Spectral depth profiling of arbitrary surfaces by thermal emission decay-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

We report a new spectroscopic technique that combines step-scanning Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with opto-thermal transient emission radiometry (OTTER) in order to provide near-surface depth-resolved spectra in the range 700-1800 cm(-1). It works nondestructively, without contact, with samples of arbitrary shape and size, without requiring prior preparation. The depth of surface probed depends on the thermal diffusivity of the sample; for organic materials it is approximately 10 microm. With homogeneous samples, absolute absorption coefficients can be measured. With two-layered samples, the technique proved able to distinguish between the spectral properties of the top layer and the substrate and to estimate the thickness of the top layer. We present a theoretical analysis with the main design features of the instrumentation and software, together with studies of homogeneous and layered samples, to validate the methods and illustrate the potential of the technique for practical applications.     

Computing global and diffuse solar hourly irradiation on clear sky. Review and testing of 54 models

Fifty-four broad band models for computation of global and diffuse irradiance on horizontal surface are shortly presented and tested. The input data for these models consist of surface meteorological data, atmospheric column integrated data and data derived from satellite measurements. The testing procedure is performed for two meteorological stations in Romania (South-Eastern Europe). The testing procedure consists of forty-two stages intended to provide information about the sensitivity of the models to various sets of input data. There is no model to be ranked “the best” for all sets of input data. Very simple models as well as more complex models may belong to the category of “good models”. The best models for solar global radiation computation are, on equal-footing, ESRA3, Ineichen, METSTAT and REST2 (version 81). The second best models are, on equal-footing, Bird, CEM and Paulescu & Schlett. The best models for solar diffuse radiation computation are, on equal-footing, ASHRAE2005 and King. The second best model is MAC model. The best models for computation of both global and diffuse radiation are, on equal-footing, ASHRAE 1972, Biga, Ineichen and REST2 (version 81). The second best is Paulescu & Schlett model.     

The influence of curing conditions on the mechanical properties and leaching of inorganic polymers made of fayalitic slag

This study reports on the impact of the curing conditions on the mechanical properties and leaching of inorganic polymer (IP) mortars made from a water quenched fayalitic slag. Three similar IP mortars were produced by mixing together slag, aggregate and activating solution, and cured in three different environments for 28 d: a) at 20 °C and relative humidity (RH) ~ 50% (T20RH50), b) at 20 °C and RH≥90% (T20RH90) and c) at 60 °C and RH ~ 20% (T60RH20). Compressive strength (EN 196-1) varied between 19 MPa (T20RH50) and 31 MPa (T20RH90). This was found to be attributed to the cracks formed upon curing. Geochemical modelling and two leaching tests were performed, the EA NEN 7375 tank test, and the BS EN 12457-1 single batch test. Results show that Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and As leaching occurred even at high pH, which varied between 10 and 11 in the tank test’s leachates and between 12 and 12.5 in the single batch’s leachates. Leaching values obtained were below the requirements for non-shaped materials of Flemish legislation for As, Cu and Ni in the single batch test.

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A reverse engineering approach for automatic annotation of Web pages

The Semantic Web is gaining increasing interest to fulfill the need of sharing, retrieving, and reusing information. Since Web pages are designed to be read by people, not machines, searching and reusing information on the Web is a difficult task without human participation. To this aim adding semantics (i.e meaning) to a Web page would help the machines to understand Web contents and better support the Web search process. One of the latest developments in this field is Google’s Rich Snippets, a service for Web site owners to add semantics to their Web pages. In this paper we provide a structured approach to automatically annotate a Web page with Rich Snippets RDFa tags. Exploiting a data reverse engineering method, combined with several heuristics, and a named entity recognition technique, our method is capable of recognizing and annotating a subset of Rich Snippets’ vocabulary, i.e., all the attributes of its Review concept, and the names of the Person and Organization concepts. We implemented tools and services and evaluated the accuracy of the approach on real E-commerce Web sites.     

Direct simulation of the infinitesimal dynamics of semi-discrete approximations for convection-diffusion-reaction problems

In this paper a scheme for approximating solutions of convection-diffusion-reaction equations by Markov jump processes is studied. The general principle of the method of lines reduces evolution partial differential equations to semi-discrete approximations consisting of systems of ordinary differential equations. Our approach is to use for this resulting system a stochastic scheme which is essentially a direct simulation of the corresponding infinitesimal dynamics. This implies automatically the time adaptivity and, in one space dimension, stable approximations of diffusion operators on non-uniform grids and the possibility of using moving cells for the transport part, all within the framework of an explicit method. We present several results in one space dimension including free boundary problems, but the general algorithm is simple, flexible and on uniform grids it can be formulated for general evolution partial differential equations in arbitrary space dimensions.     

Investitionsgüterhersteller als Anbieter industrieller Lösungen – Bestandsaufnahme des Wandels anhand einer Umfrage

The article is dedicated to the empirical exploration of solution providers in the German capital goods industry. A model – consisting of six principles and success factors for solution management – is used to draw conclusions on the relevance and the need for action to manage the transition towards being a solution provider. The answers from 99 medium-sized companies reveal the following results: 1.) The solution concept offers the opportunity to gain competitive advantage 2.) The potential of providing solutions has been recognised, yet the implementation is lagging behind 3.) A consistent solution management process is a prerequisite for success 4.) Appropriate methods and tools are required along the whole process.     

Rayleigh fading channel simulator based on inner–outer factorization

The paper deals with the design of Rayleigh fading channel simulators based on the inner–outer factorization. The core of the approach is to approximate the outer spectral factor of the channel power spectral density (PSD) by either finite-order polynomials or rational functions. This, respectively, leads to MA or AR/ARMA models. The parameter estimation operates in two steps: the outer factor, which leads to a minimum-phase filter, is first evaluated inside the unit disk of the z-plane. Then, we propose to compute the Taylor expansion coefficients of the outer factor because they coincide with the model parameters. Unlike other simulation techniques, this has the advantage that the first p parameters remain unchanged when one increases the model order from p to p+1. A comparative study with existing channel simulation approaches points out the relevance of our ARMA model-based method. Moreover, the ARMA model weakens the oscillatory deviations from the theoretical PSD in the case of AR models, or low peaks at the Doppler frequencies for MA models.     

Transformation of stainless steel slag toward a reactive cementitious binder

Argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) slag represents more than 50 wt% of the slag from stainless steel production. Although some applications are available, e.g., as aggregates for road constructions or fertilizers, they are characterized by low economic value and limited applicability. In order to increase the economic value of AOD slag, alternative applications have been proposed, e.g., as partial or full replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). The work presented here investigates whether the adaptation of the AOD slag chemistry within a high temperature process leads to an improvement of its hydraulic properties and thereby can demonstrate its potential to be converted into a hydraulic binder suitable for OPC replacement. For this purpose, three synthetic AOD slags with basicities (CaO/SiO₂) of 2.0, 2.2, and 2.4 were synthesized, and the effect of the CaO/SiO₂ ratio on the material stability, the amount of tricalcium silicate formed, and their hydraulic properties investigated. X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and isothermal calorimetry analysis were used to characterize the microstructure and the hydraulic activity. The results show that the proposed method is indeed a promising way to stabilize a stainless steel AOD slag and convert it into a hydraulic binder.