Role of Titanium in Thin Wall Vermicular Graphite Iron Castings Production

In this paper the effects of titanium addition in an amount up to 0.13 wt.% have been investigated to determine their effect on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Thin Wall Vermicular Graphite Iron Castings (TWVGI). The study was performed for thinwalled iron castings with 3-5 mm wall thickness and for the reference casting with 13 mm. Microstructural changes were evaluated by analyzing quantitative data sets obtained by image analyzer and also using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Metallographic examinations show that in thin-walled castings there is a significant impact of titanium addition to vermicular graphite formation. Thinwalled castings with vermicular graphite have a homogeneous structure, free of chills, and good mechanical properties. It may predispose them as a potential use as substitutes for aluminum alloy castings in diverse applications

Spectroscopy of southern Galactic disk planetary nebulae. Notes on chemical composition and emission-line stars

We present low resolution spectroscopic observations for a sample of 53 planetary nebulae (PNe) located in the southern sky between Vela and Norma constellations and pertaining to the Galactic disk with expected Galactocentric distance range of 5 to 10 kpc. We derive nebular chemical composition and plasma parameters with the classical empirical method. For most of the observed objects, this has been done for the first time. The distributions of the chemical abundances of the observed disk sample are generally indistinguishable from Galactic bulge and inner-disk PNe populations. The exceptions are possible differences in the He/H distribution, as compared to bulge PNe and Ne/Ar, compared to inner-disk PNe sample. The derived O/H ratios for the observed disk PNe fit to the concept of flattening of the chemical gradient in the inner parts of the Milky Way. We use the spectra to search for emission-line central stars in the observed sample. We found 6 new emission-line central stars comprising examples of all known types: WEL, VL and [WR]. We confirm that these types represent three evolutionary unconnected forms of enhanced mass-loss in the central stars of PNe. We note on the problem of high ionisation PNe with nebular CIV emission that can mimic the presence of WEL central stars in 1D spectra.Comment: 35 pages, 19 figures, 4 tables (Note: corrected error in measured flux of [O II] 7325 lines in Table B.1

Keyword binding as a method of reducing the length of indexes in library catalogues (based on the experience of Digital Library of Wielkopolska)

This paper presents a relatively simple and cheap method for shortening the subject indexes in library catalogs. The method involves taking a set of several dozen general concepts, characterized by a low semantic awareness barrier. Built around these words are subindexes made up of the words which appear in descriptions containing a particular general concept. The effectiveness of the method was studied by analyzing the content of fragments of subject indexes of the NUKAT central catalog of Polish libraries, the University Library in Poznań and the Library of Congress. Compared with the subject headings language method, this method reduces the length of an index by an average of two-thirds, and makes it significantly easier for readers to navigate the vocabulary used by the cataloger. This method has been developed for the needs of Digital Library of Wielkopolska, and will probably be used in all regional digital libraries in Poland

Chemical compositions and plasma parameters of planetary nebulae with Wolf-Rayet and wels type central stars

Aims: Chemical compositions and other properties of planetary nebulae around central stars of spectral types [WC], [WO], and wels are compared with those of `normal' central stars, in order to clarify the evolutionary status of each type and their interrelation. Methods: We use plasma diagnostics to derive from optical spectra the plasma parameters and chemical compositions of 48 planetary nebulae. We also reanalyze the published spectra of a sample of 167 non-WR PN. The results as well as the observational data are compared in detail with those from other studies of the objects in common. Results: The central star's spectral type is clearly correlated with electron density, temperature and excitation class of the nebula, [WC] nebulae tend to be smaller than the other types. All this corroborates the view of an evolutionary sequence from cool [WC 11] central stars inside dense, low excitation nebulae towards hot [WO 1] stars with low density, high excitation nebulae. The wels PN, however, appear to be a separate class of objects, not linked to WRPN by evolution, --abridged--Comment: 17 pages, 28 figures, Accepted in A&A. Accepted in A&