Corrosion Resistance Studies of Austenitic Stainless Steel Grades in Molten Zinc-Aluminum Alloy Galvanizing Bath

The corrosion inhibition performance and mechanical behavior of galvanized and heat-treated four newly developed austenitic stainless steel grades and type 316L austenitic stainless steel for application as sink rolls in galvanizing baths of 0.14–0.21 wt.% aluminum was investigated and compared through immersion corrosion test to determine the weight loss between 168 and 504 h, tensile test, and Charpy impact test. The delta ferrite content of the test samples was observed and estimated through optical microscopy, feritscope, and ONRL diagram. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy were used to characterize the surface microstructure, morphology, and chemical composition of the galvanized coating of the steel samples. Result showed that only two of the newly developed stainless steel compositions were selected for use in fabrication of galvanizing hardware based on the comparisons of corrosion and mechanical performances of tested alloy

Genetic polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region and response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors in patients with premature ejaculation

OBJECTIVES: Serotonin plays a central role in ejaculation and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been successfully used to treat premature ejaculation. Here, we evaluated the relationship between a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and the response of patients with premature ejaculation to SSRI medication. METHODS: Sixty-nine premature ejaculation patients were treated with 20 mg/d paroxetine for three months. The Intravaginal Ejaculatory Latency Time and International Index of Erectile Function scores were compared with baseline values. The patients were scored as having responded to therapy when a 2-fold or greater increase was observed in Intravaginal Ejaculatory Latency Time compared with baseline values after three months. Three genotypes of 5-HTTLPR were studied: LL, LS and SS. The appropriateness of the allele frequencies in 5-HTTLPR were analyzed according to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium using the χ2-test. RESULTS: The short (S) allele of 5-HTTLPR was significantly more frequent in responders than in nonresponders (

Evaluation of the impact of warfarin time in therapeutic range on outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation in Turkey: Perspectives from the observational, prospective WATER Registry

Background: Warfarin is highly efficacious in reducing stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, its safety and efficacy in stroke prevention is markedly influenced by its time in therapeutic range (TTR). The quality of anticoagulant therapy varies considerably among countries. Representative data concerning the quality of anticoagulant therapy and its effects on clinical outcomes in Turkey are lacking. Methods: Warfarin in Therapeutic Range (WATER) registry is a prospective, observational study which followed 572 AF patients (mean age 67.3 ± 12 years; females 60%; 71% non-valvular AF) treated with warfarin. Results: At a median of 22-month follow-up, the mean TTR value was 42.3 ± 18% (median: 40%) for the whole population and lower in non-valvular AF su group than valvular AF subgroup (40.3 ± 18 vs. 46.9 ± 19, respectively, p < 0.001). Death, cardiac hospital­ization and minor bleeding rates were higher in the group with TTR value < 40% than the group with > 40% (3.4% vs. 5.9%; 28.6% vs. 35.4%; 36.5% vs. 41.7%, respectively, all of them p < 0.001). A correlation analysis showed a negative correlation between age and TTR value (r = –0.178, p < 0.001). Mean CHA2DS2VASc score was 3.63 ± 1.5 and mean HASBLED score was 2.38 ± 1.01 in the non-valvular AF group. A negative correlation was observed between TTR levels and CHA2DS2VASc score. Conclusions: WATER provides insight into the anticoagulation control status of AF patients in Turkey. The quality of anticoagulation was poor. Strategies should be undertaken by clinicians and patients to improve TTR. New oral anticoagulant agents may be perfect alternatives for non-valvular AF patients

Assessment of human error contribution to container loss risk under fault tree analysis and interval type-2 fuzzy logic-based SLIM approach

Human is a key element of the safety of life on board ships and a significant contributing factor to most of the accidents and incidents in the maritime industry. At this point, risk analysis plays a critical role in ensuring operational safety and maritime transportation sustainability. This paper aims to systematically evaluate how human errors (HEs) contribute to operational risks. Based on this, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is combined under an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic environment with Success Likelihood Index Method (SLIM). Whilst the FTA evaluates the criticality of the operational activities, the Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Sets (IT2FS) deals with vagueness and subjectivity in using experts’ judgments, and the SLIM estimates the probabilities for the human error-related basic events. Since container losses can lead to severe damage and catastrophic events in a container terminal, loading operation was investigated as a case study. Safety culture, experience, and fatigue were observed as highly effective factors in crew performance. The obtained results also indicate that this hybrid approach can effectively be applied to determine the operational vulnerabilities in high-risk industries. The paper intends to improve safety control levels and lower losses in the future of maritime container transport besides emphasizing the potential consequences of failures and crucial human errors in the operational process

Application of data-mining techniques to predict and rank maritime non-conformities in tanker shipping companies using accident inspection reports

The application of data mining techniques is an extended practice in numerous domains; however, within the context of maritime inspections, the aforementioned methods are rarely applied. Thus, the application of data-mining techniques for the prediction and ranking of non-conformities identified during vessel inspections could be of significant managerial contribution to the safety of shipping companies, as non-conformities could potentially lead to real accidents if not addressed adequately. Hence, specific data mining methods are investigated and applied in this paper to predict and rank non-conformities on oil tankers using a database recorded by tanker shipping companies in Turkey from 2006 to 2019. The results of this study reveal that specific non-conformities, for instance, inadequate ice operations or inadequate general appearance and condition of hull, superstructure and external weather decks, are not company-based problems, rather they are industry wide issues for all tanker shipping companies

Coronary artery fistula: Review of 54 cases from single center experience

Background: Demographic and clinical characteristics and angiographic findings of Turkish patients with coronary artery fistula have been investigated in this study and diagnostic tests and treatment methods used in these patients have also been evaluated in detail. Methods: We have examined the cardiac catheterization laboratory database retrospectively between March 2006 and July 2010. Among 49,567 patients, we have noted 60 patients diagnosed as coronary artery fistula. After coronary angiographic images were evaluated by two invasive cardiologists, 54 patients who had clear evidence of vessel of origin and drainage were included in the study. Results: A total of 54 (0.1%) patients with coronary artery fistula were noted. Mean age was 56.7 ± 10.7 years; 42 out of 54 patients had accompanying cardiac disorders. Patients’ complaints were directly associated with the presence of the fistula. Chest pain was the admission symptom in all of the patients with isolated coronary artery fistula. Six patients had coexistent congenital anomalies. Myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation occurred in 11 of the patients. In contrast to the previous reports, the most common artery of origin of the fistula was left anterior descending artery (50.8%) and pulmonary artery was found to be the most frequent region of the fistula drainage by 53.7%. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that large fistulas originating from the proximal segments of coronary arteries may increase the likelihood of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction even in asymptomatic patients with no evidence of ischemia in noninvasive tests and no dilatation of cardiac chambers, and should therefore be closed

Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator

The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements