A 100-kW three-phase AC plasma furnace for spheroidization of aluminum silicate particles

A 100-kW three-phase ac plasma furnace with sheathed copper electrodes (sheathing gas: air) is presented. It is used for spheroidizing chamotte (refractory-fired clay) particles having a smooth, pore-free surface. A simple, one-dimensional numerical model for the heat transfer to the particles explains the maximum processing rate and the detrimental influence of an inhomogeneous particle size distribution.     

Productivity Analysis and System Coherence

Productivity analyses have been undertaken by such a variety of specialists and in such differing contexts that few can cope with the broadly dispersed literature. It is not surprising, therefore, that the same problems are rediscovered time and again, that faulty concepts remain in use and that empirical findings are often misinterpreted. Such shortcomings will continue to hamper the development of this field until past advances are more effectively consolidated and the current frontiers more clearly delineated. In this paper, therefore, certain past findings will be used as points of departure for considering the problems and means of effecting further gains.One comprehensive exploration of productivity analysis suggested four general conclusions, along with their analytical foundations, which seem to have withstood subsequent consideration well enough to serve as bases for this undertaking:

1. 1)
   That productivity analysis serves a variety of purposes and hence requires a corresponding variety of appropriately designed measures:
    
2. 2)
   That the productivity of any activity system should refer not to any single input-output ratio, but to an integrated network of such measures;
    
3. 3)
   That the effects of productivity adjustments depend not only on their magnitudes, but also on the sources responsible for them, on the nature of the changes in input-output relationships involved, and on managerial choices among alternative means of harnessing their potential benefits;
    
4. 4)
   That evaluating such effects requires supplementing physical with cost measures and then with successively broader criteria until these come to reflect the guiding objectives of the system under study.
    

Such conclusions imply that productivity adjustments may assume many forms, that apparent increases in productivity levels need not always be beneficial, that the very same pattern of productivity changes may have quite different effects in dissimilar circumstances and, finally, that productivity increases are not ends in themselves but merely one means of promoting more fundamental ends. Further development may seek to extend the original analysis beyond standardized commodity production to other economic activities, beyond a plant or firm to larger aggregates, and beyond short periods. But such elaborations of this framework require the strengthening of its conceptual foundations. Hence, it is to these that primary attention will be given.     

High-peak power Ka-band gyrotron oscillatorexperiments with slotted and unslotted cavities

A K_a-band gyrotron oscillator powered by a compact pulseline accelerator has been operated using oscillator cavities with and without axial slots. The oscillator was operated at high voltage (~900 keV) and high current (~500 A) in the approximate frequency range of 20-50 GHz. The use of axial slots has been shown to suppress low-starting-current whispering-gallery modes, in particular, modes of the TE_m2 type, allowing stable operation in a linearly polarized TE₁₃ mode. A peak power of 35 MW has been observed at 6% efficiency     

Some Applications of ABHYANKAR's Lemma

ABHYANKAR 's Lemma provides a simple method of producing unramified extensions of number fields. By application of the lemma we simultaneously simplify and strengthen some recent results of ISHIDA concerning unramified abelian extensions and class numbers.     

High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of Methyl Isocyanide: The ν3, ν6, and ν7 + ν8 Bands

The vibration-rotation spectrum of methyl isocyanide (CH₃NC) has been recorded with the aid of a high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer in the region 1370 to 1560 cm⁻¹ containing the perpendicular band of the fundamental vibration ν₆ (species E), the weaker parallel band of the ν₃ (A₁) fundamental, and the perpendicular combination band ν₇ + ν₈ (E) enhanced by Fermi resonance with ν₆. Sixteen hundred seventy well-resolved lines were assigned to 15 subbands of ν₆, 6 subbands of ν₃, and 3 subbands of ν⁻₇ + ν⁻₈. A strong x, y-Coriolis resonance between ν₃ and ν₆ and Fermi resonance between ν^±₆ and the E component ν₇ + ν₈, as well as between ν₃ and the A_1,2 components ν^±₇ + ν₈, greatly affects the spectrum. Additional weaker anharmonic interaction of ν₆ with the ν₄ + 2ν²₈ combination and higher-order rotational interactions connecting the various states were also detected in the spectrum. All of these interactions have been incorporated into a 9 × 9 Hamiltonian matrix used for modeling the upper states of the observed transitions. A set of spectroscopic constants is reported for the upper states of the bands ν₃, ν₆, and ν₇ + ν₈ and for ν₄ + 2ν²₈ which reproduces the observed lines with an overall standard deviation of 0.0012 cm⁻¹.     

