Bentonite is the most preferred silicate-based binder in iron ore pelletizing. However, it is considered as an impurity due to its high SiO2 and Al2O3 content. The iron-making economy is adversely affected by the addition of bentonite or other silicate-based binders. In recent years, impurity-free alternative binders have been tested in order to replace bentonite or to lower the bentonite dosage. Organic binders yield good quality green and dry pellets. However, they fail to impart enough mechanical strength to the preheated and fired pellets as a result of insufficient slag bonding. Thus, they have not found widespread application in the industry. The addition of boron compounds into pellet mix is proposed as a potential solution to overcome the insufficient compressive strengths of preheated and fired pellets produced with organic binders. During the experiments, some organic binders and boron compounds were tested as alternative binders to bentonite either alone or in combination, for both magnetite and hematite pellets. The performances of the tested binders on pellet qualities: balling, wet pellet moisture content, drop number, pellet compressive strengths (wet - dry - preheated - fired), dustiness, porosity, mineralogy, morphology, chemical contents, reducibility and swelling index have been compared with the performances of reference bentonite binder. The results of the tests showed that, the quality of pellets are insufficient when organic binders or calcined colemanite used as binder alone. The former failed to provide sufficient preheated and fired pellet strengths, the latter failed in terms of wet and dry pellet quality. However, good quality wet, dry, preheated and fired pellets could be produced with combination of these two binders. Calcined colemanite addition into pellets made with organic binders was tested in different dosages (0.25-1.00%). Results showed that with increasing dosage of calcined colemanite both strengths of preheated and fired pellets increased linearly. It was found that as low as 0.50% calcined colemanite addition equally-performed on magnetite fired magnetite pellets at 1300oC when compared with the performance of the reference bentonite binder. However, its performance was better on hematite pellets in order to improve the pellet compressive strengths. In addition, stronger pellets could be produced at lower firing temperatures like 1100oC with the addition of calcined colemanite. The reason of the improved preheated and fired compressive strengths of pellets bonded with calcined colemanite was due to the physical melting of calcined colemanite at the contact point of iron oxide grains during thermal treatment. It was found that bentonite bonded pellets fired at 1300oC were more reducible than those of produced with calcined colemanite addition. Swelling indices of these pellets were determined in the industrially acceptable limits. The chemical and mineralogical analyses results showed that the combined binders did not contaminate the pellet composition since the organic binders burnt-out without residue and colemanite does not contain much impurity.

With the increased use of online communication in our everyday lives, there is a growing need to understand social influence in such settings. The current research posits that online social norms can influence readers‟ anti-social and pro-social behaviours online, specifically individual expressions of prejudice. Participants read an online article proposing an increase to international student scholarship funding, then were randomly placed in one of two normative conditions where they read Anti-Prejudiced or Pro-Prejudiced comments allegedly placed by other users. Participants then left their own comments before completing a self-report prejudice questionnaire and an implicit association test (IAT). Social norms created by the fictitious comments influenced respondents to comment with more or less bigoted sentiments aligned with the fictitious social norm. Participants reading prejudiced online comments showed increased implicit and explicit prejudice, while those reading anti-prejudiced online comments showed the reverse. Participants‟ internal and external motivations to control prejudice were also measured and hypothesised to moderate the effects of social norms on bias expressions. However, this hypothesis was unsupported with participants‟ internal and external motivations to control prejudice inconsistently moderating the effects of the social norm on their prejudice expressions. These findings suggest possible avenues for social change in online environments, and criteria to help establish more positive online social norms.

This qualitative study examined fifteen organizational members across four international technology companies to discover how they behave and manage daily interactions in a virtual environment within a geographically distributed team. Using a grounded theory methodology, an extensive analysis of the interview data was conducted. Three core themes emerged that focus on the individuals’ attempts to manage impressions in an environment that demands multicommunication. The themes of time stacking, participation predications and performance are discussed in detail using the theoretical lens of impression management. / text

Studying clathrate hydrates is, ideally, a simple task: one just have to keep water under a gas pressure. However, when trying to collect measurements in an accurate and repeatable way, things mess up. When, in particular, kinetic characterizations are required, not only pressure and temperature have to be measured: also particular parameters such as gas evolved/trapped during time, heat released/adsorbed during time, critical phenomena related to additive addition, etc, should be collected in a finer way. In the last years a growing interest has been devoted to investigations on the effects of a wide range of compounds capable to affect the thermodynamics and, in particular, kinetics of clathrate hydrate formation. The study of the effects of these compounds, called conditioners, requires an improvement of the performances of usual lab facilities by introducing a new strategy for the measurement of further characterizing parameters. Presently no standardization of the apparatus designed for clathrate hydrate studies exists, nor any commercial instrumentations are available. Generally, apparatus used are custom-made by the same research team according with the peculiar research requirements To do this we have designed, built, calibrated and tested a novel apparatus that, in addition to the ability of measuring usually unexplored parameters, is based on the idea of obtaining as many parameters as possible in a single formation batch. This in order to solve the problem of collecting a dataset that can be processed homogeneously, thus minimizing errors due stochastic behaviours. Using such an apparatus, several kinds of measurement are presented here, which are related directly to the clathrate hydrate investigation fields, but also more generally related to the study of equilibrium phases involving gaseous components.

Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-43).

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-70).

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were successfully grown on the surface of carbon fibre reinforcements in carbon fibre architecture through in-situ catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD). Success was also implemented on powders of oxides and non-oxides, including Y-TZP powder, ball milled alumina powder, alumina grits, silicon carbide powder. Preliminary results have been achieved to demonstrate the feasibility of making ceramic composites consisting of CNTs reinforcements.

