Modelling a new, low CO2 emissions, hydrogen steelmaking process

In an effort to develop breakthrough technologies that enable drastic reduction in CO2 emissions from steel industry (ULCOS project), the reduction of iron ore by pure hydrogen in a direct reduction shaft furnace was investigated. After experimental and modelling studies, a 2D, axisymmetrical steady-state model called REDUCTOR was developed to simulate a counter-current moving bed reactor in which hematite pellets are reduced by pure hydrogen. This model is based on the numerical solution of the local mass, energy and momentum balances of the gas and solid species by the finite volume method. A single pellet sub-model was included in the global furnace model to simulate the successive reactions (hematite->magnetite ->wustite->iron) involved in the process, using the concept of additive reaction times. The different steps of mass transfer and possible iron sintering at the grain scale were accounted for. The kinetic parameters were derived from reduction experiments carried out in a thermobalance furnace, at different conditions, using small hematite cubes shaped from industrial pellets. Solid characterizations were also performed to further understand the microstrutural evolution. First results have shown that the use of hydrogen accelerates the reduction in comparison to CO reaction, making it possible to design a hydrogen-operated shaft reactor quite smaller than current MIDREX and HYL. Globally, the hydrogen steelmaking route based on this new process is technically and environmentally attractive. CO2 emissions would be reduced by more than 80%. Its future is linked to the emergence of the hydrogen economy

Classification of Segments in PolSAR Imagery by Minimum Stochastic Distances Between Wishart Distributions

A new classifier for Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) images is proposed and assessed in this paper. Its input consists of segments, and each one is assigned the class which minimizes a stochastic distance. Assuming the complex Wishart model, several stochastic distances are obtained from the h-phi family of divergences, and they are employed to derive hypothesis test statistics that are also used in the classification process. This article also presents, as a novelty, analytic expressions for the test statistics based on the following stochastic distances between complex Wishart models: Kullback-Leibler, Bhattacharyya, Hellinger, R\'enyi, and Chi-Square; also, the test statistic based on the Bhattacharyya distance between multivariate Gaussian distributions is presented. The classifier performance is evaluated using simulated and real PolSAR data. The simulated data are based on the complex Wishart model, aiming at the analysis of the proposal well controlled data. The real data refer to the complex L-band image, acquired during the 1994 SIR-C mission. The results of the proposed classifier are compared with those obtained by a Wishart per-pixel/contextual classifier, and we show the better performance of the region-based classification. The influence of the statistical modeling is assessed by comparing the results using the Bhattacharyya distance between multivariate Gaussian distributions for amplitude data. The results with simulated data indicate that the proposed classification method has a very good performance when the data follow the Wishart model. The proposed classifier also performs better than the per-pixel/contextual classifier and the Bhattacharyya Gaussian distance using SIR-C PolSAR data.Comment: Accepted for publication on the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensin

A Light Higgs at the LHC and the B-Anomalies

After the Higgs discovery, the LHC has been looking for new resonances, decaying into pairs of Standard Model (SM) particles. Recently, the CMS experiment observed an excess in the di-photon channel, with a di-photon invariant mass of about 96~GeV. This mass range is similar to the one of an excess observed in the search for the associated production of Higgs bosons with the $Z$ neutral gauge boson at LEP, with the Higgs bosons decaying to bottom quark pairs. On the other hand, the LHCb experiment observed a discrepancy with respect to the SM expectations of the ratio of the decay of $B$-mesons to $K$-mesons and a pair of leptons, $R_{K^{(*)}} = BR(B \to K^{(*)} \mu^+\mu^-)/BR(B\to K^{(*)} e^+e^-)$. This observation provides a hint of the violation of lepton-flavor universality in the charged lepton sector and may be explained by the existence of a vector boson originating form a $U(1)_{L_\mu - L_\tau}$ symmetry and heavy quarks that mix with the left-handed down quarks. Since the coupling to heavy quarks could lead to sizable Higgs di-photon rates in the gluon fusion channel, in this article we propose a common origin of these anomalies identifying a Higgs associated with the breakdown of the $U(1)_{L_\mu - L_\tau}$ symmetry and at the same time responsible to the quark mixing, with the one observed at the LHC. We also discuss the constraints on the identification of the same Higgs with the one associated with the bottom quark pair excess observed at LEP.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables. v2: 1 figure added, motivation clarified, version matched to JHE

Ação coletiva passiva: possibilidade de aplicação para tutela dos direitos metaindividuais

