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Test bench for radiative waste heat recovery in steel mills
Full text linkPublisher Copyright: © 2025This paper presents the design, manufacturing, and validation of a test bench for a radiation waste heat recovery system, which can reproduce the operating conditions of a real steelmaking factory, in particular, continuous casting. The experimental unit consists of three main components: an emitter, a heat capturing device and a thermal oil loop. The influence of different operating conditions, including emitter surface temperature, thermal oil inlet temperature, and oil mass flow rate, on the performance of the recovery unit was evaluated. Additionally, the impact of the corner effect was studied to determine the effect on the radiation heat transfer. The results showed that the proposed experimental unit can achieve surface temperatures up to 1000 °C, which are like those found in the selected area of the steelmaking process. The temperature of the emitter was found to have a substantial effect on the performance of the heat recovery unit, especially when the temperature is below 800 °C. The oil inlet temperature and mass flow rate were also found to influence the thermal radiation heat transfer rate and the recovery efficiency of the device. The findings reveal the importance of the maximum temperature, oil inlet temperature, and oil mass flow rate for optimizing the waste heat recovery system. This study proposes a valuable experimental methodology for analysing thermal radiant heat recovery units under real conditions, which can be helpful in developing optimized systems to harness waste heat from high-temperature energy-intensive industries, considerably reducing their carbon footprint.Peer reviewe
High power impulse magnetron sputtering deposited virucide and antibacterial CrN-Cu films and the durability of the antimicrobial activity
Full text linkPublisher Copyright: © 2025 The AuthorsSurfaces loaded with microbes can contribute to the propagation of a wide variety of pathogens. In this work, the antimicrobial potential of a hard coating (CrN) doped with different proportions of a biocide element (copper) has been studied. The coatings have been deposited by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technology, on stainless steel and glass, materials used profusely in high human traffic environments. The microstructural and mechanical properties of the coatings have been evaluated, their antiviral (VSV-G) and antibacterial (S. Aureus) activities, and the durability of the antimicrobial activity, simulating tribologically two years of standard cleaning processes. It has been found that adding Cu to CrN caused some reduction in the coating hardness and Young's modulus, but an increase in the coating adhesion. The effect on surface wettability depended on the Cu content, which caused a reduction for low Cu values (1.1 and 4.4 at. %), but and increase for larger values (11.5 % at. %). All in all, the CrN-Cu coatings studied showed both antiviral and antimicrobial activity, even for low Cu content (1.1 % at. %). The antimicrobial activity actually rose when the surfaces were subjected to repeated cleaning processes, indication of the robust durability in relevant practical environments.Peer reviewe
Quantitative X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging to Evaluate the Efficacy of Micro-Structured Cellulose Foams and Poultices in Wall Painting Desalination
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Chemistry - Methods published by Chemistry Europe and Wiley-VCH GmbH.The crystallization of soluble salts poses a significant challenge to mural painting conservation. While cellulose poultices are widely used to desalinate mural paintings due to their high absorption and ease of handling, their effectiveness within the porous network of wall paintings remains a complex issue. For the first time, this study explores the potential of micro-structured cellulose-based foams as an alternative to conventional poultices for desalinating fresco wall paintings. A laboratory experiment compared the efficacy of foams and poultices, using fresco wall painting mock-ups (produced with the Roman technique) that were vacuum-impregnated with salt solutions (chlorides, sulfates, and mixtures). Short and long application times were considered, and foam reusability across multiple application cycles was assessed. Micro-energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (µ-EDXRF) imaging was employed to quantitatively evaluate salt content reduction, both superficially and throughout the mock-up stratigraphy. Results show that foams are considerably more effective than poultices, achieving a salt removal efficiency between 6 and 10 times higher. The uniform micro-porous foam network enables faster desalination, reducing treatment risks and minimizing waste while supporting circular economy principles. This study also demonstrates the utility of µ-EDXRF imaging in monitoring desalination efficacy for both surface and cross-section analyses when assessing new desalination protocols.Peer reviewe
Alterations in sleep-activity cycles and clock gene expression across the synucleinopathy spectrum
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Optimizing plane detection in point clouds through line sampling
Full text linkPublisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.Plane detection in point clouds is a common step in interpreting environments within robotics. Mobile robotic platforms must interact efficiently and safely with their surroundings, which requires capabilities such as detecting walls to avoid collisions and recognizing workbenches for object manipulation. Since these environmental elements typically appear as plane-shaped surfaces, a fast and accurate plane detector is an essential tool for robotics practitioners. RANSAC (Random Sample Consensus) is a widely used technique for plane detection that iteratively evaluates the fitness of planes by sampling three points at a time from a point cloud. In this work, we present an approach that, rather than seeking planes directly, focuses on finding lines by sampling only two points at a time. This leverages the observation that it is more likely to detect lines within the plane than to find the plane itself. To estimate planes from these lines, we perform an additional step that fits a plane for each pair of lines. Experiments conducted on three datasets, two of which are public, demonstrate that our approach outperforms the traditional RANSAC method, achieving better results while requiring fewer iterations. A public repository containing the developed code is also provided.Peer reviewe
