Effect of precyclic loading on stress-corrosion-cracking initiation in an X-65 pipeline steel exposed to near-neutral pH soil environment

A study was carried out to understand the effect of precyclic loading on stress-corrosion-crack initiation in an X-65 pipeline steel exposed to a near-neutral-pH soil environment. The test specimens were precyclically loaded before corrosion exposure to represent a service history of up to about 20 years, depending on the severity of pressure fluctuation. Microcracks had initiated on the polished surface of the X-65 pipeline steel after long-time exposure at open-circuit potential (OCP) in a near-neutral-pH synthetic soil solution. These microcracks were mostly initiated from pits at metallurgical discontinuities such as grain boundaries, pearlitic colonies, and banded phases in the steel. Strong preferential dissolution was observed along planes of the banded structures in the steel. The selective corrosion attack at these metallurgical discontinuities is attributed to the galvanic nature of those areas to their neighbors. Cyclic loading prior to corrosion exposure had significant effects on microcrack initiation and propagation during subsequent corrosion exposure. Cyclic loading prior to corrosion exposure either reduced or increased the probability of crack initiation and the rate of crack propagation, depending upon the magnitude of the stress cycles. The largest reduction was seen at a peak cyclic stress of about 0.8 of the yield strength. This cyclic-loading-dependent cracking behavior might be related to the alteration of the substructures and the residual stress in the steel as a result of precyclic loading.     

矿用立式旋风水膜除尘器除尘性能的试验研究

本文通过对立式旋风水膜除尘器除尘性能的模型试验,揭示了几个主要参数对其除尘性能的影响,确定了合理的取值范围,对该种除尘器的设计和应用提供了依据。     

Renal R2 chemoreceptor activity is attenuated after back heating in the rat

The aim of the present study was to determine the afferent connections of the nucleus accumbens in snakes, in particular its catecholaminergic input. For that purpose, in vitro and in vivo applications of retrograde tracers in the nucleus accumbens of Elaphe guttata were combined with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunohistochemistry. Both techniques revealed telencephalic inputs to the nucleus accumbens originating from the diagonal band of Broca, ventral pallidum, amygdaloid complex, and dorsal cortex. Major diencephalic inputs arise from the dorsomedial thalamic nucleus and the hypothalamus. In the brainstem, a few retrogradely labeled cells were observed in the raphe nucleus and the locus coeruleus. Considerably more cells were found in the midbrain tegmentum. Within the confines of the locus coeruleus and, in particular, the midbrain tegmentum, retrogradely labeled cells stained also for TH suggesting that those areas constitute the major catecholaminergic input to the nucleus accumbens of snakes. The experimental approach used in the present study, in particular the in vitro technique, seems to be very suited for studying the development of basal ganglia organization of reptiles in the near future.     

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本文根据四川天然气产能建设多年的实践,分析了产能建设的特点和存在问题,着重强调了当前搞好产能建设应注意的几个问题,供决策和工作参考。     

糖化酶制剂辐照性能研究

研究了工业糖化酶制剂经辐照处理后各项性能的变化。结果表明,经2kGy以下剂量的γ射线处理后,可提高其贮存稳定性,改善卫生品质,不影响其正常使用。     

Observation of atomic steps on CaCO3 crystal surface

By using scanning polarization force microscopy,the deliquescence process and the atomic steps on the cleavage surface of CaCO3 in air were studied in situ.Under an exposure to medium umidity(-57%),the sloiw step movement has been observed.     

Occlusion of large atrial septal defects with a centering buttoned device: early clinical experience

A feasibility clinical study was conducted for the transcatheter occlusion of large ostium secundum atrial septal defects with the centering buttoned device. The centering buttoned device is a modification of the regular buttoned device in which a centering counter-occluder is sutured at the central 40% portion of the occluder. During centering it is stretched, forming a parachute-shaped structure and pulling the occluder over the center of the defect. During buttoning, the counter-occluder forms a double figure eight, opposing the right atrial side of the atrial septum. Occlusion was performed in 12 patients aged 6 to 56 years. All had been rejected for transcatheter occlusion by the regular buttoned device, because of either their defect size or the lack of adequate septal rim. The defect size varied between 23 and 31 mm, and the device size varied between 45 and 60 mm. Nine had immediate effective occlusions of their defects and three residual shunts. One patient with unbuttoning had hemolysis at 2 weeks and underwent surgery. Early results of the transcatheter occlusion of large atrial septal defects are promising, and larger clinical trials are justified.     

Relative contribution of endothelial cell and polymorphonuclear neutrophil activation in their interactions in systemic inflammatory response syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relative contribution of polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) vs endothelial cell (EC) activation on the adherence and subsequent killing of ECs by PMNs. DESIGN: In vitro comparative studies of PMN-EC adherence and cytotoxicity. SETTING: Research laboratory and the surgical intensive care unit of a tertiary-level university hospital. PATIENTS: Patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome admitted to the surgical intensive care unit and hospitalized preoperative noninfected surgical patients. INTERVENTION: None. METHODS: Polymorphonuclear neutrophils were isolated from 21 healthy volunteers, 22 preoperative patients, and 30 patients from the surgical intensive care unit with systemic inflammatory response syndrome. The PMNs were activated with lipopolysaccharide, 100 ng/mL (Escherichia coli 0111:b4), for 40 minutes at 37 degrees C before the adherence and cytotoxicity assays. Human umbilical vein endothelial monolayers were stimulated with tumor necrosis factor alpha, 25 ng/mL, and interleukin 1 beta, 15 U/mL, for 3 hours. The PMNs or EC cells were labeled with sodium chromate Cr 51 and used in a standard adherence or killing assay as required. RESULTS: Control and preoperative patient PMN treatment with lipopolysaccharide produced a modest increase in adherence. The PMNs from patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome showed moderately increased human umbilical vein endothelial cell adherence, and this could not be augmented further with lipopolysaccharide stimulation. There was a marked increase in PMN adherence to EC after EC activation in all study groups (P < .001). Similar to the adherence data, human umbilical vein endothelial cell cytotoxicity was significantly increased in all groups after human umbilical vein endothelial cell activation (P < .01) but not after PMN stimulation with lipopolysaccharide. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that stimulation of ECs is far more important in producing increased adherence and cytotoxicity of EC than PMN stimulation with lipopolysaccharide in all study groups. Therapeutic efforts in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome should be focused on the EC.     

Multimedia Signal Processors: An Architectural Platform with Algorithmic Compilation

Novel algorithmic features of multimedia applications and advances in VLSI technologies are driving forces behind the new multimedia signal processors. We propose an architecture platform which could provide high performance and flexibility, and would require less external I/O and memory access. It is comprised of array processors to be used as the hardware accelerator and RISC cores to be used as the basis of the programmable processor. It is a hierarchical and scalable architecture style which facilitates the hardware-software codesign of multimedia signal processing circuits and systems. While some control-intensive functions can be implemented using programmable CPUs, other computation-intensive functions can rely on hardware accelerators.To compile multimedia algorithms, we also present an operation placement and scheduling scheme suitable for the proposed architectural platform. Our scheme addresses data reusability and exploits local communication in order to avoid the memory/communication bandwidth bottleneck, which leads to faster program execution. Our method shows a promising performance: a linear speed-up of 16 times can be achieved for the block-matching motion estimation algorithm and the true motion tracking algorithm, which have formed many multimedia applications (e.g., MPEG-2 and MPEG-4).