This paper has as fundamental objective to show the feasibility of Defendant Class Action for the protection of meta individual rights, even though the Institute is still not specifically provided in the collective process of micro in Brazil. Passing through the origin of collective actions, supported in actiones popularis of Roman law, the defendant class action provided for in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure served as initial paradigm for the Institute's analysis, whereas the action shall apply in the common law system, especially in the United States of America. The current legal scenario and the complexity of social conflicts demonstrate the need to broaden the knowledge about ways to protect rights under the cloak of trans-individuality, despite the non-existence of a national Code of Collective Procedures. Accordingly, it is suggested to overcome the instrumentalist stage of the process towards instrumentalism constitutional form as a way of approximation of procedural law, in particular of collective procedural law, the constitutional text and, consequently, the effective application of the hermeneutic gap for collective action. In the study, the labour process served as a paradigm of reception of collective actions, even if they occur with groups in the passive pole or legitimized in active pole, showing up as a starting point for understanding the legitimacy of groups, categories or classes, also for other branches of law. Finally, it is suggested that, through various examples, it is already possible to use passive collective action in Brazil, even with the absence of specific rules about this issue, the principle of collective due process of law and effectiveness of collective judicial protection.O presente trabalho tem como objetivo fundamental demostrar a viabilidade da ação coletiva passiva para a tutela dos direitos metaindividuais, mesmo que o instituto ainda não seja especificamente previsto no microssistema de processo coletivo do Brasil. Passando pela origem das ações coletivas, com suporte nas actiones popularis do direito romano, a defendant class action prevista na Federal Rules of Civil Procedure serviu como paradigma inicial para análise do instituto, considerando que a ação é aplicável no sistema do common law, especialmente nos Estados Unidos da América. O cenário jurídico atual e a complexidade dos conflitos sociais demonstram a necessidade de se ampliar os conhecimentos sobre as formas de se tutelar direitos sob o manto da transindividualidade, apesar da não existência ainda de um Código de Processo Coletivo nacional. Nesse sentido, propõe-se a superação da fase instrumentalista do processo em prol do instrumentalismo constitucional como forma de aproximação do direito processual, em especial do direito processual coletivo, do texto constitucional e, por conseguinte, da abertura hermenêutica para aplicação efetiva da ação coletiva passiva. No estudo, o processo do trabalho serviu como paradigma de acolhimento de ações coletivas, sejam elas com grupos legitimados no pólo passivo ou no pólo ativo, mostrando-se como ponto de partida para a compreensão da legitimidade de grupos, categorias ou classes, também para os demais ramos do direito. Por fim, propõe-se, através de vários exemplos, que já é possível a utilização da ação coletiva passiva no Brasil, mesmo diante da ausência de regulamentação específica da matéria, a bem do princípio do devido processo legal coletivo e da efetividade da tutela jurisdicional coletiva

ORÇAMENTO E ESTRATÉGIA NA GESTÃO UNIVERSITÁRIA: UM ESTUDO BIBLIOMÉTRICO

A escassez de recursos e as mudanças socioeconômicas fazem do cenário atual um ambiente de instabilidade, principalmente na administração pública. Inseridas nesse contexto as universidades devem se adequar a essa situação por meio de ferramentas gerenciais para melhor desempenhar seu papel. O orçamento e o planejamento estratégico podem ser instrumentos que auxiliam na gestão das instituições de ensino superior. O presente estudo tem como objetivo selecionar um portfólio bibliográfico relevante para o tema orçamento e estratégia na gestão universitária e, realizar a análise bibliométrica deste portfólio visando identificar os autores, palavras-chave, periódicos e referências mais utilizadas. Como metodologia utilizou-se o estudo bibliométrico. No portfólio bibliométrico identificou-se que apenas 1 autor esteve presente em 3 artigos selecionados, as palavras-chave só se repetiram no máximo em 3 artigos, a Revista Gestão Universitária da América Latina foi a que contemplou o maior número de artigos e algumas referências se repetiram no máximo em 3 artigos. Conclui-se que o estudo é uma fonte informacional de qualidade a respeito do tema, onde os pesquisadores puderam verificar as referências mais utilizadas, os períodicos que mais publicam sobre a temática e o que se está pesquisando sobre o tema

VOCAL REPERTORY OF TWO SPECIES OF THE LEPTODACTYLUS PENTADACTYLUS GROUP (ANURA, LEPTODACTYLIDAE)

Among frogs, vocalizations play important roles in their social interactions. Herein we describefi ve new types of vocalizations for two foam-nesting species of the Leptodactylus pentadactylusgroup, L. syphax and L. labyrinthicus. Behavioral observations and recordings were done in fourlocalities within the Cerrado biome, at southeast and central Brazil. Before emitting advertisementcalls, males of L. syphax often started producing a sequence of notes, which gradually turned into theadvertisement call. These different notes may be an introductory call, which would serve to preparethe vocal structures for the emission of the high-frequency/amplitude advertisement calls. A male ofL. syphax was emitting advertisement calls when a female approached and started to emit brief andlow-amplitude calls; these vocalizations probably are reciprocation calls. Males of L. labyrinthicusinvolved in agonistic interactions can emit vocal cracks (encounter call) and deep rough sounds (territorialcalls). Five courting males of L. labyrinthicus released screams with their mouth slightly openedin response to the approach of human observers. We conclude that these screams do not representdistress or territorial calls