Study of local creep deformation behavior of heterogeneous weld configurations involving ferritic Chrome-Molybdenum steel and austenitic Ni-base alloys

Dissimilar Metal Welds (DMWs) made between ferritic low alloy steel (BCC) and austenitic alloys (FCC) are widely used in the high temperature components of power plants. Ex-service data from power plants suggests these bimetallic welds fail prematurely by creep mechanism, with lifetimes much lesser than the creep lives of either of the base materials. Earlier creep studies have demonstrated that failures are associated with creep cavities along the ferritic steel HAZ close to BCC/FCC boundary, due to the local detrimental microstructure. Structure-property relationships have not been established for these heterogeneous materials due to the limitation in the spatial measurement of creep strain rates. Hence, the objective of this research study is to develop a methodology to extract the local creep constitutive properties from heterogenous weld configurations and correlate these properties with the underlying microstructure. The following heterogeneous weld configurations were considered:I. Conventional DMWs made between 2.25Cr-1Mo steel and Alloy 800H base materials using Inconel weld consumable,II. Graded Transition Joints (GTJs) made between 2.25Cr-1Mo steel and Alloy 800H base materials using each of the three candidate filler metals viz., (i) Inconel 82, (ii) P87, and (iii) 347HLocal creep studies discretized the heterogeneous creep behavior in both these welded configurations. Global creep strain from both these welded configurations was a result of creep strain evolution from the 2.25Cr-1Mo base material and regions inside 2.25Cr-1Mo HAZ, while the other austenitic regions showed negligible creep formation. In both DMWs and GTJs, creep strain was accumulating inside 2.25Cr-1Mo HAZ and was driving the premature failure in these welded joints.Research findings from these local creep studies were summarized as follows:1. In DMWs, creep strain accumulation and the creep damage occurred close to BCC/FCC boundary due to the localized decarburization (depletion of carbides) in those regions,2. In all the GTJs, creep strain accumulation and the creep damage occurred in the FGHAZ at 3.5mm away from the weld interface, as a result of carbide coarsening during weld processing.Microstructure based creep model framework was developed to model the discrete creep strain rates with the local microstructures of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel

Looking Beyond a Clever Narrative: Visual Context and Attention are Primary Drivers of Affect in Video Advertisements

Emotion evoked by an advertisement plays a key role in influencing brand recall and eventual consumer choices. Automatic ad affect recognition has several useful applications. However, the use of content-based feature representations does not give insights into how affect is modulated by aspects such as the ad scene setting, salient object attributes and their interactions. Neither do such approaches inform us on how humans prioritize visual information for ad understanding. Our work addresses these lacunae by decomposing video content into detected objects, coarse scene structure, object statistics and actively attended objects identified via eye-gaze. We measure the importance of each of these information channels by systematically incorporating related information into ad affect prediction models. Contrary to the popular notion that ad affect hinges on the narrative and the clever use of linguistic and social cues, we find that actively attended objects and the coarse scene structure better encode affective information as compared to individual scene objects or conspicuous background elements.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of 20th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, Boulder, CO, US

Evaluating Content-centric vs User-centric Ad Affect Recognition

Despite the fact that advertisements (ads) often include strongly emotional content, very little work has been devoted to affect recognition (AR) from ads. This work explicitly compares content-centric and user-centric ad AR methodologies, and evaluates the impact of enhanced AR on computational advertising via a user study. Specifically, we (1) compile an affective ad dataset capable of evoking coherent emotions across users; (2) explore the efficacy of content-centric convolutional neural network (CNN) features for encoding emotions, and show that CNN features outperform low-level emotion descriptors; (3) examine user-centered ad AR by analyzing Electroencephalogram (EEG) responses acquired from eleven viewers, and find that EEG signals encode emotional information better than content descriptors; (4) investigate the relationship between objective AR and subjective viewer experience while watching an ad-embedded online video stream based on a study involving 12 users. To our knowledge, this is the first work to (a) expressly compare user vs content-centered AR for ads, and (b) study the relationship between modeling of ad emotions and its impact on a real-life advertising application.Comment: Accepted at the ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interation (ICMI) 201

