Automatic Mechanism Generation for Pyrolysis of Di-Tert-Butyl Sulfide

The automated Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG), using rate parameters derived from ab initio CCSD(T) calculations, is used to build reaction networks for the thermal decomposition of di-tert-butyl sulfide. Simulation results were compared with data from pyrolysis experiments with and without the addition of a cyclohexene inhibitor. Purely free-radical chemistry did not properly explain the reactivity of di-tert-butyl sulfide, as the previous experimental work showed that the sulfide decomposed via first-order kinetics in the presence and absence of the radical inhibitor. The concerted unimolecular decomposition of di-tert-butyl sulfide to form isobutene and tert-butyl thiol was found to be a key reaction in both cases, as it explained the first-order sulfide decomposition. The computer-generated kinetic model predictions quantitatively match most of the experimental data, but the model is apparently missing pathways for radical-induced decomposition of thiols to form elemental sulfur. Cyclohexene has a significant effect on the composition of the radical pool, and this led to dramatic changes in the resulting product distribution

Hochschild cohomology of socle deformations of a class of Koszul self-injective algebras

We consider the socle deformations arising from formal deformations of a class of Koszul self-injective special biserial algebras which occur in the study of the Drinfeld double of the generalized Taft algebras. We show, for these deformations, that the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotence is a finitely generated commutative algebra of Krull dimension 2.Comment: 10 pages. Minor changes, references updated. To appear in Colloq. Math

Optimized Robust Adaptive Networks in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems

This thesis investigates the application of a Exponential Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) to be used as a memory buffer in conjunction with Special Protection Schemes (SPS) using the Electric Power and Communication Synchronizing Simulator (EPOCHS). It is proposed that using an SPS incorporating EWMA can compensate for the network layer lack of guarantee of packet delivery and provide for the stability and integrity of the power grid under a catastrophic event. The performance of the proposed SPS is evaluated using a discrete event computer simulation developed using the NS2 network simulator and the Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSS/E) power system simulator. Performance and metrics evaluated in terms of the SPS’s ability to properly calculate disturbance size and to react to the disturbance before the system reaches the minimum frequency threshold of 58.8 HZ and before 0.5 second threshold. Experimental results indicate that the proposed SPS with EWMA can be successfully be applied to ensure power grid stability regardless of network background traffic. The results indicate that the proposed EWMA SPS ensures the protection of the grid. The EWMA SPS has a significant impact on performance when applied to a heavy background traffic network without router reservation enabling it to be stable without the additional hardware cost. Overall, in the tested configuration, the new SPS system successfully maintained steady state operation under all traffic intensities

1978 Ruby Yearbook

A digitized copy of the 1978 Ruby, the Ursinus College yearbook.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ruby/1081/thumbnail.jp