Quantification of surface faulting potential in a low to moderate active region: An example from the Southern Rhinegraben area

In low to moderate tectonically active areas, such as intracontinental regions with deep reaching zones of crustal weakness, direct observations of surface faulting offsets are very scarce and the seismic record is often incomplete and small. This complicates the study of a possible surface faulting hazard and requires new analysis concepts. In the case study presented in this paper, the seismic hazard potential of an already defined nuclear power plant site located in such a moderate active region had to be reassessed, and the possible effects of surface faulting had to be quantified.     

Electrically Conductive Composite Powders and Compounds Produced with Solid State Synthesis

Electrically conductive composite powders and compounds were produced using a mechanical alloying method. As starting materials, copper powder and a mixture of butadiene-acrylonitrile-copolymer and polyvinylchloride were used. After alloying, the powderlike material consisted of a mixture of fine copper powder embedded in the polymer matrix. Milling resulted in a copper powder of particle size 300 nm to 2 μm. The alloyed powders were compacted at a pressure of 0.37 GPa at 90°C with a holding time of 1 minute. The resistivity of the compound was measured to be 8.6 × 10^-4 ohm-cm. The unusual reduction in particle size to the nanometer level and formation of spherically formed copper polymer composite particles is explained by the reactions of the copper atoms with cyano and other functional groups of the polar polymers. The structurally modified polymer forms a tight encapsulation coating on the surface of the copper, and the flat-formed metal particles are recovered in spherical form due to strong interfacial forces, resulting in increased electrical conductivity.     

Long-range interactions and parallel scalability in molecular simulations

Typical biomolecular systems such as cellular membranes, DNA, and protein complexes are highly charged. Thus, efficient and accurate treatment of electrostatic interactions is of great importance in computational modeling of such systems. We have employed the GROMACS simulation package to perform extensive benchmarking of different commonly used electrostatic schemes on a range of computer architectures (Pentium-4, IBM Power 4, and Apple/IBM G5) for single processor and parallel performance up to 8 nodes—we have also tested the scalability on four different networks, namely Infiniband, GigaBit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and nearly uniform memory architecture, i.e. communication between CPUs is possible by directly reading from or writing to other CPUs' local memory. It turns out that the particle-mesh Ewald method (PME) performs surprisingly well and offers competitive performance unless parallel runs on PC hardware with older network infrastructure are needed. Lipid bilayers of sizes 128, 512 and 2048 lipid molecules were used as the test systems representing typical cases encountered in biomolecular simulations. Our results enable an accurate prediction of computational speed on most current computing systems, both for serial and parallel runs. These results should be helpful in, for example, choosing the most suitable configuration for a small departmental computer cluster.     

Children's hedonic response to berry products: Effect of chemical composition of berries and hTAS2R38 genotype on liking

The hedonic response of 104 healthy children, recruited from day-care centres and schools, to 12 different berry products with varying content of added sugar was studied. The berries used as ingredients were blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum), sea buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), and lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). Another aim of the study was to study the effects of the chemical composition of berries as well as children’s hTAS2R38 taste receptor genotypes on liking. The most liked product was bilberry with yoghurt, followed by bilberry juice, dried bilberries, and lingonberry rye bread. The most disliked products were sea buckthorn juice, sea buckthorn berries with yoghurt, and oatmeal with blackcurrant powder and berry oil. High total organic acid concentration was strongly related with a poor average liking score of the berries/berry products. A total of four different alleles of hTAS2R38 gene were observed in the study. Of the genotyped children, 45% were bitter taste insensitive individuals of the genotype AVI/AVI, and 40% were of the genotype PAV/AVI. Children of the genotype PAV/AVI were reported using more vegetables, but not berries, than the AVI/AVI children. The results also show that the liking scores of the children of the AVI/AVI, PAV/AVI, and PAV/PAV genotypes differed from each other, and that the familiarity of a berry product is likely to be an important factor in liking.     

The Effect of Heat Treatment and Feldspathic Glazing on Some Mechanical Properties of Zirconia

Purpose

In dental practice, zirconia substructures for crowns and fixed partial dentures are veneered with feldspathic porcelain for better aesthetical properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of heat treatment during the veneering process on the mechanical properties of zirconia.

Methods

105 zirconia (ICE Zirkon, Zirkonzahn, Italy) disc shaped specimens were divided into seven groups (n?=?15/group) and sintered at 1500 °C. Control specimens (group 1) were left as such. Specimens in the study groups were: 2) one heat treatment in a porcelain firing furnace; 3) a heat treatment with two firing cycles; 4) one heat treatment with a thin coating of feldspathic glazing on the tension side; 5) two heat treatments with a thin coating of feldspathic wash and glazing on the tension side; 6) one heat treatment with a thin coating of feldspathic glazing on the compression side; 7) two heat treatments with a thin coating of feldspathic wash and glazing on the compression side. Biaxial flexural strength and surface microhardness of the specimens (diameter 19 mm, thickness 1.2 mm) were measured. The effect of heat treatment and feldspathic glazing on the phase transformations of zirconia was determined by XRD-analysis. The data were calculated using ANOVA-analysis.

