Advanced ceramic coating development for industrial/utility gas turbine applications

The effects of ceramic coatings on the lifetimes of metal turbine components and on the performance of a utility turbine, as well as of the turbine operational cycle on the ceramic coatings were determined. When operating the turbine under conditions of constant cooling flow, the first row blades run 55K cooler, and as a result, have 10 times the creep rupture life, 10 times the low cycle fatigue life and twice the corrosion life with only slight decreases in both specific power and efficiency. When operating the turbine at constant metal temperature and reduced cooling flow, both specific power and efficiency increases, with no change in component lifetime. The most severe thermal transient of the turbine causes the coating bond stresses to approach 60% of the bond strengths. Ceramic coating failures was studied. Analytic models based on fracture mechanics theories, combined with measured properties quantitatively assessed both single and multiple thermal cycle failures which allowed the prediction of coating lifetime. Qualitative models for corrosion failures are also presented

Ecosystem thresholds, tipping points, and critical transitions

An organized session at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, December 201

Meet Your Regulators

In this session, representatives from Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, US Army Corps of Engineers, and US Fish and Wildlife Service will discuss their roles in transportation projects as well as best practices and areas of concern they see when reviewing projects. Agency roles include waterway permitting, endangered species, historic preservation, and biological/floodway concerns

Laboratory Focus on Improving the Culture of Biosafety: Statewide Risk Assessment of Clinical Laboratories That Process Specimens for Microbiologic Analysis

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene challenged Wisconsin laboratories to examine their biosafety practices and improve their culture of biosafety. One hundred three clinical and public health laboratories completed a questionnaire-based, microbiology-focused biosafety risk assessment. Greater than 96% of the respondents performed activities related to specimen processing, direct microscopic examination, and rapid nonmolecular testing, while approximately 60% performed culture interpretation. Although they are important to the assessment of risk, data specific to patient occupation, symptoms, and travel history were often unavailable to the laboratory and, therefore, less contributory to a microbiology-focused biosafety risk assessment than information on the specimen source and test requisition. Over 88% of the respondents complied with more than three-quarters of the mitigation control measures listed in the survey. Facility assessment revealed that subsets of laboratories that claim biosafety level 1, 2, or 3 status did not possess all of the biosafety elements considered minimally standard for their respective classifications. Many laboratories reported being able to quickly correct the minor deficiencies identified. Task assessment identified deficiencies that trended higher within the general (not microbiology-specific) laboratory for core activities, such as packaging and shipping, direct microscopic examination, and culture modalities solely involving screens for organism growth. For traditional microbiology departments, opportunities for improvement in the cultivation and management of highly infectious agents, such as acid-fast bacilli and systemic fungi, were revealed. These results derived from a survey of a large cohort of small- and large-scale laboratories suggest the necessity for continued microbiology-based understanding of biosafety practices, vigilance toward biosafety, and enforcement of biosafety practices throughout the laboratory setting

Disturbance Agents and Their Associated Effects on the Health of Interior Douglas-Fir Forests in the Central Rocky Mountains

Interior Douglas-fir is a prevalent forest type throughout the central Rocky Mountains. Past management actions, specifically fire suppression, have led to an expansion of this forest type. Although Douglas-fir forests cover a broad geographic range, few studies have described the interactive effects of various disturbance agents on forest health conditions. In this paper, we review pertinent literature describing the roles, linkages, and mechanisms by which disturbances, including insect outbreaks, pathogens, fire, and other abiotic factors, affect the development, structure, and distribution of interior montane forests primarily comprised of Douglas-fir. We also discuss how these effects may influence important resource values such as water, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, timber, and recreation. Finally, we identify gaps where further research may increase our understanding of these disturbance agents, their interacting roles, and how they influence long-term forest health

Strengthening Public Health in Wisconsin Through the Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network

The Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is a partnership of 138 clinical and public health laboratories (as of February 2019) coordinated by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. This article describes the WCLN, its current activities, and lessons learned through this partnership. A laboratory technical advisory group, which consists of representatives from clinical laboratories, provides clinical laboratory perspective to the WCLN and fosters communication among laboratories. Activities and resources available through the WCLN include annual regional meetings, annual technical workshops, webinars, an email listserv, laboratory informational messages, in-person visits by a WCLN coordinator to clinical laboratories, and laboratory-based surveillance data and summaries distributed by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. One challenge to maintaining the WCLN is securing continual funding for network activities. Key lessons learned from this partnership of more than 20 years include the importance of in-person meetings, the clinical perspective of the laboratory technical advisory group, and providing activities and resources to clinical laboratories to foster sharing of data and clinical specimens for public health surveillance and outbreak response

