Plastic deformation behavior of Cu thin films during fatigue testing

AbstractPlastic deformation behavior of electrodeposited copper films with thickness of 12 μm was investigated by using a testing system employed an electro-dynamic actuator. During the fatigue tests, cyclic plastic strain and ratcheting strain were measured continuously with high precision by using the capacitance extensometer. Since the displacement gage is stable and its response is so fast, the deformation can be measured in real time during fatigue tests as well as tensile tests. The cyclic plastic strain range and monotonic plastic strain increase with loading cycles and they are similar to the conventional creep curve. The monotonic plastic strain at fracture is nearly constant, irrespective of mean stress, indicating that the monotonic plastic strain can be used as an indicator of damage. Based on these results, a prediction method for the monotonic plastic strain is proposed. It could be found from the prediction results that the monotonic plastic strain is well predicted

Conserved charged amino acid residues in the extracellular region of sodium/iodide symporter are critical for iodide transport activity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) mediates the active transport and accumulation of iodide from the blood into the thyroid gland. His-226 located in the extracellular region of NIS has been demonstrated to be critical for iodide transport in our previous study. The conserved charged amino acid residues in the extracellular region of NIS were therefore characterized in this study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fourteen charged residues (Arg-9, Glu-79, Arg-82, Lys-86, Asp-163, His-226, Arg-228, Asp-233, Asp-237, Arg-239, Arg-241, Asp-311, Asp-322, and Asp-331) were replaced by alanine. Iodide uptake abilities of mutants were evaluated by steady-state and kinetic analysis. The three-dimensional comparative protein structure of NIS was further modeled using sodium/glucose transporter as the reference protein.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All the NIS mutants were expressed normally in the cells and targeted correctly to the plasma membrane. However, these mutants, except R9A, displayed severe defects on the iodide uptake. Further kinetic analysis revealed that mutations at conserved positively charged amino acid residues in the extracellular region of NIS led to decrease NIS-mediated iodide uptake activity by reducing the maximal rate of iodide transport, while mutations at conserved negatively charged residues led to decrease iodide transport by increasing dissociation between NIS mutants and iodide.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first report characterizing thoroughly the functional significance of conserved charged amino acid residues in the extracellular region of NIS. Our data suggested that conserved charged amino acid residues, except Arg-9, in the extracellular region of NIS were critical for iodide transport.</p

Study on Personal Characteristics and Emotional Affordances through User Activity Analysis

Design methodology should address psychological and cognitive aspects based on human emotion and feeling as well as physical and functional aspects based on product structure. Donald Norman introduced perceived affordances as characteristics in the appearance of an object that gives clues for its proper operations. We conducted a case study in a public space - building lobby - used by many general people. User activities and behaviors were analyzed in several specific tasks given to twenty participants with similar cultural background in the lobby of a building they have never been to before. Then we identified affordances and building structure elements, called affordance features, critically related to those affordances. While performing the tasks in the same building lobby, user activities can be classified into several different groups for each task based on affordance features involved in their activities. These user activity differences are then compared with their personal cognitive characteristics derived from their perception and judgment preferences using intuitive and factual perception orientation and objective and subjective decision making inclination respectively. For user of less common activities for some tasks, personal cognitive characteristics have been identified. This study could help in affordance-based design so that alternative affordance features are designed considering diverse user cognitive characteristics

The discovery and characterization of tungsten insertase in tungsten cofactor biosynthesis

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Radiation-Induced Graft Polymerization of Vinyl Monomers with Anion Groups onto MWNT Supports and Their Application as Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence (ECL) Biosensors

Vinyl polymer-grafted multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) supports with anion groups were prepared for use as biosensor supports by radiation-induced graft polymerization (RIGP) of the vinyl monomers acryloyl diphosphoric acid (ADPA), acrylic acid (AA), sodium styrenesulfonate (NaSS), and methacrylic acid (MA) onto the surface of MWNTs. The electrogenerated chemiluminescence sensors based on a glass carbon electrode (ECL-GCE) and a screen printed electrode (ECL-SPE) were fabricated by immobilization of Ru(bpy)3 2+ complex after coating of vinyl polymer-grafted MWNT inks on the surface of the GCE and SPE without any polymer binders in order to obtain high electrogenerated chemiluminescence intensity. For detection of alcohol concentration, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) was immobilized onto an ECL-GCE sensor prepared by poly(NaSS)-g-MWNT supports. The prepared biosensor based on ADH is suitable for the detection of ethanol concentration in commercial drinks

Classification of Suicide Attempts through a Machine Learning Algorithm Based on Multiple Systemic Psychiatric Scales