Dilemmas in Statutory Urban Planning When Addressing the Climate Adaptation Implementation Gap: Insights from Six European Cities
Full text linkPublisher Copyright: © 2025 by the authors.As the climate crisis intensifies, the urgency of climate adaptation is becoming increasingly evident, if not imperative. Adaptation efforts often fall short in implementation, revealing a critical gap in climate-responsive planning. This study investigates the potential of statutory urban planning instruments to enable climate adaptation and bridge the adaptation implementation gap. To tackle this challenge, we introduce the BRIDGE framework, operationalized using an indicator-based screening tool that integrates three dimensions of the planning practice—substantive, procedural, and contextual—with three foundational pillars—agility, robustness, and legal certainty—complemented by three adaptive planning factors—complexity, uncertainty, and flexibility. The tool was pilot-tested in six European cities to screen the capacity of recently approved land use plans to enable climate adaptation implementation. The findings confirm that the consideration of uncertainty is overlooked, as well as the ongoing assessment and tracking of risks and adaptive measures. These setbacks potentially hamper institutions’ ability to respond to evolving climate conditions and undermines the legal embedding of adaptation measures. Ultimately, this study reinforces the need to strengthen context-specific and scientifically grounded planning decisions, enable procedural and legal flexibility, and balance the tensions between strategic vision and regulatory enforcement of adaptation.Peer reviewe
IMPROVING THE PROPERTIES OF RECYCLED SELF-HARDENING ALUMINIUM ALLOY FOR APPLICATION IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Full text linkPublisher Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).In recent years, the topic of environmental issues has become increasingly important in all areas of industry. As a result of European Union policy, there has been a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles. At the same time, there is an increasing emphasis on ecological and sustainable production. Due to their advantageous strength-to-weight ratio, aluminium alloys are widely used in automobiles and are a logical choice for electric vehicles. Aluminium recycling is a very efficient way of reducing production costs and emissions. Self-hardening aluminium alloys enable heat treatment to be omitted, leading to further energy savings. The limiting factor of secondary production is the insufficient purity of aluminium scrap, which leads to contamination with impurities. In particular, the negative impact of iron, which is found in higher content in recycled alloys after repeated recycling cycles, is well known. Its presence leads to a deterioration of the mechanical, fatigue and corrosion properties of aluminium alloys. This work examines ways to reduce iron content in AlZn10Si8Mg self-hardening alloy using a sedimentation experiment. The crystallization temperature of iron phases is higher than that of the matrix. Therefore, holding the material at a specific temperature is expected to cause iron phases to settle, reducing the iron content.Peer reviewe
Nitrogen-Vacancy Center hybridization with external emitters leading to improved sensing capabilities
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2025 IEEE.Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are one of the most robust and promising quantum sensing platforms. The possibility of initializing the spin state via green laser pumping combined with its differentiated photoluminiscence for the ±1 spin states compared to the 0 spin state allows to use the center for sensing AC and DC magnetic fields, temperature, material strain and electrical fields [1].Peer reviewe
Optimization at microscale level of climate-informed decision-making processes regarding human thermal comfort
Full text linkPublisher Copyright: © 2024 The AuthorsAs urban overheating increases, adaptation strategies that enhance more comfortable urban spaces are needed. This study presents improvements in the methodological approach of outdoor thermal comfort studies and designs that will help stakeholders address such impacts. It advances in selecting the day type, creates novel surface indexes that consider climate change scenarios, and helps make climate-informed decisions. The first step concerns the characterization of the study area, including meteorological analysis. In the second stage, the research suggests multiple scenario simulations based on past and future typical heat days to examine the performance of trees, vegetation, materials, and buildings. The thermal comfort assessment relied on Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) and a novel intervention effectiveness index. In contrast, microclimatic simulations were conducted with CFD calculations (ENVI-met v.5.6.1). The results can be used to compare different design scenarios that rely on nature-based solutions and to optimize climate adaptation interventions during the urban design process.Peer reviewe
Observation of excess polar magneto-optical Kerr effect signals in asymmetric Co/Tb-multilayers
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).We study the magneto-optical properties of asymmetric Co/Tb-multilayers that are designed to exhibit considerable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) and low levels of effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Accordingly, non-uniform magnetization states can occur in these films at intermediate magnetic field strengths, which cause a corresponding net magnetization reduction. Simultaneously, we observe an excess polar magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) signal that increases beyond its value at saturation and is fully anticorrelated with the magnetization in its field dependency. We also find a very strong wavelength dependence of this excess polar MOKE signal that is very different from the MOKE behavior at saturation. All experimental data can be quantitatively explained by an additional polar MOKE mechanism that is associated with magnetic non-uniformities, such as, for instance, skyrmions, which have already been demonstrated to generate topological MOKE in certain compounds.Peer reviewe