Formation and sedimentation of Fe-rich intermetallics in Al−Si−Cu−Fe alloy

Formation and sedimentation of Fe-rich intermetallics were studied in a commercial Al−Si−Cu−Fe alloy with extra additions of Mn. It is found that the introduction of extra Mn is an effective approach to lower the Fe level in the equilibrium liquid phase after sedimentation of solid Fe-rich phase at a temperature between its liquidus and solidus. The higher Mn/Fe mass ratio results in the lower Fe content in the retained alloy, during which Mn is also consumed and settled at the bottom of the melt as solid Fe-rich intermetallics. Therefore, the final Fe content in the alloy can be controlled by the Mn content and the holding temperature of the melt. The results confirmed a good agreement of the theoretical calculation and the experimental test with a specially designed 50 mm cylindrical casting. The sedimentation of Fe-rich intermetallics in the Al−Si−Cu−Fe alloy is completed at 600 °C after 10 min. The reduction of Fe content in the retained alloy is 31.4% when m(Mn)/m(Fe)=0.5 and 53.3% when m(Mn)/m(Fe)=1.0 in comparison with that in the original alloy. The settled Fe-rich intermetallics were identified as α-Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2, which provided the lower balanced Fe concentration in the melt in comparison with other Fe-rich intermetallics.The financial support from TSB (UK) under project No. 101172 is acknowledged. The authors also would like to thank the EPSRC (UK) and Jaguar Cars Ltd. (UK) for financial support under the grant for the EPSRC Centre - LiME

Gender-related violence and young people: an overview of Italian, Irish, Spanish, UK and EU legislation

Do laws regarding violence against or sexual exploitation of young people recognise gendered and other power dynamics? Cross‐national comparison of legal texts can illustrate the benefits of framing issues of violence/gender/youth in certain ways and offer critical reflection on particular legal frameworks or cultural understandings. This policy review is based on an analysis of select laws regarding gender‐related violence (GRV) as relates to young people in Italy, Ireland, Spain and the UK. Here, GRV is defined as sexist, sexualising or norm‐driven bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence whoever is targeted. It therefore includes gender, sexuality and sex‐gender normativities, as well as violence against women and girls. A tension emerges between granting young people agency and recognising the multiple, intersecting power relations that might limit and shape that agency. This article draws out the implications for the UK in particular, highlighting the absence of preventative measures and the need for a broader approach to combat GRV

<i>mito</i>-QC illuminates mitophagy and mitochondrial architecture <i>in vivo</i>

Autophagic turnover of mitochondria, termed mitophagy, is proposed to be an essential quality-control (QC) mechanism of pathophysiological relevance in mammals. However, if and how mitophagy proceeds within specific cellular subtypes in vivo remains unclear, largely because of a lack of tractable tools and models. To address this, we have developed “mito-QC,” a transgenic mouse with a pH-sensitive fluorescent mitochondrial signal. This allows the assessment of mitophagy and mitochondrial architecture in vivo. Using confocal microscopy, we demonstrate that mito-QC is compatible with classical and contemporary techniques in histochemistry and allows unambiguous in vivo detection of mitophagy and mitochondrial morphology at single-cell resolution within multiple organ systems. Strikingly, our model uncovers highly enriched and differential zones of mitophagy in the developing heart and within specific cells of the adult kidney. mito-QC is an experimentally advantageous tool of broad relevance to cell biology researchers within both discovery-based and translational research communities

Contesting the psychiatric framing of ME / CFS

ME/CFS is a medically contested illness and its understanding, framing and treatment has been the subject of heated debate. This paper examines why framing the condition as a psychiatric issue—what we refer to as ‘psychiatrisation’—has been so heavily contested by patients and activists. We argue that this contestation is not simply about stigmatising mental health conditions, as some have suggested, but relates to how people diagnosed with mental illness are treated in society, psychiatry and the law. We highlight the potentially harmful consequences of psychiatrisation which can lead to people’s experiential knowledge being discredited. This stems, in part, from a psychiatric-specific form of ‘epistemic injustice’ which can result in unhelpful, unwanted and forced treatments. This understanding helps explain why the psychiatrisation of ME/CFS has become the focus of such bitter debate and why psychiatry itself has become such a significant field of contention, for both ME/CFS patients and mental health service users/survivors. Notwithstanding important differences, both reject the way psychiatry denies patient explanations and understandings, and therefore share a collective struggle for justice and legitimation. Reasons why this shared struggle has not resulted in alliances between ME and mental health activists are noted