An investigation on the creep and fracture behavior of cast nickel-base superalloy IN738LC

The creep-rupture properties of cast nickel-base superalloy IN738LC were studied over the temperature range 750 to 950 °C. Our results show that primary and steady-state creep should not be regarded as distinct stages and that they have basically the same deformation mechanism. The dependence of the steady-state creep rate,εs, on stress,δ, and on temperature,T, for this superalloy can be described asεs = Aδ ⁿexp(−Qc/RT).n = 8.3 - 9.8 andQc = 570 - 730 kJ mol−1 at high stress levels, whereasn = 4.1 - 4.9 andQc = 370 - 420 kJ mol⁻¹ at low stress levels. The observations of dislocation structures during steady-state creep confirm that the creep mechanism is different in the high and low stress regimes. The observations of the microstructure show that the initial acceleration in creep rate during the tertiary stage is connected with changes in the size and distribution ofγ′ particles during creep. Rupture occurs by the propagation of oxidized intergranular cracks which initiate at the specimen surface, and the rate of crack propagation is controlled by the deformation behavior of the superalloy. Leave from Institute of Metal Research Academia Sinica, Wenhua Road, Shenyang, China.     

High-speed AFM of human chromosomes in liquid

Further developments of the previously reported high-speed contact-mode AFM are described. The technique is applied to the imaging of human chromosomes at video rate both in air and in water. These are the largest structures to have been imaged with high-speed AFM and the first imaging in liquid to be reported. A possible mechanism that allows such high-speed contact-mode imaging without significant damage to the sample is discussed in the context of the velocity dependence of the measured lateral force on the AFM tip.     

Methods for imaging DNA in liquid with lateral molecular-force microscopy

Shear force microscopy is not normally associated with the imaging of biomolecules in a liquid environment. Here we show that the recently developed scattered evanescent wave (SEW) detection system, combined with custom-designed vertically oriented cantilevers (VOCs), can reliably produce true non-contact images in liquid of DNA molecules. The range of cantilever spring constants for successful shear force imaging was experimentally identified between 0.05 and 0.09 N?m(-1). Images of λ-DNA adsorbed on mica in distilled water were obtained at scan rates of 8000?pixels?s(-1). A new constant-height force mapping mode for VOCs is also presented. This method is shown to control the vertical position of the tip in the sample plane with better than 1?nm accuracy. The force mode is demonstrated by mapping the shear force above λ-DNA molecules adsorbed on mica in a liquid environment at different tip-sample separations.     

Influence of environmental conditions on production of volatiles by Trichoderma atroviride in relation with the sick building syndrome

A Trichoderma atroviride strain was isolated from a water-damaged office and the production of microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) was investigated by means of headspace solid phase microextraction GC–MS. Different growth conditions (substrate, temperature, relative humidity) were selected, resembling indoor parameters, to elucidate a possible relationship between MVOCs, produced by Trichoderma atroviride, and the Sick Building Syndrome. In general, the range of MVOCs and the emitted quantities were larger on malt extract agar (MEA) than on wallpaper and plasterboard. Particular attention was dedicated to the volatile marker 6-pentyl-2-pyrone, a compound produced in high quantities on MEA, and its mucosal irritation potency was shown in a slug mucosal irritation assay. Some compounds characteristic for growth on specific building materials were detected, e.g. 2-ethylcyclopentanone, menthone, iso-menthone and trans-p-menth-2-en-7-ol on plasterboard and 4-heptanone and 1-octen-3-ol on wallpaper. Relative humidity and substrate had a more important effect on MVOC production than temperature.     

Modelling oscillatory flexure modes of an atomic force microscope cantilever in contact mode whilst imaging at high speed

Understanding the modal response of an atomic force microscope is important for the identification of image artefacts captured using contact-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). As the scan rate of high speed AFM increases, these modes present themselves as ever clearer noise patterns as the frequency of cantilever vibration falls under the frequency of pixel collection. An Euler-Bernoulli beam equation is used to simulate the flexural modes of the cantilever of an atomic force microscope as it images a hard surface in contact mode. Theoretical results are compared with experimental recordings taken in the high speed regime, as well as previous analytical results. It is shown that the model can capture the mode shapes and resonance properties of the first four eigenmodes.     

CHANNEL ADJUSTMENTS AND ISLAND DYNAMICS IN THE BRENTA RIVER (ITALY) OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS

Many gravel bed rivers in the European Alpine area suffered different ranges and types of human pressure that modified their morphology and altered their processes. This work presents the case of the middle portion of the Brenta River, historically impacted by human activities such as floodplain occupations, bank protection, gravel mining, hydropower schemes and water diversion. Dam operation and gravel mining have produced considerable modifications in the natural sediment regime generating important morphological channel responses (narrowing and incision). Large areas of the former active channel have been colonized by riparian vegetation, both as islands and as marginal woodlands. Overall, the river changed its morphological pattern from braided to wandering. The present study analyses the timing and extent of the planform morphological changes that occurred over the last 30 years along the middle portion of the river (20 km long) through the examination of aerial photos, repeated topographic measurements and hydrological data. A series of recent aerial photos (1981, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011) have been used to assess the medium and short‐term morphological changes of the floodplains and the active channel area. As to the medium‐term modification, the recent changes in in‐channel gravel mining have determined a new trend of active channel widening through erosion of vegetated areas. The analysis has also allowed to assess the morphological effect of single flood events. Only floods with recurrence interval higher than 8–10 years appear to be able to determine substantial erosion of floodplain and island margins. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial dependency of shoulder muscle demands in horizontal pushing and pulling

Pushing and pulling account for nearly half of all manual material handling tasks. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a 3-D spatial muscle activity map for the right upper extremity during pushing and pulling tasks. Nineteen males performed 140 ramped directional hand exertions (70 push; 70 pull) at locations along three axes aligned with the anatomical planes. Electromyography (EMG) of 14 sites on the right upper extremity was recorded. Two directional 3-way repeated measures ANOVAs assessed the influence of hand position on EMG. Hand position and exertion direction influenced total and individual muscle demand. During pulling exertions, all three hand location parameters influenced total muscle activity (p < 0.001) and similarly in pushing exertions (p < 0.002), though less pronounced than in pulling. Data were used to create equations to predict the muscle activity of untested hand locations for novel work design scenarios.     

MPEG-2 sources: exploiting source scalability for an efficient bandwidth allocation

The paper investigates efficient bandwidth allocation schemes for the transmission of MPEG-2 video traffic on high-speed networks. To this end we performed an extensive analysis of the traffic generated by an MPEG-2 encoder. Specifically, we encoded “The Sheltering Sky” movie according to the MPEG-2 standard. By the analysis of the generated traffic it results that a constant-quality transmission can be performed with a poor bandwidth utilization. In the paper we identified that the low bandwidth utilization is caused by rare high-rate periods in the codec bitstream. Hence, we identified the source scalability as a promising approach to achieve a “quasi-constant” quality transmission and an efficient bandwidth utilization. The effectiveness of this approach is evaluated in the paper via simulation. Specifically, by defining a Markovian model for an MPEG-2 scalable source we performed a set of simulation experiments which indicate that the source scalability approach significantly increases the utilization, while maintaining the quality of the video signal at the highest value for most of the time, e.g., a 50% of the network utilization with the highest quality for the 99.7% of the time.