Stress intensity factors in a cracked infinite elastic wedge loaded by a rigid punch

A plane elastic wedge-shaped solid was split through the application of a rigid punch. It was assumed that the coefficient of friction on the the contact area was constant, and the problem had a plane of symmetry with respect to loading and geometry, with the crack in the plane of symmetry. The problem was formulated in terms of a system of integral equations with the contact stress and the derivative of the crack surface displacement as the unknown functions. The solution was obtained for an internal crack and for an edge crack. The results include primarily the stress intensity factors at the crack tips, and the measure of the stress singularity at the wedge apex, and at the end points of the contact area

The Relationship between Organizational Identification and Job Satisfaction in Retail Industry

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational identification and job satisfaction among retail industry employees. Quantitative data was gathered using questionnaires. To ensure the scales' validity, principal component analysis was used. Cronbach alpha values were calculated to assess reliability. Simple regression was used to test the theoretical model hypothesis. The analyses were carried out using the statistical software SPSS. As the result of the analyses performed, the main hypothesis was supported. It has been empirically proven that Organizational Identification has positive effect on Job Satisfaction. Although these two constructs are subjects that have been researched for years, this research adds to the literature by investigating how the job satisfaction of employees working at a particular sector, the national retail industry, is affected within the framework of organizational identification. As a result, the study's findings indicated that further research should be done to improve organizational identification among employees in the retail industry to boost job satisfaction and decrease the risk of leaving

What happened? Do preschool children and capuchin monkeys spontaneously use visual traces to locate a reward?

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 639072). Edinburgh Zoo's Living Links Research Facility is core supported by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (registered charity no.: SC004064) through funding generated by its visitors, members and supporters.The ability to infer unseen causes from evidence is argued to emerge early in development and to be uniquely human. We explored whether preschoolers and capuchin monkeys could locate a reward based on the physical traces left following a hidden event. Preschoolers and capuchin monkeys were presented with two cups covered with foil. Behind a barrier, an experimenter (E) punctured the foil coverings one at a time, revealing the cups with one cover broken after the first event and both covers broken after the second. One event involved hiding a reward, the other event was performed with a stick (order counterbalanced). Preschoolers and, with additional experience, monkeys could connect the traces to the objects used in the puncturing events to find the reward. Reversing the order of events perturbed the performance of 3-year olds and capuchins, while 4-year-old children performed above chance when the order of events was reversed from the first trial. Capuchins performed significantly better on the ripped foil task than they did on an arbitrary test in which the covers were not ripped but rather replaced with a differently patterned cover. We conclude that by 4 years of age children spontaneously reason backwards from evidence to deduce its cause.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Effects of maternal subnutrition during early pregnancy on cow hematological profiles and offspring physiology and vitality in two beef breeds

This experiment evaluated the effects of subnutrition during early gestation on hematology in cows (Bos Taurus) and on hematological, metabolic, endocrine, and vitality parameters in their calves. Parda de Montaña and Pirenaica dams were inseminated and assigned to either a control (CONTROL, 100% requirements) or a nutrient‐restricted group (SUBNUT, 65%) during the first third of gestation. Dam blood samples were collected on days 20 and 253 of gestation, and calf samples were obtained during the first days of life. Pirenaica dams presented higher red series parameters than Parda de Montaña dams, both in the first and the last months of gestation. During early pregnancy, granulocyte numbers and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were lower in Pirenaica‐SUBNUT than in Pirenaica‐CONTROL cows. Calves from the SUBNUT cows did not show a physiological reduction in red series values in early life, suggesting later maturation of the hematopoietic system. Poor maternal nutrition affected calf endocrine parameters. Newborns from dystocic parturitions showed lower NEFA concentrations and weaker vitality responses. In conclusion, maternal nutrition had short‐term effects on cow hematology, Pirenaica cows showing a higher susceptibility to undernutrition; and a long‐term effect on their offspring endocrinology, SUBNUT newborns showing lower levels of IGF‐1 and higher levels of cortisol.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Business and the European Union Regional Development Funds (INIA RTA 2013‐00059‐C02 and INIA RZP 2015‐001) and the Government of Aragon under the Grant Research Group Funds (A14_17R). A. Noya received a PhD grant from INIA‐Government of Aragon

The Amplitude of Non-Equilibrium Quantum Interference in Metallic Mesoscopic Systems

We study the influence of a DC bias voltage V on quantum interference corrections to the measured differential conductance in metallic mesoscopic wires and rings. The amplitude of both universal conductance fluctuations (UCF) and Aharonov-Bohm effect (ABE) is enhanced several times for voltages larger than the Thouless energy. The enhancement persists even in the presence of inelastic electron-electron scattering up to V ~ 1 mV. For larger voltages electron-phonon collisions lead to the amplitude decaying as a power law for the UCF and exponentially for the ABE. We obtain good agreement of the experimental data with a model which takes into account the decrease of the electron phase-coherence length due to electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering.Comment: New title, refined analysis. 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Europhysics Letter

