Improving performance

Much research should be carried out to optimize the way in which caibon membranes are produced in order to improve their performance and to render them an important separation tool in industry. 

Moreover, an investigation into material selection to find more suitable membrane precursors should be continued. Finding a more economical material than polyimide, which is mainly used by many researchers as a caibon membrane precursor, is another necessary task in carbon membrane production. This indicates that discovering ways to provide caibon membranes with excellent separation properties, without losing the economical processibility of polymeric membrane materials, would be a major breakthrough in this field. 

It is the inspiration and the incentive whieh lies behind the development of carbon hollow fiber membranes, particularly designed for gas separatiom It is believed that fundamental knowledge will lead eventually to the development of tailor-made carbon membranes. 

It is important to find out how well the new systems are meeting your customers needs. This data gathering should be carefully designed to provide a genuine opportunity to provide feedback in a constructive fashion. It is likely that your company conducts internal feedback surveys from time to time, you should contact those responsible for these and learn from their experiences. 

You may be able to collect a great deal of useful input via personal conversations about the new systems. This avoids the more costly survey approach, but is also more likely to be biased. Generally, any voluntary opinions are more likely to be negative human nature is such that complaints are more common than praise. (When did you last thank your bank for improved service When did you last complain to them ). Ideally, you should set aside a period when you simply spend time meeting with other staff and discussing the new systems. If you are given, or hear of, complaints informally, check them out by asking others their opinion. 

Don t rely on informal customer feedback. Deliberately seek out feedback using a structured and professionally designed survey tool. 

Improving performance is the objective of measurement. Thus measures should be capable of analysis to help identify where there may be weaknesses that can be corrected. For example, injury data may be published division by division. If one division has deteriorating performance, it will be important to find out whether the deterioration is common across the whole division or specific to one location. 

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The composition of motor fuels is undergoing constant change in view of improving performance while protecting the environment. 

In the field of radiation methods of control, development work was performed in order to create the X-ray detectors with a low content of silver. X-ray TV systems with improved performance for automatic interpretation of the X-ray TV images, portable radiometers and dosimeters, creation of portable equipment for radioscopy of the welded joints of pipelines, etc. 

Abrasives have evolved iato an essential component of modem iadustry. Sandstone, emery, and comndum were the abrasives of choice until the late 1800s when artificial materials were developed. Today synthetic abrasives offer such improved performance that the natural ones have been largely replaced except for jobs where cost is paramount. In 1987 U.S. statistics (4) showed natural abrasive production to be about 7 million while that of cmde manufactured abrasives was over 182 million. Total value of abrasives and abrasive products worldwide is estimated to be over 6 biUion dollars. 

Benefits of Prethickening. The feed soHds concentration has a profound effect on the performance of any cake filtration equipment. It affects the capacity and the cake resistance, as weU as the penetration of the soHds into the cloth which influences filtrate clarity and medium resistance. Thicker feeds lead to improved performance of most filters through higher capacity and lower cake resistance. 

Dilution. In many appHcations, dilution of the flocculant solution before it is mixed with the substrate stream can improve performance (12). The mechanism probably involves getting a more uniform distribution of the polymer molecules. Since the dosage needed to form floes is usually well below the adsorption maximum, a high local concentration is effectively removed from the system at that point, leaving no flocculant for the rest of the particles. A portion of the clarified overflow can be used for dilution so no extra water is added to the process. 

Water—Glycol Solutions. These materials are transparent solutions of water and glycol having good low temperature properties. They frequently contain water-soluble additives to improve performance in corrosion resistance, anti-wear, etc. A water-soluble polymer is commonly utilized to boost viscosity. As solutions their advantage over emulsions is their inherent stabdity. 

Chemical Manufacturers Association Code. In 1988, the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) adopted an initiative called Responsible Care A PubHc Commitment (33). Members of the CMA commit themselves, as an obligation of membership, to improving performance in response to pubHc concerns about the impact of chemicals on health, safety, and environmental quaUty. 

