Smoothness Improvement of High Speed Recycled Paperboard through Base Coating Formula Optimization

As the trend in printing recycled paperboard shifts toward the rotogravure process, the surface smoothness of the paperboard is becoming increasingly important. Also, as recycled paperboard machine speeds increase, greater demands are being placed on the coating process and formulation to yield superior coating characteristics. The objective of this research project is to determine a base coat formulation that improves the base coating characteristics in high-speed recycled paperboard. This study examines the replacement of a traditional #1 clay with calcined clay and fine particle clay, which through their different properties alter the characteristics of the coating. The bulky calcined particles are more effective at filling the micro-valleys on the surface of the paperboard, while the smaller fine particle clay particles help prevent the coating from becoming dilatent. The less costly fine particle clay also offsets the high cost of the calcined clay. The lab experiments on the Cylindrical Laboratory Coater have shown that at a constant coat weight, 20 parts calcined clay, 32 parts fine particle clay and 48 parts #1 clay provided improved smoothness and brightness while maintaining adequate flow characteristics. Above 20 parts of calcined clay the coating consisting of 10 parts calcined clay, 32 parts fine clay and 58 parts #1 clay provided almost the same smoothness and brightness results, but costs less. This would be the most cost effective coating formulation for improving the surface smoothness and brightness characteristics of recycled paperboard. Because only a relatively small amount of research has been done in this area, this project could be extended into any number of areas including the addition of delaminated clay, effect of coat weight, and pilot/machine trials

Single exponential decay waveform; a synergistic combination of electroporation and electrolysis (E2) for tissue ablation.

BackgroundElectrolytic ablation and electroporation based ablation are minimally invasive, non-thermal surgical technologies that employ electrical currents and electric fields to ablate undesirable cells in a volume of tissue. In this study, we explore the attributes of a new tissue ablation technology that simultaneously delivers a synergistic combination of electroporation and electrolysis (E2).MethodA new device that delivers a controlled dose of electroporation field and electrolysis currents in the form of a single exponential decay waveform (EDW) was applied to the pig liver, and the effect of various parameters on the extent of tissue ablation was examined with histology.ResultsHistological analysis shows that E2 delivered as EDW can produce tissue ablation in volumes of clinical significance, using electrical and temporal parameters which, if used in electroporation or electrolysis separately, cannot ablate the tissue.DiscussionThe E2 combination has advantages over the three basic technologies of non-thermal ablation: electrolytic ablation, electrochemical ablation (reversible electroporation with injection of drugs) and irreversible electroporation. E2 ablates clinically relevant volumes of tissue in a shorter period of time than electrolysis and electroporation, without the need to inject drugs as in reversible electroporation or use paralyzing anesthesia as in irreversible electroporation

Parameters controlling nitric oxide emissions from gas turbine combustors

Nitric oxide forms in the primary zone of gas turbine combustors where the burnt gas composition is close to stoichiometric and gas temperatures are highest. It has been found that combustor air inlet conditions, mean primary zone fuel-air ratio, residence time, and the uniformity of the primary zone are the most important variables affecting nitric oxide emissions. Relatively simple model of the flow in a gas turbine combustor, coupled with a rate equation for nitric oxide formation via the Zeldovich mechanism are shown to correlate the variation in measured NOx emissions. Data from a number of different combustor concepts are analyzed and shown to be in reasonable agreement with predictions. The NOx formulation model is used to assess the extent to which an advanced combustor concept, the NASA swirl can, has produced a lean well-mixed primary zone generally believed to be the best low NOx emissions burner type

Nitric oxide formation in gas turbine engines: A theoretical and experimental study

A modified Zeldovich kinetic scheme was used to predict nitric oxide formation in the burned gases. Nonuniformities in fuel-air ratio in the primary zone were accounted for by a distribution of fuel-air ratios. This was followed by one or more dilution zones in which a Monte Carlo calculation was employed to follow the mixing and dilution processes. Predictions of NOX emissions were compared with various available experimental data, and satisfactory agreement was achieved. In particular, the model is applied to the NASA swirl-can modular combustor. The operating characteristics of this combustor which can be inferred from the modeling predictions are described. Parametric studies are presented which examine the influence of the modeling parameters on the NOX emission level. A series of flow visualization experiments demonstrates the fuel droplet breakup and turbulent recirculation processes. A tracer experiment quantitatively follows the jets from the swirler as they move downstream and entrain surrounding gases. Techniques were developed for calculating both fuel-air ratio and degree of nonuniformity from measurements of CO2, CO, O2, and hydrocarbons. A burning experiment made use of these techniques to map out the flow field in terms of local equivalence ratio and mixture nonuniformity

Self-service Ad-hoc Querying Using Controlled Natural Language

The ad-hoc querying process is slow and error prone due to inability of business experts of accessing data directly without involving IT experts. The problem lies in complexity of means used to query data. We propose a new natural language- and semistar ontology-based ad-hoc querying approach which lowers the steep learning curve required to be able to query data. The proposed approach would significantly shorten the time needed to master the ad-hoc querying and to gain the direct access to data by business experts, thus facilitating the decision making process in enterprises, government institutions and other organizations.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in the 12th International Baltic Conference on Databases and Information Systems 201

Remarks on Boston Consulting Group Method (BCG)

The situational plan of an enterprise in the market can be determined by means of the BCG method. The analysis consists in graphical presentation of the spatial distribution of the enterprise activity conditions. The presentation is made in two dimensional spaces in which horizontal axis represents the relative participation of the strategic units in the market and vertical axis represents the market growth rate. In such a coordinate system, enterprise activity can be visualized by means of the circles. In the paper a proposition has been put forward how to calculate the estimators of coordinates of circle centers and their radii in BCG method, taking into consideration the assessment errors on the axis of relative participation of the strategic unit under study in the market and on the axis of market’s growth rate. Advantage has been taken of the general case of LSE including Lagrange’s multipliers method with nonlinear constrains equations. An example illustrating the method proposed has been included.BGG method, estimator, situation plan, prognosing

Forecasting of the portfolio profit rate

The profit rate of the portfolio of shares in retrospective and forecasted periods is determined. Attention is paid to the different forecasting methods taking into account the properties of the forecasting operator time series components of the profit rate and risk of portfolio of shares. To determine a profit rate of some shares forecast, a method of successive adding is proposed obtaining initially pair shares forecast, then new pairs. The process is continued until the final forecast of the profit rate is obtained. Using the approximation method applied to discrete sets, the mean relative error of ex ante forecast of the profit rate of the portfolio of shares is determined.prognosing, prediction operator, portfolio

Evaluation of the quality of logistic process of industrial enterprise with modified method of generalized parameter. Part I

The implementation of process-oriented management is essential challenge for most enterprises in the world. It requires from organization to define processes and establish a system of evaluation of the quality of processes including criterion, measures and method of evaluation. Unfortunately, for most processes, especially auxiliary ones, there is lack of theoretical solution to these issues, especially there is no method for quality evaluation. In the paper, use of a modified method of generalized parameter for evaluation of the quality of logistic process is proposed. Different aspects of implementation of the method in industrial enterprise was pointed and the main advantages and disadvantages of it was shown.method, logistic process, quality, management