In-situ steel solidification imaging in continuous casting using magnetic induction tomography

: Solidification process in continuous casting is a critical part of steel production. The speed and quality of the solidification process determines the quality of final product. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are often used to describe the process and design of its control system, but so far, there is no any tool that provides an on-line measurement of the solidification front of hot steel during the continuous casting process. This paper presents a new tool based on magnetic induction tomography (MIT) for real time monitoring of this process. The new MIT system was installed at the end of the secondary cooling chamber of a casting unit and tested during several days in a real production process. MIT is able to create an internal map of electrical conductivity of hot steel deep inside the billet. The image of electrical conductivity is then converted to temperature profile that allows the measurement of the solid, mushy and liquid layers. In this study, such a conversion is done by synchronizing in one time step the MIT measurement and the thermal map generated with the actual process parameters available at that time. The MIT results were then compared with the results obtained of the CFD and thermal modelling of the industrial process. This is the first in-situ monitoring of the interior structure during a real continuous casting.The SHELL-THICK project has received funding from EU Research Fund for Coal and Steel under grant number 709830. This study reflects only the author's views and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein

Evaluation Of Culture Media For Counts Of Bifidobacterium Animalis Subsp. Lactis Bb 12 In Yoghurt After Refrigerated Storage

The agar RCPB pH5 has been considered a good alternative for counts of Bifidobacterium in yoghurt. However, during the refrigerated storage of yoghurt it is extremely difficult to count this microorganism due to the size of the colonies, which are so small they require the aid of a stereoscope to count them. Another agar, MRS-LP, has been also recommended for counts of Bifidobacterium in the presence of yoghurt bacteria. This study evaluated the supplementation of RCPB pH5 agar with dehydrated liver extract and the salts KH2PO4, K2HPO4, FeSO 47H2O, MnSO4H2O and MgSO 47H2O, aiming at improving the differentiation of Bifidobacterium in yoghurt after refrigerated storage, and also evaluated the selective count of Bifidobacterium in yoghurt using the agar MRS-LP. The agar MRS-LP presented the same cell recovery as non-fortified RCPB pH5 agar, used as a standard medium, thus being considered a good option for counts of Bifidobacterium in yoghurt. The fortified RCPB pH5 also presented the same recovery as the standard RCPB pH5 medium, however, the addition of dehydrated liver extract to the RCPB pH5 agar considerably increased the size of the Bifidobacterium colonies after refrigerated storage, making differentiation of the colonies much easier and reliable when compared to the standard non-fortified RPCP pH5. The addition of the salts (KH2PO4, K2HPO4, FeSO47H2O, MnSO 4H2O and MgSO47H2O) had no influence on the performance of the RCPB pH5 agar.392357361Beehrens, H., An elective and selective isolation medium for Bifidobacterium spp (1990) Lett. Appl. Microbiol, 11 (3), pp. 155-157Bomba, A., Nemcová, R., Mudronová, D., Guba, P., The possibilities of potentiating the efficacy of probiotics (2002) Trends Food Sci. Technol, 13 (4), pp. 121-126Amerian Córdoba Park Hotel (2001) Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Evaluation of Health and Nutritional Properties of Probiotics in Food Including Powder Milk with Live Lactic Acid Bacteria, , FAO/WHO, Córdoba, Argentina, 1-4 OctoberGhodussi, H.B., Robinson, R.K., Enumeration of starter cultures in fermented milks (1996) J. Dairy Res, 63 (1), pp. 151-158Lapierre, L., Undeland, P., Cox, L.J., Lithium chloride-sodium propionate agar for the enumeration of Bifidobacteria in fermented dairy products (1992) J. Dairy Sci, 75 (5), pp. 1192-1196Laroia, S., Martin, J.H., Methods for enumerating and propagating Bifidobactéria (1991) Cultured Dairy Prod. J, 26 (2), pp. 32-33Moriya, J., Fachin, L., Gândara, A.L.N., Viotto, W.H., Evaluation of culture media for counts of Bifidobacterium animalis in the presence of yoghurt bacteria (2006) Braz. J. Microbiol, 37, pp. 510-514Onggo, I., Fleet, G.H., Media for the isolation and enumeration of lactic acid bacteria from yoghurts (1993) Aust. J. Dairy Technol, 48 (2), pp. 89-92Payne, J.F., Morris, A.E.J., Beers, P., Evaluation of selective media for the enumeration of Bifidobacterium sp. in milk (1999) J. Appl. Microbiol, 86 (2), pp. 353-358Rybka, S., Kailasapathy, K., Media for the enumeration of yoghurt Bacteria (1996) Int. Dairy J, 6 (8-9), pp. 839-850Vinderola, C.G., Reinheimer, J.A., Culture media for the enumeration of Bifidobacterium bifidum and Lactobacillus acidophilus in the presence of yoghurt bacteria (1999) Int. Dairy J, 9 (8), pp. 497-50