Classification and prediction of suicide attempts in high-risk groups is important for preventing suicide. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the information from multiple clinical scales has classification power for identifying actual suicide attempts. Patients with depression and anxiety disorders (N = 573) were included, and each participant completed 31 self-report psychiatric scales and questionnaires about their history of suicide attempts. We then trained an artificial neural network classifier with 41 variables (31 psychiatric scales and 10 sociodemographic elements) and ranked the contribution of each variable for the classification of suicide attempts. To evaluate the clinical applicability of our model, we measured classification performance with top-ranked predictors. Our model had an overall accuracy of 93.7% in 1-month, 90.8% in 1-year, and 87.4% in lifetime suicide attempts detection. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was the highest for 1-month suicide attempts detection (0.93), followed by lifetime (0.89), and 1-year detection (0.87). Among all variables, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire had the highest contribution, and the positive and negative characteristics of the scales similarly contributed to classification performance. Performance on suicide attempts classification was largely maintained when we only used the top five ranked variables for training (AUROC; 1-month, 0.75, 1-year, 0.85, lifetime suicide attempts detection, 0.87). Our findings indicate that information from self-report clinical scales can be useful for the classification of suicide attempts. Based on the reliable performance of the top five predictors alone, this machine learning approach could help clinicians identify high-risk patients in clinical settings

Changes of the growth plate in children: 3-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging analysis

Purpose This pilot study assessed changes in the growth plate and growth rates in children during a 6-month period. Methods The study included 31 healthy children (17 boys, 14 girls) under evaluation for growth retardation. Height, weight, bone age, insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and insulin like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGF-BP3) were measured at baseline and after 6 months. In addition, the diameter, thickness, and volume of the femoral and tibial growth plates were measured using magnetic resonance imaging. Results The mean bone age in boys and girls was 11.7 and 10.7 years, respectively. In boys, height (z score) (-0.2 vs. 0.0), weight (z score) (0.8 vs. 1.1), body mass index (BMI) (z score) (1.27 vs. 1.5), IGF-1 (ng/mL) (343.6 vs. 501.8), and IGF-BP3 (ng/mL) (5,088.5 vs. 5,620.0) were significantly higher after 6 months. In girls, height (z score) (-1.0 vs. -0.7), weight (z score) (-0.5 vs. 0.1), BMI (z score) (-0.02 vs. 0.3), IGF-1 (ng/mL) (329.3 vs. 524.6), and IGF-BP3 (ng/mL) (4,644.4 vs. 5,593.6) were also significantly higher after 6 months. In both sexes, the mean diameter and volume of the femoral and tibial growth plates were significantly increased 6 months later. Conclusion No significant correlation was found between changes in the growth plate and clinical parameters in children with growth retardation in this study, other than correlations of change in femoral diameter with weight and BMI. A larger, long-term study is needed to precisely evaluate the correlation between change in the growth plate and growth

Dose Weight loss and Core Exercise improve Oswestry disability index, Trunk Extensor and Flexor Muscle Strength in Obese Middle-Aged Women with Chronic Low Back Pain?

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to investigate the weight loss and isotonic core exercise on oswestry disability index (ODI), trunk extensor and flexor muscle strength in obese middle-aged women with chronic low back pain. METHODS Eighteen obese middle-aged woman with chronic low back pain were randomly assigned into weight loss + core exercise group (WL+CE, n=6), core exercise group (CE, n=6), and control group (CON, n=6). The weight loss goal was set at approximately 0.5-1 kg per week, and core exercises were conducted for 60 minutes, three times a week, for 8 weeks. Body composition (weight, % body fat, muscle mass, WHR), ODI, trunk extensor and flexor muscle strength were measured before, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks after core exercise. RESULTS WHR and ODI significantly decreased at 4 and 8 weeks of exercise in both the WL+CE and CE groups compared to before exercise (p<.05, respectively). Trunk extensor muscle strength significant increased at 8 weeks after exercise compared to before exercise at 146°, 158°, 170°, and 182° in the WL+CE (p<.05, respectively), and significant increased at 8 weeks after exercise compared to before exercise at 146° and 158° in the CE (p<.05, respectively). Trunk flexor muscle strength was a significant increase at 8 weeks after exercise compared to before exercise at 146°, 158°, and 182° in the WL+CE (p<.05, respectively), and significant increase at 8 weeks after exercise compared to before exercise at 110°, 134°, 146°, and 170° in the CE (p<.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that weight loss and core exercise improve WHR, ODI, and trunk extensor and flexor muscle strength in obese middle-aged women with chronic low back pain

Development of Debris flow Vulnerability Curve for Data-driven Method

Various landslide disasters due to abnormal climate are increasing all over the world, and the inflow of debris flow is causing great damage to human life and social infrastructure. As such, in order to preemptively respond to debris flow, it is necessary to conduct a vulnerability assessment of the hazardous area based on the vulnerability curve. Therefore, in this study, the hazard intensity (depth, velocity, and impact pressure of debris flow) was analysed by performing back analysis using the DAN3D numerical model for 27 debris flow disaster areas in Korea from 2011 to 2020. And the vulnerability curve for the building was developed through the relationship between the degree of damage to the building and the impact pressure obtained through the case analysis of debris flow disasters