The effect of vanadium alloying on the wear resistance of pearlitic rails

Due to the increasing demand on pearlitic rails to support heavier loads and higher speeds, grooved rails for tramways and light rail transit (LRT) require strengthening via alloying or heat treatment, i.e. accelerated cooling after hot-rolling. In this study, the wear performance of five different commercial grades is compared using unlubricated twin-disc testing and detailed microstructural characterisation. Results indicate that the vanadium-alloyed steel experiences less than half the wear rate of a heat-treated grade with a similar hardness. This is attributed to the increased stability and toughness of vanadium-containing cementite, as compared to pure cementite. The evidence suggests that vanadium partitions into the cementite lamellae during the formation of pearlite. This improvement in wear resistance due to vanadium could enable an approximately two-fold reduction in the maintenance and life cycle costs relative to heat-treated rail alternatives.regarded as transition-phases relative to mixtures of cementite and ferrite.ArcelorMittal Research Collaboration Agreement number 6085701156

Accurate control of a liquid-crystal display to produce a homogenized Fourier transform for holographic memories

We show an accurate procedure to obtain a Fourier transform (FT) with no dc term using a commercial twisted-nematic liquid-crystal display. We focus on the application to holographic storage of binary data pages, where a drastic decrease of the dc term in the FT is highly desirable. Two different codification schemes are considered: binary π radians phase modulation and hybrid ternary modulation. Any deviation in the values of the amplitude and phase shift generates the appearance of a strong dc term. Experimental results confirm that the calculated configurations provide a FT with no dc term, thus showing the effectiveness of the proposal.This work was supported by the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain)” under projects FIS2005-05881-C02-01 and FIS2005-05881-C02-02, and by the “Generalitat Valenciana” under Project GV06/007

Effect of chemical structure on the sonochemical degradation of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)

Perfluoroalkyl surfactants include chemicals characterized by a fully fluorinated carbon chain (hydrophobic and oleophobic tail) bound to a hydrophilic head (a carboxyl or sulfonic group). These compounds are toxic and highly resistant to chemical/biological attack, and some are known to be bio-accumulative. This study investigates the sonochemical degradation at 500 kHz of different carboxylic and sulfonic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, 1.7 mM total organic fluorine) to assess the effect of chain length, functional head group, and substituents (–CH2–CH2– moiety and ether group) on the degradation rate. Under these conditions, the rates of defluorination determined for two widely used perfluoroalkyl substances, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), were 3.5 to 3.7 μM F− min−1, respectively. The degradation rate of perfluoroalkyl sulfonates decreased with the perfluorocarbon chain length as indicated by the 1.3 and 1.9-fold lower defluorination rates for perfluorohexane- and perfluorobutane sulfonate than that of PFOS. A similar trend was observed during the sonolysis of perfluoroalkyl carboxylate analogs with 6, 5 or 3 carbon atoms which had 1.1-, 1.8-, and 2.3-fold lower defluorination rates, respectively, than that of PFOA. Furthermore, perfluoroalkyl compounds appeared more amenable to sonolysis than the polyfluoroalkyl analogues with the same number of C atoms (defluorination rate of PFOS/6 : 2 fluorotelomer sulfonate ≈ 2.3). The results demonstrate that sonolysis is a promising approach to treat PFASs in aqueous streams. Furthermore, they underscore that the chemical structure of PFASs has a marked effect on the rate at which they undergo sonochemical degradation

Influence of Thickness on the Holographic Parameters of H-PDLC Materials

For photopolymers the compound concentrations and final thickness of the sample should be known in order to model hologram formation and introduce the reaction-diffusion kinetics of the monomer-polymer system. In principle the cell thickness can be controlled by bead spacers between the two pieces of ITO glass. In this paper we report a study of the influence of thickness on the holographic properties of this type of materials. To fit the physical and optical thickness of the samples we used the rigorous coupled wave analysis assuming an exponential decay in the refractive index modulation.The work was supported by the “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” of Spain under Projects FIS2011-29803-C02-01 and FIS2011-29803-C02-02 and by the “Generalitat Valenciana” of Spain under Projects PROMETEO/2011/021 and ISIC/2012/013

Exploring binary and ternary modulations on a PA-LCoS device for holographic data storage in a PVA/AA photopolymer

We focus on the novelty of three elements in holographic data storage systems (HDSS): the data pager, where we introduce a parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) microdisplay; the recording material, where we consider the highly versatile PVA/AA photopolymer; and also in the architecture of the object arm, where a convergent correlator system is introduced. We show that PA-LCoS devices cannot implement pure hybrid-ternary modulated (HTM) data pages but a rather close approximation. Validation of the HDSS expressions for the convergent correlator and comparison with the widespread 4-f system is performed. Experimental results with PVA/AA material showing bit-error rates (BER) in the range of 10−3, further show its potential application for HDSS, and also demonstrate the validity of the testing platform and PA-LCoS calibration and optimization.Work supported by Ministerio de Trabajo y Competitividad of Spain (projects FIS2011- 29803-C02-01 and FIS2011-29803-C02-02), by Generalitat Valenciana of Spain (projects PROMETEOII/2015/015 and ISIC/2012/013), and by Univ. de Alicante (project GRE12-14

Thermophysical properties of functionalized graphene nanoplatelet dispersions for improving efficiency in a wind turbine cooling system

A new generation of heat transfer fluids, nanofluids, can play a major role in the development of today’s renewable energies. In the particular case of wind turbines, an undesirable overheating of electrical and mechanical components can provoke a noticeable reduction of overall efficiency due to the temperature is a limiting factor to the electricity generation or even very expensive repair cost because of an unexpected crash of generators, or others turbine components. Dispersions of multiple-layer graphene nanostructures with high thermal conductivity in conventional working fluids are a promising type of new heat transfer fluids due to the excellent performance of nanoadditives in heat transference. Hence, determining the thermophysical properties of these nanomaterials under different conditions is the first step and key issue for analysing and optimizing the dispersions. Although water-based graphene nanoplatelet nanofluids have been investigated and some correlations can be found in the literature, scarce studies were conducted using other industrial working fluids as base fluids. The purpose of this study is to carry out a thorough thermophysical characterization of different loaded samples of functionalized graphene nanoplatelet dispersions in an industrial heat transfer fluid, Havoline XLC Pre-mixed 50/50. Four different nanofluids at mass concentrations (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0) wt.% of functionalized graphene nanoplatelets powder were produced. In order to obtain improved long-term stabilities, sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate was added to the samples at a mass concentration of 0.125 % in relation to the base fluid without appreciable variations in the pH value. Stability was assessed through zeta potential and dynamic light scattering measurements. Tests for determining thermal conductivity were conducted with a transient hot wire technique in a wide temperature range. In addition, densities, dynamic viscosities and specific heat capacities of the samples were experimentally determined at different temperatures in order to carry out further studies such as experimental convective heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops. Increases in thermal conductivity up to 7.3 % were found with not very high viscosity rises.Papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Portoroz, Slovenia on 17-19 July 2017 .International centre for heat and mass transfer.American society of thermal and fluids engineers

Assessment of hydrocarbon pollution in NW Iberian Peninsula using bioaccumulation and molecular biomarkers in Mytilus galloprovincialis

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry - SETAC Europe 15th Annual Meeting, Lille, France, May 2005.Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH´s) are ubiquitous contaminants in marine environment as a result of uncontrolled spills, river transport, surface runoff and atmospheric deposition. A significant amount of industrial activity including shipping and oil refining is located along the NW Iberian Peninsula coast. The use of exposure biomarkers holds out promise due to the incipient state of the cost-effective methodologies for diagnosis and monitoring of oil pollution. This work presents the preliminary results concerning the identification of a set of biomarkers for an early warning detection of PAH toxicity. The bivalve Mytillus galloprovincialis was selected due to its ubiquitous distribution along coastline, being used as sentinels in pollution monitoring. This species has also an important value. Four locations in the vicinity of industrial wastewater discharges along the NW Iberian coast were selected and compared with a nearby (reference) site for (i) measurements of PAH body burdens and (ii) levels of enzyme activity: catalase (CAT), superoxide-dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), gluthathione S-transferase (GST) and Na+/K+ATPase (ATPase). The results will be discussed on the basis of their potential in providing additional evidence for discriminate between well known polluted and unpolluted sites

Relationship Between the Quorum Network (Sensing/Quenching) and Clinical Features of Pneumonia and Bacteraemia Caused by A. baumannii

Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) is one of the most important pathogens associated with nosocomial infections, especially pneumonia. Interest in the Quorum network, i.e., Quorum Sensing (QS)/Quorum Quenching (QQ), in this pathogen has grown in recent years. The Quorum network plays an important role in regulating diverse virulence factors such as surface motility and bacterial competition through the type VI secretion system (T6SS), which is associated with bacterial invasiveness. In the present study, we investigated 30 clinical strains of A. baumannii isolated in the “II Spanish Study of A. baumannii GEIH-REIPI 2000-2010” (Genbank Umbrella Bioproject PRJNA422585), a multicentre study describing the relationship between the Quorum network in A. baumannii and the development of pneumonia and associated bacteraemia. Expression of the aidA gene (encoding the AidA protein, QQ enzyme) was lower (P < 0.001) in strains of A. baumannii isolated from patients with bacteraemic pneumonia than in strains isolated from patients with non-bacteraemic pneumonia. Moreover, aidA expression in the first type of strain was not regulated in the presence of environmental stress factors such as the 3-oxo-C12-HSL molecule (substrate of AidA protein, QQ activation) or H2O2 (inhibitor of AidA protein, QS activation). However, in the A. baumannii strains isolated from patients with non-bacteraemic pneumonia, aidA gene expression was regulated by stressors such as 3-oxo-C12-HSL and H2O2. In an in vivo Galleria mellonella model of A. baumannii infection, the A. baumannii ATCC 17978 strain was associated with higher mortality (100% at 24 h) than the mutant, abaI-deficient, strain (carrying a synthetase enzyme of Acyl homoserine lactone molecules) (70% at 24 h). These data suggest that the QS (abaR and abaI genes)/QQ (aidA gene) network affects the development of secondary bacteraemia in pneumonia patients and also the virulence of A. baumannii.National Plan for Scientific ResearchTechnological Development and Innovation PI16/01163ISCIII-Deputy General Directorate for Evaluation and Promotion of Research-European Regional Development Fund A way of Making EuropeInstituto de Salud Carlos IIIMiguel Servet Research Programme SERGAS and ISCIIIXunta de Galicia (GAIN, Axencia de Innovación