Alignment and preliminary outcomes of an ELT-size instrument to a very large telescope: LINC-NIRVANA at LBT

LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is a high resolution, near infrared imager that uses a multiple field-of-view, layer-oriented, multi-conjugate AO system, consisting of four multi-pyramid wavefront sensors (two for each arm of the Large Binocular Telescope, each conjugated to a different altitude). The system employs up to 40 star probes, looking at up to 20 natural guide stars simultaneously. Its final goal is to perform Fizeau interferometric imaging, thereby achieving ELT-like spatial resolution (22.8 m baseline resolution). For this reason, LN is also equipped with a fringe tracker, a beam combiner and a NIR science camera, for a total of more than 250 optical components and an overall size of approximately 6x4x4.5 meters. This paper describes the tradeoffs evaluated in order to achieve the alignment of the system to the telescope. We note that LN is comparable in size to planned ELT instrumentation. The impact of such alignment strategies will be compared and the selected procedure, where the LBT telescope is, in fact, aligned to the instrument, will be described. Furthermore, results coming from early night-time commissioning of the system will be presented.Comment: 8 pages, 6 pages, AO4ELT5 Proceedings, 201

Drusen de papila. Análisis descriptivo

Los drusen de papila son depósitos de material hialino calcificado a nivel de la cabeza delnervio óptico. Pueden ser difíciles de distinguir de la verdadera inflamación del nervio óptico y su identificacióncorrecta es relevante debido a la morbilidad visual y sistémica que conlleva el diagnóstico de un verdaderoedema de papila.OBJETIVO: Describir los hallazgos clínicos en un grupo de pacientes con drusen de papila.MATERIAL Y MÉTODO: Estudio descriptivo retrospectivo de 39 casos de pseudoedema de papila secundarioa drusen de papila. Se recuperaron datos de la historia clínica y se analizaron características oftalmológicas yde los métodos complementarios (campo visual computarizado –CVC-, tomografía de coherencia óptica –OCT-, ecografía y neuroimágenes).RESULTADOS: Se estudiaron 39 ojos. La edad promedio al diagnóstico fue de 9 años. La mayoría no reportoantecedentes patológicos ni heredofamiliares. El principal motivo de consulta fue control de rutina y el segundofue cefalea. El 56% tenían una excelente agudeza visual, 20% buena, 2.5% regular y 5% mala agudeza visual.El 36% de los ojos fueron emétropes, 41% hipermétropes y 23% miopes. Los hallazgos más representativos enel fondo de ojos fue la sobreelevación papilar (71,8% IC95% 57,9-86), papila de bordes borrados (43% IC95%27,4-58,5) y tortuosidad vascular (43,6% IC95% 27,4-58,5). En todos los casos la ecografía fue diagnóstica,mostrando imágenes hiperecoicas dentro del nervio óptico. En el CVC no se encontraron hallazgos relevantes.CONCLUSIONES: Los drusen de papila son una alteración que puede encontrarse con frecuencia en un examende fondo de ojo de rutina, y que un oftalmólogo debe conocer para evitar errores diagnósticos

Data processing on simulated data for SHARK-NIR

A robust post processing technique is mandatory to analyse the coronagraphic high contrast imaging data. Angular Differential Imaging (ADI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are the most used approaches to suppress the quasi-static structure in the Point Spread Function (PSF) in order to revealing planets at different separations from the host star. The focus of this work is to apply these two data reduction techniques to obtain the best limit detection for each coronagraphic setting that has been simulated for the SHARK-NIR, a coronagraphic camera that will be implemented at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We investigated different seeing conditions ($0.4"-1"$) for stellar magnitude ranging from R=6 to R=14, with particular care in finding the best compromise between quasi-static speckle subtraction and planet detection.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, proceeding for the fifth Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes (AO4ELT5) meeting in 201

Activity theory, complexity and sports coaching: An epistemology for a discipline

The aim of this article is two-fold. Firstly, it is to advance the case for Activity Theory (AT) as a credible and alternative lens to view and research sports coaching. Secondly, it is to position this assertion within the wider debate about the epistemology of coaching. Following a framing introduction, a more comprehensive review of the development and current conceptualisation of AT is given. Here, AT’s evolution through three distinct phases and related theorists, namely Vygotsky, Leont’ev and Engeström, is initially traced. This gives way to a more detailed explanation of AT’s principal conceptual components, including ‘object’, ‘subject’, ‘tools’ (mediating artefacts), ‘rules’, a ‘community’ and a ‘division of labour’. An example is then presented from empirical work illustrating how AT can be used as a means to research sports coaching. The penultimate section locates such thinking within coaching’s current ‘epistemological debate; arguing that the coaching ‘self’ is not an autonomous individual, but a relative part of social and cultural arrangements. Finally, a conclusion summarises the main points made, particularly in terms in presenting the grounding constructivist epistemology of AT as a potential way forward for sports coaching