Abstract: Methods and systems are described for predicting the likely causes of service outages using only time information, and for predicting and the likely costs of service outages. The likely causes are found by defining a narrow likely cause window around an outage based on service quality and/or service usage data, and correlating service events to the likely cause window in the time domain to find a probability distribution for the events. The likely costs are found by measuring usage loss and duration for a given point during an outage and using cost component functions of the time and usage to extrapolate over the outage. These cause and cost predictions supply service administrators with tools for making more informed decisions about allocation of resources in preventing and correcting service outages.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described for predicting the likely causes of service outages using only time information, and for predicting and the likely costs of service outages. The likely causes are found by defining a narrow likely cause window around an outage based on service quality and/or service usage data, and correlating service events to the likely cause window in the time domain to find a probability distribution for the events. The likely costs are found by measuring usage loss and duration for a given point during an outage and using cost component functions of the time and usage to extrapolate over the outage. These cause and cost predictions supply service administrators with tools for making more informed decisions about allocation of resources in preventing and correcting service outages.

Abstract: Mixing apparatus includes a batch mixing vessel with an inlet to receive constituent material, an agitation assembly for mixing the constituents and an outlet to convey batches of the mixed is provided. The apparatus includes a pressurizing device for pressurizing the vessel to assist in evacuation of the mix, and a conduit through which the mix is conveyed. A single pneumatic source is used both to pressurize the mixing vessel and to drive a jet pump including the batch loader. During the mixing cycle, the compressor used to discharge the finished mix is generally idle. This compressor can be used during these periods to drive a jet pump to load the mixing vessel. Therefore, manual loading is avoided and can be achieved such that the mixing cycle time is not interrupted.