Smart process manufacturing for formulated products

We outline the smart manufacturing challenges for formulated products, which are typically multicomponent, structured, and multiphase. These challenges predominate in the food, pharmaceuticals, agricultural and specialty chemicals, energy storage and energetic materials, and consumer goods industries, and are driven by fast-changing customer demand and, in some cases, a tight regulatory framework. This paper discusses progress in smart manufacturing—namely, digitalization and the use of large datasets with predictive models and solution-finding algorithms—in these industries. While some progress has been achieved, there is a strong need for more demonstration of model-based tools on realistic problems in order to demonstrate their benefits and highlight any systemic weaknesses

Scattering of a Partially-coherent Wave from a Material Circular Cylinder

The case of a partially-coherent wave scattered from a material circular cylinder is investigated. Expressions for the TMz and TEz scattered-field cross-spectral density functions are derived by utilizing the plane-wave spectrum representation of electromagnetic fields and cylindrical wave transformations. From the analytical scattered-field cross-spectral density functions, the mean scattering widths are derived and subsequently validated via comparison with those computed from Method of Moments Monte Carlo simulations. The analytical relations as well as the simulation results are discussed and physically interpreted. Key insights are noted and subsequently analyzed

Nondestructive Characterization of Salisbury Screen and Jaumann Absorbers Using a Clamped Rectangular Waveguide Geometry

A nondestructive technique to characterize Salisbury screen and Jaumann absorbers is presented. The proposed method utilizes two flanged rectangular waveguides to unambiguously determine the permittivities of two-layer dielectric absorbers. The derivation of the theoretical reflection and transmission coefficients, necessary to determine material under test permittivities, is presented. The derivation makes use of Love’s equivalence principle and the continuity of transverse magnetic fields to formulate a system of coupled magnetic field integral equations. These integral equations are solved using the Method of Methods to yield theoretical scattering parameters. The unknown permittivities are then found using nonlinear least squares. To validate the proposed nondestructive technique, measurement results of three two-layer dielectric absorbers are presented and analyzed. In addition, an extensive error analysis is performed on the extracted permittivity values. The results of the proposed method are found to be in good agreement with the results returned by traditional, destructive waveguide transmission/reflection approaches

Forgiveness and Failure of the Heart

The extent and severity of cardiovascular disease can be measured by an angiogram. This procedure measures the degree of occlusion in major arteries of the heart. This physical measurement was correlated with patient\u27s tendency to be forgiving of themselves and others. This measurement reflects forgiveness as a trait-like characteristic. Patients at Loma Linda University Medical Center who were undergoing angiography were given the BDHI (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory), the FOS and FOO (Forgiveness of Self and Forgiveness of Others) scales to complete during their waiting room period. No significant correlations were found between the scales used in this study and angiogram outcomes. Suggestions for future research are given and possible reasons for the failure to find correlations are also discussed

Economic Benefits of Waste Pickling Solution Valorization

An integrated hybrid membrane process, composed of a diffusion dialysis (DD), a membrane distillation (MD) and a reactive precipitation unit (CSTR), is proposed as a promising solution for the valorization and onsite recycling of pickling waste streams. An economic analysis was performed aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of the developed process with a NPV of about EUR 40,000 and a DPBP of 4 years. The investment and operating costs, as well as the avoided costs and the benefits for the company operating the plant, were analyzed with an extensive cost tracking exercise and through face-to-face contact with manufacturers and sector leaders. A mathematical model was implemented using the gPROMS modelling platform. It is able to simulate steady state operations and run optimization analysis of the process performance. The impact of key operating and design parameters, such as the set-point bath concentration and the DD and MD membrane areas, respectively, was investigated and the optimal arrangement was identified. Finally, operating variables and design parameters were optimized simultaneously in a nonlinear framework as a tradeoff between profitability and environmental impact. We show how the integration of new technologies into the traditional pickling industry could provide a significant benefit for the issues of process sustainability, which are currently pressing

Unexpected short- and medium-range atomic structure of sputtered amorphous silicon upon thermal annealing

