Assessment of the Atomic Mobilities in fcc Cu-Fe and Cu-Ti Alloys

The experimentally measured diffusion coefficients of fcc Cu-Fe and Cu-Ti alloys in the published literature were reviewed critically in the present work. On the basis of the available thermodynamic information, the atomic mobilities of Cu, Fe, and Ti in fcc Cu-Fe and Cu-Ti alloys as a function of temperature and composition were assessed in terms of the CALPHAD method using the DICTRA® software. The optimized mobility parameters are presented. The calculated diffusion coefficients show an excellent agreement with the experimental data. The composition-distance profiles of the Cu-Ti binary diffusion couples reported in the literature were also predicted using the assessed mobility parameters. Overall good agreement is achieved between the experimental results and simulation

Diffusion and Atomic Mobilities in fcc Ni-Sn Alloys

The composition-distance profiles in face-centered cubic (fcc) Ni-Sn alloys at 1173, 1223, 1273, and 1323K were measured by means of electronic probe microanalysis (EPMA) using Ni/Ni-7.3at.%Sn diffusion couples. Based on the available thermodynamic information and various experimental diffusion coefficients, the atomic mobilities of Ni and Sn in fcc Ni-Sn alloys were assessed as a function of temperature and composition in terms of the CALPHAD method using the DICTRA® software package. Optimized mobility parameters are presented. Comparisons between the calculated and measured diffusion coefficients show that most of the experimental information can be reproduced reasonably. The obtained mobility parameters can also predict satisfactorily the composition-distance profiles of the Ni/Ni-7.3at.%Sn diffusion couples determined in the present wor

A formally verified compiler back-end

This article describes the development and formal verification (proof of semantic preservation) of a compiler back-end from Cminor (a simple imperative intermediate language) to PowerPC assembly code, using the Coq proof assistant both for programming the compiler and for proving its correctness. Such a verified compiler is useful in the context of formal methods applied to the certification of critical software: the verification of the compiler guarantees that the safety properties proved on the source code hold for the executable compiled code as well

CSF A beta(1-42) - an excellent but complicated Alzheimer's biomarker - a route to standardisation

The 42 amino acid form of amyloid β (Aβ1–42) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been widely accepted as a central biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. Several immunoassays for CSF Aβ1–42 are commercially available, but can suffer from between laboratory and batch-to-batch variability as well as lack of standardisation across assays. As a consequence, no general cut-off values have been established for a specific context of use (e.g., clinical diagnostics) and selection of individuals for enrolment in clinical trials (patient stratification) remains challenging. The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) has initiated a working group for CSF proteins (WG-CSF) to facilitate standardisation of CSF Aβ1–42 measurement results. The efforts of the IFCC WG-CSF include the development of certified reference materials (CRMs) and reference measurement procedures (RMPs) for key biomarkers. Two candidate RMPs for quantification of Aβ1–42 in CSF based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry have been developed and tested in two ring trials. Furthermore, two commutability studies including native CSF pools, artificial CSF and spiked materials have been completed. On the basis of these studies, human CSF pools containing only endogenous Aβ1–42 at three concentrations were selected as the format for future CRMs that are now being processed

First amyloid β1-42 certified reference material for re-calibrating commercial immunoassays

INTRODUCTION: Reference materials based on human cerebrospinal fluid were certified for the mass concentration of amyloid beta (Aβ)1-42 (Aβ42 ). They are intended to be used to calibrate diagnostic assays for Aβ42 . METHODS: The three certified reference materials (CRMs), ERM-DA480/IFCC, ERM-DA481/IFCC and ERM-DA482/IFCC, were prepared at three concentration levels and characterized using isotope dilution mass spectrometry methods. Roche, EUROIMMUN, and Fujirebio used the three CRMs to re-calibrate their immunoassays. RESULTS: The certified Aβ42 mass concentrations in ERM-DA480/IFCC, ERM-DA481/IFCC, and ERM-DA482/IFCC are 0.45, 0.72, and 1.22 μg/L, respectively, with expanded uncertainties (k = 2) of 0.07, 0.11, and 0.18 μg/L, respectively. Before re-calibration, a good correlation (Pearson's r > 0.97), yet large biases, were observed between results from different commercial assays. After re-calibration the between-assay bias was reduced to < 5%. DISCUSSION: The Aβ42 CRMs can ensure the equivalence of results between methods and across platforms for the measurement of Aβ42

