem initiated due to corrosion. Failure of the other members of the tripod jack, that is, spacer, brace, and bolts were the result of subsequent damage after (during) failure of the leg extension.

The mass of dioxins, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and VOC (volatile organic compounds) emitted from fires to the atmosphere in Sweden per year has been estimated. The estimate is based on the number of fires in buildings, vehicles, waste and forest fires in Sweden in 1999. It is estimated that the total emission of dioxins from fires is in the range 0.5–1.4 g TEQ. The total emissions of PAH and VOC are in the ranges 2–12 ton and 13–200 ton, respectively.

Experiment 1 determined the fastest tempo at which participants could tap in synchrony with every nth tone (n = 2 to 9) in an isochronous sequence. Tapping was difficult with every 5th or 7th tone but easy with every 2nd, 4th, or 8th tone, suggesting that evenly divisible groups of n tones are automatically subdivided into equal groups of 2 or 3-a form of auditory subitizing that generates metrical hierarchies commonly found in Western music. Experiments 2 and 3 sought evidence of subitizing and subdivision in timed explicit enumeration of short, rapidly presented tone sequences (n = 2 to 10). Enumeration accuracy decreased monotonically with n. Response time increased monotonically up to n = 5 or 6, but less between 2 and 3 than between 3 and 4. Thus, a single group of 2 or 3 tones perhaps can be subitized, but subdivision of larger groups into subgroups of 2 or 3 tones seems to be specific to a repetitive, metrical context.

The price situation for crude oil, petrochemical raw materials, commercial granulate, and synthetic fibres and yarns on world and regional markets in the first half of 2006 was distinguished by instability. Fluctuations in the price of crude, especially the increase in February–April 2006, caused the cost of almost all types of raw materials for commercial polymers and synthetic fibres to increase. The lowest prices for petrochemical raw materials and products of processing them were observed in Asia, while relatively high prices were observed in Western Europe. The prices of cotton in the US and Western Europe were $400–500 and $600–700/ton lower than for 1.7 dtex polyester fibre for the first time in the USA and Western Europe. The price of PES fibre was $110/ton higher over six months in Western Europe, and the price of cotton, on the contrary, was $25/ton lower.

Development of methods for the understanding of chemical reactivity of high-valent metal-oxo species with respect to organic substrates is important. Here we report a high yield, high TON conversion of cyclooctene using VO (Schiff base) complexes (Figure 1) as catalyst and O2 as oxidant in MeCN under mild conditions. The results show that catalytic activity increases with a decrease in the number of electron-donating groups. At higher concentration of catalyst and shorter reaction time, a low yield but high selectivity of epoxide was observed.

The use of a new technology that involves inoculating tube steel during casting can save money by eliminating the need for vacuum degassing (production cost $25/ton) and treating the steel on a ladle-furnace unit (production cost $15.70/ton). The cost of such treatment is ∼$4–5/ton. Inoculation of the steel during casting does not require complex equipment and can easily be done in any steelmaking shop. Rolling of the inoculated steel results in a larger yield of useable tubes, and the finished rolled product has better mechanical characteristics and greater corrosion resistance than steel made by the usual technology.

This article presents test results for a reactor model designed for low-temperature pyrolysis of biomass. The efficiency of the pyrolysis attains maximum values at 240–250°C and a process duration of 50 min. The test results are used in the development of an industrial reactor with a capacity of 1 ton/h with respect to initial biomass.

Results of experimental investigations of the action of a coastal surface explosion of a 1000‐ton TNT charge on the environment are presented. Available databases were used, which are generally utilized for predicting ecological consequences of natural and man‐induced explosive catastrophes, development of new methods of monitoring and identification of phenomena under consideration, their experimental and mathematical modeling, and testing of the models being developed.

It is shown that for palladium catalysts supported on various supports, there is no effect of thermal activation consisting of an increase in the turnover number (TON) of palladium with an increase in the temperature of sample calcination from 500 to 700°C, as was observed in the case of similar supported platinum catalysts; for two palladium–alumina catalysts calcined at 500°C and differing in the concentration of palladium and dispersity, the TON of low-dispersity palladium is substantially higher than the TON of high-dispersity palladium; all other conditions being the same, the TON of supported palladium is determined by the support nature.

We describe the present status of the project of the Taiwan Oscillation Network (TON) and discuss a scientific result using the TON data. The TON is a ground-based network to measure solar intensity oscillations for the study of the solar interior. Four telescopes have been installed in appropriate longitudes around the world. The TON telescopes take K-line full-disk solar images of diameter 1000 pixels at a rate of one image per minute. The data has been collected since October of 1993. The TON high-spatial-resolution data are specially suitable for the study of local properties of the Sun. In 1997 we developed a new method, acoustic imaging, to construct the acoustic signals inside the Sun with the acoustic signals measured at the solar surface. From the constructed signals, we can form intensity map and phase-shift map of an active region at various depths. The direct link between these maps and the subsurface wave-speed perturbation suffers from the poor vertical resolution of acoustic imaging. Recently an inversion method has been developed to invert the measured phase travel time perturbation to estimate the distribution of wave-speed perturbation based on the ray approximation. This technique of acoustic imaging has been used to image the far-side of the Sun that could provides information on space weather prediction.

Soil solution samples were taken from two sites (Horrod and Hasslov) in the south part of Sweden to evaluate how soil solution chemistry responded to different treatmentswith dolomite and wood ash. At Horrod, samples were taken four years after application of wood ash, 4.28 ton ha-1 and dolomite, 3.25 ton ha-1. At Hasslov dolomite, 3.45 ton ha-1 and 8.75 ton ha-1 was applied and samples were taken 15 yr later. It was found that treatment with dolomite at one site (Hasslov) resulted in higher pH values (

Data on the durability of the lining of steel ladles in service at an MISW ISC oxygen-converter shop are reported. The best stability of the lining under severe operating conditions was achieved using periclase-carbon refractories (since 2000, available from an in-home manufacturer at the MISW). The highest lining durability is found in periclase-carbon components composed of fused periclase (with MgO content not less than 96%) and coarse-grained graphite (7 – 10%).

Tests of periclase-carbon blocks for the converter's steel-tapping channel available from the Kombinat Magnezit JSC were carried out in an oxygen-converter shop at the Magnitogorskii Metal-and-Steel Works JSC. The new refractory materials are shown to have a higher endurance as compared to the conventional periclase blocks, which made it possible to increase the operational efficiency of converters.