Glocal integrity in 420 stainless steel by asynchronous laser processing

Cold working individual layers during additive manufacturing (AM) by mechanical surface treatments, such as peening, effectively “prints” an aggregate surface integrity that is referred to as a glocal (i.e., local with global implications) integrity. Printing a complex, pre-designed glocal integrity throughout the build volume is a feasible approach to improve functional performance while mitigating distortion. However, coupling peening with AM introduces new manufacturing challenges, namely thermal cancellation, whereby heat relaxes favorable residual stresses and work hardening when printing on a peened layer. Thus, this work investigates glocal integrity formation from cyclically coupling LENS® with laser peening on 420 stainless steel

Modelling spatial and inter-annual variations of nitrous oxide emissions from UK cropland and grasslands using DailyDayCent

This work contributes to the Defra funded projects AC0116: ‘Improving the nitrous oxide inventory’, and AC0114: ‘Data Synthesis, Management and Modelling’. Funding for this work was provided by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) AC0116 and AC0114, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. This study also contributes to the projects: N-Circle (BB/N013484/1), U-GRASS (NE/M016900/1) and GREENHOUSE (NE/K002589/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reliability and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of a Paper- Versus App-Administered Resilience Scale in Scottish Youths: Comparative Study

Background: Adequately measuring resilience is important in order to support young people and children who may need to access resources through social work or educational settings. A widely accepted measure of youth resilience has been developed by Ungar and Liebenberg which has been shown to work within vulnerable youth [1]. While the measure is completed by the young person on paper, it has been designed to be worked through with a teacher or social worker in case further clarification is required. However, this method is time consuming and when faced with large groups of pupils who need assessing can be overwhelming for schools and practitioners. The current study assesses app software with a built-in avatar who can guide the young person through the assessment and its interpretation. Objective: The primary objective is to compare the reliability and psychometric properties of a mobile software app to a paper version of the Child and Youth Resilience measure (CYRM-28). Secondly, the study will assess the use of the CYRM-28 in a Scottish youth population (11-18 years). Methods: Following focus groups and discussion with teachers, social workers and young people, an avatar was developed by a software company and integrated into an android smartphone app designed to ask questions via the device’s inbuilt text-to-voice engine. Seven-hundred and fourteen students from two schools in North East Scotland completed either a paper version or app version of the CYRM-28. A cross-sectional design was used and students completed their allocated version twice, with a twoweek period in between each testing. All participants could request clarification either from a guidance teacher (paper version) or from the in-built software glossary (app version). Results: Test and retest correlations showed that the app version performed better than the paper version of the questionnaire. Paper (r(303)=.81, p<.001, 95%CI [.77, .85]); App (r(413)=.84, p <.001, 95%CI [.79, .89]). Fisher’s r to z transformation found the difference in the correlations to be statistically significant, Z=-2.97, p <.01. Similarly, Cronbach’s alpha in both conditions was very high (app: ?=.92; paper: ?=.87). Such a high Cronbach’s alpha indicates there may be item redundancy. Ordinarily this would lead to a possible removal of highly correlated items, however the primary aim of the current study is a comparison of app delivery method over a pen-and-paper mode and therefore outside the parameters of this paper. This will be considered in the discussion. Fisher’s r to z transformation found the difference in the correlations to be statistically significant [Z=-3.69, p <.01]. A confirmatory factor analysis [2] supported the three-factor solution (individual, relational and contextual) and reported a good model fit (?2 (15, N= 541) = 27.6, p=0.24). Conclusions: ALEX, an avatar with an integrated voice guide, increased reliability when measuring resilience compared to a paper versio

Constitutively Activated NLRP3 Inflammasome Causes Inflammation and Abnormal Skeletal Development in Mice

The NLRP3 inflammasome complex is responsible for maturation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-1β. Mutations in NLRP3 are responsible for the cryopyrinopathies, a spectrum of conditions including neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID). While excessive production of IL-1β and systemic inflammation are common to all cryopyrinopathy disorders, skeletal abnormalities, prominently in the knees, and low bone mass are unique features of patients with NOMID. To gain insights into the mechanisms underlying skeletal abnormalities in NOMID, we generated knock-in mice globally expressing the D301N NLRP3 mutation (ortholog of D303N in human NLRP3). NOMID mice exhibit neutrophilia in blood and many tissues, including knee joints, and high levels of serum inflammatory mediators. They also exhibit growth retardation and severe postnatal osteopenia stemming at least in part from abnormally accelerated bone resorption, attended by increased osteoclastogenesis. Histologic analysis of knee joints revealed abnormal growth plates, with loss of chondrocytes and growth arrest in the central region of the epiphyses. Most strikingly, a tissue “spike" was observed in the mid-region of the growth plate in the long bones of all NOMID mice that may be the precursor to more severe deformations analogous to those observed in NOMID patients. These findings provide direct evidence linking a NOMID-associated NLRP3-activating mutation to abnormalities of postnatal skeletal growth and bone remodeling