We investigate the structure of magnetron-sputtered (MS) amorphous silicon(a-Si) prepared under standard deposition conditions and compare this to pure ion-implanted (II) a-Si. The structure of both films is characterized in their as-prepared and thermally annealed states. Significant differences are observed in short- and medium-range order following thermal annealing. Whereas II a-Si undergoes structural relaxation toward a continuous random network, MS a-Si exhibits little change. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of nanopores in the MS film consistent with reduced mass-density. Therefore, the short- and medium-range order of annealed, MS a-Si is tentatively attributed to these pores

Actinide Behavior in a Freshwater Pond

Long-term investigations of solution chemistry in an alkaline freshwater pond have revealed that actinide oxidation state behavior, particularly that of plutonium, is complex. The Pu(V,VI) fraction was predominant in solution, but it varied over the entire range reported from other natural aquatic environments, in this case, as a result of intrinsic biological and chemical cycles (redox and pH-dependent phenomena). A strong positive correlation between plutonium (Pu), but not uranium (U), and hydroxyl ion over the observation period, especially when both were known to be in higher oxidation states, was particularly notable. Coupled with other examples of divergent U and Pu behavior, this result suggests that Pu(V), or perhaps a mixture of Pu(V,VI), was the prevalent oxidation state in solution. Observations of trivalent actinide sorption behavior during an algal bloom, coupled with the association with a high-molecular weight (nominally 6000 to 10,000 mol wt) organic fraction in solution, indicate that solution-detritus cycling of organic carbon, in turn, may be the primary mechanism in amercium-curium (Am-Cm) cycling. Sorption by sedimentary materials appears to predominate over other factors controlling effective actinide solubility and may explain, at least partially, the absence of an expected strong positive correlation between carbonate and dissolved U. 49 references, 6 figures, 12 tables

Comparative food-chain behavior and distribution of actinide elements in and around a contaminated fresh-water pond

The bioaccumulation of /sup 233/ /sup 234/U, /sup 238/U, /sup 238/Pu, /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu, /sup 241/Am, and /sup 244/Cm in both native and introduced biota was studied at Pond 3513, a former low-level radioactive waste settling basin at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This system, which was decommissioned in 1976 after more than 30 years use, contains approximately 5 Ci of /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu; inventories of other actinide isotopes are considerably less. Significantly higher concentrations of actinides in fish that were allowed access to sediments indicated that sedimentary particulates may be the primary source of transuranics to biota in shallow fresh-water ecosystems. Our study determined habitat, in particular the degree of association of an organism with the sediment-water interface, to be the primary factor in controlling transuranic concentrations in aquatic biota. In most of the biological samples analyzed, excluding samples suspected of being contaminated by sediment, /sup 241/Am//sup 239/Pu, /sup 244/Cm//sup 239/Pu, and /sup 238/U//sup 239/Pu ratios were greater than the respective ratio in sediment while /sup 233/ /sup 234/U//sup 238/U, and /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu//sup 238/Pu ratios were not different from the respective ratios in sediment. The relative uptake of actinides from contaminated sediment by aquatic and terrestrial biota at this site was U > Cm greater than or equal to Am > Pu. The relative extractability of actinides from shoreline sediment was U > Cm approx. = Am > Pu; we also observed the same relative ranking for sediment-water exchange in situ. Concentrations of transuranics in water, terrestrial vegetation, and vertebrate carcasses were less than 10% of the recommended public exposure maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of the ICRP

The Ethics of Corporate Governance

How should corporate directors determine what is the right decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from ethical investors, to do the good thing when they seek to make the right choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' decisions. While useful for those purposes, agency theory provides only limited guidance. Supplementing it with the alternatives - stakeholder theory and stewardship theory - tends to put directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of shareholders. This paper seeks to reframe the discussion about corporate governance in terms of the ethical debate between consequential, teleological approaches to ethics and idealist, deontological ones, suggesting that directors are - for good reason - more inclined toward utilitarian judgments like those underpinning shareholder value. But the problems with shareholder value have become so great that a different framework is needed: strategic value, with an emphasis on long-term value creation judged from a decidedly utilitarian standpoint