Simultaneous oxidation/sulfidation of Cr-Nb alloys

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-71).by Julia Carmel Duncan.M.S

The effect of nitrogen, niobium and temperature of the high temperature oxidation of titanium aluminide alloys

Thesis (Sc.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-247).This is especially attractive for reducing the engine weight and increasing the thrust/weight ratio. Increasing the operating temperature and thereby the engine efficiency has approached the maximum possible operating temperature for currently used materials. A model set of three intermetallics -- unalloyed [gamma]-TiAl, unalloyed [alpha]-Ti 3Al and a nearly stoichiometric Ti2NbAl (an orthorhombic intermetallic structure) -- was chosen and investigated under a variety of experimental conditions. Gas mixtures of varying oxygen concentrations in both argon and nitrogen allowed the effect of oxygen concentration on oxidation kinetics to be investigated. The Ti 2NbAl-alloy was specifically chosen to examine the effect of Nb in a intermetallic compound (with Nb substituting for one Ti in the Ti 3Al intermetallic structure). This is in contrast to Nb as a simple alloy addition to y-TiAl or c 2-Ti 3Al. Exposures at temperatures of 700°C and 800°C for 20 and 100 hours were studied (compared to temperatures of 900°C or higher used by other investigators), since these temperatures promoted a more protective scale. Additionally, the scale composition is sensitive to temperature and restricts the conventional practice of corrosion study acceleration by raising the experimental temperature. The resulting corrosion scales were analyzed using electron microscopy (scanning and transmission), x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The effect of nitrogen in the gaseous environment was explored. The impact of Nb on the oxidation of the intermetallics was found to be more protective than what might be expected from examining the thermodynamics and kinetics of the Ti-Al-Nb-O-N system. At times an alternating layered scale structure resulted and the effect of N, Nb and the lower temperatures used in this study is summarized. The oxidation rate of the Ti 2NbAl-alloy fell between the rates for y-TiAl and c 2-Ti 3Al, with the scale on y-TiAl growing at the slowest rate of the three compositions. However, the superior mechanical properties of Ti2 NbAl-alloy combined with the acceptable corrosion resistance promote its consideration for replacing those portions of the engine operating at intermediate temperatures that would result in significant weight and cost savings.by Julia Carmel Duncan.Sc.D

Quality indicators of diabetes care: an example of remote-area Aboriginal primary health care over 10 years

To describe service characteristics of Derby Aboriginal Health Service (DAHS) and document diabetes management activities and intermediate clinical outcomes for Aboriginal patients with type 2 diabetes

The conceptualisation and delivery of family support in Europe: a review of academic literature

Even though children are active agents in their own right they remain a vulnerable group dependent on adults to protect, support, nourish and educate them. In certain circumstances and for a myriad of reasons, some families’ capacity to provide for and care for their children can be reduced or compromised, and as a result they require support and assistance in carrying out this fundamental function. Family Support is one way in which children’s well-being can be protected and promoted. However, the way in which this mode of support is conceptualised and operationalised can vary within and across jurisdictions. For instance, family support approaches can be framed by concerns about care or control, can take a child-based or parent-oriented perspective, and may be targeted or universal in terms in eligibility. This report is part of a wider programme of work which aims to provide an innovative conceptual framework relevant to the delivery of family support in Europe. In order to provide insight to this project, this document presents a review of recent academic literature which considers the ways in which formal family support is conceptualised, developed and delivered in the European context. This includes literature from member states of the European Union, and adjacent countries from the continent that have special relationships with the Union. Much of the literature in this review stems from the UK, but it also comes from Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, France and Italy, as well as Cyprus and Croatia.non-peer-reviewe

Análisis de la producción y colaboración interinstitucional en la psicología española desde una perspectiva de género entre 1970 y 1989

El objetivo del presente estudio fue conocer las relaciones de colaboración entre instituciones y entre profesionales, así como su producción científica en función del género entre los años 1970 y 1989 en la Psicología española. Se analizaron 2.891 artículos, encontrándose una mayor colaboración en psicología entre investigadores de una misma institución y entre profesionales de la misma área. Desde una perspectiva de género, si bien los hombres tienen una mayor presencia y firman un mayor número de trabajos, se observa un aumento progresivo de las mujeres en la investigación psicológica, el cual se concreta en un mayor número de artículos firmados por hombres y mujeres y de trabajos firmados solo por mujeres. A modo de conclusión cabe mencionar la relevancia de incluir estudios de género desde una concepción social de la ciencia, permitiendo de este modo visibilizar las contribuciones de las mujeres en un área del conocimiento determinada

Hormone replacement therapy in women with cancer and risk of cancer-specific mortality and cardiovascular disease : A protocol for a cohort study from Scotland and Wales.

