Glass Contamination Research Articles

Addressing Glass Contamination in Radiology: What Can We Do to Minimize Its Impact?

Abstract Introduction There is a risk of glass contamination with the use of single-dose glass ampoules. Complications of injection include infection and granuloma formation and this is widely described in anesthetic literature. To date, there is no data on the effect of different ampoule opening methods on the degree of glass contamination. Purpose This article explores different ampoule opening methods and determines if any method is superior to the others with respect to glass contamination frequency. This article also increases awareness of glass contamination and its potential complications in the radiology community. Methods A controlled trial was undertaken with 15 glass ampoules filled with normal saline, divided into three groups. The ampoules in each of the group were opened via each method: freehand, ampoule breaker, and ampoule opener. The solution was aspirated with an 18-gauge drawing-up needle, which was centrifuged and decantered to be placed onto slides and inspected under light microscopy to assess the glass contaminants. Results Between each cohort, the freehand opening provided the least number of glass particles with 42, followed by the ampoule breaker and snapper. The greatest size of glass contamination was seen from the ampoule snapper at 300 μm, while the lowest average particle size was seen from the ampoule breaker. Conclusion The study confirmed presence of glass contamination in all three methods. Freehand opening minimized the number of particulates, while the ampoule breaker minimized the average particulate size. The ampoule snapper produced larger glass particulates in the trials and was deemed the least effective method.

Performance of Cow Evaluation System Elements in Simulated Environmental Conditions

Animal phenotype assessment plays a crucial role in enhancing the genetic potential of domestic breeds. Currently, research is underway to digitize and automate phenotyping through optical systems, enabling the recognition and evaluation of animals’ linear parameters. A prototype of a non-contact monitoring system for livestock phenotype indicators is currently under development. The movement of animals within the model (a laboratory measuring stand) is restricted by a specially designed transparent barrier made of polyethylene terephthalate, enabling the capture of three-dimensional photographs of the animals’ exterior. To validate the suitability of glass for this purpose, laboratory tests were conducted. (Research purpose) The research aims to determine the degree of relationship between protective glass contamination and the accuracy of the optical animal recognition system. (Materials and methods) The paper outlines the specifications of the laboratory stand, facilities, and equipment used, along with the methods employed and experimental conditions. The probability of determining the degree of protective glass contamination was quantified on a scale of 0 to 1, with a value of 0.78 indicating a high likelihood of accurate determination. (Results and discussion) The findings reveal that the system for determining the linear parameters of animals can operate reliably even when the protective glass is contaminated up to 30 percent. When the contamination reaches 50 percent due to inadequate glass cleaning, the system’s ability to recognize points of interest reduces by a factor of 1.625. Furthermore, at 80 percent contamination, achieving high-quality data collection becomes unfeasible as the camera fails to recognize the object. Proper cleaning of the glass is imperative to maintain the system stability. (Conclusions) The optical system enables the recognition and evaluation of animals’ linear parameters, provided that the protective glass of the laboratory stand is contaminated by no more than 50 percent and undergoes high-quality cleaning. At lower levels of glass contamination, up to 30 percent, these estimates exhibit a 2.6-38 percent increase compared to other contamination levels.

Modelling of fume particle behaviour and coupling glass contamination during vacuum laser beam welding

Vacuum laser beam welding utilises the advantages of both laser and electron beam welding. In this study, a numerical model was developed to simulate fume particle behaviour and the contamination of coupling glass through which the laser beam irradiates the vacuum chamber. Supplying a proper flow rate of shielding gas suppresses the infiltration of fume particles into the protective system and prevents the rising of fumes inside the system. The high momentum of the supplied gas could discharge fume particles out of the protective system and horizontally deflect fume particles away. The developed numerical model showed a good agreement with the experimental results, and a systematic method for designing and optimising the protective system was established.

Laser additive manufacturing of metallic glasses: issues in vitrification and mechanical properties

Abstract Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), on account of their attractive properties, have now begun to witness a few commercial applications, e.g. in coatings and micro-gears. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing, although established for crystalline alloys, has only recently been used for synthesizing BMG components. The issues arising in 3D printing of BMGs are of current relevance, and this review focuses on the key scientific aspects, namely vitrification (or crystallization) during printing, mechanical properties of printed glassy alloys and the use of AM in identifying newer BMGs. Available data on crystallization during printing of a variety of BMGs are analysed in terms of schematic time–temperature–transformation diagrams and the complex interplay between thermal cycles, the presence of quenched-in nuclei in the glass and oxygen contamination in a way that is hoped to be broadly applicable to most alloy systems. Also reviewed are three key factors influencing mechanical properties of printed BMGs, i.e. porosity, crystallinity and oxygen contamination and thereby potential strategies for improvement are suggested. The review concludes with a discussion on the use of AM for combinatorial alloy development aimed at identifying better glass-forming compositions, which may in turn facilitate greater use of AM in manufacturing glassy components with desired properties.

