Microstructural Studies of Cold Sprayed Copper,Nickel, and Nickel-30% Copper Coatings

Cold spraying enables to produce metallic coatings with low porosity level and low oxygen content. Several material properties such as electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance rely on these properties. Aim of this study was to characterize microstructural properties of cold sprayed copper, nickel, and nickel-30%copper coatings. Microstructures, denseness, and deformation of particles were investigated. SEM analysis and corrosion tests were done to get information of through-porosity. Open porosity has an important role on protectiveness of anodically protective coatings, such coating materials like copper and nickel. In this study, cold-sprayed Cu coating was fully dense. However, cold-sprayed Ni and Ni-30%Cu coatings seemed to be microstructurally dense but some porosity in some areas of the coatings especially in some parts of particle boundaries was noticed after corrosion tests. Furthermore, effect of annealing to microstructure and corrosion test behavior was studied. Cold sprayed Ni coating became denser during heat treatment.     

Mobile information systems — executives' view

The concepts of travelling executive and executives' mobile information system are first defined in this paper. The main findings are in the form of collected data and opinions concluded from our personal discussions with 49 executives in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Finland concerning the nature of the work of executives and the usage of information technology (IT) to support their work today. The near future expectations of the executives are also analysed, especially concerning the mobile use of IT services in order to construct executives' holistic view of mobile computing. The use of IT services was found to be very widespread. Big differences were found: some of the executives had clear positive attitudes for using several mobile IT services but many had not yet realized the potential advantages of these services. Many reasons, e.g. certain cultural differences, were found to explain differences in these four countries.     

MRI quality assurance based on 3D FLAIR brain images

Objective

Quality assurance (QA) of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) often relies on imaging phantoms with suitable structures and uniform regions. However, the connection between phantom measurements and actual clinical image quality is ambiguous. Thus, it is desirable to measure objective image quality directly from clinical images.

Materials and methods

In this work, four measurements suitable for clinical image QA were presented: image resolution, contrast-to-noise ratio, quality index and bias index. The methods were applied to a large cohort of clinical 3D FLAIR volumes over a test period of 9.5 months. The results were compared with phantom QA. Additionally, the effect of patient movement on the presented measures was studied.

Results

A connection between the presented clinical QA methods and scanner performance was observed: the values reacted to MRI equipment breakdowns that occurred during the study period. No apparent correlation with phantom QA results was found. The patient movement was found to have a significant effect on the resolution and contrast-to-noise ratio values.

Discussion

QA based on clinical images provides a direct method for following MRI scanner performance. The methods could be used to detect problems, and potentially reduce scanner downtime. Furthermore, with the presented methodologies comparisons could be made between different sequences and imaging settings. In the future, an online QA system could recognize insufficient image quality and suggest an immediate re-scan.

     

Aerosol analysis of residual and nanoparticle fractions from spray pyrolysis of poorly volatile precursors

The quality of aerosol‐produced nanopowders can be impaired by micron‐sized particles formed due to non‐uniform process conditions. Methods to evaluate the quality reliably and fast, preferably on‐line, are important at industrial scales. Here, aerosol analysis methods are used to determine the fractions of nanoparticles and micron‐sized residuals from poorly volatile precursors. This is accomplished using aerosol instruments to measure the number and mass size distributions of Liquid Flame Spray‐generated alumina and silver particles produced from metal nitrates dissolved in ethanol and 2‐ethylhexanoic acid (EHA). The addition of EHA had no effect on silver, whereas, 5% EHA concentration was enough to shift the alumina mass from the residuals to nanoparticles. The size‐resolved aerosol analysis proved to be an effective method for determining the product quality. Moreover, the used on‐line techniques alone can be used to evaluate the process output when producing nanopowders, reducing the need for tedious off‐line analyses. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 881–892, 2017     

Muscular,cardiorespiratory and thermal strain of mast and pole workers

This field study evaluated the level of muscular, cardiorespiratory and thermal strain of mast and pole workers. We measured the muscular strain using electromyography (EMG), expressed as a percentage in relation to maximal EMG activity (%MEMG). Oxygen consumption (VO₂) was indirectly estimated from HR measured during work and expressed as a percentage of maximum VO₂ (%VO₂max). Skin and deep body temperatures were measured to quantify thermal strain. The highest average muscular strain was found in the wrist flexor (24 ± 1.5%MEMG) and extensor (21 ± 1.0%MEMG) muscles, exceeding the recommendation of 14%MEMG. Average cardiorespiratory strain was 48 ± 3%VO₂max. Nearly half (40%) of the participants exceeded the recommended 50%VO₂max level. The core body temperature varied between 36.8°C and 37.6°C and mean skin temperature between 28.6°C and 33.4°C indicating possible occasional superficial cooling. Both muscular and cardiorespiratory strain may pose a risk of local and systemic overloading and thus reduced work efficiency. Thermal strain remained at a tolerable level.     

Performance of EN ISO 13790 utilisation factor heat demand calculation method in a cold climate

The applicability of the utilisation factor method EN ISO 13790 is studied in modern Finnish buildings in the cold climate of Finland. The heat-demand results of EN ISO 13790 are compared against a validated dynamic simulation tool. It is shown that, with the default values of the numerical parameters of the utilisation factor, EN ISO 13790 gives in Finnish conditions as much as 46% higher or 59% lower heat demand of the building compared to the simulation tool, depending on the type of the building and its thermal inertia. The results of EN ISO 13790 can be calibrated for the residential buildings with the correct selection of the numerical parameters for Finnish conditions. With the new values of the parameters, the results are in good agreement in most cases; however, the maximum difference between the methods remained 29% for highly insulated residential buildings. For office buildings, heat demand was strongly underestimated in all the cases by the monthly method EN ISO 13790 regardless of the values of the parameters. The results of the study indicate that the monthly method EN ISO 13790 with new determined numerical parameters is reasonably applicable for residential buildings, but not applicable for office buildings. Therefore, the other methods of prEN 13790, i.e., simple hourly or detailed simulation methods, should be used for office buildings.     

Jitter characteristics of an on-chip voltage reference-locked time-to-digital converter

The noise and jitter characteristics of an on-chip voltage reference-locked ring oscillator used in the time-to-digital converter (TDC) of the integrated receiver of a pulsed time-of-flight laser rangefinder are presented. The frequency of the ring oscillator, 683 MHz, was locked to the on-chip voltage reference by means of a frequency-to-voltage converter, resulting in better than 90 ppm/°C stability. The noise and jitter transfer characteristics of the loop were derived, and simulations were performed to see the effects of different noise types (white and 1/f noise) on the cumulative jitter of the locked ring oscillator. Finally, these results were verified by jitter measurements performed using an integrated time-to-digital converter (TDC) fabricated on the same die (0.18 μm CMOS process). The cumulative jitter of the on-chip reference-locked ring oscillator was less than 30 ps (sigma value) over a time range of 70 ns, which made it possible to use this oscillator as the heart of a TDC when aiming at centimetre-level precision (1 cm = 67 ps) in laser ranging.     

Future Directions for Mobile Communications Business,Technology and Research

This paper presents a picture of the mobile communications market and expected further development of systems and technologies. This is done with evaluating the market needs and reflecting these to available technology as well as technological opportunities. Despite of apparently advanced state of the technology and business, both market and technical solutions are concluded to likely experience further radical changes. The need for wireless capacity is two orders of magnitude more than what combined 2G and 3G would provide. A meaningful research objective to achieve is not in any single topic but will emerge from combining the needs of market and society with the opportunities offered by plurality of technologies. This opportunity starts form explorations aiming to a deeper understanding of the spatial propagation effects and ways to deploy them.