Physical and chemical characterization of automotive shredder residues

Car manufacturers recycle many of the materials from wrecked vehicles, but the disposal of the lighter components is increasingly difficult. The high cost of landfill is making the option of incineration more attractive, as it reduces the mass and the volume of the waste. Energy recovery is also possible. This paper examines those properties of automotive shredder residues (ASR) which are relevant to the formation of pollutants during incineration. The higher specific energy of ASR was found to be 19,000 kJ kg-1 and the ash content 38%, which indicate that it is a suitable fuel for municipal incinerators or cement kilns. However, it is very heterogeneous, as the low density fraction is mainly composed of plastics, with smaller amounts of metallic pieces, rubber, glass and wood. The macroscopic composition of a representative sample of ASR was determined. The metal and the chlorine contents were analysed by special techniques and were found to be 22% and 3.5%, respectively of the fraction. Laboratory-scale incineration trials of ASR are now planned.ADEME RENAULT S

Building the 'JMMC Stellar Diameters Catalog' using SearchCal

11 pages, to be published in SPIE'2010 conference on "Optical and Infrared Interferometry II"The JMMC Calibrator Workgroup has long developed methods to ascertain the angular diameter of stars, and provides this expertise in the SearchCal software. SearchCal dynamically finds calibrators near science objects by querying CDS hosted catalogs according to observational parameters. Initially limited to bright objects (K magnitude ≤ 5.5), it has been upgraded with a new method providing calibrators without any magnitude limit but those of queried catalogs. We introduce here a new static catalog of stellar diameters, containing more than 38000 entries, obtained from SearchCal results aggregation on the whole celestial sphere, complete for all stars with HIPPARCOS parallaxes. We detail the methods and tools used to produce and study this catalog, and compare the static catalog approach with the dynamical querying provided by SearchCal engine. We also introduce a new Virtual Observatory service, enabling the reporting of, and querying about, stars flagged as "bad calibrators" by astronomers, adding this ever-growing database to our SearchCal service

Grafting of α-tocopherol upon γ-irradiation in UHMWPE probed by model hydrocarbons

Today, UHMWPE implants are stabilized with α-tocopherol and cross-linked by irradiation in order to reduce wear. Little is known about the structural transformation of the antioxidant α-tocopherol upon irradiation. In the present investigation, the major irradiation reaction products of α-tocopherol dissolved at 0.1 wt.% in liquid model hydrocarbons were characterized spectroscopically and by independent synthesis. We observed only a single product group, namely phenolic alkyl ethers formed by radical recombination of a phenoxyl radical with a secondary alkyl radical. The irradiation dose is the parameter which controls the amount of consumption of α-tocopherol. At a dose of 27.5 kGy, 31-34% of α-tocopherol was transformed into the corresponding ether, while at 97.9 kGy, the degree of transformation was 68-76%. The observed ether formation in the liquid model hydrocarbons explains two significant observations for the α-tocopherol stabilized polymers, namely depletion of the α-tocopherol’s phenol group upon irradiation and “grafting”, i.e. formation of a chemical bond between the polymer and its antioxidant.

Influence of various types of damage on the fracture strength of ceramic femoral heads

Ceramic-on-ceramic articulations are a frequently used bearing for total hip replacements. This success mainly is due to their excellent tribological properties. Ceramics can withstand high pressure loads due to its brittleness but only low bending stresses. A ceramic ball head fracture is the result of subcritical crack growth. This kind of fracture in vivo can abet by damage or contamination of the stem cone. The main goal of this work is to provide a risk assessment of different possible damage mechanisms and contaminations that may result in lower fracture strength of a ceramic ball head. To simulate potential causes, different types and dimensions of metal wire, foils, hair, and lubricants were inserted between the ceramic ball head and the metal cone of the stem. The test results clearly show that fracture strength is negatively infl uenced by most of the inhomogeneities between the cone and the head because they increase the peak stresses acting on a part of the ceramic ball head. The results of this article clearly confi rm the demand for an undamaged taper fi t “ free of contamination ” between the ceramic head and the metal cone during implantation

Physical and chemical characterization of automotive shredder residues

Car manufacturers recycle many of the materials from wrecked vehicles, but the disposal of the lighter components is increasingly difficult. The high cost of landfill is making the option of incineration more attractive, as it reduces the mass and the volume of the waste. Energy recovery is also possible. This paper examines those properties of automotive shredder residues (ASR) which are relevant to the formation of pollutants during incineration. The higher specific energy of ASR was found to be 19,000 kJ kg-1 and the ash content 38%, which indicate that it is a suitable fuel for municipal incinerators or cement kilns. However, it is very heterogeneous, as the low density fraction is mainly composed of plastics, with smaller amounts of metallic pieces, rubber, glass and wood. The macroscopic composition of a representative sample of ASR was determined. The metal and the chlorine contents were analysed by special techniques and were found to be 22% and 3.5%, respectively of the fraction. Laboratory-scale incineration trials of ASR are now planned.ADEME RENAULT S

The Transit Light Curve Project. XIII. Sixteen Transits of the Super-Earth GJ 1214b

