Comparative study of bulk and partial digestion methods for airborne PM10-bound elements in a high mineral dust urban site in Constantine,Algeria

When high mineral loads in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) are present, particular attention should be paid to the selection of appropriate acidic digestion protocols for wet chemical analysis. We report on a comparative study of elemental recovery yields from five different pre-analytical acid digestion procedures for mineral-rich urban background PM₁₀ samples collected in the city of Constantine (Northeastern Algeria). Five reference materials (NIST 1633b, UPM 1648, NAT-7, SO-2 and SO-4) were also digested according to the same protocols. The selected acidic digestion/extraction procedures are widely used for PM chemical analysis and comprise P1 (HNO₃/HF/HCl), P2 (HCl/HNO₃), P3 (HCl/H₂O₂/HNO₃), P4 (HNO₃/HF/HClO₄) and P5 (HNO₃/H₂O₂); the latter assisted with microwave digestion. Elemental recovery yields were compared for major and trace elements typically determined in PM for source apportionment analysis and the results evidenced large differences. For most elements, the bulk extraction procedures (requiring the use of HF) allowed a full elemental recovery, particularly for elements that are associated with aluminium silicate species and oxides that are resistant to mild acid attack. In contrast, in the extraction protocols without HF low recovery yields were obtained for elements such as Al, Ti, Zr, Sc and other aluminium silicate-related elements in PM₁₀ samples with high mineral dust load. We highlight that the European standard digestion method EN-14902:2005 should be applied specifically for the metals for which this method was developed, but caution should be taken when the analysis of other elements in PM is required, especially in urban areas where road and vehicle wear dust is likely to be a major component of ambient PM. When using wet chemistry analysis for PM source apportionment studies, we strongly recommend HF bulk dissolution of samples to ensure the reliability of the geochemical information when coupled with an appropriate analytical tool.     

Characterization and study of microwave activation effects on the polystyrene tacticity

¹³C Nuclear magnetic resonance proved to be an advantageous tool to determine the stereoregularity of polystyrene polymers. The latter was achieved through the analysis of the signal of the quaternary carbon and that of the carbon-p in the aromatic ring too. Styrene was polymerized through microwaves and conventional heating activation using two different polymerization techniques: emulsion and bulk. Microwave activation was performed in a mono-modal type device under the following experimental conditions: various initiator concentrations, an average irradiation power of 50?W, temperature of 70°C, and using a batch reactor for emulsion and bulk experiments. The results obtained in these experiments were compared with those obtained by conventional heating activation polymerization under the same initiator concentration and temperature conditions. Microwave-activated reactions resulted in shorter reaction times and higher yields. The tacticity of the polymer samples was not significantly altered, which lead to the conclusion that, in this case, the stereoregularity of polystyrene was not influenced by microwave irradiation.     

动态输入率和服务率设定下的M/M/c模型扩展及其应用

为了解决M/M/c模型中恒定输入率和服务率假设与现实现象不符的问题,本文提出了随系统状态变化的输入概率和服务度,并通过新输入概率与平均输入率以及新服务度与平均服务率的结合分别构造了动态输入率和服务率。基于上述动态输入率和动态服务率,建立了依赖系统当前状态的状态转移过程,从状态转换强度方面优化了排队理论及其度量模型,同时,设计了结合系统实际的后确定法求解动态输入率与服务率的相关参数,从而构建了扩展M/M/c模型。由于输入率和服务率的动态性,扩展M/M/c模型具有比原排队论模型更广的适用范围和精度更高的模拟结果。最后,通过一个生活实例对新模型的有效性和实用性进行验证。     

Analysis of effective service time with age dependent interruptions and its application to optimal rollback policy for database management

A stochastic model is developed describing a service system subject to inhomogeneous Poisson interruptions with age dependent interruption periods. By studying the probabilistic flow of the underlying multivariate Markov process, the Laplace transform of the effective service time is explicitly obtained. For general renewal interruptions, only the expected effective service time is derived. As an application, an optimal checkpoint policy is examined for database management. It is shown that an optimal policy maximizing the ergodic availability of the database is to implement a checkpoint as soon as the cumulative uptime of the database reaches a prespecified constantk ^*. A computational procedure is then developed for findingk ^* and numerical results are exhibited.This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ECS-8600992 and by the IBM Program of Support for Education in the Management of Information Systems.     

Discrete-time queues with discretionary priorities

In this paper, we consider a discrete-time two-class discretionary priority queueing model with generally distributed service times and per slot i.i.d. structured inputs in which preemptions are allowed only when the elapsed service time of a lower-class customer being served does not exceed a certain threshold. As the preemption mode of the discretionary priority discipline, we consider the Preemptive Resume, Preemptive Repeat Different, and Preemptive Repeat Identical modes. We derive the Probability Generating Functions (PGFs) and first moments of queue lengths of each class in this model for all the three preemption modes in a unified manner. The obtained results include all the previous works on discrete-time priority queueing models with general service times and structured inputs as their special cases. A numerical example shows that, using the discretionary priority discipline, we can more subtly adjust the system performances than is possible using either the pure non-preemptive or the preemptive priority disciplines.     

带有Bernoulli反馈的多级适应性休假的Geo/G/1排队系统分析

考虑带有Bernoulli反馈的多级适应性休假的Geo/G/1离散时间排队系统.通过引入服务员忙期和使用一种简洁的分解方法,讨论了队长的瞬时分布,得到了在任意时刻n队长为j的概率关于时刻n的z-变换的递推式,及队长平稳分布的递推式,且证明了稳态队长的随机分解性质.最后,给出了在特殊情形下相应的一些结果和数值计算实例.     

基于语义Choquet积分的知识服务能力测评方法

针对知识服务中考虑模糊语言关联性信息的知识服务能力评价与提升策略问题,提出了一种评价方法。为了解决该问题,首先构建了知识服务能力的评价指标体系和矩阵分析模型;然后,明晰了知识服务能力的语言评价指标会在不同程度上存在关联的问题特征及二元语义信息处理方法的特征,并进行了形式化描述;同时,提出并定义了二元语义Choquet积分算子,给出了一种基于二元语义Choquet积分算子评价知识服务能力的方法;最后,通过算例分析说明了本文给出方法的可行性和实用性。     

制造云服务组合柔性的四维属性测度方法

云制造环境下服务资源进行动态组合时不可避免地遇到内、外部环境的不确定性,这些不确定性因素直接影响到制造云服务组合的执行成本、效率和质量。为了有效提升制造云服务组合的柔性,需要对其柔性能力进行测度。在假定某待选云服务集中的各服务资源能够以不同的效率替代完成任务的基础上,建立了考虑制造云服务组合柔性的效率柔性、冗余柔性、路径柔性和任务柔性的四维属性测度方法。最后,结合具体算例对该方法的应用过程进行了分析。     

Sojourn and waiting times in a single-server system with state-dependent mean service rate

A birth-death queueing system with asingle server, first-come first-served discipline, Poisson arrivals and state-dependent mean service rate is considered. The problem of determining the equilibrium densities of the sojourn and waiting times is formulated, in general. The particular case in which the mean service rate has one of two values, depending on whether or not the number of customers in the system exceeds a prescribed threshold, is then investigated. A generating function is derived for the Laplace transforms of the densities of the sojourn and waiting times, leading to explicit expressions for these quantities. Explicit expressions for the second moments of the sojourn and waiting times are also obtained.