Toward On-Line Slag Composition Analysis: Optical Emissions from Laboratory Electric Arc

We acknowledge the support of Research Fund for Coal and Steel under grant agreement No. 709923, Academy of Finland for Genome of Steel grant No. 311934, Business Finland for Grant No. 4478/31/2019, Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.Electric arc furnaces and ladle furnaces have an important role in the future of steelmaking where CO 2 emissions have to be mitigated to an acceptable level. One way to address this goal is to optimize and improve the current practices by adjusting the chemistry and reactions with material additions or gas injections. These procedures would greatly benefit from on-line slag composition analysis. Since the electric arcs radiate throughout the melting, optical emission spectroscopy is a potential method for such analysis. In this study, optical emissions from the electric arc are measured in a laboratory environment. Dozens of atomic emission lines were correlated with Cr 2O 3, Fe 2O 3, Al 2O 3, SiO 2, MnO, MgO, CaO, CaF 2, V 2O 5, and Ni content of the slag together with correlation between CaF 2 and molecular optical emission bands of CaF. Optimal spectral resolution for industrial applications was deducted to be between 0.022 and 0.179 nm. © 2021, The Author(s). --//-- Published under the CC BY license.Academy of Finland for Genome of Steel 311934, 4478/31/2019; Research Fund for Coal and Steel 709923; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

First observation of Bs -> D_{s2}^{*+} X mu nu decays

Using data collected with the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, the semileptonic decays Bs -> Ds+ X mu nu and Bs -> D0 K+ X mu nu are detected. Two structures are observed in the D0 K+ mass spectrum at masses consistent with the known D^+_{s1}(2536) and $D^{*+}_{s2}(2573) mesons. The measured branching fractions relative to the total Bs semileptonic rate are B(Bs -> D_{s2}^{*+} X mu nu)/B(Bs -> X mu nu)= (3.3\pm 1.0\pm 0.4)%, and B(Bs -> D_{s1}^+ X munu)/B(Bs -> X mu nu)= (5.4\pm 1.2\pm 0.5)%, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This is the first observation of the D_{s2}^{*+} state in Bs decays; we also measure its mass and width.Comment: 8 pages 2 figures. Published in Physics Letters

2012 Activity Report of the Regional Research Programme on Hadrontherapy for the ETOILE Center

2012 is the penultimate year of financial support by the CPER 2007-2013 for ETOILE's research program, sustained by the PRRH at the University Claude Bernard. As with each edition we make the annual review of the research in this group, so active for over 12 years now. Over the difficulties in the decision-making process for the implementation of the ETOILE Center, towards which all our efforts are focussed, some "themes" (work packages) were strengthened, others have progressed, or have been dropped. This is the case of the eighth theme (technological developments), centered around the technology for rotative beam distribution heads (gantries) and, after being synchronized with the developments of ULICE's WP6, remained so by ceasing its activities, coinciding also with the retirement of its historic leader at IPNL, Marcel Bajard. Topic number 5 ("In silico simulations") has suffered the departure of its leader, Benjamin Ribba, although the work has still been provided by Branka Bernard, a former postdoctoral fellow in Lyon Sud, and now back home in Croatia, still in contract with UCBL for the ULICE project. Aside from these two issues (and the fact that the theme "Medico-economical simulations" is now directly linked to the first one ("Medical Project"), the rest of the teams are growing, as evidenced by the publication statistics at the beginning of this report. This is obviously due to the financial support of our always faithful regional institutions, but also to the synergy that the previous years, the European projects, the arrival of the PRIMES LabEx, and the national France Hadron infrastructure have managed to impulse. The Rhone-Alpes hadron team, which naturally includes the researchers of LPC at Clermont, should also see its influence result in a strong presence in France Hadron's regional node, which is being organized. The future of this regional research is not yet fully guaranteed, especially in the still uncertain context of ETOILE, but the tracks are beginning to emerge to allow past and present efforts translate into a long future that we all want to see established. Each of the researchers in PRRH is aware that 2013 will be (and already is) the year of great challenge : for ETOILE, for the PRRH, for hadron therapy in France, for French hadrontherapy in Europe (after the opening and beginning of treatments in the German [HIT Heidelberg, Marburg], Italian [CNAO, Pavia] and Austrian [MedAustron, Wien Neuerstadt]) centers. Let us meet again in early 2014 for a comprehensive review of the past and a perspective for the future ..