Statistical learning of peptide retention behavior in chromatographic separations: a new kernel-based approach for computational proteomics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High-throughput peptide and protein identification technologies have benefited tremendously from strategies based on tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in combination with database searching algorithms. A major problem with existing methods lies within the significant number of false positive and false negative annotations. So far, standard algorithms for protein identification do not use the information gained from separation processes usually involved in peptide analysis, such as retention time information, which are readily available from chromatographic separation of the sample. Identification can thus be improved by comparing measured retention times to predicted retention times. Current prediction models are derived from a set of measured test analytes but they usually require large amounts of training data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We introduce a new kernel function which can be applied in combination with support vector machines to a wide range of computational proteomics problems. We show the performance of this new approach by applying it to the prediction of peptide adsorption/elution behavior in strong anion-exchange solid-phase extraction (SAX-SPE) and ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (IP-RP-HPLC). Furthermore, the predicted retention times are used to improve spectrum identifications by a <it>p</it>-value-based filtering approach. The approach was tested on a number of different datasets and shows excellent performance while requiring only very small training sets (about 40 peptides instead of thousands). Using the retention time predictor in our retention time filter improves the fraction of correctly identified peptide mass spectra significantly.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proposed kernel function is well-suited for the prediction of chromatographic separation in computational proteomics and requires only a limited amount of training data. The performance of this new method is demonstrated by applying it to peptide retention time prediction in IP-RP-HPLC and prediction of peptide sample fractionation in SAX-SPE. Finally, we incorporate the predicted chromatographic behavior in a <it>p</it>-value based filter to improve peptide identifications based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.</p

Fatigue life of machined components

A correlation between machining process and fatigue strength of machined components clearly exists. However, a complete picture of the knowledge on this is not readily available for practical applications. This study addresses this issue by investigating the effects of machining methods on fatigue life of commonly used materials, such as titanium alloys, steel, aluminium alloys and nickel alloys from previous literature. Effects of turning, milling, grinding and different non-conventional machining processes on fatigue strength of above-mentioned materials have been investigated in detail with correlated information. It is found that the effect of materials is not significant except steel in which phase change causes volume expansion, resulting in compressive/tensile residual stresses based on the amounts of white layers. It is very complex to identify the influence of surface roughness on the fatigue strength of machined components in the presence of residual stresses. The polishing process improves the surface roughness, but removes the surface layers that contain compressive residual stresses to decrease the fatigue strength of polished specimens. The compressive and tensile residual stresses improve and reduce fatigue strength, respectively. Grinding process induces tensile residual stresses on the machined surfaces due to high temperature generation. On the other hand, milling and turning processes induce compressive residual stresses. High temperature non-conventional machining generates a network of micro-cracks on the surfaces in addition to tensile residual stresses to subsequently reduce fatigue strength of machined components. Embedded grits of abrasive water jet machining degrade the fatigue performance of components machined by this method

Fügen einer beheizbaren Metall-Keramik-Struktur mit eutektischem Au-Ge Lot

Für die europäisch-japanische Weltraummission BepiColombo zum Planeten Merkur (Start 2014) wurde eine beheizbare Metall-Keramik-Struktur für ein Massenspektrometer entwickelt. Diese Konstruktion ermöglicht eine effektivere Ionisation von energetischen Neutralteilchen mittels beschichteten Umwandlungsplatten. Aus Gewichts- und Funktionsgründen mussten dünne, unterschiedliche Werkstoffe mit hoher Zuverlässigkeit verbunden werden. Die beheizbare Struktur (bestehend aus Titan und Aluminiumoxidkeramik) wurde mit eutektischem Gold-Germanium Lot im Vakuumofen gefügt. Das Lot wurde aufgrund des niedrigen Schmelzpunkts und seiner relativ hohen mechanischen Festigkeit ausgewählt. Direktlötung von beschichteten Oberflächen mit unterschiedlichen thermischen Ausdehnungskoeffizienten würde zu hohen mechanischen Spannungen führen, die wegen den periodisch auftretenden Heizzyklen, den Verbund nachhaltig schwächen könnten. Die Titanhalterung wurde mit Ni/Au beschichtet, während für die Keramikheizer ein CrNi/TiW/Au Schichtaufbau verwendet wurde. Nebst den Grenzflächenreaktionen während des Lötprozesses wurden die mechanischen Festigkeiten, sowie das Langzeitverhalten des Metall-Keramik Verbundes untersucht. Die Verbunde wiesen Scherfestigkeiten von bis zu 100 MPa auf

Characterization of the deformation and phase transformation behavior of VC-free and VC-containing FeMnSi-based shape memory alloys by in situ neutron diffraction

The stress-induced fcc-austenite to hcp-martensite transformation in the iron based shape memory alloy (SMA) Fe-17Mn-5Si-10Cr-4Ni with and without VC precipitates is investigated by in-situ neutron diffraction measurements upon uniaxial loading and unloading. Based on experimentally derived elastic moduli the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for the fcc to hcp phase transformation was calculated. VC precipitates promote the martensite transformation by shifting the CRSS from 152 MPa to 85 MPa. A nearly perfect plastic behavior is found for the (220) grains with a high Schmid factor of 0.47. While (220), (111) and (200) oriented grains exhibit a phase transformation, (311) grains plastically deform solely by slip. During plastic deformation a load redistribution from soft behaving (220) grains to hard behaving (200) orientated grains takes place. The presence of VC precipitates leads to a broadening of the stress interval at which a martensite transformation is induced. This is explained by spatially heterogeneously distributed martensite transformation temperatures which are caused by VC precipitates. The microstructural reason for pseudo-elasticity is found to be a combination of back transformation from hcp to fcc and a reversible motion of Shockley partial dislocations