A scanning visualizer of the magnetic field distribution

A facility consisting of a three-coordinate positioning system, a personal computer, and a Hall probe is capable of measuring and visualizing the configuration of magnetic fields above objects with a spatial resolution of 0.1 mm or better. The potential of the facility is demonstrated by measuring the configuration of the magnetic field above the system of two Sm-Co magnets with oppositely connected poles. The visualizer can be used in nondestructive testing and quality control of parts made of ferromagnetic materials and, in particular, welded joints.     

Oxidation und Aufkohlung hochlegierter Werkstoffe für Crackrohre – Teil 2: Das Aufkohlungsverhalten in sauerstoff- und kohlenstoffhaltigen Atmosphären hoher Kohlenstoffaktivität

Oxidation and Carburization of High Alloyed Materials for Cracking Tubes – Part 2: The Carburization Behaviour in Oxygen and Carbon Containing Atmospheres with High Carbon Activity Carburization tests have been carried out with the casting materials (German Designation) Werkstoff-Nr. 1.4848, 1.4857, 2.4813 and an experimental 25/20/5-CrNiSi melt, and with the wrought materials Werkstoff Nr. 1.4301 and 1.4848 in CO-CO₂ mixtures with a_c = 1, and in humid natural gas with a_c > 1 between 1000 and 1200° C. At temperatures below appr. 1050° C oxide layers formed are analogous to those formed in air (substrate/Cr₂O₃/(Mn, Fe)Cr₂O₄) which prevent carburization. Carburization takes place only after the protective oxide layer has been destroyed. In this context several mechanisms of destruction must be considered, i.e. (a) by chemical reaction (transformation of oxide into carbide, reduction of oxide), (b) by mechanical stresses (temperature fluctuation, growth of graphite layers, creep deformation). Reduction processes are encountered with Fe-rich oxide layers only. Scale layers rich in chromium oxide are transformed into carbide above appr. 1050° C in gases with a_c = 1, depending on the CO partial pressure. The rate of this transformation strongly depends on carbon activity in the gas phase. When graphite is deposited on the surface the transformation occurs at a high rate, while it is rather slow even at a_c = 1 when no graphite is deposited. Deposited graphite may have a mechanically destructive effect, too, because it penetrates into cracks and pores in the oxide layer and thus produces spalling of oxide particles. When the surface of the cast material is porous particles of the substrate may become detached, too. This goes to explain the poor behaviour of tubes with as cast surfaces in cracking reactors. The positive effect of silicon is due to the formation of protective silica layers between metal and Cr₂O₃ and metal and external carbide layer respectively. In order to form a continuous silica layer the Si content in the material must not be below a cricital value.     

Characterization of steel mill electric-arc furnace dust

In order to make a complete characterization of electric-arc furnace (EAF) dust, as hazardous industrial waste, and to solve its permanent disposal and/or recovery, bearing in mind both the volumes formed in the Croatian steel industry and experiences of developed industrial countries, a study of its properties was undertaken. For this purpose, samples of EAF dust, taken from the regular production process in the Zeljezara Sisak Steel Mill between December 2000 and December 2001, were subjected to a series of tests. The chemical composition of EAF dust samples was investigated by means of a several different analytical methods. The results from the chemical analysis show that the approximate order of abundance of major elements in EAF dusts is as follows: Fe, Zn, Mn, Ca, Mg, Si, Pb, S, Cr, Cu, Al, C, Ni, Cd, As and Hg. Granular-metric composition of single samples was determined by applying sieve separation. Scanning electron micro-structural examination of EAF dust microstructure was performed and results indicated that all twelve EAF dusts were composed of solid spherical agglomerates with Fe, Zn, Pb, O, Si and Ca as the principal element. The investigation of grain morphology and the mineralogical composition of EAF dust were taken by combination of high resolution Auger electron spectroscopy (HR AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray powder diffraction analysis. The analysis of XPS-spectra determined the presence of zinc in the form of ZnO phase and the presence of lead in the form of PbO phase, i.e. PbSO3/PbSO4 forms. The results of the X-ray diffraction phase analysis show that the basis of the examined EAF dust samples is made of a mixture of metal oxides, silicates and sulphates. The metal concentration, anions, pH value and conductivity in water eluates was determined in order to define the influence of EAF dust on the environment.     

