Nonlinear optimization of steel production using traditional and novel blast furnace operation strategies

The high energy requirements in primary steelmaking make this industrial sector a major contributor to the global emissions of carbon dioxide. Ways to suppress the use of fossil reductants and the emissions from the processes should therefore be developed. The present work applies simulation and optimization for studying the economic feasibility of recycling blast furnace top gas to the combustion zones after CO₂ stripping. The study comprises the unit processes in an integrated steel plant, paying special attention to the blast furnace and the preheating of the blast or the recycled top gas. The system is optimized with nonlinear programming with respect to some central variables under different CO₂ sequestration and emission costs, which yields information about the economic feasibility of the concept. It is demonstrated that the optimal states of the plant show complex transitions, where the costs play a decisive role. It is also shown that hot gas recycling with CO₂ capture and storage would dramatically reduce the harmful emissions from the process. The conditions under which top gas recycling is economically feasible are also reported, as well as the effect of omitting oil injection in a blast furnace with top gas recycling.     

Indirect energy input of agricultural machinery in bioenergy production

Sustainability of bioenergy products should be evaluated by means of an energy analysis that takes into account all relevant direct and indirect energy inputs. Direct energy input is viewed as the major energy consuming factor, and is quite easy to measure. Indirect energy input, however, has received relatively scant attention, so it is likely to be insufficiently analysed and possibly underestimated. This paper reviews the data available and suggests the type of research that would be needed to get a better understanding of the indirect energy input. The analysis addresses questions about the use of energy to produce and maintain agricultural machinery, the allocation of energy to different bioenergy products, and the real use and lifetime of machinery.     

Microstructural and electrical properties of multicomponent varistor ceramics with PbO–ZnO–B2O3 glass addition

Zinc oxide based ceramics are widely used materials in varistors because of their excellent nonlinearity. Traditionally these ceramics are sintered at high temperatures (about 1,100–1,300°C). In this work a novel zinc oxide-based material with a low sintering temperature (900–1,000°C) was investigated. This material can be used in varistors consisting of several ceramic layers with embedded silver/palladium thick-film electrodes. This paper explains the research procedure employed with this novel varistor material, including the effect of sintering aid addition on the final electrical properties and fired microstructure. The electrical properties achieved are compared to the values measured from the original zinc oxide composition without sintering aid addition. Especially the I–V characteristics, nonlinearity coefficient α, breakdown voltage V _bk and leakage current density J _L are investigated. The sintering properties are also reported. It was found that by adding 10 wt.% of glass and using a 900 °C sintering temperature, the material had good varistor characteristics, as V _bk = 378 V/mm, α = 33 and J _L  = 15 μA/cm². The investigated varistor material can be applied to protect electrical circuits against surges.     

Textural changes in metallurgical coke prepared with polyethylene

The effect of high-density polyethylene （HDPE） on the textural features of experimental coke was investigated using polar- ized-light optical microscopy and wavelet-based image analysis. Metallurgical coke samples were prepared in a laboratory-scale furnace with 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5%, 10.0%, and 12.5% HDPE by mass, and one sample was prepared by 100% coal. The amounts and distribution of textures （isotropic, mosaic and banded） and por~s were obtained. The calculations reveal that the addition of HDPE results in a decrease of mosaic texture and an increase of isotropic texture. Ethylene formed from the decomposition of HDPE is considered as a probable reason for the texture modifications. The approach used in this study can be applied to indirect evaluation for the reactivity and strength of coke.     

Heat stress and bulkiness of chemical protective clothing impair performance of medical personnel in basic lifesaving tasks

The study examined the impact of chemical protective (CP) clothing on the performance of lifesaving tasks in thermoneutral and cold conditions. Eleven males performed pre-exercise followed by lifesaving tasks wearing either field combat uniform at 21 degrees C (U) or CP clothing at 21 degrees C (CPN) and -5 degrees C (CPC). The tasks were ventilating a doll (VA) and connecting an intravenous line (IV). Mean skin temperature was significantly higher for CPN compared to U and CPC during pre-exercise, VA and IV. Changes in blood pressure were significantly greater with CP clothing than without during VA and IV. The number of breaths per min (in VA) and time needed for IV increased by 19% (p < 0.05) and 18%, respectively, for CPN compared to U. Due to the cold, the additional increment was 5% and 17%, respectively, for CPC. Wearing of CP clothing in thermoneutral or in cold conditions may not prevent but, especially in the cold, significantly impede the performance of basic medical tasks. The findings of this study showed that performing medical tasks while wearing nuclear, biological and chemical protective clothing is impaired due to significant changes in physiological strain. This suggests that realistic training in local conditions as well as in cold conditions is needed to realise the restrictions due to protective clothing.     