Edge-Directed LTPS Via Flash Lamp Annealing Using a Cr Adhesion Layer for Improved Wettability

PMOS TFTs built on flash lamp annealed polycrystalline silicon are presented. A thin layer of chromium is used as an adhesion promoter to prevent randomized voids from forming, allowing predictable grain growth in an elongated morphology oriented away from silicon mesa edges. Operational TFTs were realized, revealing that the Cr under-layer does not result in a significant conductance in parallel with the channel, and effectively serves as a barrier to glass contaminants. The methodology supports the production of TFTs with a high degree of electrical uniformity. Comparisons are made between electrical characteristics of transistors with grains oriented in the same direction as the channel carrier pathway versus those with perpendicular orientation; the former demonstrating approximately ten percent higher channel mobility. Process details and representative electrical characteristics are described.

Near-infrared spectral measurements and multivariate analysis for predicting glass contamination of refuse-derived fuel

This paper investigates how glass contamination in refuse-derived fuel can be quantitatively detected using near-infrared spectroscopy. Near-infrared spectral data of glass in four different background materials were collected, each material chosen to represent a main component in municipal solid waste; actual refuse-derived fuel was not tested. The resulting spectra were pre-processed and used to develop multi-variate predictive models using partial least squares regression. It was shown that predictive models for coloured glass content are reasonably accurate, while models for mixed glass or clear glass content are not; the validated model for coloured glass content had a coefficient of determination of 0.83 between the predicted and reference data, and a root-mean-square error of validation of 0.64. The methods investigated in this paper show potential in predicting coloured glass content in different types of background material, but a different approach would be needed for predicting mixed type glass contamination in refuse-derived fuel.

Active thermography inspection of protective glass contamination on laser scanning heads.

Industrial lasers are an expanding technology of welding and other materials processing. Lasers with optical scanning heads are often used, as these provide more versatility, accuracy, and speed. The output part of the scanning head is covered by a protective glass, which might get contaminated by various particles from the laser processing. This decreases the transmissivity of the glass, and it can affect the production quality. The contamination needs to be checked regularly, but a visual inspection might not always be effective. This paper proposes two alternative methods of inspecting the protective glass: flash-pulse active thermography, and laser active thermography. They are based on the thermal excitation of the glass and measuring the response with an infrared camera. The experimental setup and practical results are described and the advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The presented methods are proven to be effective in detecting the contamination of the glass.

Adhesion mechanism of destruction of silica-glass surface during the preparation and treatment of optical glassy arsenic Chalcogenides

Adhesion of As–S and As–Se glasses to silica glass is studied by means of the steady detachment method. The results demonstrate that the adhesion strength of the boundary of solid phases increases with the content of chalcogens in the composition of glass. It is found that adhesion of arsenic sulfide glasses with sulfur content over 65% to silica glass exceeds the tensile strength of the silica glass during the process of solidification and annealing of chalcogenide preforms. The adhesion of arsenic chalcogenides to silica glass is determined to be the reason of chalcogenide glass contamination by heterophase inclusions.

Waste Separation Press (WSP): A mechanical pretreatment option for organic waste from source separation

An efficient biological treatment of source separated organic waste from household kitchens and gardens (biowaste) requires an adequate upfront mechanical preparation which possibly includes a hand sorting for the separation of contaminants. In this work untreated biowaste from households and gardens and the screen overflow >60mm of the same waste were mechanically treated by a Waste Separation Press (WSP). The WSP separates the waste into a wet fraction for biological treatment and a fraction of dry contaminants for incineration. The results show that it is possible to replace a hand sorting of contaminants, the milling and a screening of organic waste before the biological treatment by using the WSP. A special focus was put on the contaminants separation. The separation of plastic film from the untreated biowaste was 67% and the separation rate of glass was about 92%. About 90% of the organics were transferred to the fraction for further biological treatment. When treating the screen overflow >60mm with the WSP 86% of the plastic film and 88% of the glass were transferred to the contaminants fraction. 32% of the organic was transferred to the contaminants fraction and thereby lost for a further biological treatment. Additionally it was calculated that national standards for glass contaminants in compost can be met when using the WSP to mechanically treat the total biowaste. The loss of biogas by transferring biodegradable organics to the contaminants fraction was about 11% when preparing the untreated biowaste with the WSP.

