Raman spectroscopy, a non-destructive solution to the study of glass and its alteration

This paper presents the potential of Raman spectroscopy, a non-destructive technique which can be applied in-situ, for the analyses of glass and their alteration. Recent analytical developments are summarised for different glass composition and practical examples are given. The paper describes how to extract compositional information from the glass, first based on the spectra profile to distinguish rapidly alkali silicate from alkaline-earth alkali silicate and lead alkali silicate glass, then using the spectral decomposition and correlations to extract quantitative data. For alkali silicate glasses, that are most prone to alteration, the spectral characteristics are described to interpret the alteration process (selective leaching or dissolution of the glass) from the Raman spectra of the altered glass. These developments have greatly widened the potential of the technique and supplement well its ability to measure the thickness of the altered layer and identify the crystalline deposits

SERVice Oriented Intelligent Value Adding nEtwork for Clothing-SMEs embarking in Mass-Customisation [as a result of the Automatic knitting Sites pilot, Task D6.2a]. CORDIS.

Executive Summary: This report describes the outcomes of research and development work done by IFTH (France) and Nottingham Trent University (UK) to develop and evaluate the procedures for a business model to produce commercially customised fully-fashioned knitwear. It builds on the initial work done by Unicatum, RWTH and Hohenstein Institute (Germany). The purpose was to demonstrate the commercial potential for on-demand, localised manufacturing of up-market fashion products using new technology. The target market was upper-middle market knitwear for ladies, typical products being a jumper, cardigan or dress. As with the rest of the SERVIVE project, customisation has been assumed to be linked to style advice. Thus part of the overall product and consumer experience is the initial process of co-design. This is partly illustrated in the video of the demonstration [see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIodKyciJAM]. However as this could vary according to each retailer (e.g. web-based or personal style advisor, product category, etc.), this aspect is better covered in other SERVIVE project deliverables. The key technology assumed in the micro-factory is one or more whole-garment 3D knitting machines. It is recognised that this can be an option with circular knitting (e.g. Santoni), but in this instance the focus is on the multiple flat-bed technology such as is available from Stoll and Shima Seiki

Facteurs influençant l'apparition précoce d'une pneumoconiose chez le mineur de charbon

National audienceL'incidence de la pneumonoconiose a diminue continuellement parmi les mineurs des houilleres pendant les 30 dernieres annees. Actuellement la plupart des cas sont diagnostiques chez les retraites en moyenne vers l'age de 56 ans. Dans ce contexte l'apparition precoce d'une pneumoconiose est un important probleme de sante au travail

The Green Souvenir Industry of Kerala – A Comprehensive Analysis

Handicrafts and souvenirs have a long and glorious tradition behind them. They represent the culture of the people and from a great heritage of art. Souvenirs are a manifestation of the creative impulse of people. The specialty of the handicraft is that it reflects the craftsmanship of each and every part of the country. Souvenirs always remind a traveller of a particular place that it was purchased from. Souvenir trade improves the local economy and even serves as a brand image or icon of the destination visited by tourists while providing easy visibility. Souvenirs also help in the word of mouth marketing of a destination. The souvenir trade worldwide is part of a rich handicraft tradition that evolved over the years. India has a diversity of souvenirs, and so does Kerala. The uniqueness of Kerala isits abundance of plant or natural fibre-based souvenirs. But, little research has been done on the process of production or the potential it provides in promoting tourism. This study is an attempt to look into the problems and prospects of plant or natural fibre based - ‘green souvenirs’ of Kerala and to offer suggestions for improving its market

Post-rift uplift of the Dhofar margin (Gulf of Aden)

International audienceAn investigation of the sedimentation pattern along the Dhofar margin allows us to describe its late-stage evolution. After the accumulation of a thick post-rift sedimentary succession, two debris flow events occurred at the foot of the slope. The first event, affecting a wide area of the margin, marks a major change in sedimentation. The second event is associated with a shift of sedimentary deposition from the slope toward the basin. This latter debris flow was caused by an uplift phase, and highlights two distinct deformational styles in the eastern and western part of the Dhofar margin. Both events occurred very late in the history of the margin, at least 7.6 Ma after the end of the rifting phase (35-17.6 Ma)

