Reproducibility of the Synthesis and Processing of Nanostructured Material Properties

The reproducibility or variance in the properties of nanostructured milled iron and iron alloy powders and nanostructured compacts was determined and characterized. To date, all too often the characterization of nanostructured materials has been limited to examination of one or two samples, from which it is impossible to determine the reproducibility of the reported values. In this study, multiple attritor millings were made and the variability of the macroscopic and nanostructure characteristics was determined (e.g., particle size, grain size, etc.). From a single milled powder composition, multiple hot-press compacts were made. Statistical analyses were made of the reproducibility of resulting consolidated macroscopic and nanostructured properties, such as density, hardness, grain size, and tensile/compression strength. Mechanical processing of iron powder and mechanical alloying of iron powder with aluminum, carbon, and nitrogen showed that attrition milling reliably reproduced 0.5-kg lots of nanostructured powder. Hot-pressing the milled powder also produced reproducibility nanostructured compacts. There was little or no correlation found between the milled powder properties and the compacted powder properties. Several correlations that are generally valid for large grain materials were found not to hold for nanograin compacts (e.g., between density and hardness).     

POSITION VERIFICATION APPROACHES FOR VEHICULAR AD HOC NETWORKS

Intervehicle communication is regarded as one of the major applications of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Compared to MANETs, these so-called vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have special requirements in terms of node mobility and position-dependent applications, which are well met by geographic routing protocols. Functional research on geographic routing has already reached a considerable level, whereas security aspects have been vastly neglected so far. Since position dissemination is crucial for geographic routing, forged position information has severe impact regarding both performance and security. In this work, we first analyze the problems that may arise from falsified position data. Then, in order to lessen these problems, we propose detection mechanisms that are capable of recognizing nodes cheating about their location in position beacons. In contrast to other position verification approaches, our solution does not rely on special hardware or dedicated infrastructure. Evaluation based on simulations shows that our position verification system successfully discloses nodes disseminating false positions and thereby widely prevents attacks using position cheating     

Early Prediction of Therapy Response to Abiraterone Acetate Using PSA Subforms in Patients with Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic ability of early changes of total prostate specific antigen (tPSA), free PSA (fPSA), [−2]proPSA and the Prostate Health Index (PHI) following initiation of Abiraterone-therapy in men with castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). In 25 patients, PSA-subforms were analyzed before and at 8–12 weeks under therapy as prognosticators of progression-free-survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Comparing patients with a PFS < vs. ≥12 months by using Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon Tests, the relative-median-change of tPSA (−0.1% vs. −86.8%; p = 0.02), fPSA (12.1% vs. −55.3%; p = 0.03) and [−2]proPSA (8.1% vs. −59.3%; p = 0.05) differed significantly. For men with ≤ vs. >15 months of OS there was a non-significant trend for a difference in the relative-median-change of fPSA (17.0% vs. −46.3%; p = 0.06). In Kaplan–Meier analyses, declining fPSA and [−2]proPSA were associated with a longer median PFS (13 months, 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.6–16.4 vs. 10 months, 95% CI: 3.5–16.5; p = 0.11), respectively. Correspondingly, decreasing fPSA and [−2]proPSA values indicated an OS of 32 months (95% CI: not reached (NR)) compared to 21 months in men with rising values (95% CI: 7.7–34.3; p = 0.14), respectively. We concluded that the addition of fPSA- and [−2]proPSA-changes to tPSA-information might be further studied as potential markers of early Abiraterone response in mCRPC patients.     

Perceptual depth compression for stereo applications

Conventional depth video compression uses video codecs designed for color images. Given the performance of current encoding standards, this solution seems efficient. However, such an approach suffers from many issues stemming from discrepancies between depth and light perception. To exploit the inherent limitations of human depth perception, we propose a novel depth compression method that employs a disparity perception model. In contrast to previous methods, we account for disparity masking, and model a distinct relation between depth perception and contrast in luminance. Our solution is a natural extension to the H.264 codec and can easily be integrated into existing decoders. It significantly improves both the compression efficiency without sacrificing visual quality of depth of rendered content, and the output of depth‐reconstruction algorithms or depth cameras.     