We present optical photometry of 16 transits of the super-Earth GJ 1214b, allowing us to refine the system parameters and search for additional planets via transit timing. Starspot-crossing events are detected in two light curves, and the star is found to be variable by a few percent. Hence, in our analysis, special attention is given to systematic errors that result from star spots. The planet-to-star radius ratio is 0.11610+/-0.00048, subject to a possible upward bias by a few percent due to the unknown spot coverage. Even assuming this bias to be negligible, the mean density of planet can be either 3.03+/-0.50 g cm^{-3} or 1.89+/-0.33 g cm^{-3}, depending on whether the stellar radius is estimated from evolutionary models or from an empirical mass-luminosity relation combined with the light curve parameters. One possible resolution is that the orbit is eccentric (e approximately equal to 0.14), which would favor the higher density, and hence a much thinner atmosphere for the planet. The transit times were found to be periodic within about 15s, ruling out the existence of any other super-Earths with periods within a factor-of-two of the known planet.Comment: Accepted in Ap

Riboswitch structure: an internal residue mimicking the purine ligand

The adenine and guanine riboswitches regulate gene expression in response to their purine ligand. X-ray structures of the aptamer moiety of these riboswitches are characterized by a compact fold in which the ligand forms a Watson–Crick base pair with residue 65. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a strict restriction at position 39 of the aptamer that prevents the G39–C65 and A39–U65 combinations, and mutational studies indicate that aptamers with these sequence combinations are impaired for ligand binding. In order to investigate the rationale for sequence conservation at residue 39, structural characterization of the U65C mutant from Bacillus subtilis pbuE adenine riboswitch aptamer was undertaken. NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography studies demonstrate that the U65C mutant adopts a compact ligand-free structure, in which G39 occupies the ligand-binding site of purine riboswitch aptamers. These studies present a remarkable example of a mutant RNA aptamer that adopts a native-like fold by means of ligand mimicking and explain why this mutant is impaired for ligand binding. Furthermore, this work provides a specific insight into how the natural sequence has evolved through selection of nucleotide identities that contribute to formation of the ligand-bound state, but ensures that the ligand-free state remains in an active conformation

BEBOP V. Homogeneous stellar analysis of potential circumbinary planet hosts

Planets orbiting binary systems are relatively unexplored compared to those around single stars. Detections of circumbinary planets and planetary systems offer a first detailed view into our understanding of circumbinary planet formation and dynamical evolution. The BEBOP (binaries escorted by orbiting planets) radial velocity survey plays a special role in this adventure as it focuses on eclipsing single-lined binaries with an FGK dwarf primary and M dwarf secondary allowing for the highest radial velocity precision using the HARPS and SOPHIE spectrographs. We obtained 4512 high-resolution spectra for the 179 targets in the BEBOP survey which we used to derive the stellar atmospheric parameters using both equivalent widths and spectral synthesis. We furthermore derive stellar masses, radii, and ages for all targets. With this work, we present the first homogeneous catalogue of precise stellar parameters for these eclipsing single-lined binaries

BEBOP V. Homogeneous stellar analysis of potential circumbinary planet hosts

Planets orbiting binary systems are relatively unexplored compared to those around single stars. Detections of circumbinary planets and planetary systems offer a first detailed view into our understanding of circumbinary planet formation and dynamical evolution. The BEBOP (binaries escorted by orbiting planets) radial velocity survey plays a special role in this adventure as it focuses on eclipsing single-lined binaries with an FGK dwarf primary and M dwarf secondary allowing for the highest radial velocity precision using the HARPS and SOPHIE spectrographs. We obtained 4512 high-resolution spectra for the 179 targets in the BEBOP survey which we used to derive the stellar atmospheric parameters using both equivalent widths and spectral synthesis. We furthermore derive stellar masses, radii, and ages for all targets. With this work, we present the first homogeneous catalogue of precise stellar parameters for these eclipsing single-lined binaries

Bright Opportunities for Atmospheric Characterization of Small Planets: Masses and Radii of K2-3 b, c, and d and GJ3470 b from Radial Velocity Measurements and Spitzer Transits

We report improved masses, radii, and densities for four planets in two bright M-dwarf systems, K2-3 and GJ3470, derived from a combination of new radial velocity and transit observations. Supplementing K2 photometry with follow-up Spitzer transit observations refined the transit ephemerides of K2-3 b, c, and d by over a factor of 10. We analyze ground-based photometry from the Evryscope and Fairborn Observatory to determine the characteristic stellar activity timescales for our Gaussian Process fit, including the stellar rotation period and activity region decay timescale. The stellar rotation signals for both stars are evident in the radial velocity data and is included in our fit using a Gaussian process trained on the photometry. We find the masses of K2-3 b, K2-3 c, and GJ3470 b to be 6.48{}-0.93+0.99, 2.14{}-1.04+1.08, and 12.58{}-1.28+1.31 M ⊕, respectively. K2-3 d was not significantly detected and has a 3σ upper limit of 2.80 M ⊕. These two systems are training cases for future TESS systems; due to the low planet densities (ρ < 3.7 g cm-3) and bright host stars (K < 9 mag), they are among the best candidates for transmission spectroscopy in order to characterize the atmospheric compositions of small planets