Matrix design of a novel ductile cast iron modified by W and Al: A comparison between thermodynamic modeling and experimental data

In high-temperature applications of ferrous materials, as in the case of exhaust manifolds, high thermal and mechanical stability are required. Stainless steels and Ni-resist alloys having austenitic matrices are good candidates to meet these requirements at elevated temperatures; however, they are expensive materials and present difficulties in casting. Ferritic ductile cast irons, like the commercial SiMo alloy, are comparatively cheaper materials with better castability but they cannot be used above approximately 800 °C. Thus, to meet the requirements with low-cost materials having improved high-temperature properties, new alloys must be developed by ferrite forming elements having the potential to increase equilibrium temperature. In this study, initially, a novel ductile cast iron matrix was designed using 1 W and 0-4 Al wt.-% and their phases stable at room temperature, transformation temperatures, solidification sequences and thermal expansivity values were determined using thermodynamic calculations with Thermo-Calc software. Computational studies revealed that (i) designed alloy matrices had graphite and M6C type carbides embedded in a ferritic matrix at room temperature as expected, (ii) A1 temperature increased as aluminum content increased. The obtained values were all above that of commercial SiMo alloy, (iii) the detrimental effect of increased aluminum addition on graphite content, and thermal expansivity was observed. Secondly, microstructural and thermal characterizations of cast alloys were performed for validation - the obtained data were in good agreement with the thermodynamic calculations

Empathy and Emotion Management among Refugee Interpreters: The Case of Turkey

Working with traumatized individuals can be challenging for professionals and continuous exposure might cause psychological conditions such as burnout, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious traumatization and refugee interpreters are no exception. With respect to the unique and complex nature of refugee interpreting, the issue of empathy and emotion management comes to the fore as a promising area of research. Such research has the potential to contribute directly to the daily practice of interpreters working with asylumseekers and refugees. Taking this potential as a point of departure, this study explores the psychological and emotional status of refugee interpreters through questionnaires and semistructured interviews with a view to gathering data from freelance and in-house public service interpreters working with refugees and asylum-seekers. The questionnaires investigate the self-perceptions of refugee interpreters regarding stress, pressure, changes they go through as a result of their work as well as empathy, satisfaction, and psychological support besides personal information contributing to a broader perspective of this specific field of interpreting. The interviews, on the other hand, seek further information on the interpreters’ emotional conditions, aiming at gaining a deeper understanding. Both questionnaire and interview questions were officially approved by the Ethics Committee of DEU and permissions were taken from the involved institutions as a prerequisite to conduct the study. The results of data analysis will be discussed in this paper which aims at presenting a picture of refugee interpreters in Turkey with a focus on empathy and emotion management. This picture is expected to pinpoint specific needs in the field as regards the issue, and the future prospects of the present study include cooperating with the involved institutions in order to plan training sessions for refugee interpreters intended for improving their coping skills/mechanisms with such a psychologically demanding task</p

Tribological behavior of heat treated CuCrZr alloy

Optimal combination of strength, ductility and conductivity in CuCrZr alloy can be achieved by suitable heat treatment involving solution annealing at high temperature to dissolve alloying elements, water quenching to produce a super-saturated solid solution, and an aging treatment at an intermediate temperature to produce fine precipitates giving rise to high strength. In this study, Cu-1Cr-0.1Zr alloy was manufactured as cast material and following hot forging, solution annealing and aging were applied conventionally. In order to enhance the precipitation kinetics, solution annealed and quenched alloy was cold deformed and then aged at the same condition. Specimens obtained after (i) casting, (ii) conventional solution annealing and aging and (iii) aging after cold deformation were investigated in order to determine microstructural features, hardness and tribological properties. The results showed that while heat treatment process increased hardness the of cast specimen, it was enhanced further with deformation before aging. Besides hardness, tribological properties of the cast specimen were improved further by deformation before aging

The Perspectives of Refugee Interpreters on the Psychological and Emotional Aspects of the Job

Community interpreters, especially those working for vulnerable groups such as refugees and asylum seekers, are highly prone to suffering from emotional and psychological problems due to being continuously exposed to trauma-related histories of these groups (Splevins et al., 2010; Crezee et al., 2013; Lai et al., 2015; Costa et al., 2020). As part of an ongoing study, the present paper addresses the self-perceptions of refugee interpreters regarding their psychological and emotional status within the scope of their job. In order to enrich the data yielded by the survey applied to 42 freelance and in-house refugee interpreters, semi-structured interviews carried out with 9 interpreters seek to investigate further the issues such as trauma, stress and coping strategies and delve into their reflections regarding the psychologically demanding aspects of the job as well as the positive and/or negative changes refugee interpreting has brought about on them. The interview questions, officially approved by the Ethics Committee of DEU, were designed so as to deepen our understanding of these issues, aiming to provide a broader picture of refugee interpreting and refugee interpreters in Turkey focusing specifically on psychological and emotional aspects of the job. It is hoped that the insights to be obtained will contribute to the development of mechanisms that will support refugee interpreters in Turkey in employing emotion management and coping strategies within the frame of their emotionally challenging job.</p

