Environmental Management for Sustainable Growth in an Integrated Iron and Steel Plant

The manufacture of steel involves a large number of processing which lead to complex problems of environme-ntal pollution. Coke making and sintering are two of the major areas in so far as pollution is concerned. Slag constitutes the major portion of solid wastes. Waste generation adversely affects productivity and contributes to the high cost of production. It has been shown that improving the efficiency of operation and fuel saving measures help in reducing pollution in steel plants. Utilization of slag, mill scale, sludge and dusts, safe disposal of hazardous wastes and minimization of emissions of CO, C02, 502, NOx, cyanides, volatile organic compounds (VOC), NH3, suspended particulate matters (SPM) etc, are essential steps towards environmental management

Syrian Refugees and the Digital Passage to Europe: Smartphone Infrastructures and Affordances

This research examines the role of smartphones in refugees’ journeys. It traces the risks and possibilities afforded by smartphones for facilitating information, communication, and migration flows in the digital passage to Europe. For the Syrian and Iraqi refugee respondents in this France-based qualitative study, smartphones are lifelines, as important as water and food. They afford the planning, navigation, and documentation of journeys, enabling regular contact with family, friends, smugglers, and those who help them. However, refugees are simultaneously exposed to new forms of exploitation and surveillance with smartphones as migrations are financialised by smugglers and criminalized by European policies, and the digital passage is dependent on a contingent range of sociotechnical and material assemblages. Through an infrastructural lens, we capture the dialectical dynamics of opportunity and vulnerability, and the forms of resilience and solidarity, that arise as forced migration and digital connectivity coincide

Iron making in ancient India - a critical assessment

It is a well known fact, that Indian craftsman produced quality iron products much earlier than the developed countries, making use of local reserves of iron ore. Iron produced in ancient India was mostly wrought iron. The metal was obtained in the form of a pasty mass and then shaped under hammer. Today, when India is producing several million tons of iron, primitive iron making is still exists in some parts of India. The primitive iron making furnaces declined in numbers gradually from about 500 in the beginning of 20'h century to about 150 by the middle of the century. Their present number is not known. Such furnaces are in operation deep into the forests and the tribal areas of India. The paper discusses briefly the history of iron making along with the critical assessment of the ancient processes. Some of the important measures absolutely. essential to upgrade the processes have also been discussed. Several pertinent modifications have been proposed in the design of these furnaces to make them more energy efficient and economically viable 'for tribal and rural populace

Horses in leisure events: a posthumanist exploration of commercial and cultural values

Artículo de investigaciónHorses currently play a leading role in many leisure events worldwide. However, their involvement in leisure activities raises various ethical questions. Based on a posthumanist approach, this study sought to explore the use and treatment of horses in a leisure event in Mexico. A participant observation method was adopted to conduct the research, revealing that horses become quite instrumental and commodified for humans, fulfilling intersecting entertainment, economic and cultural purposes. These results thus provide evidence of the prevailing anthropocentric and speciesist nature of horse-human interactions in leisure events. The findings include that, when horse-human relations become highly commercialised and are institutionally recognised as cultural heritage, a complete embracement of posthumanism is needed to dissolve basic horse-human dichotomies, but this remains a utopian ideal in tourism and leisure practices

Applications of Laboratory Technology in the Evaluation of the Risk of Rabies Transmissions by Biting Dogs and Cats

While rabies is not a common disease in domestic animal species of the United States, potential exposures to rabies in the form of bites are very common and increasing. A nationwide study conducted among general hospitals shows that 1 percent of emergency room visits are for animal bites, of which 80-90 percent are inflicted by the dog (Callaham 1980). This figure is conservative, as the study did not include pediatric hospitals, the bite of victims that progress only to a physician\u27s office, or those that receive no medical care at all. In Missouri alone, this study would infer about 1500 dog bites per year reaching only the general hospital. The number of dog and other animal bites across the country is unknown but may safely be assumed to be staggering in magnitude

“Is it worth risking your life?”: Ethnography, risk and death on the U.S.–Mexico border