Funding This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (reference C37316/A29656). The funder had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Facial emotion recognition in people with different patterns of alcohol consumption: an eye-tracking study

Impairment in emotion recognition for those with alcohol dependence has been shown to be exacerbated by the number of detoxifications experienced. Flooding of the brain with alcohol and then withdrawing is a similar process to that experienced by binge drinkers. It has already been shown that high binge drinkers display cognitive deficits compared with low binge drinking controls. It has not yet been shown whether they experience similar deficits with regard to facial emotion recognition (FER). This study aimed to explore the relationship between drinking patterns and FER amongst those without alcohol dependence. Fifty six students completed the Alcohol Use Questionnaire (AUQ) to measure alcohol consumption and binge drinking patterns. Two groups, high binge drinkers (HBD) and low binge drinkers (LBD) were created using the median binge drinking score. The CANTAB Emotion Recognition Task (ERT) was used to measure the ability to accurately identify emotions and the Tobii Eye-tracker to explore how participants gathered information about faces for processing. The study found no significant difference between high and low binge drinkers on ability to correctly identify emotions. However, the gaze patterns of those in the HBD group fixated on fearful faces quicker and disengaged quicker than the LBD. For angry faces the HBD fixated for a shorter time on the expression but came back to fixate on the image more frequently than the LBD. This suggests hyper-vigilance and anxiety towards negative emotions particularly fear and anger. This supports previous research and might have implications for healthy social interactions

Hormone replacement therapy and cancer mortality in women with site specific cancers : A cohort study using linked medical records.

Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge the support of the eDRIS team (Public Health Scotland) for their involvement in obtaining approvals, provisioning and linking data and the secure analytical platform within the National Safe Haven. We would also like to acknowledge support of SAIL Databank for facilitating access to the dataset from Wales. We acknowledge the contribution of EMIS practices who contribute to the QResearch database and the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford for continuing to develop and support the QResearch database. The Hospital Episode Statistics data used in the English portion of this analysis are re438 used by permission from NHS Digital who retain the copyright. We thank the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for providing the mortality data for the English analyses. The ONS bears no responsibility for the analysis or interpretation of the data. The authors would also like to thank the PPI representatives for providing a patient and public perspective on the study design, findings, interpretation of the study and lay summary materials.Peer reviewe

Cytoplasmic chromatin triggers inflammation in senescence and cancer

Chromatin is traditionally viewed as a nuclear entity that regulates gene expression and silencing. However, we recently discovered the presence of cytoplasmic chromatin fragments that pinch off from intact nuclei of primary cells during senescence, a form of terminal cell-cycle arrest associated with pro-inflammatory responses. The functional significance of chromatin in the cytoplasm is unclear. Here we show that cytoplasmic chromatin activates the innate immunity cytosolic DNA-sensing cGAS-STING (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase linked to stimulator of interferon genes) pathway, leading both to short-term inflammation to restrain activated oncogenes and to chronic inflammation that associates with tissue destruction and cancer. The cytoplasmic chromatin-cGAS-STING pathway promotes the senescence-associated secretory phenotype in primary human cells and in mice. Mice deficient in STING show impaired immuno-surveillance of oncogenic RAS and reduced tissue inflammation upon ionizing radiation. Furthermore, this pathway is activated in cancer cells, and correlates with pro-inflammatory gene expression in human cancers. Overall, our findings indicate that genomic DNA serves as a reservoir to initiate a pro-inflammatory pathway in the cytoplasm in senescence and cancer. Targeting the cytoplasmic chromatin-mediated pathway may hold promise in treating inflammation-related disorders

Surrogate Markers of Cardiovascular Risk and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Large Case-Controlled Study.

Cardiovascular disease is a common comorbidity and cause of mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A better understanding of mechanisms of cardiovascular risk in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients is needed to improve clinical outcomes. We hypothesized that such patients have increased arterial stiffness, wave reflections, and subclinical atherosclerosis compared with controls and that these findings would be independent of smoking status and other confounding factors. A total of 458 patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 1657 controls (43% were current or ex-smokers) with no airflow limitation were matched for age, sex, and body mass index. All individuals underwent assessments of carotid-femoral (aortic) pulse wave velocity, augmentation index, and carotid intima-media thickness. The mean age of the cohort was 67±8 years and 58% were men. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had increased aortic pulse wave velocity (9.95±2.54 versus 9.27±2.41 m/s; P<0.001), augmentation index (28±10% versus 25±10%; P<0.001), and carotid intima-media thickness (0.83±0.19 versus 0.74±0.14 mm; P<0.001) compared with controls. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was associated with increased levels of each vascular biomarker independently of physiological confounders, smoking, and other cardiovascular risk factors. In this large case-controlled study, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was associated with increased arterial stiffness, wave reflections, and subclinical atherosclerosis, independently of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. These findings suggest that the cardiovascular burden observed in this condition may be mediated through these mechanisms and supports the concept that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease