Interactive industrial application to represent isothermal sections of multi component phase diagram

“Make the slag and the steel will make itself” is an old phrase in steelmaking. The converter or basic oxygen furnace (BOF) process is a necessary step in the steel production during which carbon, phosphorus and other impurities present in the hot metal, coming from the blast furnace, are removed and steel is produced. This steel is tapped from the converter and further refined, next cast, rolled and finished. The BOF process is complex due to many reasons: high temperatures, multiple phases present, interactions of kinetics and thermodynamics, etc. Emphasis in this work is put upon the BOF steelmaking slag. Yet, even though this has been topic of many research projects no full understanding of all the slag related phenomena has been far from achieved. One of the difficulties is the multi-component nature of the slag. In its most simplified form, the slag is a three component system consisting of CaO, SiO2 and FeOn. However, in practical applications this slag contains more than three components, making graphical representations of equilibria complex and difficult. This work shows the potential to apply CALPHAD based data for industrial applications via an interactive visual tool. Isothermal sections of multi-components phase diagrams were constructed with Factsage 7.1 software. Addition of extra components to the calculated isothermal sections, gives a graphical representation which can be used to gain insight in certain observed phenomena in the BOF process. To illustrate that the interactive visualisation yields an interesting tool to integrate CALPHAD based calculations in industry two case studies from steelmaking are discussed: the effect of MgO upon the refractory wear and the effect of MgO upon dephosphorization

To move or not to move? The relationship between career management and preferred career moves

This paper explores professional employees' career move preferences and the impact of both individual and organizational career management. Departing from theoretical work on the “new career”, different types of career moves employees can make on the internal labor market are discussed (i.e. vertical moves, lateral moves, job enrichment and temporary moves). Next, these are related to the literature on both organizational and individual career management. Hypotheses are formulated about professional employees' preferences for making distinct types of internal career moves and about the extent to which these preferences are affected by (a) employees' individual career management initiatives and (b) four distinct bundles of organizational career management practices (succession management, potential assessment, feedback and development). The results of a study among 472 professional employees from one company are presented, which indicate that the preferences for both vertical career moves and moves relating to job enrichment and temporary moves are significantly affected by individual career management, but not by organizational career management practices. The preference for making lateral moves could not be explained by our antecedent variables, but was affected by managerial ambition and variables relating to respondents' family situation. The implications of our findings for stimulating internal career mobility are discussed, and suggestions for further research are made

Sediment-petrological study supporting the presence of the Kasterlee Formation in the Heist-op-den-Berg and Beerzel hills, southern Antwerp Campine, Belgium

The precise stratigraphic position of the sediments in the Heist-op-den-Berg and Beerzel hills has been under debate for a long time. According to the geological map of Flanders, these deposits are included in the Diest Formation. Reference data for the Diest and Kasterlee Formations are defined and compared to new sediment-petrological data from samples collected in the Heist-op-den-Berg and Beerzel area. This comparative study indicates that the sediments are similar to the Kasterlee Formation. Additionally, a gravel bed observed at the base of the deposits at the Heist-op-den-Berg and Beerzel hills is similar to the basal gravel of the Kasterlee Formation at Olen. The Kasterlee Formation at Heist-op-den-Berg and Beerzel is subdivided into three members. The lithofacies of the lowermost member is comparable to the Diest Formation and is explained through significant reworking. The occurrence of the Kasterlee Formation in the study area implies the formation of a bay or estuary in the late Miocene sea extending towards the south. The curvature in the present base of the Kasterlee Formation and the considerable thinning of the Diest Formation to the south indicates ongoing subsidence of the Campine basin and uplift of the Caledonian Brabant Massif during the late Miocene and Pliocene

2D Mapping of strongly deformed cell nuclei based on contour warping

The dynamics of genome regions are associated to the functional or dysfunctional behaviour of the human cell. In order to study these dynamics it is necessary to remove perturbations coming from movement and deformation of the nucleus, i.e. the container holding the genome. In literature models have been proposed to cope with the transformations corresponding to nuclear dynamics of healthy cells. However for pathological cells, the nucleus deforms in an apparently random way, making the use of such models a non trivial task. In this paper we propose a mapping of the cell nucleus which is based on the matching of the nuclear contours. The proposed method does not put constraints on the possible shapes nor on the possible deformations, making this method suited for the analysis of pathological nuclei

Ontogeny of Hemidactylus (Gekkota, Squamata) with emphasis on the limbs

Squamate reptiles constitute a major component of the world's terrestrial vertebrate diversity, encompassing many morphotypes related to ecological specialization. Specifically, Gekkota, the sister clade to most other squamates, have highly specialized autopodia, which have been linked to their ecological plasticity. In this study, a developmental staging table of the gecko Hemidactylus, housed at the Museum fur Naturkunde, is established. Twelve post-ovipositional stages are erected, monitoring morphological embryological transitions in eye, ear, nose, heart, limbs, pharyngeal arches, and skin structures. Ecomorphological specializations in the limbs include multiple paraphalanges, hypothesized to aid in supporting the strong muscles, that are situated adjacent to metacarpal and phalangeal heads. Furthermore, some phalanges are highly reduced in manual digits III and IV and pedal digits III, IV, and V. Development, composition, and growth of limb elements is characterized in detail via mu CT, histochemistry, and bone histological analysis. Using known life history data from two individuals, we found an average lamellar bone accretion rate in the humeral diaphysis comparable to that of varanids. Various adult individuals also showed moderate to extensive remodeling features in their long bone cortices, indicating that these animals experience a highly dynamic bone homeostasis during their growth, similar to some other medium-sized to large squamates. This study of in-ovo development of the gecko Hemidactylus and its ecomorphological specializations in the adult autopodia, enlarges our knowledge of morphological trait evolution and of limb diversity within the vertebrate phylum.Peer reviewe

Peri-articular histiocytic sarcoma and synovial cell sarcoma in Bernese Mountain dogs : a retrospective investigation of the prevalence of these tumours in association with previously diseased joints

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