Isotopic techniques to measure N2O, N2 and their sources

GHG emissions are usually the result of several simultaneous processes. Furthermore, some gases such as N2 are very difficult to quantify and require special techniques. Therefore, in this chapter, the focus is on stable isotope methods. Both natural abundance techniques and enrichment techniques are used. Especially in the last decade, a number of methodological advances have been made. Thus, this chapter provides an overview and description of a number of current state-of-theart techniques, especially techniques using the stable isotope 15N. Basic principles and recent advances of the 15N gas flux method are presented to quantify N2 fluxes, but also the latest isotopologue and isotopomer methods to identify pathways for N2O production. The second part of the chapter is devoted to 15N tracing techniques, the theoretical background and recent methodological advances. A range of different methods is presented from analytical to numerical tools to identify and quantify pathway-specific N2O emissions. While this chapter is chiefly concerned with gaseous N emissions, a lot of the techniques can also be applied to other gases such as methane (CH4), as outlined in Sect. 5.3

Fatigue after Stroke: Baseline Predictors and Influence on Survival. Analysis of Data from UK Patients Recruited in the International Stroke Trial

Little is known about the associations of post-stroke fatigue or its influence on survival. The vitality component of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) is a valid and reliable measure of post-stroke fatigue. We sought to identify associates of post-stroke fatigue and determine whether fatigue predicted survival.We used SF-36 vitality scores obtained by postal questionnaires from 1080 UK patients randomised in the International Stroke Trial, at a mean of 64 weeks after stroke onset. We used logistic regression to explore factors at randomisation which predicted SF-36 vitality at follow-up, and the relationship between SF-36 vitality and both SF-36 mental health and SF-36 emotional role function at follow-up. We used Cox proportional hazards to explore the influence of SF-36 vitality at follow-up on subsequent survival, using four different statistical models for handling missing data.Female sex, increasing age, lower mental health and lower emotional role function scores were associated with greater degrees of fatigue after stroke (i.e. lower vitality scores) but these factors explained <30% of the variance (R(2)) in fatigue. In two models, fatigue at follow-up was associated with shorter subsequent survival.Increasing age, female sex, emotional role function and mental health were associated with increased fatigue at a mean of 64 weeks after stroke onset, but explained less than 30% of the variance. Fatigue was associated with reduced subsequent long-term survival in 2/4 models. Further work is needed to identify the biological substrate of fatigue and to clarify its influence on survival

Carbon disulfide removal by zero valent iron

The use of zero valent iron (Fe-0) for the remediation of water contaminated with carbon disulfide (CS2), a common groundwater contaminant, has been evaluated in this study. Mineralogical analysis of Fe-0 filings and polished Fe-0 cross-sections indicates that iron sulfide is formed due to the removal of carbon disulfide from solution by Fe-0. The kinetics of CS2 removal by Fe-0 was examined through both batch and column testing, and it is demonstrated that CS2 is removed rapidly from solution. A linear relationship was observed, through batch testing, between the pseudofirst-order rate constant (k(obs)) and the surface area concentration of Fe-0 (rho a). Data obtained from kinetic batch tests performed at four temperature levels conformed to the Arrhenius equation, anc the calculated apparent activation energy (E-a) was 37 +/- 2.3 kJ mol(-1), indicating that the kinetics of CS2 removal by Fe-0 is controlled by a chemical surface reaction. The temperature correction factors for CS2 from a reference of 25 degrees C were x 1.4 for 18 degrees C, x 1.7 for 15 degrees C, x 2.0 for 12 degrees C, and x 2.3 for 9 degrees C. Surface area normalization of kob, obtained through batch and column testing gives specific reaction rate constants (k(SA)) within 1 order of magnitude, indicating that kSA values are useful as a general descriptor of CS2-Fe-0 reaction kinetics and that these values provide a clear starting point for design calculations prior to commencing site-specific treatability studies for permeable reactive barrier design