Examination of Obesity Awareness Levels of University Students in Terms of Different Variables

The purpose of this study is to examine the obesity awareness levels of university students in terms of sport and different variables. The research was carried out on a total of 310 students, 107 male and 203 female, studying at Erzurum Atatürk University Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education in the 2021/2022 academic year. Research data were collected by the obesity awareness scale developed by Allen (2011) and adapted into Turkish by Kafkas and Özen (2014) and a demographic information form prepared by the researchers. Frequency distribution was used to determine the demographic characteristics of the students. “T-test for Independent Samples” was used to examine the differentiation between two independent variables and obesity awareness scale sub-dimensions, "One-Way Analysis of Variance" was used to examine the differentiation between more than two variables and obesity awareness scale sub-dimensions, Pearson correlation analyzes were applied to determine the relationship between students' ages and obesity awareness scale sub-dimensions. All these tests were analyzed in the SPSS 21 package program and the significance level was taken as p&lt;.05. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the students' personal monthly income and sports activity status and the obesity awareness scale sub-dimensions. It was found that the obesity awareness levels of the students who do sports activities are higher than those who do not

Effect of Helicobacter Pylori Infection on Serum Vitamin D Levels Patients with Dyspepsia

Introduction: We aimed to compare serum levels of Vitamin D3 in patients with and without Helicobacter pylori (HP) infec- tion detected with the upper gastrointestinal endoscopic examination. We hypothesized that patients diagnosed with HP pathologically had low serum vitamin D3 levels. Methods: The study was held between July 1, 2019, and March 31, 2021, tertiary referee hospital. The upper gastrointestinal system endoscopic data of pediatric patients with treatment-resistant dyspeptic complaints who were followed up in the Pediatric Gastroenterology outpatient clinic of hospital between July 1, 2019, and March 31, 2021, were retrospectively evaluated. The age, height, height standard deviation score (SDS), weight, weight SDS, body mass index (BMI), BMI SDS, and serum Vitamin D3 levels of the patients who were divided into two groups according to the presence of HP histopathologi- cally in the endoscopic biopsy samples were examined. Results: Eighty-six patients were evaluated, while 58 (67.44%) were girls and 28 (32.55%) were boys. The median age was 14.43 (ınterquartile range [IQR]=4.99) years. Histopathological evaluation of biopsy materials taken from the antrum and cor- pus of 43 patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed HP positivity in 43 patients (50.00%). HP was not detected in 43 patients (50.00%). The median Vitamin D3 level was 10.00 ng/ml in the HP positive group (IQR=6.00), and the median was 14.00 ng/ml (IQR=9.30) in the negative group. This study found a significant difference between HP positive and HP negative patient groups in Vitamin D3 serum levels (p=0.033). Discussion and Conclusion: Vitamin D3 serum levels were found to be significantly lower in the HP positive group than that of controls (p=0.033). This finding supports that mucosal damage may affect Vitamin D3 absorption. Early diagnosis and treatment maintain their importance to prevent long-term consequences of chronic infection

Tribological behavior of heat treated CuCrZr alloy

Optimal combination of strength, ductility and conductivity in CuCrZr alloy can be achieved by suitable heat treatment involving solution annealing at high temperature to dissolve alloying elements, water quenching to produce a super-saturated solid solution, and an aging treatment at an intermediate temperature to produce fine precipitates giving rise to high strength. In this study, Cu-1Cr-0.1Zr alloy was manufactured as cast material and following hot forging, solution annealing and aging were applied conventionally. In order to enhance the precipitation kinetics, solution annealed and quenched alloy was cold deformed and then aged at the same condition. Specimens obtained after (i) casting, (ii) conventional solution annealing and aging and (iii) aging after cold deformation were investigated in order to determine microstructural features, hardness and tribological properties. The results showed that while heat treatment process increased hardness the of cast specimen, it was enhanced further with deformation before aging. Besides hardness, tribological properties of the cast specimen were improved further by deformation before aging

The effect of layer architecture on the tribological behaviour of coatings

PEEK is a medical grade material which is increasingly used instead of titanium in osteosynthesis and joint replacement. However, its surface properties of PEEKlack on an adequate osteoconductivity. In this study, two coatings with different architectures composed of Ti, Mg and Ag were prepared by physical vacuum deposition to be used in spinal implants. The mechanical durability of the coatings is investigated in terms of their tribological behaviour