Monitoring poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) production in cupriavidus necator DSM 428 (H16) with raman spectroscopy

This study explored the potential of Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) in bacteria. PHB can be formed in large amounts by certain bacteria as a storage material and is of high importance for industrial biodegradable plastic production. Raman spectra were collected from Cupriavidus necator DSM 428 (H16), from its non-PHB-producing mutant strain C. necator DSM 541, and from pure PHB, in order to determine at which Raman shifts a contribution of PHB in bacterial spectra can be expected. The Raman band intensity at ca. 1734 cm(-1) appeared to be suitable for the monitoring of PHB production and consumption. These intensities were linearly related to the PHB concentration (mg L(-1) culture) determined by parallel HPLC analysis. Therefore, Raman spectroscopy is considered as a fast and noninvasive technique for the determination and monitoring of the PHB content in bacteria.     

Numerical and experimental analysis of residual stresses for fatigue crack growth

In this paper computational and experimental results are presented concerning residual stress effects on fatigue crack growth in a Compact Tension Shear (CTS) specimen under cyclic mode I loading. For a crack of constant length it is found that hardly any compressive residual stresses or crack closure effects are generated along the crack surfaces behind the crack tip through the considered cyclic mode I loading with a load ratio of R=0.1. Only if fatigue crack growth is modelled during the simulation of the cyclic loading process these well-known effects are found. On the other hand it is shown that they have hardly any influence on the residual stresses ahead of the crack tip and thus on further fatigue crack growth. For all cases considered the computational finite element results agree well with the experimental findings obtained through X-ray diffraction techniques.     

Mechanical surface treatments of lightweight materials—Effects on fatigue strength and near-surface microstructures

Mechanical surface treatments such as shot peening or deep rolling are well-known processes to improve the fatigue strength of metallic components. This is due to favorable microstructural alterations in relatively thin surface layers as a consequence of near-surface inhomogeneous plastic deformations. Typical examples demonstrate the fatigue-strength increase for mechanically surface-treated specimens. Existing possibilities to improve the fatigue strength of welded joints by mechanical surface treatments are also included. In the case of lightweight materials (e. g. magnesium- or aluminum-base alloys), process parameters must be well adapted in individual cases to achieve optimum near-surface material states, taking into account the wide range of mechanical properties attainable as a result of their specific material microstructure. The effects of process parameters and microstructures on near-surface materials properties resulting from mechanical surface treatments are demonstrated with examples. Depth distributions of macroresidual and microresidual stresses are analyzed together with microstructural observations. An important point for the effectiveness of mechanical surface treatments is the stability of the near-surface material states during loading history. This aspect is treated for the case of fatigue loading.     

Induced drilling strains in glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Residual strains induced by drilling of glass-fibre reinforced polymers (GFRPs) were determined using a hybrid experimental–numerical methodology. Experimentally, a set of GFRP specimens were drilled under well-defined tensile (calibration) stresses, using an especially designed tensile test device. To remove the effect of the initial residual stresses, this methodology considers differential stress values instead of absolute ones. Numerically, the experimental procedure was simulated using the finite element method. The induced drilling strains were determined by comparing the experimental measured strains with those calculated numerically. Clear differences between the selected drilling operations could be observed and evaluated.     

Lokale Last- und Eigenspannungsverteilungen an rißbehafteten Oberflächen nach Korrosionsermüdung von vergütetem Ck 45

Distributions of Loading and Residual Stresses in Cracked Surfaces of Corrosion Fatigued Quenched and Tempered Steel Ck 45 Corrosion fatigue in the active state leads to a great number of short cracks and corrosion pits in the surface of metallic materials. This paper deals with the resulting distributions of loading and residual stresses in the case of bending fatigue. The material investigated was the quenched and tempered CBN-ground steel Ck 45. Results presented clearly indicate that stress distributions around cracks and corrosion pits are very inhomogeneous. Corrosion pits lead to a relaxation of manufacturing induced residual stresses. In the loaded state as a consequence of notch effects, maximum stresses are observed, which explains the importance of corrosion pits as crack initiation sites.     

From Aristotle to Ringelmann: a large-scale analysis of team productivity and coordination in Open Source Software projects

Complex software development projects rely on the contribution of teams of developers, who are required to collaborate and coordinate their efforts. The productivity of such development teams, i.e., how their size is related to the produced output, is an important consideration for project and schedule management as well as for cost estimation. The majority of studies in empirical software engineering suggest that - due to coordination overhead - teams of collaborating developers become less productive as they grow in size. This phenomenon is commonly paraphrased as Brooks’ law of software project management, which states that “adding manpower to a software project makes it later”. Outside software engineering, the non-additive scaling of productivity in teams is often referred to as the Ringelmann effect, which is studied extensively in social psychology and organizational theory. Conversely, a recent study suggested that in Open Source Software (OSS) projects, the productivity of developers increases as the team grows in size. Attributing it to collective synergetic effects, this surprising finding was linked to the Aristotelian quote that “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”. Using a data set of 58 OSS projects with more than 580,000 commits contributed by more than 30,000 developers, in this article we provide a large-scale analysis of the relation between size and productivity of software development teams. Our findings confirm the negative relation between team size and productivity previously suggested by empirical software engineering research, thus providing quantitative evidence for the presence of a strong Ringelmann effect. Using fine-grained data on the association between developers and source code files, we investigate possible explanations for the observed relations between team size and productivity. In particular, we take a network perspective on developer-code associations in software development teams and show that the magnitude of the decrease in productivity is likely to be related to the growth dynamics of co-editing networks which can be interpreted as a first-order approximation of coordination requirements.     

Zur thermischen Ermüdung der Magnesium‐Basislegierung AZ91

Thermal fatigue of magnesium‐base alloy AZ91 Thermal fatigue tests of the magnesium‐base alloy AZ91 were carried out under total strain control and out‐of‐phase‐loading conditions in a temperature range between ‐50°C and +190°C. Specimens produced by a vacuum die casting process were loaded under constant total strain and uniaxial homogeneous stress. To simulate the influence of different mean stresses, experiments were started at different temperature levels, e.g. the lower, mean or upper temperature of the thermal cycle. The thermal fatigue behavior is described by the resulting stress amplitudes, plastic strain amplitudes and mean stresses as a function of the number of thermal loading cycles. Depending on the maximum temperature and the number of loading cycles, cyclic softening as well as cyclic hardening behavior is observed. Due to the complex interaction of deformation, recovery and recrystallization processes and as a consequence of the individual temperature and deformation history, thermal fatigue processes of the material investigated cannot be assessed using results of isothermal experiments alone. The upper temperatures or the resp. temperature amplitudes determine the total fatigue lifetime.     

Comparison of the Consequences of Shot Peening Treatment Methods on the Surface Layer Characteristics of Ti6246

Shot peening, as a technique to enhance the surface characteristics of rotating parts in aircraft engines is well known as a way to prevent the initiation and propagation of cracks. However, shot peening generally increases the surface roughness and therefore, reduces aerodynamic efficiency on aerofoil. This paper aims to compare different shot peening procedures as regards roughness, hardness, residual stress magnitude and depth in Ti6246, in order to identify a method, which leads to the required mechanical properties, but keeps the increase of surface roughness to a minimum. Therefore, Ti6246 specimens, processed similarly to integral bladed compressor disks, are treated with defined target intensity and coverage. The changes in surface roughness, residual stress, and hardness are measured and discussed.