High-Order Hybrid RANS/LES Strategy for Industrial Applications

Turbulent flows of industrial interest are often dominated by large turbulent structures. A typical example is provided by launcher base flows, combining one or more extended and interacting separated regions with strong compressibility effects. Such flow features represent a challenge for CFD simulations, since, on the one hand, well established Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) solvers cannot represent such highly unsteady and three-dimensional large scales and, on the other hand, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approaches remain too expensive for routine production use in industry. In fact, LES methods can lead to inaccurate results if the mesh size and/or the scheme accuracy are not good enough to resolve correctly most of the relevant flow scales. In complex industrial applications, the energy spectrum is often ill defined and changes from one point to another of the simulation, so that it is difficult to warrant a sufficient resolution everywhere, unless extremely fine meshes are used. Mesh resolution requirements become particularly severe if industrial codes based on low order, low resolution discretization schemes are used. In this work we assess a recently developed hybrid RANS/LES strategy, combining a selfadaptive hybrid turbulence model [6] and a hybrid high-order finite volume scheme [7], for flow around industrial geometries, namely, the Ariane 6 and Ariane 5 space launchers. Increasingly complex geometrical details are included in the simulation and the results are compared with the experimental data available for the average and root mean square (rms) of the longitudinal distribution of the pressure coefficient, which represent a significant quantity of interest for launcher design.ArianeGrou

3D global optimal forcing and response of the supersonic boundary layer

3D optimal forcing and response of a 2D supersonic boundary layer are obtained by computing the largest singular value and the associated singular vectors of the global resolvent matrix. This approach allows to take into account both convective-type and component-type non-normalities responsible for the non-modal growth of perturbations in noise selective amplifier flows. It is moreover a fully non-parallel approach that does not require any particular assumptions on the baseflow. The numerical method is based on the explicit calculation of the Jacobian matrix proposed by Mettot et al. [1] for 2D perturbations. This strategy uses the numerical residual of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations imported from a finite-volume solver that is then linearised employing a finite difference method. Extension to 3D perturbations, which are expanded into modes of wave number, is here proposed by decomposing the Jacobian matrix according to the direction of the derivatives contained in its coefficients. Validation is performed on a Blasius boundary layer and a supersonic boundary layer, in comparison respectively to global and local results. Application of the method to a boundary layer at M = 4.5 recovers three regions of receptivity in the frequency-transverse wave number space. Finally, the energy growth of each optimal response is studied and discussed

Non-destructive analysis of museum objects by fibre-optic Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is a versatile technique that has frequently been applied for the investigation of art objects. By using mobile Raman instrumentation it is possible to investigate the artworks without the need for sampling. This work evaluates the use of a dedicated mobile spectrometer for the investigation of a range of museum objects in museums in Scotland, including antique Egyptian sarcophagi, a panel painting, painted surfaces on paper and textile, and the painted lid and soundboard of an early keyboard instrument. The investigations of these artefacts illustrate some analytical challenges that arise when analysing museum objects, including fluorescing varnish layers, ambient sunlight, large dimensions of artefacts and the need to handle fragile objects with care. Analysis of the musical instrument (the Mar virginals) was undertaken in the exhibition gallery, while on display, which meant that interaction with the public and health and safety issues had to be taken into account. [Figure: see text

Fast Photon Detection for Particle Identification with COMPASS RICH-1

Particle identification at high rates is an important challenge for many current and future high-energy physics experiments. The upgrade of the COMPASS RICH-1 detector requires a new technique for Cherenkov photon detection at count rates of several $10^6$ per channel in the central detector region, and a read-out system allowing for trigger rates of up to 100 kHz. To cope with these requirements, the photon detectors in the central region have been replaced with the detection system described in this paper. In the peripheral regions, the existing multi-wire proportional chambers with CsI photocathode are now read out via a new system employing APV pre-amplifiers and flash ADC chips. The new detection system consists of multi-anode photomultiplier tubes (MAPMT) and fast read-out electronics based on the MAD4 discriminator and the F1-TDC chip. The RICH-1 is in operation in its upgraded version for the 2006 CERN SPS run. We present the photon detection design, constructive aspects and the first Cherenkov light in the detector.Comment: Proceedings of the Imaging 2006 conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 27-30 June 2006, 5 pages, 6 figures, to appear in NIM A; corrected typo in caption of Fig.