Affect Recognition in Ads with Application to Computational Advertising

Advertisements (ads) often include strongly emotional content to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. This work (i) compiles an affective ad dataset capable of evoking coherent emotions across users, as determined from the affective opinions of five experts and 14 annotators; (ii) explores the efficacy of convolutional neural network (CNN) features for encoding emotions, and observes that CNN features outperform low-level audio-visual emotion descriptors upon extensive experimentation; and (iii) demonstrates how enhanced affect prediction facilitates computational advertising, and leads to better viewing experience while watching an online video stream embedded with ads based on a study involving 17 users. We model ad emotions based on subjective human opinions as well as objective multimodal features, and show how effectively modeling ad emotions can positively impact a real-life application.Comment: Accepted at the ACM International Conference on Multimedia (ACM MM) 201

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Studies of Silver-gold Normal and Inverted Core-shell Nanostructures on their Efficiency of Detecting Molecules

AbstractThe intense significance of biological molecules in our everyday lives has prompted the research into the analysis, identification and quantification of these molecules. Recently, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) study is identified as one of the effective techniques to detect and quantify such bio-molecules, as these processes are indispensable in order to use them in biological applications. Such detection of molecules by SERS depends predominantly upon SERS active metal substrates such as the typical colloidal silver-gold nanostructures. However, identifying and fabricating suitable metal nanostructures for detecting such biomolecules is an essential need to implement them for practical applications particularly in extensive physiological environments. Herein, we report the synthesis of Ag-Au normal and inverted core-shell nanostructures and investigation of their plasmonic properties to detect drug molecules such as methylene blue and methyl orange using the surface enhanced Raman scattering technique. Our investigation promises for an easy reproduction of biocompatible silver-gold bimetallic core-shell nanostructures that possess excellent chemical stability which can be ideal candidates for a wide range of biomedical applications

Environmental improvement initiatives in the coal mining industry: maximisation of the triple bottom line

Mining is an economically important industry, which faces several environmental and social challenges. Other than operational improvement activities, mining companies are increasingly paying attention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and maximise social welfare to satisfy multiple stakeholders and the rise of corporate social responsible initiatives. Based on a case study analysis of coal mining companies we develop a triple bottom line (TBL) initiatives framework that provides a starting point for mining companies to develop a strategic approach to environmental improvement initiatives that can positively impact all elements of the TBL. We highlight four types of process and offset-based initiatives that are available to mining companies to reduce their GHGs, each having differential effects on elements of the TBL. Our findings suggest the importance of company-wide strategies of looking at initiatives through all rather than individual elements of the TBL. Such a strategy would provide an appropriate estimate of the costs and benefits of the initiatives and results in a balanced approach that takes care of operational improvement, reduces GHGs and improves the social welfare of people engaged in mining operations and wider society

Tensor fascia lata muscle pedicle grafting for avascular necrosis femoral head

Background: Osteonecrosis of femoral head (AVN) is a disabling condition with ill-defined etiology and pathogenesis. In more than 60% it leads to osteoarthritis of hip joint. Treatment for this condition includes both operative and non-operative methods with variable success rates. Surgical options being aimed at both conservation of femoral head and arthroplasty of hip joint. Aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of tensor fascia lata muscle pedicle grafting in the management of osteonecrosis of femoral head.Methods: 27 cases with a mean age of 38.7 years (range from 24 to 52) who underwent tensor fascia lata muscle pedicle grafting in the management of  osteonecrosis  of femoral head were prospectively evaluated with a  mean follow up period of  7.3 years (range from 3 to 12 years). Watson-Jones approach was used in all patients. Average hospital stay was 12 days. Harris hip score was used for the evaluation of clinical outcome.Results: In our series of 27 cases, the Harris hip score was excellent (90-100) in 19, good (80-89) in 5, fair (70-79) in 2 and  poor  (<70) in 1 case at final follow up.Conclusions: Tensor fascia lata muscle pedicle grafting is an effective, technically easier, pain relieving head-preserving procedure and will improve outcome in properly selected patients with osteonecrosis of femoral head.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Glucose versus Amylase Resistant Starch Hypo-Osmolar Oral Rehydration Solution for Adult Acute Dehydrating Diarrhea

