Cavity Nucleation and Growth in Nickel-Based Alloys during Creep

The number of fossil fueled power plants in electricity generation is still rising, making improvements to their efficiency essential. The development of new materials to withstand the higher service temperatures and pressures of newer, more efficient power plants is greatly aided by physics-based models, which can simulate the microstructural processes leading to their eventual failure. In this work, such a model is developed from classical nucleation theory and diffusion driven growth from vacancy condensation. This model predicts the shape and distribution of cavities which nucleate almost exclusively at grain boundaries during high temperature creep. Cavity radii, number density and phase fraction are validated quantitively against specimens of nickel-based alloys (617 and 625) tested at 700 °C and stresses between 160 and 185 MPa. The model’s results agree well with the experimental results. However, they fail to represent the complex interlinking of cavities which occurs in tertiary creep

Consumers’ Food Waste Knowledge in Austria

In times of increasing environmental awareness, the topic of food waste receives a lot of attention from practitioners and scholars alike. In this study, we analyze how well-informed Austrian consumers regard food waste and what factors might influence this knowledge. In a consumer survey (n = 470), we examined consumer food and food handling knowledge, cooking skills, place of residence, personal ties to agriculture, engagement in initiatives against food waste, and their effect on food waste knowledge. To understand what effect social desirability mighthave on participants’ answers, we administered the survey in both online and face-to-face settings. Amongst others, our findings suggest a positive relationship between knowledge about food and food handling andknowledge about food waste prevention as well as a social desirability bias in reporting one’s own knowledge about food waste prevention. We could not find a statistically significant relationship between food and food handling knowledge, and food waste knowledge. Furthermore, we did not find evidence that a personal connection to agriculture or a rural place of residence leads to better food waste knowledge. Finally, the unexpected influence of cooking skills is at least surprising to a certain extent. We conclude this study by outlining potential areas for future research as well as managerial implications

Food Waste Knowledge in Austria: A Consumer Perspective

In times of increasing environmental awareness, the topic of food waste receives high attention from practitioners and scholars alike. In this study we analyze how well-informed Austrian consumers are regarding food waste and what factors might influence this knowledge. In a consumer survey (n = 470), we examined consumer food and food handling knowledge, cooking skills, place of living, personal ties to agriculture, engagement in initiatives against food waste, and their  effect on food waste knowledge. To understand what effect social desirability might have on participants’ answers, we administered the survey both in an online and a face to face setting. Amongst others, our findings suggest a positive relationship between knowledge about food and food handling and knowledge about food waste prevention as well as a social desirability bias in reporting one’s own knowledge about food waste prevention. We could not find a statistically significant relationship between food and food handling knowledge, and food waste knowledge. Furthermore, we did not find evidence that a personal connection to agriculture or a rural place of living leads to a higher food waste knowledge. Finally, the unexpected influence of cooking skills is at least surprising to a certain extent. We conclude this study by outlining potential areas for future research as well as managerial implications

Microstructurally Based Modeling of Creep Deformation and Damage in Martensitic Steels

This chapter deals with modeling the microstructural evolution, creep deformation, and pore formation in creep-resistant martensitic 9–12% Cr steels. Apart from the stress and temperature exposure of the material, the input parameters for the models are as-received microstructure and one single-creep experiment of moderate duration. The models provide predictive results on deformation rates and microstructure degradation over a wide stress range. Due to their link to the underlying fundamental physical processes such as classical nucleation theory, Gibbs energy dissipation, climb, and glide of dislocations, etc., the models are applicable to any martensitic steel with similar microstructure to the presented case study. Note that we section the chapter into part 1: creep deformation and part 2: pore formation

Metabolic heterogeneity in adrenocortical carcinoma impacts patient outcomes

Spatially resolved metabolomics enables the investigation of tumoral metabolites in situ. Inter- and intratumor heterogeneity are key factors associated with patient outcomes. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an exceedingly rare tumor associated with poor survival. Its clinical prognosis is highly variable, but the contributions of tumor metabolic heterogeneity have not been investigated thus far to our knowledge. An in-depth understanding of tumor heterogeneity requires molecular feature-based identification of tumor subpopulations associated with tumor aggressiveness. Here, using spatial metabolomics by high-mass resolution MALDI Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry imaging, we assessed metabolic heterogeneity by de novo discovery of metabolic subpopulations and Simpson's diversity index. After identification of tumor subpopulations in 72 patients with ACC, we additionally performed a comparison with 25 tissue sections of normal adrenal cortex to identify their common and unique metabolic subpopulations. We observed variability of ACC tumor heterogeneity and correlation of high metabolic heterogeneity with worse clinical outcome. Moreover, we identified tumor subpopulations that served as independent prognostic factors and, furthermore, discovered 4 associated anticancer drug action pathways. Our research may facilitate comprehensive understanding of the biological implications of tumor subpopulations in ACC and showed that metabolic heterogeneity might impact chemotherapy

