Analysis of Variable Insensitive Friction Stir Welding Parameters

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) was used to perform a Design of Experiment (DOE) to determine the welding parameters effects on yielding consistent mechanical properties across the length of the weld. The travel speed was varied across set forge force and RPM conditions, to find a dataset that will yield consistent mechanical properties independent of the travel speed. Six different welds were completed on two different aluminum panels, the advancing side being Aluminum alloy 2195-T8 at a thickness of .350”, with the retreating side being Aluminum alloy 2219-T851 with a gauge thickness of .360”. A Left-hand Right-hand self-reacting pin tool was used for each weld. The mechanical properties of interest are the Ultimate Tensile Strength, Yield Strength, Elasticity and Hardness. The strengths were evaluated by tensile testing, with the Elasticity being measure post break. Specimens were then polished where macrograph and micrograph analysis was completed. Micro-hardness testing was then completed on the weld nuggets

Analysis of Variable Insensitive Friction Stir Welding Parameters

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) was used to perform a Design of Experiment (DOE) to determine the welding parameters effects on yielding consistent mechanical properties across the length of the weld. The travel speed was varied across set forge force and RPM conditions, to find a dataset that will yield consistent mechanical properties independent of the travel speed. Six different welds were completed on two different aluminum panels, the advancing side being Aluminum alloy 2195-T8 at a thickness of .350”, with the retreating side being Aluminum alloy 2219-T851 with a gauge thickness of .360”. A Left-hand Right-hand self-reacting pin tool was used for each weld. The mechanical properties of interest are the Ultimate Tensile Strength, Yield Strength, Elasticity and Hardness. The strengths were evaluated by tensile testing, with the Elasticity being measure post break. Specimens were then polished where macrograph and micrograph analysis was completed. Micro-hardness testing was then completed on the weld nuggets

The ESO Spectroscopic facility

We present the concept of a novel facility dedicated to massively-multiplexed spectroscopy. The telescope has a very wide field Cassegrain focus optimised for fibre feeding. With a Field of View (FoV) of 2.5 degrees diameter and a 11.4m pupil, it will be the largest etendue telescope. The large focal plane can easily host up to 16.000 fibres. In addition, a gravity invariant focus for the central 10 arc-minutes is available to host a giant integral field unit (IFU). The 3 lenses corrector includes an ADC, and has good performance in the 360-1300 nm wavelength range. The top level science requirements were developed by a dedicated ESO working group, and one of the primary cases is high resolution spectroscopy of GAIA stars and, in general, how our Galaxy formed and evolves. The facility will therefore be equipped with both, high and low resolution spectrographs. We stress the importance of developing the telescope and instrument designs simultaneously. The most relevant R\&D aspect is also briefly discussed.Comment: 6 pages 4 figures , presented at IAU Symposium 334 "rediscovering our galaxy

Psychometric Properties of the Healthful Eating Belief Scales for Persons at Risk of Diabetes

Objective: To examine the validity and reliability of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) scales for healthful eating for persons at risk for diabetes. Design: Cross-sectional, using a self-administered questionnaire. Setting: Community in the Midwest. Participants: 106 adults who self-identified based on one or more American Diabetes Association diabetes risks. Variables Measured: Behavioral, normative, and control beliefs; and attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention to eat a healthful diet. Analysis: Construct validity was assessed with factor analyses and measurement and structural models using structural equation modeling. Reliability of the scales was assessed with Cronbach alpha and a 2-month test- retest. Results: Factor analysis loadings were greater than .37. Cronbach alphas for the behavioral, normative, and control belief scales were .80, .91, and .84, respectively. The measurement model revealed that the measures were significant estimates for the TPB constructs, and they fit well as indirect measures of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in predicting intention to eat a healthful diet. Test-retest revealed 2- month stability of the scales. Conclusions and Implications: Scales for measuring TPB behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were valid and reliable for use with adults at risk for diabetes. Further examination with minority persons is warranted

Physical Activity Belief Scales for Diabetes Risk: Development and Psychometric Testing

This article describes the development and psychometric evaluation of behavioral belief, normative belief, and control belief scales, derived from the theory of planned behavior to predict physical activity intentions of persons at risk for diabetes. In Study 1, belief statements from interviews were categorized, ranked, and evaluated for item construction. Content validity was established by 96. 1 % agreement among a five-member expert panel. In Study 2, items developed from the belief statements were administered to 106 adults at risk for diabetes. Psychometric analyses provided evidence of construct validity and reliability of the three scales. Internal consistency was sufficient (α = .76-.95), and test-retest evaluations indicated scale stability (r = .79- .91). Factor analyses and confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling provided evidence that the items were appropriately grouped under each construct. Researchers and practitioners can use these measures to assess behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about physical activity among persons at risk for diabetes

Autoregression as a means of assessing the strength of seasonality in a time series