Synthesis of S‐Adenosyl‐L‐homocysteine Capture Compounds for Selective Photoinduced Isolation of Methyltransferases

Understanding the interplay of different cellular proteins and their substrates is of major interest in the postgenomic era. For this purpose, selective isolation and identification of proteins from complex biological samples is necessary and targeted isolation of enzyme families is a challenging task. Over the last years, methods like activity‐based protein profiling (ABPP) and capture compound mass spectrometry (CCMS) have been developed to reduce the complexity of the proteome by means of protein function in contrast to standard approaches, which utilize differences in physical properties for protein separation. To isolate and identify the subproteome consisting of S‐adenosyl‐L ‐methionine (SAM or AdoMet)‐dependent methyltransferases (methylome), we developed and synthesized trifunctional capture compounds containing the chemically stable cofactor product S‐adenosyl‐L ‐homocysteine (SAH or AdoHcy) as selectivity function. SAH analogues with amino linkers at the N6 or C8 positions were synthesized and attached to scaffolds containing different photocrosslinking groups for covalent protein modification and biotin for affinity isolation. The utility of these SAH capture compounds for selective photoinduced protein isolation is demonstrated for various methyltransferases (MTases) acting on DNA, RNA and proteins as well as with Escherichia coli cell lysate. In addition, they can be used to determine dissociation constants for MTase–cofactor complexes.     

Moderne Verfahren zur Berechnung des Strahlungsaustausches in brennstoffbeheizten Röhrenöfen

Modern procedures for calculation of radiational heat transfer in fueled tubular furnaces . The zone method due to Hottel, the Monte-Carlo method and the flux method are of great importance for the calculation of radiational heat transfer in combustion chambers, along with simple zero- to two-dimensional models. Only the first three methods can be used for three-dimensional problems. The zone method and the Monte-Carlo method are mathematically exact, while the flux method gives only approximate values. The radiational heat transfer to the pipes of a cracking furnace is calculated by a simple zero-dimensional zone method to show, for example, that simple models often also give reasonable results.     

Ermüdung von Stahl × 20 Cr 13. Rißwachstum bei Lastwechselfrequenzen von 10−3 Hz bis zu 21 KHz,Bestimmung des Grenzwertes ΔK0 mit Ultraschall

Fatigue Crack Growth in a 13% Chromium Steel at Frequencies from 10^?3 to 10⁴ Hertz. Determination of the Threshold Stress Intensity ΔK₀ by Ultrasonic Fatigue Fracture mechanics fatigue crack growth tests were run with loading frequencies from 10^?3 to 10⁴ Hertz. The results show that the environmental effects on fatigue crack growth decrease strongly at higher frequencies. Ultrasonic fatigue tests in water yield the same crack growth rates as low frequency fatigue tests in vacuum. Ultrasonic fatigue tests allow the measurement of the fatigue threshold stress intensity ΔK₀ within reasonable testing times.     

Self-Consistent Model and Numerical Analysis of VCSEL's Laser Diodes

A self-consistent model of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) is presented in this paper, in which the carrier diffusion rate equation, the photon density rate equation, and the thermal conduction equation are considered simultaneously. The nonuniform heat flux density distribution in the active region due to the current-spreading effect is taken into account. The effects of temperature on gain and transparency carrier density are also included in this model. It is nonlinearly and self-consistently solved in the Matlab environment. The transient and lateral distribution characteristics of the carrier and photon densities and the junction temperature are investigated. Some interesting results are gotten and analyzed.     

The fatigue crack growth behavior of electron-beam welded a286 superalloy

Fatigue crack growth curves(Δa/ΔN =f(K _max )) were measured with 2.5 mm thick sheets of electron beam welded iron base superalloy A286. Fatigue testing frequency was 21 kHz,R = −1 (mean stress zero) and the environment was noncorrosive silicone oil at 20 °C. Two series of samples with different welding conditions were tested. One series was welded perfectly, whereas the second contained microcracks within the weld and the heat affected zone. It was shown that the crack growth rate in the base metal is slower than in the weld. The threshold stress intensity factorK _th of the base metal is 14 MNm^-3/2 and that of the weld, 10 MNm ^-3/2 . However, at higherK _max values, the crack grows more rapidly in the weld than in the base metal; for example, the crack growth rate is 16 times higher at K_max = 20 MNm ^-3/2 . Microcracks introduced by an imperfect welding process do not influence the fatigue cracking behavior in the threshold regime; atK ^max = 15 MNm^-3/2, however, the crack growth rates differ by an order of magnitude. Fractographic examination shows considerable differences in the fracture appearance of weld, heat affected zone, and base material. Weld and base metal display ductile fracture surfaces and the heat affected zone is characterized by crystallographic fracture facets.