Results

Repeated heat treatment did not influence the mechanical properties of zirconia (p?>?0.05). No difference (p?>?0.05) was found in terms of the surface microhardness between the groups. Some transformation from the tetragonal to the monoclinic phase was seen on the surface of the specimens after heat treatment and feldspathic glazing coating.

Conclusions

Repeated heat treatment does not affect the strength of zirconia milled in the green-stage form.     

Production of the Finnish Wind Atlas

The Finnish Wind Atlas was prepared applying the mesoscale model AROME with 2.5 km horizontal resolution and the diagnostic downscaling method Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Programme (WAsP) with 250 m resolution. The latter was applied for areas most favourable for wind power production: a 30 km wide coastal/offshore zone, highlands, large lakes and large fields. The methodology included several novel aspects: (i) a climatologically representative period of real 48 months during 1989–2007 was simulated with the mesoscale model; (ii) in addition, the windiest and calmest months were simulated; (iii) the results were calculated separately for each month and for sectors 30° wide; (iv) the WAsP calculations were based on the mesoscale model outputs; (v) in addition to point measurements, also radar wind data were applied for the validation of the mesoscale model results; (vi) the parameterization method for gust factor was extended to be applicable at higher altitudes; and (vii) the dissemination of the Wind Atlas was based on new technical solutions. The AROME results were calculated for the heights of 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 200, 300 and 400 m, and the WAsP results for the heights of 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 m. In addition to the wind speed, the results included the values of the Weibull distribution parameters, the gust factor, wind power content and the potential power production, which was calculated for three turbine sizes. The Wind Atlas data are available for each grid point and can be downloaded free of charge from dynamic maps at www.windatlas.fi . Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structure and dielectric breakdown strength of nano calcium carbonate/polypropylene composites

Nanodielectrics, a 21st‐century phenomena, is envisioned to be the answer for material challenges in progressive high‐voltage technology. It is well known that the proper dispersion of nanoparticles plays a key role in improving the dielectric properties of a material, but to understand where changes in the properties of a material originate, it is also essential to reveal the multiscale structure of the material. In this study, the dielectric permittivity, breakdown strength, and structure of nano calcium carbonate (nano‐CaCO₃)/polypropylene composites with 1.8–8.1 wt % doping were characterized systematically. The combined results from transmission electron microscopy, Raman microscopy, and optical microscopy show that the quality of nanodispersion was similar in all of the filler concentrations studied. However, all of the samples also contained smoothly distributed microparticles. The density of the microparticles increased exponentially when the concentration of nano‐CaCO₃ was increased in the manufacturing process. The dielectric direct‐current breakdown of the composites had a maximum at 1.8 wt % concentration and then decreased as the filler concentration was increased. The differences could be explained by the existence of large microparticles rather than the quality of the nanoparticle dispersion; this indicated the importance of multiscale characterization. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39504.     

Extremely low frequency magnetic field measurements in buildings with transformer stations in Switzerland

The aim of this study was to evaluate an exposure assessment method that classifies apartments in three exposure categories of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) based on the location of the apartment relative to the transformer room. We completed measurements in 39 apartments in 18 buildings. In each room of the apartments ELF-MF was concurrently measured with 5 to 6 EMDEX II meters for 10 min. Measured arithmetic mean ELF-MF was 0.59 μT in 8 apartments that were fully adjacent to a transformer room, either directly above the transformer or touching the transformer room wall-to-wall. In apartments that only partly touched the transformer room at corners or edges, average ELF-MF level was 0.14 μT. Average exposure in the remaining apartments was 0.10 μT. Kappa coefficient for exposure classification was 0.64 (95%-CI: 0.45-0.82) if only fully adjacent apartments were considered as highly exposed (> 0.4 μT). We found a distinct ELF-MF exposure gradient in buildings with transformer. Exposure classification based on the location of the apartment relative to the transformer room appears feasible. Such an approach considerably reduces effort for exposure assessment and may be used to eliminate selection bias in future epidemiologic studies.     

Defined-size DNA triple crossover construct for molecular electronics: modification, positioning and conductance properties

We present a novel, defined-size, small and rigid DNA template, a so-called B-A-B complex, based on DNA triple crossover motifs (TX tiles), which can be utilized in molecular scale patterning for nanoelectronics, plasmonics and sensing applications. The feasibility of the designed construct is demonstrated by functionalizing the TX tiles with one biotin-triethylene glycol (TEG) and efficiently decorating them with streptavidin, and furthermore by positioning and anchoring single thiol-modified B-A-B complexes to certain locations on a chip via dielectrophoretic trapping. Finally, we characterize the conductance properties of the non-functionalized construct, first by measuring DC conductivity and second by utilizing AC impedance spectroscopy in order to describe the conductivity mechanism of a single B-A-B complex using a detailed equivalent circuit model. This analysis also reveals further information about the conductivity of DNA structures in general.