Atorvastatin Recalled for Ground Glass Contamination

Atorvastatin Recalled for Ground Glass Contamination

Design of exposed-core fiber for methadone monitoring in biological fluids

In this paper, the design of a silica exposed-core fiber sensor for methadone detection in water is reported. The sensor feasibility is numerically investigated using a Finite Element Method (FEM) numerical code. The simulation results have evaluated the fiber cross sections that incorporate a polymeric cladding as a sensitive layer as a means of enhancing the evanescent field interaction with the polymeric layer permeated by the analyte. In addition to the proposed biomedical sensor, a similar sensing configuration is proposed and modeled for environment pollution. Lead silicate glass (F2) is considered in the simulation as an alternative to silica glass and different contaminants (benzene, toluene etc.) are taken into account to evaluate the sensor suitability for use in environment monitoring.

The level of random background glass recovered from fleece jackets of individuals who worked in Law enforcement or related professions

Fleece jackets are often encountered as items of clothing submitted for examination in forensic science laboratories in Scotland. This work examines the background glass contamination of garments of this nature in order to inform casework conclusions. 44 fleece jackets (100% polyester) from individuals who either worked in the Forensic Science laboratory or were police officers who regularly attended crime scenes were examined for the random presence of glass fragments. The refractive index of recovered fragments was determined using glass refractive index measurements. The values obtained were compared with glass fragments recovered from garments associated with criminal events and the results assessed.

Ranking of risk of injury from glass contaminants using Fourier shape measures of fragment outlines

The inclusion of glass contaminants in a horticultural peat product supplied to the domestic market, where it may be manipulated by hand, exposes customers to the risk of injury, especially if the fragment is encountered at a sharp edge or pointed corner, and at a high enough velocity. Fragment shape is considered the most important factor in the process of accidental injury, and its determination with a reasonable accuracy would be of great benefit. Glass contaminants included in peat were detected using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and resulting images processed to isolate glass fragment outlines. Four shape measures derived from the Zahn–Roskies Fourier series of fragment outlines were compared to a corresponding visually determined rank of risk of injury. A similar procedure was also carried out on ranks generated from Cartesian distances of fragments based on the shape measures and those based on visual ranking. Comparison of ranks was carried out using Kendall's Rank Correlation Test. It was observed that the parameter of the polygonal approximation of fragment outlines and the highest Fourier harmonic considered affected rank correlation. Results show that the individual shape measures performed reasonably well, the best correlation being τ = −0.721 (p

Identification of high-injury-risk glass contaminants using simple shape measures of fragment outlines

Horticultural peat supplied to the domestic market is mainly hand manipulated by gardeners. For a glass contaminant to cause injury it must be angular (or pointed) and must have a significant protrusion at its angular end. These features are easy to identify visually, and shape measures specific to the determination of high-injury-risk do not exist. This study aimed to identify the best simple shape measure for the estimation of risk of injury from glass contaminants that may be found in bags of horticultural peat. Glass contaminants included in peat were detected using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and ranking of various shapes according to risk of injury was carried out visually, as well as using simple shape measures. The simple shape measures used were compactness, eccentricity, elongation, radius of gyration, principal axes ratio, bounding rectangle to outline area ratio, object-ellipse major-to-minor axes ratio, convexity, convex hull area to object area ratio, and circular variance. Comparison of each of the rankings based on a simple shape measure with the visual ranking was carried out using Kendall's rank correlation test. Compactness correlated best (τ = 0.735, p

Recent Problems in Glass Melting from the View Point of Refractory and its Solutions

In these years, glass industry has several problems to solve which are derived from environmental protection, energy saving, resource saving, demands for high quality glass and so on. Refractory for the glass melting also has some problems corresponding to the glass industry, such as more corrosive service circumstance, less glass contamination from the refractory, recycling and so on. NOx reduction, one of the environmental protection, brings the oxy-fuel combustion and/or the reducing atmosphere operation of glass melting into the glass industry. Under the reducing atmosphere, some kind of refractories can not endure for a long period of time and under the oxy-fuel combustion, refractories ought to endure around 3 to 4 times more severely corrosive circumstance. Thus, the problems of refractory that are corresponding to the glass industry are explained and discussed in this presentation. The solutions for the above are also discussed and presented, if possible in the presentation.