Thesis (DTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011 / Ultrasonic Velocity Profiling (UVP) is both a method and a device to measure an instantaneous one-dimensional velocity profile along a measurement axis by using Doppler echography. UVP is an ideal technique since it is non-invasive, works with opaque systems, inexpensive, portable and easy to implement relative to other velocity profile measurement methods. Studies have suggested that the accuracy of the measured velocity gradient close to wall interfaces need to be improved. The reason for this is due to, depending on the installation method, distortion caused by cavities situated in front of ultrasonic transducers, measurement volumes overlapping wall interfaces, refraction of the ultrasonic wave as well as sound velocity variations. A new ultrasonic transducer, which incorporates a delay line material optimised for beam forming could reduce these problems (Wiklund, 2007). If these could be addressed, UVP could be used for the measurement of velocity profiles in complex geometries (e.g. contractions, valves, bends and other pipe fittings) where the shape of the velocity profile is critical to derive models for estimating fluid momentum and kinetic energy for energy efficient designs. The objective of this research work was to optimise the UVP system for accurate complex flow measurements by evaluating a specially designed delay line transducer and implementing advanced signal processing techniques. The experimental work was conducted at the Material Science and Technology (MST) group at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). This work also formed part of a collaborative project with SIK - The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology. Acoustic characterisation of the ultrasonic transducers using an advanced robotic setup was done at SI K. Different concentrations of the following non-Newtonian fluids exhibiting different rheological characteristics were used for testing: carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions, kaolin and bentonite suspensions. Water was used for calibration purposes.

Jag undersöker chattmeddelandet i forumet Facebook Messenger för att se om jag kan finna mönster i de språkliga egenskaper som återfinns. Jag undersöker om egenskaperna innehar mest talspråkliga eller mest skriftspråkliga egenskaper, alternativt om egenskaperna kan anses vara unika för internetchatt. Syftet är att betrakta om chattspråk kan anses vara en självständig varietet i svenska språket.   Materialet består av chattkonversationer från tio informanter födda på 1990-talet samt sju informanter födda på 1960-talet. Genom att söka språkliga mönster hos två olika åldersgrupper går det att belysa huruvida konventionella språkegenskaper i chatt kan vara en generationsfråga. Jag använder en kvantitativ innehållsanalys för att analysera mitt material då jag har valt att kvantifiera de chattspråksegenskaper som jag har funnit. Jag har kvalitativa inslag i min analys för att ha möjlighet att tolka mitt resultat.   Det går att finna mönster i informanternas chattspråk. Det är vanligt att informanter brukar två utropstecken på rad, ”!!”, när de vill betona något i sitt meddelande. Det är också vanligt att utelämna information från chattmeddelanden: framförallt subjektspronomen eller prepositioner.   Det finns skillnader åldersgrupperna emellan. De yngre informanterna brukar många emoticoner medan de äldre gör det vid enstaka tillfällen. De yngre informanterna brukar emoticoner som satsavdelare – i stället för punkt och kommatecken – medan de äldre skriver enligt mer formella skriftspråksnormer. De äldre informanterna skriver ofta inledningar och avslutningar på sina meddelanden vilket de yngre inte gör.   Chattspråk, eller internetspråk, kan sägas vara en självständig språkvarietet även om de flesta språkliga egenskaperna inte är genuint nya. Verksamheten för kommunikation styr språket. Syftet med var och varför människor skriver till varandra har förändrats på grund av internet, vilket påverkar språket.

As ferramentas mais comuns da internet, tais como correio eletrônico, chat, fórum estão sendo rapidamente incorporadas nas atividades diárias das escolas, nos cursos presenciais. De modo especial isso acontece também nas instituições que fazem uso de sistemas de gerenciamento de cursos, que oferece um ambiente de aprendizagem colaborativa, de modo a provocar uma maior interação entre os alunos e uma aprendizagem com mais qualidade. O objetivo desta dissertação foi identificar quão as tecnologias de comunicação de um ambiente de aprendizagem colaborativa estão sendo utilizadas e agregando valor a formação dos alunos. Dados foram coletados de 102 alunos de disciplinas semi-presenciais do primeiro semestre de 2004, que responderam perguntas versando sobre o domínio sobre a tecnologia, a importância dada as ferramentas de colaboração na condução da disciplina, a identificação de algumas características dessas tecnologias em sua formação discente. Também foi elaborado um estudo de caso a partir de entrevistas com professores de uma Instituição de ensino superior. As ferramentas mais utilizadas foram o correio eletrônico e o fórum. O chat foi considerado uma ferramenta pouco utilizada, embora tenha sido considerada importante para o \"sentimento de grupo\". A videoconferência, considerada inviável pelo seu alto custo de operacionalização, foi raramente utilizada, muito embora suas características para simular a sala de aula tenham sido evidenciadas. Recomendações foram dadas em relação a treinamentos de instrutores e de futuras pesquisas considerando a visão dos professores. / The most common tools of internet, such as electronic mail, chat and forum, are being rapidly incorporated in daily school activities. In a especial way, it also happens in institutions that make use of management courses systems, which offer a collaborative learning environment, in order to provoke a better integration between the students and a more qualified apprenticeship. The objective of this paper was to identify what communication technologies in a collaborative learning environment have being utilized and the value aggregated to the students background. Some data were collected from 102 students of school subjects in the first semester in the year of 2004. These students answered questions concerning the domain of technology, the importance given to the tools that collaborates on teaching the subject, the identification of technologies features for their background. It was also elaborated a study starting from interviews with professors of an upper teaching institution (college). The most utilized tools were the e-mail and forum. The chat wasn\'t considered a very utilized tool, although it has been considered important for the \"group sense\". The videoconference, considered impracticable by its high functional cost, was rarely utilized, although its characteristics to simulate the classroom have been highlighted. Some recommendations were made in relation to the training of instructors and of the future researches considering the professors point of view.