Neutral sphingomyelinase mediates the co-morbidity trias of alcohol abuse, major depression and bone defects

Mental disorders are highly comorbid and occur together with physical diseases, which are often considered to arise from separate pathogenic pathways. We observed in alcohol-dependent patients increased serum activity of neutral sphingomyelinase. A genetic association analysis in 456,693 volunteers found associations of haplotypes of SMPD3 coding for NSM-2 (NSM) with alcohol consumption, but also with affective state, and bone mineralisation. Functional analysis in mice showed that NSM controls alcohol consumption, affective behaviour, and their interaction by regulating hippocampal volume, cortical connectivity, and monoaminergic responses. Furthermore, NSM controlled bone–brain communication by enhancing osteocalcin signalling, which can independently supress alcohol consumption and reduce depressive behaviour. Altogether, we identified a single gene source for multiple pathways originating in the brain and bone, which interlink disorders of a mental–physical co-morbidity trias of alcohol abuse—depression/anxiety—bone disorder. Targeting NSM and osteocalcin signalling may, thus, provide a new systems approach in the treatment of a mental–physical co-morbidity trias

Cavity Nucleation and Growth in Nickel-Based Alloys during Creep

The number of fossil fueled power plants in electricity generation is still rising, making improvements to their efficiency essential. The development of new materials to withstand the higher service temperatures and pressures of newer, more efficient power plants is greatly aided by physics-based models, which can simulate the microstructural processes leading to their eventual failure. In this work, such a model is developed from classical nucleation theory and diffusion driven growth from vacancy condensation. This model predicts the shape and distribution of cavities which nucleate almost exclusively at grain boundaries during high temperature creep. Cavity radii, number density and phase fraction are validated quantitively against specimens of nickel-based alloys (617 and 625) tested at 700 °C and stresses between 160 and 185 MPa. The model’s results agree well with the experimental results. However, they fail to represent the complex interlinking of cavities which occurs in tertiary creep

Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Food Safety Perceptions—A Choice-Based Willingness to Pay Study

As the COVID-19 pandemic brings about sudden change in societies across the globe and likely heralds the start of a recession, we examine the pandemic’s impact on consumer food safety perceptions. Due to its origin, COVID-19, likely spurring from an animal-to-human transmission in the context of a wet market, may impact consumer food perceptions in similar ways to the avian flu (H5N1) and the swine flu (H1N1). We examine this effect by studying preferences for beef meat in a consumer survey in the United States (n = 999) using a choice-based experiment. We compare our findings to Lim et al. (2014), who elicited consumer beef willingness to pay (WTP). Additionally, we investigate the impact of the looming recession by analyzing several attributes and their effect on consumer preferences. Our findings suggest that food safety concerns have become more important. As a result, production standards and the country of origin have lost importance. Additionally, we show that the socioeconomic impact for some respondents impacts their shopping preferences. Finally, we outline potential areas for future research as well as managerial implications

Is It All about the Price? An Analysis of the Purchase Intention for Organic Food in a Discount Setting by Means of Structural Equation Modeling

In recent years, discount grocery retailers have expanded their global reach and added to their traditional no-frills offerings to also cater to hedonic consumer needs. In addition to a larger product assortment and a more pleasant shopping experience, they now sell organic food, which commands a price premium compared to non-organic alternatives. To understand organic food in a discount setting, this study sets out to examine the factors that influence discount grocery shoppers’ purchase intention for organic food. To study this relationship, this paper tests several factors in a structural equation model, finding a positive relationship between hedonic shopping values, environmental concern, as well as health consciousness and the purchase intention for organic food. In our model, based on a US consumer survey (n = 394), price consciousness exhibited a direct and negative relationship with the purchase intention for organic food. Furthermore, this study found that that the impact of environmental concern, health consciousness, and hedonic shopping value is greater on the purchase intention of organic food than that of price consciousness, even in this discount setting. This study concludes by discussing these results and attempting to outline potential areas for future research, as well as managerial implications

Tunable strong coupling of two adjacent optical λ/2 Fabry-Pérot microresonators

Strong optical mode coupling between two adjacent λ/2 Fabry-Pérot microresonators consisting of three parallel silver mirrors is investigated experimentally and theoretically as a function of their detuning and coupling strength. Mode coupling can be precisely controlled by tuning the mirror spacing of one resonator with respect to the other by piezoelectric actuators. Mode splitting, anti-crossing and asymmetric modal damping are observed and theoretically discussed for the symmetric and antisymmetric supermodes of the coupled system. The spectral profile of the supermodes is obtained from the Fourier transform of the numerically calculated time evolution of the individual resonator modes, taking into account their resonance frequencies, damping and coupling constants, and is in excellent agreement with the experiments. Our microresonator design has potential applications for energy transfer between spatially separated quantum systems in micro optoelectronics and for the emerging field of polaritonic chemistry