Complex-valued ICA based on a pair of generalized covariance matrices

It is shown that any pair of scatter and spatial scatter matrices yields an estimator of the separating matrix for complex-valued independent component analysis (ICA). Scatter (resp. spatial scatter) matrix is a generalized covariance matrix in the sense that it is a positive definite hermitian matrix functional that satisfies the same affine (resp. unitary) equivariance property as does the covariance matrix and possesses an additional IC-property, namely, it reduces to a diagonal matrix at distributions with independent marginals. Scatter matrix is used to decorrelate the data and the eigenvalue decomposition of the spatial scatter matrix is used to find the unitary mixing matrix of the uncorrelated data. The method is a generalization of the FOBI algorithm, where a conventional covariance matrix and a certain fourth-order moment matrix take the place of the scatter and spatial scatter matrices, respectively. Emphasis is put on estimators employing robust scatter and spatial scatter matrices. The proposed approach is one among the computationally most attractive ones, and a new efficient algorithm that avoids decorrelation of the data is also proposed. Moreover, the method does not rely upon the commonly made assumption of complex circularity of the sources. Simulations and examples are used to confirm the reliable performance of our method.     

Downstream Hydrological Impacts of Hydropower Development in the Upper Mekong Basin

The Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia is experiencing extensive hydropower development. Concerns have been raised about the consequences of the development for the ecosystems, livelihoods and food security in the region. The largest planned hydropower dam cascade in the basin, the Lancang-Jiang cascade, is currently under construction and already partly built into the Upper Mekong Basin, China. In this paper we assess the impact of the Lancang-Jiang cascade on downstream hydrology by using a combination of a hydrological model and a reservoir cascade optimization model. The hydrological changes were quantified in detail at the Chiang Saen gauging station in Thailand, the first gauge station downstream from the cascade, and in lesser detail at four other downstream locations in the Mekong mainstream. We found that on average the Lancang-Jiang cascade increased the December?CMay discharge by 34?C155?% and decreased the July?CSeptember discharge by 29?C36?% at Chiang Saen. Furthermore, the Lancang-Jiang cascade reduced (increased) the range of hydrological variability during the wet season (dry season) months. The dry season hydrological changes were significant also in all downstream gauging stations, even as far as Kratie in Cambodia. Thus the Mekong??s hydrological regime has been significantly altered by the Lancang-Jiang cascade, but what the consequences are for ecosystems and livelihoods, needs further study.     

Characterization of porous glass fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) implant structures: porosity and mechanical properties

The aim of this study was to characterize the microstructure and mechanical properties of porous fiber-reinforced composites (FRC). Implants made of the FRC structures are intended for cranial applications. The FRC specimens were prepared by impregnating E-glass fiber sheet with non-resorbable bifunctional bis-phenyl glycidyl dimethacrylate and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate resin matrix. Four groups of porous FRC specimens were prepared with a different amount of resin matrix. Control group contained specimens of fibers, which were bound together with sizing only. Microstructure of the specimens was analyzed using a micro computed tomography (micro-CT) based method. Mechanical properties of the specimens were measured with a tensile test. The amount of resin matrix in the specimens had an effect on the microstructure. Total porosity was 59.5 % (median) in the group with the lowest resin content and 11.2 % (median) in the group with the highest resin content. In control group, total porosity was 94.2 % (median). Correlations with resin content were obtained for all micro-CT based parameters except TbPf. The tensile strength of the composites was 21.3 MPa (median) in the group with the highest resin content and 43.4 MPa (median) in the group with the highest resin content. The tensile strength in control group was 18.9 MPa (median). There were strong correlations between the tensile strength of the specimens and most of the micro-CT based parameters. This experiment suggests that porous FRC structures may have the potential for use in implants for cranial bone reconstructions, provided further relevant in vitro and in vivo tests are performed.     

This is not classified: everyday information seeking and encountering in smart urban spaces

We present a multipronged comparative study of citizens’ self-proclaimed information needs and actual information seeking behavior in smart urban spaces. We first conducted several user studies to identify the types of information services that citizens believed to be useful in urban setting utilizing methods ranging from contextual inquiry with lo-fi prototypes to “card sorting” exercise with a separate set of participants, and finally to implementing selected services. We then made a sizeable constructive intervention into the urban space by deploying in a city center 12 large, interactive public displays called “hotspots” to offer a wide range of previously identified information services. We collected comprehensive qualitative and quantitative data on the usage of the hotspots and their services by the general public during 13 months. Our study reveals discrepancies between a priori and a posteriori information seeking strategies extracted from the self-proclaimed information needs and the actual usage of the hotspots.     

Pleasantness in relation to difference threshold of NaCl in mashed potato

Difference threshold values for sodium chloride were determined to investigate to what extent just noticeable differences (jnd) affect preferences. Samples were unflavored, garlic-flavored and pepper-flavored mashed potato. At the reference concentration of 0.60% NaCl, the jnd value for unflavored and garlic-flavored samples was 0.07% NaCl, and for the pepper-flavored sample, 0.08% NaCl. The pleasantness of seven samples between ±9 jnds from the reference (0.60% NaCl), was rated on a graphic scale ranging from less pleasant to more pleasant (reference at the midpoint). Forty-one subjects participated in the test. For unflavored and garlic-flavored mashed potato, concentrations below 0.36% NaCl and above 0.82% NaCl, and for pepper-flavored, below 0.31% NaCl and above 0.83% NaCl, were required to obtain statistically significant differences in hedonic responses compared to the reference concentration.