Every year, several hundred people die attempting to cross the border from Mexico into the United States, most often from dehydration and heat stroke though snake bites and violent assaults are also common. This article utilizes participant observation fieldwork in the borderlands of the US and Mexico to explore the experience of structural vulnerability and bodily health risk along the desert trek into the US. Between 2003 and 2005, the ethnographer recorded interviews and conversations with undocumented immigrants crossing the border, border patrol agents, border activists, borderland residents, and armed civilian vigilantes. In addition, he took part in a border crossing beginning in the Mexican state of Oaxaca and ending in a border patrol jail in Arizona after he and his undocumented Mexican research subjects were apprehended trekking through the borderlands. Field notes and interview transcriptions provide thick ethnographic detail demonstrating the ways in which social, ethnic, and citizenship differences as well as border policies force certain categories of people to put their bodies, health, and lives at risk in order for them and their families to survive. Yet, metaphors of individual choice deflect responsibility from global economic policy and US border policy, subtly blaming migrants for the danger - and sometimes death - they experience. The article concludes with policy changes to make US-Mexico labor migration less deadly

What Do Community Benefits Agreements Deliver? Evidence From Los Angeles

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Advocates of community benefits agreements (CBAs) between coalitions of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and real estate developers contend that CBAs promote public accountability and responsiveness to community concerns. This study assesses the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District (LASED) CBA, which scholars and practitioners have described as a model for such agreements. I assess compliance with key provisions of the agreement related to jobs, affordable housing, and parks and recreational facilities. I also assess whether compliance with these provisions has yielded benefits beyond those required under existing laws and regulations. I find that the parties to the agreement have technically complied with many, although arguably not all, of its provisions. But some of the provisions in the CBA are not legally binding, other provisions overlap with requirements that the developer would have had to satisfy even without the CBA, and some reports required by the CBA are unavailable. As a result, outcomes such as living wage jobs and funding for affordable housing units are not clearly attributable to the CBA; other outcomes, such as targeted hiring, are unknown due to a lack of relevant information.Takeaway for practice: Although CBAs may not fulfill all the claims that advocates make on their behalf, they can play important roles in community development by directing public and private spending to underserved neighborhoods. But collecting and verifying the relevant data may be challenging, even if reporting requirements are clearly spelled out in the CBA. As the complexity of a CBA increases, so do the challenges of assessing outcomes and assigning responsibility for those outcomes

Study on high carbon steel wires and inclusion rating by Bekaert method

High carbon steel wires are widely used in the fields of automobiles, civil engineering and construction, machines and many other industries. Microstructural development of high carbon steel wires was studied and discussed. Based on the experimental results, the relationships between the strength increase and microstructure development during the cold wire drawing were studied to reveal the strength-ening mechanism, void initiation mechanism and arrangement of pearlitic colonies. From the results obtained, it was concluded that strong plastic deformation, thinning of pearlitic colonies and alignment of lamellaein the drawing direction took place during cold drawing which led to increase the strength the wires. Furthermore, an inclusion rating method known as Bekaert Method was thoroughly stud-ied to rate the received industrial samples. After comparing the Bekaert method and ASTM method of inclusion rating, it was found that the results provided by Bekaert method are much precise as compared to that of ASTM method. Thus the conclusion was made that Bekaert method of inclusion rating is the most accurate and precise method to rate the inclusion

Forming Operations and Forming Limit Diagram of Steel

Sheet metal forming is one of the important areas that have to be understood in detail. Forming is the very complex phenomena; it involves bending, deep drawing and stretching operations. Material properties namely stre-ngth, ductility, elongation, planer anisotropy and strain hardening coefficient governs the forming behavior. More-over, finally forming limits are to be known to form the desired part of the components

Study of Microstructure and Texture of Cold Rolled Grain Oriented Electrical Steels

Silicon steel is known as electrical steel and it is extensively used for electrical applications such as preferred core material for equipment like transformer cores, motors, and generators. There are two types of electrical steels namely cold rolled grain oriented and cold rolled non grain oriented electrical steels. The properties required for these steels are a high perme-ability and high magnetic induction, low magnetic losses (watt losses), and low magnetostriction. The factors like high permeability and induction is effective in reducing the size and weight of the parts thus increases the effi-ciency; low magnetic losses reduce the generation of heat and energy consumption thus helps in minimizing energy; and a low magnetostriction reduces the noise in transfor-mers and high capacity machines helps in producing less humming sound