Background: Reduction of gross diarrhea rate in excess of that seen over time with intravenous therapy and appropriate antibiotics is not usually achieved by oral glucose-electrolyte rehydration therapy for cholera and cholera-like diarrheas. Methodology and Principal Findings: This prospective randomized clinical trial at a tertiary referral hospital in southern India was undertaken to determine whether amylase resistant starch, substituting for glucose in hypo-osmolar oral rehydration solution, would reduce diarrhea duration and weight in adults with acute severe dehydrating diarrhea. 50 adult males with severe watery diarrhea of less than three days' duration and moderate to severe dehydration were randomized to receive hypo-osmolar ORS (HO-ORS) or HO-ORS in which amylase resistant high amylose maize starch 50g/L substituted for glucose (HAMS-ORS). All remaining therapy followed standard protocol. Duration of diarrhea (ORS commencement to first formed stool) in hours was significantly shorter with HAMS-ORS (median 19, IQR 10-28) compared to HO-ORS (median 42, IQR 24-50) (Bonferroni adjusted P, P-adj < 0.001). Survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier) showed faster recovery from diarrhea in the HAMS-ORS group (P < 0.001, log rank test). Total diarrhea fecal weight in grams (median, IQR) was not significantly lower in the HAMS-ORS group (2190, 1160-5635) compared to HO-ORS (5210, 2095-12190) (P-adj = 0.08). However, stool weight at 13-24 hours (280, 0-965 vs. 1360, 405-2985) and 25-48 hours (0, 0-360 vs. 1080, 55-3485) were significantly lower in HAMS-ORS compared to HO-ORS group (Padj = 0.048 and P = 0.012, respectively). ORS intake after first 24 hours was lower in the HAMS-ORS group. Subgroup analysis of patients with culture isolates of Vibrio cholerae indicated similar significant differences between the treatment groups. Conclusions: Compared to HO-ORS, HAMS-ORS reduced diarrhea duration by 55% and significantly reduced fecal weight after the first 12 hours of ORS therapy in adults with cholera-like diarrhea

A nutrigenetic approach to investigate the relationship between metabolic traits and vitamin D status in an Asian Indian population

Studies in Asian Indians have examined the association of metabolic traits with vitamin D status. However, findings have been quite inconsistent. Hence, we aimed to explore the relationship between metabolic traits and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. We investigate whether this relationship was modified by lifestyle factors using a nutrigenetic approach in 545 Asian Indians randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (219 normal glucose tolerant individuals, 151 with pre-diabetes and 175 individuals with type 2 diabetes). A metabolic genetic risk score (GRS) was developed using five common metabolic disease-related genetic variants. There was a significant interaction between metabolic GRS and carbohydrate intake (energy%) on 25(OH)D (Pinteraction = 0.047). Individuals consuming a low carbohydrate diet (≤62%) and those having lesser number of metabolic risk alleles (GRS ≤ 1) had significantly higher levels of 25(OH)D (p = 0.033). Conversely, individuals consuming a high carbohydrate diet despite having lesser number of risk alleles did not show a significant increase in 25(OH)D (p = 0.662). In summary, our findings show that individuals carrying a smaller number of metabolic risk alleles are likely to have higher 25(OH)D levels if they consume a low carbohydrate diet. These data support the current dietary carbohydrate recommendations of 50%–60% energy suggesting that reduced metabolic genetic risk increases 25(OH)D