Učinci bora, propilen glikola i metionina na neke hematološke pokazatelje u mliječnih krava tijekom peripartusnog razdoblja.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential hematological effects of boron, propylene glycol and methionine in dairy cattle during the peripartum period. For this purpose, 24 healthy Holstein cows in the periparturient period were used. The cows were divided into 4 groups according to oral treatment with sodium borate (30 g/day; group B), propylene glycol (500 g/day; group PG) or methionine (10.5 g/day, group M), whereas cows from the last group were not treated (control group C) were. During the periparturient period there were no differences in the number of white blood cells, lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophil granulocytes, red blood cells, platelet and mean platelet volume between the groups. A statistically signifificant difference was established between the groups in the levels of mean cell volume and hematocrit on calving, hemoglobin at 2 weeks postpartum, mean cell hemoglobin concentration at 1 week prepartum and 2 weeks postpartum . This study suggests that boron, propylene glycol and methionine administration had transient effects on some of hematological parameters of ruminants in the periparturient period.Cilj istraživanja bio je procijeniti moguće učinke bora, propilen glikola i metionina na hematološke pokazatelje u mliječnih krava tijekom peripartusnog razdoblja. Za tu svrhu uporabljene su 24 zdrave krave holštajnske pasmine. Krave su bile podijeljene u četiri skupine s obzirom na oralnu primjenu natrijeva borata (30 g/dnevno; skupina B), propilen glikola (500 g/dnevno; skupina PG) ili metionina (10,5 g/dnevno; skupina M). Četvrtu (kontrolnu) skupinu činile su krave koje nisu primile nikakav pripravak. Tijekom peripartusnog razdoblja nisu bile ustanovljene razlike između skupina u broju bijelih krvnih stanica, limfocita, monocita, neutrofilnih granulocita, crvenih krvnih stanica kao ni u broju i prosječnom volumenu trombocita. Statistički značajna razlika između skupina utvrđena je za prosječni volumen eritrocita i hematokrit pri teljenju, hemoglobin dva tjedna nakon teljenja te za prosječnu koncentraciju hemoglobina tjedan prije i dva tjedna poslije teljenja. Istraživanje upućuje na zaključak da primjena bora, propilen glikola i metionina ima prolazne učinke na neke hematološke pokazatelje u preživača tijekom peripartusnog razdoblja

Assessing exposure effects on gene expression

In observational genomics data sets, there is often confounding of the effect of an exposure on gene expression. To adjust for confounding when estimating the exposure effect, a common approach involves including potential confounders as covariates with the exposure in a regression model of gene expression. However, when the exposure and confounders interact to influence gene expression, the fitted regression model does not necessarily estimate the overall effect of the exposure. Using inverse probability weighting (IPW) or the parametric g-formula in these instances is straightforward to apply and yields consistent effect estimates. IPW can readily be integrated into a genomics data analysis pipeline with upstream data processing and normalization, while the g-formula can be implemented by making simple alterations to the regression model. The regression, IPW, and g-formula approaches to exposure effect estimation are compared herein using simulations; advantages and disadvantages of each approach are explored. The methods are applied to a case study estimating the effect of current smoking on gene expression in adipose tissue

An asteroseismic study of the Delta Scuti star 44 Tau

In this paper we investigate theoretical pulsation models for the delta Scuti star 44 Tau. The star was monitored during several multisite campaigns which confirmed the presence of radial and nonradial oscillations. Moreover, its exceptionally low rotational velocity makes 44 Tau particulary interesting for an asteroseismic study. Due to the measured log g value of 3.6 +/- 0.1, main sequence and post-main sequence models have to be considered. We perform mode identification based on photometric and spectroscopic data. A nonadiabatic pulsation code is used to compute models that fit the identified modes. The influence of different opacity tables and element mixtures on the results is tested. The observed frequencies of 44 Tau can be fitted in both the main sequence and the post-main sequence evolutionary stage. Post-main sequence models are preferable as they fulfill almost all observational constraints (fit of observed frequencies, position in the HRD and instability range). These models can be obtained with normal chemical composition which is in agreement with recent spectroscopic measurements. The efficiency of envelope convection (in the framework of the mixing-length theory) is predicted to be very low in 44 Tau. We show that the results are sensitive to the choice between the OPAL and OP opacities. While the pulsation models of 44 Tau computed with OP opacities are considerably too cool and too faint, the use of OPAL opacities results in models within the expected temperature and luminosity range.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A&