Microstructural and Chemical Rejuvenation of a Ni-Based Superalloy

This is an open access article published by Springer and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The microstructural evolution of the Ni-based superalloy CMSX-4 including the change in gamma prime morphology, size and distribution after high temperature degradation and subsequent rejuvenation heat treatments has been examined using field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEGSEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this paper it is shown that there are significant differences in the size of the ‘channels’ between gamma prime particles, the degree of rafting and the size of tertiary gamma prime particles in each of the different microstructural conditions studied. Chemical analysis has been carried out to compare rejuvenated and pre-service samples after the same subsequent degradation procedure. The results indicate that although the microstructure of pre-service and rejuvenated samples are similar, chemical differences are more pronounced in the rejuvenated samples, suggesting that chemical segregation from partitioning of the elements was not completely eliminated through the applied rejuvenation heat treatment. A number of modified rejuvenation heat treatment trials were carried out to reduce the chemical segregation prior to creep testing. The creep test results suggest that chemical segregation has an immeasurable influence on the short-term mechanical properties under the test conditions used here, indicating that further work is required to fully understand the suitability of specific rejuvenation heat treatments and their role in the extension of component life in power plant applications

The uses and abuses of power: teaching school leadership through children's literature

There are relatively few studies of how representations of teachers, schools and educational administrators in popular films and television might be, and are, used in leadership preparation. This paper seeks to add to this small body of work; it reports on an exploratory study of the representation of headteachers in contemporary children's fiction. Thirty-one texts are analysed to ascertain key themes and the major characterisations. The paper draws on children's literature scholars to argue that both the historical school story and its contemporary counterpart focus heavily on the power of the head to control the micro-world of the school. Because these fictional accounts deal with issues of power and justice more openly than many mainstream educational administration texts, this makes them particularly useful in the preparation of potential school leaders

Cross-border electronic commerce: distance effects and express delivery in European Union markets

This empirical study examines distance effects on cross-border electronic commerce and in particular the importance of express delivery in reducing the time dimension of distance. E-commerce provides suppliers with a range of opportunities to reduce distance as perceived by online buyers. They can reduce psychological barriers to cross-border demand by designing websites that simplify the search for and comparison of products and suppliers across countries. They can reduce cost barriers by applying pricing strategies that redistribute transportation costs, and they can overcome time barriers offering express delivery services. This study of 721 regions in five countries of the European Union shows that distance is not “dead” in e-commerce, that express delivery reduces distance for cross-border demand, and that e-demand delivered by express services is more time sensitive and less price sensitive than e-demand satisfied by standard delivery. The willingness of e-customers to pay for express services is shown to be affected by income and by the relative lead-time benefits and express charges. Furthermore, the adoption of express delivery is positively associated with e-loyalty in terms of repurchase rates. The results confirm the importance for e-suppliers of cleverly designed delivery services to reduce distance in order to attract online customers across borders

Estimating foliar nitrogen in Eucalyptus using vegetation indexes

ABSTRACT Nitrogen (N) has commonly been applied in Eucalyptus stands in Brazil and it has a direct relation with biomass production and chlorophyll content. Foliar N concentrations are used to diagnose soil and plant fertility levels and to develop N fertilizer application rates. Normally, foliar N is obtained using destructive methods, but indirect analyses using Vegetation Indexes (VIs) may be possible. The aim of this work was to evaluate VIs to estimate foliar N concentration in three Eucalyptus clones. Lower crown leaves of three clonal Eucalyptus plantations (25 months old) were classified into five color patterns using the Munsell Plant Tissue Color Chart. For each color, N concentration was determined by the Kjeldahl method and foliar reflectance was measured using a CI-710 Miniature Leaf Spectrometer. Foliar reflectance data were used to obtain the VIs and the VIs were used to estimate N concentrations. In the visible region, the relationship between N concentration and reflectance percentage was negative. The highest correlations between VIs and N concentrations were obtained by the Inflection Point Position (IPP, r = 0.97), Normalized Difference Red-Edge (reNDVI, r = 0.97) and Modified Red-Edge Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (mNDI, r = 0.97). Vegetation indexes on the red edge region provided the most accurate estimates of foliar N concentration. The reNDVI index provided the best N concentration estimates in leaves of different colors of Eucalyptus urophylla × grandis and Eucalyptus urophylla × urophylla (R2 = 0.97 and RMSE = 0.91 g kg−1)

Meta-analysis of type 2 Diabetes in African Americans Consortium

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1) and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2) at genome-wide significance (4.15 × 10(-94)<P<5 × 10(-8), odds ratio (OR)  = 1.09 to 1.36). Fine-mapping revealed that 88 of 158 previously identified T2D or glucose homeostasis loci demonstrated nominal to highly significant association (2.2 × 10(-23) < locus-wide P<0.05). These novel and previously identified loci yielded a sibling relative risk of 1.19, explaining 17.5% of the phenotypic variance of T2D on the liability scale in African Americans. Overall, this study identified two novel susceptibility loci for T2D in African Americans. A substantial number of previously reported loci are transferable to African Americans after accounting for linkage disequilibrium, enabling fine mapping of causal variants in trans-ethnic meta-analysis studies.Peer reviewe

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) Study: Study Design

The Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) is a national prospective study of adults comprising 14 established US prospective cohort studies. Starting as early as 1971, investigators in the C4R cohort studies have collected data on clinical and subclinical diseases and their risk factors, including behavior, cognition, biomarkers, and social determinants of health. C4R links this pre-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phenotyping to information on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and acute and postacute COVID-related illness. C4R is largely population-based, has an age range of 18-108 years, and reflects the racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity of the United States. C4R ascertains SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 illness using standardized questionnaires, ascertainment of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths, and a SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey conducted via dried blood spots. Master protocols leverage existing robust retention rates for telephone and in-person examinations and high-quality event surveillance. Extensive prepandemic data minimize referral, survival, and recall bias. Data are harmonized with research-quality phenotyping unmatched by clinical and survey-based studies; these data will be pooled and shared widely to expedite collaboration and scientific findings. This resource will allow evaluation of risk and resilience factors for COVID-19 severity and outcomes, including postacute sequelae, and assessment of the social and behavioral impact of the pandemic on long-term health trajectories