Mechanical Properties-A Scientific approach

Broadly there are two aspects of what is meant by mechanical properties namely strength and ductility. These properties are measured by various mechanical tests and rather arbitrary values are obtained from these tests. The present conception of true stress and true strain in simple tension test suggests the existence of mechanical equation of state. The article reviews how some of the common properties could be derived from this simple test and how with the progress of our understanding of reactions offorces within metals, a unifying conception of mechanical properties may he developed. It is advocated that in the present state of development many common mechanical properties may be replaced by other values derived from the true stressstrain curve

Umbrella review and meta‐analysis of antiplatelet therapy for peripheral artery disease

Background The literature on antiplatelet therapy for peripheral artery disease has historically been summarized inconsistently, leading to conflict between international guidelines. An umbrella review and meta‐analysis was performed to summarize the literature, allow assessment of competing safety risks and clinical benefits, and identify weak areas for future research. Methods MEDLINE, Embase, DARE, PROSPERO and Cochrane databases were searched from inception until January 2019. All meta‐analyses of antiplatelet therapy in peripheral artery disease were included. Quality was assessed using AMSTAR scores, and GRADE analysis was used to quantify the strength of evidence. Data were pooled using random‐effects models. Results Twenty‐eight meta‐analyses were included. Thirty‐three clinical outcomes and 41 antiplatelet comparisons in 72 181 patients were analysed. High‐quality evidence showed that antiplatelet monotherapy reduced non‐fatal strokes (3 (95 per cent c.i. 0 to 6) fewer per 1000 patients), In symptomatic patients, it reduced cardiovascular deaths (8 (0 to 16) fewer per 1000 patients), but increased the risk of major bleeding (7 (3 to 14) more events per 1000). In asymptomatic patients, monotherapy reduced non‐fatal strokes (5 (0 to 8) fewer per 1000), but had no other clinical benefit. Dual antiplatelet therapy caused more major bleeding after intervention than monotherapy (37 (8 to 102) more events per 1000), with very low‐quality evidence of improved endovascular patency (risk ratio 4·00, 95 per cent c.i. 0·91 to 17·68). Conclusion Antiplatelet monotherapy has minimal clinical benefit for asymptomatic peripheral artery disease, and limited benefit for symptomatic disease, with a clear risk of major bleeding. There is a lack of evidence to guide antiplatelet prescribing after peripheral endovascular intervention

From sparse to dense and from assortative to disassortative in online social networks

Inspired by the analysis of several empirical online social networks, we propose a simple reaction-diffusion-like coevolving model, in which individuals are activated to create links based on their states, influenced by local dynamics and their own intention. It is shown that the model can reproduce the remarkable properties observed in empirical online social networks; in particular, the assortative coefficients are neutral or negative, and the power law exponents are smaller than 2. Moreover, we demonstrate that, under appropriate conditions, the model network naturally makes transition(s) from assortative to disassortative, and from sparse to dense in their characteristics. The model is useful in understanding the formation and evolution of online social networks.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures and 2 table

Predicting language diversity with complex network

Evolution and propagation of the world's languages is a complex phenomenon, driven, to a large extent, by social interactions. Multilingual society can be seen as a system of interacting agents, where the interaction leads to a modification of the language spoken by the individuals. Two people can reach the state of full linguistic compatibility due to the positive interactions, like transfer of loanwords. But, on the other hand, if they speak entirely different languages, they will separate from each other. These simple observations make the network science the most suitable framework to describe and analyze dynamics of language change. Although many mechanisms have been explained, we lack a qualitative description of the scaling behavior for different sizes of a population. Here we address the issue of the language diversity in societies of different sizes, and we show that local interactions are crucial to capture characteristics of the empirical data. We propose a model of social interactions, extending the idea from, that explains the growth of the language diversity with the size of a population of country or society. We argue that high clustering and network disintegration are the most important characteristics of models properly describing empirical data. Furthermore, we cancel the contradiction between previous models and the Solomon Islands case. Our results demonstrate the importance of the topology of the network, and the rewiring mechanism in the process of language change

‘Look into the Book of Life’: Muslim musicians, Sufism, and postmodern spirituality in Britain

Spirituality has been theorised as a characteristic of late-modern society, a consequence of individualisation and of a relativized marketplace of religion. Drawing on findings from ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Muslim musicians in the UK, the author claims that spirituality can indeed be considered a postmodern discourse of belief – with trans-religious applicability – but that at the same time it can be articulated from within a clear understanding of group/religious membership. The concepts of ‘spiritual capital’ and ‘expressive communalism’ are used to explain the ways through which a postmodern discourse of spirituality is utilised by Muslim musicians from within contemporary networks of Sufism in the West. The author suggests that the cosmopolitan and inclusive nature of these types of Sufism in Britain – particularly amongst third and fourth generation Muslims – represents a frontier of religious change in the UK and a challenge to traditional forms of religious authority, discourse and membership

Nitrides as ammonia synthesis catalysts and as potential nitrogen transfer reagents

In this article, an overview of the application of selected metal nitrides as ammonia synthesis catalysts is presented. The potential development of some systems into nitrogen transfer reagents is also described

Gender equality and religion:a multi-faith exploration of young adults’ narratives

This paper presents findings from research on young adults in the UK from diverse religious backgrounds. Utilizing questionnaires, interviews, and video diaries it assesses how religious young adults understood and managed the tensions in popular discourse between gender equality as an enshrined value and aspirational narrative, and religion as purportedly instituting gender inequality. We show that, despite varied understandings, and the ambivalence and tension in managing ideal and practice, participants of different religious traditions and genders were committed to gender equality. Thus, they viewed gender-unequal practices within their religious cultures as an aberration from the essence of religion. In this way, they firmly rejected the dominant discourse that religion is inherently antithetical to gender equality

High-resolution DNA copy number and gene expression analyses distinguish chromophobe renal cell carcinomas and renal oncocytomas

Contains fulltext : 80487.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of benign renal oncocytomas (RO) and chromophobe renal cell carcinomas (RCC) based on their morphology remains uncertain in several cases. METHODS: We have applied Affymetrix GeneChip Mapping 250 K NspI high-density oligoarrays to identify small genomic alterations, which may occur beyond the specific losses of entire chromosomes, and also Affymetrix GeneChip HG-U133 Plus2.0 oligoarrays for gene expression profiling. RESULTS: By analysing of DNA extracted from 30 chRCCs and 42 ROs, we have confirmed the high specificity of monosomies of chromosomes 1, 2, 6, 10, 13, 17 and 21 in 70-93% of the chRCCs, while ROs displayed loss of chromosome 1 and 14 in 24% and 5% of the cases, respectively. We demonstrated that chromosomal gene expression biases might correlate with chromosomal abnormalities found in chromophobe RCCs and ROs. The vast majority genes downregulated in chromophobe RCC were mapped to chromosomes 2, 6, 10, 13 and 17. However, most of the genes overexpressed in chromophobe RCCs were located to chromosomes without any copy number changes indicating a transcriptional regulation as a main event. CONCLUSION: The SNP-array analysis failed to detect recurrent small deletions, which may mark loci of genes involved in the tumor development. However, we have identified loss of chromosome 2, 10, 13, 17 and 21 as discriminating alteration between chromophobe RCCs and ROs. Therefore, detection of these chromosomal changes can be used for the accurate diagnosis in routine histology