Overall Assessment of Properties. Table 3 shows the effect for each criterion of increasing plasticizer concentration, increasing the size of the plasticizer molecule, increasing the linearity of the plasticizer molecule, and changing the acid constituent of the ester. An I indicates improved performance for a particular property, a P indicates poorer performance. I and P in parentheses indicate that any changes tend to be marginal. 

I = improved performance P = poorer performance ( ), marginal performance. Ph = phthalate Ad = adipate Tr = trimellitate. 

Nylon. Nylons comprise a large family of polyamides with a variety of chemical compositions (234,286,287). They have excellent mechanical properties, as well as abrasion and chemical resistance. However, because of the need for improved performance, many commercial nylon resins are modified by additives so as to improve toughness, heat fabrication, stabiUty, flame retardancy, and other properties. 

Synthetic Applications. Oxazolines, which ate synthesized as indicated above, have been utilized in many different appHcations (25). When used in resin formulations, AMP, AEPD, and TRIS AMINO can incorporate the oxazoline stmeture into the polymer stmeture (26). Because they ate polyols, both AEPD and TRIS AMINO can be used in polyester resin modification. Oxazoline alkyd films ate characterized by improved performance, particularly salt-spray resistance and gloss (see Alkyd resins Coatings, special purpose, high performance). 

Introducing long aliphatic chains into a stabilizer molecule decreases volatility and increases solubility in hydrocarbon polymers. This improves performance. However, it also increases the equivalent weight of the active moiety. Di- and polyphenoHc antioxidants combine relatively low equivalent... 

The use of chlorinated trisodium phosphate is declining. It has been largely replaced by chlorinated isocyanurates in powdered abrasive cleansers and automatic dishwash detergents to reduce cost, improve performance, or comply with restrictions on the use of phosphates. Some chlorinated trisodium phosphate is stiU used in commercial laundries and in disinfectant cleaners. 

Optical Coatings. Thin surface coatings are appHed to optical components to improve performance. Wideband antireflection coatings for the visible and ir regions need materials with a refractive iadex of for the best efficieacy. Cerium fluoride, a stable material resistant to humidity damage, has a suitable iadex, 1.63 ia the visible, 1.59 ia the iafrared, and is transparent over the range 0.5 p.m to 5 p.m. It is one of the compounds used to build up the multilayers deposited on lenses, sensors, and the like. 

Color Difference Assessment. Color difference scales include those of Judd-Hunter, Macadam, Adams-Nickerson, ANLAB, and ANLAB40. AH of these have limitations in some way or another they are described in most texts (1 4). Each appHes only to the precise conditions used in thek determination and interconversion is not possible. Modifications of CIELAB in the metric form such as the CMC(1 c) system (14) promise improved performance for the future. 

The fundamental goal in the production and appHcation of composite materials is to achieve a performance from the composite that is not available from the separate constituents or from other materials. The concept of improved performance is broad and includes increased strength or reinforcement of one material by the addition of another material. This is the well-known purpose in the alloying of metals and in the incorporation of chopped straw into clay for bricks by the ancient Egyptians and plant fibers into pottery by the Incas and Mayans. These ancient productions of composite materials consisted of reinforcing britde materials with fibrous substances. In both cases the mechanics of the reinforcement was such as to reduce and control the production of cracks in the brittle material during fabrication or drying (2). 

Current spreadsheet programs contain many advanced capabiUties and enhancements that an engineer might want to use they also offer improved performance, interfaces to data base and word-processing programs and have a host of other features. A good overview that describes the features and presents what is available in each of the latest spreadsheet packages on the market is available (78). 

Continuing the current trend, there will be an even greater need to provide highly effective dispersants with minimum environmental impact. Future development efforts will focus on improved performance at low dosage to further reduce the environmental load, accountability (ability to detect... 

Due to these capabihties, smart transmitters offer improved performance over conventional transmitters. 

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