The dynamical conductivity of a Na+-doped interfacial charge layer on silicon

Measured dynamical conductivities in accumulation layers doped with Na⁺ on (100)-Si are reported and analyzed with a theory of a strongly disturbed two-dimensional interacting electron gas and explained in terms of localization-and screening breakdown effects.     

The application of cepstral techniques to the measurement of transfer functions and acoustical reflection coefficients

Cepstral processing techniques in principle allow the separation of superposed pulses, such as those which occur in acoustic reflection, where a reflected pulse is a delayed and distorted version of the incident pulse. Additionally, the impulse response of the reflecting system, or equivalently its reflection coefficient, can also be determined. In practice, the accurate extraction of the impulse response is rendered difficult by the mathematical and computational properties of the power cepstrum procedure. In particular, spectral irregularity of the incident pulse, experimental noise and cepstral aliasing can cause the impulse response in the cepstrum to be masked. However, by careful selection of the incident signal, anti-aliasing filter, sampling frequency and echo delay in relation to the total sampling time, and the use of signal processing techniques such as time domain averaging, recursive filtering in the cepstral domain and zero padding, it is possible to produce good quality cepstra in which the reflector impulse response appears as an isolated feature. Experiments conducted on an electrical analogue of the acoustical reflection process have allowed the cepstral technique to be developed and evaluated. The acoustical reflector is simulated by a passive electrical filter network; the objective of the measurement and subsequent processing is the determination of the transfer function of this network. Good agreement is obtained between theoritical and measured transfer functions for a variety of filter networks indicating that cepstral techniques may be useful for acoustical reflection measurements given adequate transducer properties and environmental conditions.     

Disubstituted imidazolium-2-carboxylates as efficient precursors to N-heterocyclic carbene complexes of Rh, Ru, Ir, and Pd

N,N'-Disubstituted imidazolium-2-carboxylates are efficient precursors to NHC complexes of Rh, Ir, Pd, and Ru.     

Effects of solute-solvent interactions on electronic spectra: a predictive analysis

Ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectra have long been utilized for qualitative and quantitative purposes despite numerous complicating factors. In this study, anthracene, 1-naphthol, and 9-acetylanthracene are used as model systems to distinguish solventinduced effects via multiple regression techniques. The ability to predict changes in spectral peak locations and quantum efficiencies arising from solute—solvent interactions is critical to the development of a versatile computer-searchable library of electronic spectra.     

Kinetics of the reactions of Cl atoms with CH3Br and CH2Br2

The rate coefficients for the reactions of Cl atoms with CH₃Br, (k₁) and CH₂Br₂, (k₂) were measured as functions of temperature by generating Cl atoms via 308 nm laser photolysis of Cl₂ and measuring their temporal profiles via resonance fluorescence detection. The measured rate coefficients were: k₁ = (1.55 ± 0.18) × 10^?11 exp{(?1070 ± 50)/T} and k₂ = (6.37 ± 0.55) × 10^?12 exp{(?810 ± 50)/T} cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1. The possible interference of the reaction of CH₂Br product with Cl₂ in the measurement of k₁ was assessed from the temporal profiles of Cl at high concentrations of Cl₂ at 298 K. The rate coefficient at 298 K for the CH₂Br + Cl₂ reaction was derived to be (5.36 ± 0.56) × 10^?13 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1. Based on the values of k₁ and k₂, it is deduced that global atmospheric lifetimes for CH₃Br and CH₂Br₂ are unlikely to be affected by loss via reaction with Cl atoms. In the marine boundary layer, the loss via reaction (1) may be significant if the Cl concentrations are high. If found to be true, the contribution from oceans to the overall CH₃Br budget may be less than what is currently assumed. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.