BACKGROUND: The study of the seasonal variation of disease is receiving increasing attention from health researchers. Available statistical tests for seasonality typically indicate the presence or absence of statistically significant seasonality but do not provide a meaningful measure of its strength. METHODS: We propose the coefficient of determination of the autoregressive regression model fitted to the data ([Image: see text]) as a measure for quantifying the strength of the seasonality. The performance of the proposed statistic is assessed through a simulation study and using two data sets known to demonstrate statistically significant seasonality: atrial fibrillation and asthma hospitalizations in Ontario, Canada. RESULTS: The simulation results showed the power of the [Image: see text] in adequately quantifying the strength of the seasonality of the simulated observations for all models. In the atrial fibrillation and asthma datasets, while the statistical tests such as Bartlett's Kolmogorov-Smirnov (BKS) and Fisher's Kappa support statistical evidence of seasonality for both, the [Image: see text] quantifies the strength of that seasonality. Corroborating the visual evidence that asthma is more conspicuously seasonal than atrial fibrillation, the calculated [Image: see text] for atrial fibrillation indicates a weak to moderate seasonality ([Image: see text] = 0.44, 0.28 and 0.45 for both genders, males and females respectively), whereas for asthma, it indicates a strong seasonality ([Image: see text] = 0.82, 0.78 and 0.82 for both genders, male and female respectively). CONCLUSIONS: For the purposes of health services research, evidence of the statistical presence of seasonality is insufficient to determine the etiologic, clinical and policy relevance of findings. Measurement of the strength of the seasonal effect, as can be determined using the [Image: see text] technique, is also important in order to provide a robust sense of seasonality

Evaluation of the anti-angiogenic potential of hydroxytyrosol derivatives

Angiogenesis, a process which allows the formation of new vessels from pre-existing ones, is an essential phenomenon for tumor survival since it allows cancer cells to obtain nutrients and oxygen. This explains the increasing interest showed by many groups of research and pharmaceutical companies to find compounds with potential to disrupt at least one of the steps within the angiogenic process. Hydroxytyrosol (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl ethanol) has been identified as the most important health-related phenolic compound of virgin olive oil because of its pleiotropic effects on multiple targets. In 2012, our group identified hydroxytyrosol as an anti-angiogenic compound able to inhibit several key steps in the angiogenic process. In the present study, the potential effects of six hydroxytyrosol derivatives are tested and compared with those exhibited by hydroxytyrosol by making use of several in vitro and in vivo assays. Results indicate that these are candidate new anti-angiogenic compounds with potential utility in anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic therapies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech [Our experimental work is supported by grants BIO2014-56092-R (MINECO and FEDER) and P12-CTS-1507 (Andalusian Government and FEDER) and funds from group BIO-267 (Andalusian Government). The "CIBER de Enfermedades Raras" is an initiative from the ISCIII (Spain)]. This communication has the support of a travel grant

Modal expansions and non-perturbative quantum field theory in Minkowski space

We introduce a spectral approach to non-perturbative field theory within the periodic field formalism. As an example we calculate the real and imaginary parts of the propagator in 1+1 dimensional phi^4 theory, identifying both one-particle and multi-particle contributions. We discuss the computational limits of existing diagonalization algorithms and suggest new quasi-sparse eigenvector methods to handle very large Fock spaces and higher dimensional field theories.Comment: new material added, 12 pages, 6 figure

Efecto inhibitorio de un extracto acuoso de las hojas de Allophylus cominia (L.) Sw sobre las proteínas tirosina fosfatasa 1B y dipeptidil peptidasa IV

Introduction: Allophylus cominia (L.) Sw is a Cuban medicinal plant used by traditional medicine for the treatment of diabetes with unknown mechanisms of action. Objective: to evaluate the effect of Allophylus cominia (L.) Sw leaves aqueous extract and its fractions on protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV) enzymatic activity, as therapeutic targets of type 2 diabetes. Methods: the aqueous extract of A. cominia leaves was successively partitioned with organic solvents mixtures, thus increasing polarity in order to obtain ten fractions. The extract and its fractions were tested for their possible antidiabetic activity on therapeutic targets of type 2 diabetes: PTP1B and DPPIV. The enzymatic inhibition assays were performed and the inhibitory activity was calculated with the fluorescence values using an excitation wavelength of 360 nm and an emission wavelength of 460 nm. Results: the aqueous extract from A. cominia inhibited the enzymatic activity of PTP1B and DPPIV according to the concentration, being IC50 values equal to 0.69 μg/mL and 344.3 μg/mL, respectively. Several fractions were detected as potent PTP1B inhibitors. The most polar fractions AcF9 and AcF10 were more active, showing IC50 values of 4.4 µg/mL and 3.8 µg/mL respectively. The fractions showed a slight DPPIV inhibition, being fractions AcF6, AcF9 and AcF10 the most active, exhibiting inhibition percentages of 52.0 %, 39.0 % and 40.0 % respectively. Conclusions: A. cominia aqueous extract and its polar fractions (AcF9 and AcF10) have antidiabetic properties in vitro and are promissory candidates for development of new drugs with inhibitory activity of PTP1B and DPPIV for type 2 diabetes treatment