Porosity distribution of moving burden layers in the blast furnace throat

Granular Matter - The shear flow behaviors of granular materials exist widely in natural events. Ring shear tests based on the discrete element method were carried out to study the effects of...     

Experimental investigations of the influence from different operating conditions on the particle emissions from a small-scale pellets combustor

The purpose of this study is to determine how different design parameters in an idealised small-scale combustor affect the emission of particulates in the flue gas and to provide insight that can be used for design optimisation. The design parameters are the primary air factor, the total air factor and the magnitude of swirling flow in the combustion chamber. Particles from the reactor were collected from two different sampling lines, one located in the combustion zone, just above the fuel bed, and the other in the flue stack after the reactor. The measurements show that this burner gives very low emissions of particulates and CO in the flue gas. Furthermore, the concentration of particles in the flue gas is uncoupled to the concentration of particles immediately above the fuel bed, probably as a result of a well-designed secondary air supply. The variable that had the strongest effect on the total particulate emission from the combustor was the total air factor. In order to understand the qualitative differences in the flow nature between different operating conditions, CFD simulations of the flow field were also performed.     

Adverse effects associated with influenza vaccine in pediatrics

To investigate mechanisms of capillary network remodeling, we developed a serum-free angiogenesis in vitro system in three-dimensional fibrin matrices which allows the study of directional growth of endothelial sprouts, anastomosis, and remodeling ('pruning') of the primitive plexus toward more elaborated capillary trees. To follow the movements of living endothelial cells by inverse-fluorescence microscopy, we cocultured unlabeled endothelial cells with endothelial cells labeled with the carbocyanine dye 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI). We show that elongation and retraction of neighboring capillary sprouts occurs simultaneously, resembling a tug-of-war by which endothelial cells are withdrawn from shortening sprouts to become incorporated in other sprouts nearby. For the first time, we directly demonstrate the long-suspected parallel sliding movement of endothelial cells. We show that cell migration persists within immature capillaries even after sprouts have merged to continuous capillary loops, leading to overlapping growth of opposing sprout tips. As a novel concept of capillary remodeling, we distinguish two types of endothelial cell migration: sprouting and guided migration. Sprouting is the de novo invasion of a matrix by endothelial cells, and guided migration is the locomotion of cells along preexistent capillary-like structures. We show that guided migration leads to remodeling of immature capillary networks and to the retraction of sprouts. We describe a method for quantification of sprouting versus guided migration in DiI-mosaic-labeled capillary networks, and we present evidence that endothelial cell-derived basic fibroblast growth factor serves as a chemotactic signal for other cells to migrate along a preestablished capillary-like structure.     

Mitochondrial Optic Atrophy (OPA) 1 Processing Is Altered in Response to Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury

Perturbation of mitochondrial function and subsequent induction of cell death pathways are key hallmarks in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury, both in animal models and in term infants. Mitoprotective therapies therefore offer a new avenue for intervention for the babies who suffer life-long disabilities as a result of birth asphyxia. Here we show that after oxygen-glucose deprivation in primary neurons or in a mouse model of HI, mitochondrial protein homeostasis is altered, manifesting as a change in mitochondrial morphology and functional impairment. Furthermore we find that the mitochondrial fusion and cristae regulatory protein, OPA1, is aberrantly cleaved to shorter forms. OPA1 cleavage is normally regulated by a balanced action of the proteases Yme1L and Oma1. However, in primary neurons or after HI in vivo, protein expression of YmelL is also reduced, whereas no change is observed in Oma1 expression. Our data strongly suggest that alterations in mitochondria-shaping proteins are an early event in the pathogenesis of neonatal HI injury.     

The influence of porosity on the fatigue life for sand and permanent mould cast aluminium

The automotive industry always strives to achieve light weight components to reduce fuel consumption and to meet environmental requirements. One way to obtain weight reduction is to replace steel components with components made of aluminium or other light weight materials. Aluminium has good corrosion properties and a high strength to weight ratio which makes it favourable in many applications. The increased use of aluminium castings in the automotive industry does also imply that the need for design data for aluminium increases. Especially for castings, the influence of casting defects are always an issue. For this reason fatigue properties for as-cast sand and permanent mould specimens with different contents of porosity have been studied.

Sand cast and permanent mould cast aluminium specimens of two different geometries were fatigue tested in cyclic bending at R = −1. Prior to fatigue test specimens were examined by X-ray and sorted into three quality groups depending on the porosity level. The aim of this work was to investigate the fatigue life for sand cast and permanent mould cast AlSi10Mg with different amounts of porosity. An additional aim was to predict the largest defect contained in a specified volume of a component, by using a statistical analysis of extreme values, and relate it to the fatigue life.

The results showed that fatigue strength for a smooth specimen geometry decreases by up to 15% with increased porosity. For specimens with a notched geometry, no influence of porosity on the fatigue strength was found. This is believed to be due to a much smaller volume subject to high stress than for specimens with low stress concentration.     

Testing pulsed electric fields in electroremediation of copper mine tailings

Mining processes, prior to pyrometallurgical copper production, generate large amounts of solid waste, which are and have been deposited in mine tailings impoundments. This work is based on three electrodialytic (EDR) and four electrokinetic (EKR) remediation experiments on fresh and aged copper mine tailings using pulsed electric fields. The EDR results are compared to conventional remediation with direct current (dc) electric field. Applying pulsed electric fields in EDR, it was found that the remediation time decreased compared to dc EDR. In the anode side of the cell, 72 h of remediation at 20 V with a frequency ≥28 cycles/day at a fixed time ratio (t_ON/t_OFF) of 20, in terms of copper removal would correspond to around 270 h of dc remediation time. With both EDR and EKR of 120 h, at 14 cycles/day, the copper removal is practically uniform in the whole cell. Increasing the frequency to ≥28 cycles/day, the copper removal in the anode side is improved, and in the cathode side an accumulation is observed. With an EKR of 240 h, a larger copper accumulation in the cathode side was observed due to precipitation of copper hydroxide. In EDR with a pulsed electric field, the transport across the cation exchange membrane becomes the rate determining step. This can be seen from: (a) accumulation in the cathode side when increasing the frequency and (b) similar total copper removal for the three frequencies studied. In EKR, free alkali diffusion into the cell occurred. This generated copper precipitation in the cathode side, and the effect of the pulsed electric field on total copper removal was reduced.