Crack–Tip Toughness of a Soft Lead Zirconate Titanate

Crack–opening displacement (COD) measurements were performed on a commercial lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The intrinsic fracture toughness (or crack–tip toughness) of this material was determined using a new evaluation procedure, which takes into account the near–tip CODs and complete crack profile CODs. The crack–tip toughness K _I0 was determined from an extrapolation of COD data obtained at various loading stages, thus avoiding the complications caused by subcritical crack growth in PZT. Results for plane strain and plane stress condition are presented.     

Autoimmunity, immunodeficiency and mucosal infections: chronic intestinal inflammation as a sensitive indicator of immunoregulatory defects in response to normal luminal microflora

Despite the fact that target antigens and the genetic basis of several autoimmune diseases are now better understood, the initial events leading to a loss of tolerance towards self-components remain unknown. One of the most attractive explanations for autoimmune phenomena involves various infections as possible natural events capable of initiating the process in genetically predisposed individuals. The most accepted explanation of how infection causes autoimmunity is based on the concept of "molecular mimicry" (similarity between the epitopes of an autoantigen and the epitopes in the environmental antigen). Infectious stimuli may also participate in the development of autoimmunity by inducing an increased expression of stress proteins (hsp), chaperones and transplantation antigens, which leads to abnormal processing and presentation of self antigens. Superantigens are considered to be one of the most effective bacterial components to induce inflammatory reactions and to take part in the development and course of autoimmune mechanisms. It has long been known that defects in the host defense mechanism render the individual susceptible to infections caused by certain microorganisms. Impaired exclusion of microbial antigens can lead to chronic immunological activation which can affect the tolerance to self components. Defects in certain components of the immune system are associated with a higher risk of a development of autoimmune disease. The use of animal models for the studies of human diseases with immunological pathogenesis has provided new insights into the influence of immunoregulatory factors and the lymphocyte subsets involved in the development of disease. One of the most striking conclusion arising from work with genetically engineered immunodeficient mouse models is the existence of a high level of redundancy of the components of the immune system. However, when genes encoding molecules involved in T cell immunoregulatory functions are deleted, spontaneous chronic inflammation of the gut mucosa (similar to human inflammatory bowel disease) develops. Surprisingly, when such immunocompromised animals were placed into germfree environment, intestinal inflammation did not develop. Impairment of the mucosal immune response to the normal bacterial flora has been proposed to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of chronic intestinal inflammation. The use of immunodeficient models colonized with defined microflora for the analysis of immune reactivity will shed light on the mode of action of different immunologically important molecules responsible for the delicate balance between luminal commensals, nonspecific and specific components of the mucosal immune system.     

Contribution of laser microdissection-based technology to proteomic analysis in hepatocellular carcinoma developing on cirrhosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cause of cancer worldwide. Proteomic studies provide opportunities to uncover targets for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. However, in HCC developing in a setting of cirrhosis, the detection of proteome alterations may be hampered by the increased cellular heterogeneity of tissue when analysing global liver homogenates. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the identification of proteome alterations in these HCC cases was improved when the differential protein profile between tumour and non-tumour areas of liver was determined using hepatocytes isolated by laser microdissection (LM). Differential profiles established with LM-hepatocytes and liver section homogenates using 2-DE and MS exhibited noticeable differences: 30% of the protein spots with deregulated expression in tumorous LM-samples did not display any modification in homogenates; conversely 15% of proteins altered in tumorous homogenates were not impaired in LM-hepatocytes. These alterations resulted from the presence in cirrhotic liver of fibrotic stroma which displayed a protein pattern different from that determined in LM-hepatocytes. In conclusion, our data demonstrate the interest of LM in distinguishing between fibrotic and hepatocyte proteome alterations and thus the benefit of LM to proteome studies of HCC developing in a context of cirrhosis.     

Liquid convection effects on the pushing-engulfment transition of insoluble particles by a solidifying interface: Part I. Analytical calculation of the lift forces

During the solidification of a liquid containing insoluble particles, the particles can be instantaneously engulfed, or continuously pushed, or pushed and subsequently engulfed. A critical velocity for the pushing-engulfment transition is observed experimentally. Most models proposed to date ignore the complications arising from the liquid convection ahead of the solid-liquid interface. They simply solve the balance between the attractive drag force exercised by the liquid on the particle and the repulsive interfacial force. This work is an effort to calculate analytically the lift forces (Saffman and Magnus forces) under certain assumptions regarding the nature of fluid flow ahead of the solid/liquid interface. This makes possible the quantitative evaluation of the three experimentally observed regimes occurring during particle-interface interaction: (1) at low convection—no effect on the critical velocity for the particle engulfment transition; (2) at intermediate convection—increased critical velocity; (3) at high convection—no particle-interface interaction. The model was applied to evaluate the gravity level required for microgravity experimental work on particle pushing where the effect of liquid convection during solidification is negligible. This is necessary to validate existing theoretical models that do not take into account fluid flow parallel to the solidification interface.     