Evaluation of the detection of glass contamination in horticultural peat and compost using microwave reflection by Monte Carlo simulation

Contamination of bagged peat by glass fragments needs to be detected before point-of-sale to protect users from cut injuries. In order to evaluate the potential for designing a microwave detection system, a bootstrap Monte Carlo simulation of transverse-electric plane microwave reflection from glass-contaminated random flat strata of wet peat and compost was carried out. Measured complex permittivity data for peat, compost, and soda-lime glass were used in conjunction with calculated water vapour pressure for the simulation. The simulation was for polyethylene bag material on both faces of randomly generated peat (or compost) strata on a supporting stainless-steel platform. This was to simulate bagged peat or compost. Generally, a dual-frequency analysis resulted in more consistent discrimination between pure and contaminated peat and compost samples than single-frequency phase-shift or amplitude ratio. Best performance was obtained with dual-frequency corrected phase difference for peat (difference=0.15 rad, p p

Spectral cullet classification in the mid-infrared field for ceramic glass contaminants detection

The presence of glass-like contaminants inside waste glass products, usually resulting from both industrial and differentiated urban waste collection, has greatly increased in recent years, due to the introduction to the market of a large amount of goods manufactured from ceramic glass. The presence of contaminants in the glass recycling streams reduces product quality and increases production costs. The detection of ceramic glass detection is an unresolved problem, as such material looks like normal glass and can only be detected by trained personnel. In this study an innovative approach to ceramic glass recognition, based on the spectral signature in the mid-infrared (MIR) field, was proposed and investigated. The study specifically addressed the spectral characterization of glass and ceramic glass fragments collected in a real recycling plant from two different production lines: coloured container glass and white container glass. To define suitable inspection strategies to separate the useful (glass) from the polluting (ceramic glass) materials at the recycling plants, fragments presenting different colour, thickness, size, shape and manufacturing were selected. Both dirty and clean cullet was considered. The analyses, carried out in the MIR spectral field (2280-4480 nm), show that ceramic glass and glass fragments can be recognized according to their different spectral signature. In particular, by selecting a specific wavelength ratio the two classes of materials can be rapidly recognized, suggesting the possibility of developing an integrated hardware and software sorting system for 'on-line' ceramic glass separation.

Photographic Image Analysis for the Evaluation of Window Glass Contamination

Self-cleaning window glasses based on TiO2 photocatalysis are becoming popular products, and the importance of quantitative measure of glass contamination is increasing in order to evaluate its self-cleaning performance. Contaminated glass samples were rated for visual impression of dirtiness. Then the dirtiness ratings were compared with transmittance, haze value, change in lightness, change in color, intensity average of digital photograph, standard deviation of intensity of digital photograph. It was found that the last parameter gives the best correlation with the dirtiness rating.

Imaging spectroscopy based strategies for ceramic glass contaminants removal in glass recycling

The presence of ceramic glass contaminants in glass recycling plants reduces production quality and increases production costs. The problem of ceramic glass inspection is related to the fact that its detectable physical and pictorial properties are quite similar to those of glass. As a consequence, at the sorting plant scale, ceramic glass looks like normal glass and is detectable only by specialized personnel. In this paper an innovative approach for ceramic glass recognition, based on imaging spectroscopy, is proposed and investigated. In order to define suitable inspection strategies for the separation between useful (glass) and polluting (ceramic glass) materials, reference samples of glass and ceramic glass presenting different colors, thicknesses, shapes and manufacturing processes have been selected. Reflectance spectra have been obtained using two equipment covering the visible and near infrared wavelength ranges (400–1000 and 1000–1700 nm). Results showed as recognition of glass and ceramic glass is possible using selected wavelength ratios, in both visible and near infrared fields.

Development of polonium surface contamination measure in lead-bismuth eutectic coolant

Polonium contamination is one of the issues to be solved for use of lead-bismuth eutectic in a nuclear system. It is important to develop an effective method to remove polonium surface contamination. Some experiments were performed to remove polonium surface contamination by baking method. The results showed that characteristics are different between quartz glass contamination removal and stainless steel contamination removal. A method to estimate polonium density distribution in metal useful for investigation of polonium surface contamination was developed.