Detection of skin cancer by classification of Raman spectra

Skin lesion classification based on in vitro Raman spectroscopy is approached using a nonlinear neural network classifier. The classification framework is probabilistic and highly automated. The framework includes a feature extraction for Raman spectra and a fully adaptive and robust feedforward neural network classifier. Moreover, classification rules learned by the neural network may be extracted and evaluated for reproducibility, making it possible to explain the class assignment. The classification performance for the present data set, involving 222 cases and five lesion types, was 80.5%+/-5.3% correct classification of malignant melanoma, which is similar to that of trained dermatologists based on visual inspection. The skin cancer basal cell carcinoma has a classification rate of 95.8%+/-2.7%, which is excellent. The overall classification rate of skin lesions is 94.8%+/-3.0%. Spectral regions, which are important for network classification, are demonstrated to reproduce. Small distinctive bands in the spectrum, corresponding to specific lipids and proteins, are shown to hold the discriminating information which the network uses to diagnose skin lesions.     

“Smart” polymeric nanospheres as new materials for possible biomedical applications

Novel random terpolymers of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM), sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonate (AMPS), and cinnamoyloxyethylmethacrylate (CEMA) were synthesized by free radical copolymerization using AIBN as an initiator. Five terpolymers were obtained by copolymerization of the monomer mixtures containing a fixed amount of 10 mol % of AMPS while the content of CEMA ranged from 5 to 25 mol % and was changed in 5 mol % increments. The terpolymers obtained are water-soluble. Because of their amphiphilic nature they undergo self-organization in the aqueous solution with the formation of micelles capable of solubilizing sparingly water soluble organic compounds, such as drugs. The terpolymers are susceptible to three external stimuli, i.e. temperature, ionic strength and UV light. Due to the presence of NIPAM in the terpolymers they display the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), the presence of AMPS makes them sensitive to the ionic strength of the solution, while the light-responsiveness of the terpolymers is due to the presence of cinnamoyl chromophores, which undergo photodimerization when irradiated with UV light at about 280 nm. Application of any of these stimuli alone or in combination with other stimuli allows changing the copolymer properties in a controlled way.     

Evaluation of IP over WDM Network Architectures

The commonly used IP-backbone network architecture of today is IP/ATM/SDH/WDM. This architecture has many redundant functionalities and is not optimized to transport IP traffic. New approaches for simplified network architectures try to eliminate redundant functionalities and to decrease the protocol overhead and thereby transport IP as efficiently as possible over WDM-based optical networks. EURESCOM project P918 Integration of IP-over-optical networks: networking and management investigated scenarios for optimized IP transport in WDM-based backbone networks. In this paper, three architectures, namely Gigabit Ethernet, Packet over Sonet/SDH and Dynamic Packet Transport are investigated and evaluated as an alternative to the IP/ATM/SDH/WDM architecture.     

Analysis of structural modifications in γ-irradiated PbO–B2O3–SiO2 glasses by FTIR spectroscopy

The effect of γ-irradiation on the structure of lead borosilicate glasses of varying composition has been probed by FTIR spectroscopy, before and immediately after γ-irradiation. The glasses were irradiated at Calliope ⁶⁰Co plant (RC ENEA Casaccia, Rome), and the spectra were recorded after absorbed doses of 50 Gy, 500 Gy, and 4 kGy. The structural analysis have been made considering both the effect of composition and of irradiation. The experimental results clearly indicate that after irradiation a significant change in structure of borosilicate glass network is observed.     

Efficient tracking of moving objects using a relational database

Tracking uncooperative moving objects by means of radar is a complex task due to clutter and association problems in multi-target scenarios. An approach to solve this problem is probabilistic multiple hypothesis tracking (PMHT). This method combines classical track filtering with a likelihood ratio test for the estimation of the plot-to-track association. The basics of PMHT and similar algorithms have gained much attention recently. However, the efficient implementation of real world applications of this technique still represents a challenging task. Since a common requirement in this context is the reliable storage of track data in a database, an implementation of the tracker's calculation inside a database management system (DBMS) using SQL views is desirable. A naive implementation of PMHT using a commercial DBMS, however, usually leads to performance problems because of the high frequency of measurement updates. In this paper, we propose possible optimizations for solving these performance problems. Their usage leads to a dramatic run-time improvement in our sample case and makes the implementation of PMHT in a database context feasible.