Nanocrystalline Barium Strontium Titanate Ceramics Synthesized via the “Organosol” Route and Spark Plasma Sintering

Dense nanocrystalline barium strontium titanate Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST) ceramics with an average grain size around 40 nm and very small dispersion were obtained by spark plasma sintering at 950°C and 1050°C starting from nonagglomerated nanopowders (~20 nm). The powders were synthesized by a modified “Organosol” process. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and dielectric measurements in the temperature range 173–313 K were used to investigate the evolution of crystal structure and the ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transformation behavior for the sintered BST ceramics with different grain sizes. The Curie temperature T_C decreases, whereas the phase transition becomes diffuse for the particle size decreasing from about 190 to 40 nm with matching XRD and permittivity data. Even the ceramics with an average grain size as small as 40 nm show the transition into the ferroelectric state. The dielectric permittivity ε shows relatively good thermal stability over a wide temperature range. The dielectric losses are smaller than 2%–4% in the frequency range of 100 Hz–1 MHz and temperature interval 160–320 K. A decrease in the dielectric permittivity in nanocrystalline ceramics was observed compared to submicrometer‐sized ceramics.     

Effect of nano silver coating on thermal protective performance of firefighter protective clothing

The main aim of this experimental work is to find out possible improvement in thermal protective performance of firefighter protective clothing when subjected to different level of radiant heat flux density. Firefighter protective clothing normally consists of three layers: outer shell, moisture barrier and thermal liner. When thermal protective performance of firefighter protective clothing is enhanced, the time of exposure against radiant heat flux is increased, which will provide extra amount of time to firefighter to carry on their work without suffering from severe skin burn injuries. In this study, the exterior side of outer shell was coated with nano-silver metallic particle through magnetron sputtering technology. Coating of outer shell with nano-silver particles was performed at three level of thickness, i.e. 1, 2 and 3?µm, respectively. All the uncoated and silver coated specimens were then characterized on air permeability tester, Permetest and radiant heat transmission machine. It was observed that coating has insignificant difference on the air and water vapor permeability of specimen and a significant decline was recorded for the value of transmitted heat flux density Q_c (kW/m²) and percentage transmission factor (%TF Q_o) as compared to uncoated specimen when subjected to 10 kW/m² and 20?kW/m² indicating improvement of thermal protective performance. These values go on further reduction with increase in thickness of coating layer of nano-silver particles.     

Using contexts and R-R interval estimation in lossless ECG compression

The paper presents a new lossless ECG compression scheme. The short-term predictor and the coder use conditioning on a small number of contexts. The long-term prediction is based on an algorithm for R-R interval estimation. Several QRS detection algorithms are investigated to select a low complexity and reliable detection algorithm. The coding of prediction residuals uses primarily the Golomb-Rice (GR) codes, but, to improve the coding results, escape codes GR-ESC are used in some contexts for a limited number of samples. Experimental results indicate the good overall performance of the lossless ECG compression algorithms (reducing the storage needs from 12 to about 3-4 bits per sample). The scheme consistently outperforms other waveform or general purpose coding algorithms.     

Modeling of the liquid/solid and the eutectoid phase transformations in spheroidal graphite cast iron

A model of phase transformations in spheroidal graphite (SG) cast iron has been developed to quantitatively describe the microstructural evolution during solidification and the subsequent solid-state phase transformations (eutectoid reaction) during continuous cooling and to predict some of the microstructural characteristics of final phases formed in SG iron castings. Such characteristics include phase fractions, phase spacings, and grain dimensions. In the model, the nucleation and growth of primary dendrites and eutectics were described based on existing theories, whereas the mathematical formulation for the eutectoid reaction,i.e., the formation of pearlite and ferrite from the as-cast austenite, was developed based on theories as well as physical evidence obtained from the experimental work. The Johnson-Mehl equation and the Avrami equation were used to calculate the fraction of transformed phases under continuous cooling conditions. The role of the grain impingement factor used in these two equations and the significance of the additivity principle in treating nonisothermal transformations were briefly discussed. The latent heat method was used for the numerical treatment of the release of latent heat during phase transformations. A two-dimensional finite element code which can be used in either Cartesian or cylindrical coordinates (ALCAST-2D) was used to solve the time-dependent temperature distribution throughout the metal/mold system. Numerical predictions were validated against experimental results, and good agreement was obtained. DONGKAI SHANGGUAN, Previously Assistant Research Engineer, The University of Alabama,     

Particle engulfment and pushing by solidifying interfaces: Part 1. Ground experiments

Directional solidification experiments have been carried out to determine the pushing/engulfment transition for two different metal/particle systems. The systems chosen were aluminum/zirconia particles and zinc/zirconia particles. Pure metals (99.999 pct A1 and 99.95 pct Zn) and spherical particles (500 μm in diameter) were used. The particles were nonreactive with the matrices within the temperature range of interest. The experiments were conducted so as to ensure a planar solid/liquid (SL) interface during solidification. Particle location before and after processing was evaluated by X-ray transmission microscopy (XTM) for the Al/ZrO₂ samples. All samples were characterized by optical metallography after processing. A clear methodology for the experiment evaluation was developed to unambiguously interpret the occurrence of the pushing/engulfment transition (PET). It was found that the critical velocity for engulfment ranges from 1.9 to 2.4 μm/s for Al/ZrO₂ and from 1.9 to 2.9 μm/s for Zn/ZrO₂.