The Power Board of the KM3NeT Digital Optical Module: design, upgrade, and production

The KM3NeT Collaboration is building an underwater neutrino observatory at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea consisting of two neutrino telescopes, both composed of a three-dimensional array of light detectors, known as digital optical modules. Each digital optical module contains a set of 31 three inch photomultiplier tubes distributed over the surface of a 0.44 m diameter pressure-resistant glass sphere. The module includes also calibration instruments and electronics for power, readout and data acquisition. The power board was developed to supply power to all the elements of the digital optical module. The design of the power board began in 2013, and several prototypes were produced and tested. After an exhaustive validation process in various laboratories within the KM3NeT Collaboration, a mass production batch began, resulting in the construction of over 1200 power boards so far. These boards were integrated in the digital optical modules that have already been produced and deployed, 828 until October 2023. In 2017, an upgrade of the power board, to increase reliability and efficiency, was initiated. After the validation of a pre-production series, a production batch of 800 upgraded boards is currently underway. This paper describes the design, architecture, upgrade, validation, and production of the power board, including the reliability studies and tests conducted to ensure the safe operation at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea throughout the observatory's lifespa

Prompt K_short production in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=0.9 TeV

The production of K_short mesons in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 0.9 TeV is studied with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The luminosity of the analysed sample is determined using a novel technique, involving measurements of the beam currents, sizes and positions, and is found to be 6.8 +/- 1.0 microbarn^-1. The differential prompt K_short production cross-section is measured as a function of the K_short transverse momentum and rapidity in the region 0 < pT < 1.6 GeV/c and 2.5 < y < 4.0. The data are found to be in reasonable agreement with previous measurements and generator expectations.Comment: 6+18 pages, 6 figures, updated author lis

Electric arc characterisation and furnace process monitoring with optical emission spectroscopy and image analysis

Abstract Electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and ladle furnaces (LFs) are the main recycling units for scrap metal. With lower CO₂ emissions than traditional ore-based steelmaking, the importance of EAFs can be expected to increase in the future. Increasing steel production rates and demand for high-quality and special steels require innovative process control systems to be developed for the steel industry. However, the harsh conditions inside the furnaces set strict requirements for durability and viable data acquisition methods for online measurement systems. In this thesis, the applicability of optical emission spectroscopy (OES) as an online measurement system for industrial EAFs and LFs is discussed, based on the results from pilot-scale and industrial EAFs, and an industrial LF. The electric arc has been characterised with OES, plasma diagnostics, and image analysis in the pilot-scale EAF measurements. These studies highlighted the influence of slag composition on the overall properties of the electric arc, the electrical parameters of the furnace, and the arc length{voltage relation. The majority of the atomic emission lines in the electric arc OES spectra were observed to originate from the slag components.> In the industrial EAF campaign, high alloyed steel grade was observed to have high-quality arc spectra within 30 mins before tapping and higher radiative heat transfer compared with the carbon steel grade. The spectra from the carbon steel grade, on the other hand, were used to observe how spectra evolve during slag foaming. Additionally, the molten bath surface temperature was estimated from the OES spectra. The slag composition was evaluated with OES in the industrial LF campaign, indicating that the CaF₂, MgO, and MnO content of the slag could be evaluated from the spectra

The issue of microplastics in marine ecosystems: A bibliometric network analysis

Human activities lead to several impacts on marine ecosystems, among which a massive input of plastic entering the marine environment. This scenario has the potential to threaten ecosystem health and integrity, also reducing the ability of marine ecosystems to provide good and services on which human well-being relies. In this study, the global scientific literature on marine microplastics was explored by combining social network analysis and bibliometrics. Network maps displayed the relationships among keywords, authors, countries, and journals dealing with the issue of microplastics in marine ecosystems. The citation analysis of journals showed that \u201cMarine Pollution Bulletin\u201d resulted the first among the scientific journals publishing articles on this subject. The results also highlighted that most research on the subject is focused on toxicology and environmental chemistry, while ecological studies focusing on the impact of microplastics at ecosystem level are still limited

Transcutaneous electrical stimulation in obstructive sleep apnea : is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

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Optical emission spectroscopy in electric arc furnaces and ladle furnaces:from laboratory to industrial applications

Abstract Steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world, and electric arc furnaces (EAFs) together with ladle furnaces (LFs) are the main units to process the recycled scrap metal [1]. As the customer steel recycling rate, furnace capacities, and the electricity-based steelmaking overall are expected to increase, the real-time response of the analysis system becomes more and more important. One promising on-line measurement tool for EAFs and LFs that can withstand the furnace conditions is optical emission spectroscopy (OES). In this paper, the recent experimental OES research for EAFs and LFs is reviewed. The research includes a small-scale furnace (University of Oulu, Finland), a pilot-scale furnace (RWTH Aachen University, IOB, Germany), and industrial furnaces (Deutsche Edelstahlwerke, Germany)

Challenges for implementing collaborative practices in industrial engineering projects

Abstract Collaborative project delivery models were introduced in North Sea oil and gas projects. Recently, they have been successfully applied in the context of construction and infrastructure projects but their application in industrial engineering project context has been limited. We analyze empirically which type of challenges there are in applying collaborative practices in two projects. The key challenges include the divergent objectives of the actors that hamper common goal setting; collaborative models and rewarding mechanisms which are perceived as inappropriate; the limited funding before investment decision when early involvement of key actors should be secured; the emphasis on collaboration capabilities with every actor which are not possible in tendering; and the collaboration with governmental authorities which needs a different approach from that with the other actors. Collaborative practices have a potential to improve project performance and identified challenges should be taken into account when implementing collaboration in industrial engineering projects