Towards Sustainable Alumina Production

This paper, an overview • of research pursued at NML towards sustainable alumina production, ',deals with: (a) a chemical beneficiation of red mud to recover all its constituents, and (b) a novel process to reduce the alumina and soda content of red mud using mechanochemical activation (MA) of bauxite. As a part of the study on chemical-beneficiation of red mud, phase stability in the system Fe203-A1203-Na2CO3- C has been investigated using free energy minimization. Using these results, a process involving solid-state carbothermic reduction of red mud in the presence of soda, water leaching for alumina recovery and magnetic separation of leach residue for the sepa-ration of iron and TiO2 rich _fraction has been evaluated. Experimental results are explained using extensive X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDS studies on various solid residues generated in the different stages of the process. Mecha-nical activation of bauxite is investigated: (a) as pre-treatment to the Bayer process; and (b) mechanochemical leaching of bauxite, i.e. simultaneous milling and leaching of bauxite. The superiority of mechanochemical leaching over the existing Bayer 1. process practice and MA as pretreatment has been established. Using the novel process the approach of mechanochemical leaching, reduc-tion in soda content of red mud to less than 1% and alumina content to less than half is possible with additional benefits in terms of moderation in process condition, simplicity of the process and efficient utilization of energy. Merits of the investigated processes have been highlighted vis-à-vis previous studies on red mud utilization and minimization of its enviro-nmental impact

SODA: Generating SQL for Business Users

The purpose of data warehouses is to enable business analysts to make better decisions. Over the years the technology has matured and data warehouses have become extremely successful. As a consequence, more and more data has been added to the data warehouses and their schemas have become increasingly complex. These systems still work great in order to generate pre-canned reports. However, with their current complexity, they tend to be a poor match for non tech-savvy business analysts who need answers to ad-hoc queries that were not anticipated. This paper describes the design, implementation, and experience of the SODA system (Search over DAta Warehouse). SODA bridges the gap between the business needs of analysts and the technical complexity of current data warehouses. SODA enables a Google-like search experience for data warehouses by taking keyword queries of business users and automatically generating executable SQL. The key idea is to use a graph pattern matching algorithm that uses the metadata model of the data warehouse. Our results with real data from a global player in the financial services industry show that SODA produces queries with high precision and recall, and makes it much easier for business users to interactively explore highly-complex data warehouses.Comment: VLDB201

Building a Thermometer

The purpose of this activity is to build an instrument that can be used to measure water temperature. Students construct a soda-bottle thermometer, which is similar to the thermometer used by GLOBE schools. Both are based on the principle that most substances expand and contract as their temperature changes. This experiment also demonstrates the principle of heat transfer. The intended outcome is that students will understand why and how a standard thermometer works. Educational levels: Middle school

Breaking Down the Chain: A Guide to the Soft Drink Industry

Provides an overview of the soft drink industry's earnings, structure, markets, and determinants of demand; major players; supply chain; marketing strategies; and policy and legislative actions in response to the sugar-sweetened beverage tax

California FreshWorks Food Access Report: An Examination of Three Northgate Gonzalez Grocery Store Investments

In order to better understand and maximize FreshWorks' impact, The California Endowment commissioned a two-year evaluation of the program's food access, social, and economic outcomes. The evaluation focused on the impact of three FreshWorks investments made with the purpose of increasing access to healthy food. The evaluation examined three new Northgate González Markets which received New Markets Tax Credit financing through FreshWorks.To understand the influence of FreshWorks on increasing access to healthy food and changing food purchase and consumption patterns in underserved communities, the evaluation team examined two key questions: 1. Are the new retail food stores meeting unmet need for grocery services? 2. How do community members perceive the benefits and/or negative consequences of the new stores

Exploiting Deep Semantics and Compositionality of Natural Language for Human-Robot-Interaction

We develop a natural language interface for human robot interaction that implements reasoning about deep semantics in natural language. To realize the required deep analysis, we employ methods from cognitive linguistics, namely the modular and compositional framework of Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG) [Feldman, 2009]. Using ECG, robots are able to solve fine-grained reference resolution problems and other issues related to deep semantics and compositionality of natural language. This also includes verbal interaction with humans to clarify commands and queries that are too ambiguous to be executed safely. We implement our NLU framework as a ROS package and present proof-of-concept scenarios with different robots, as well as a survey on the state of the art