SteBLife, a New Approach for the Accelerated Generation of Metallic Materials’ Fatigue Data

The service life of materials and components exposed to repeated mechanical loads is limited, which is why the understanding of the damage evolution and estimating its fatigue life is of high importance for its technical application. This paper shows how temperature and magnetic field measurement methods can be used to describe the cyclic deformation behaviour of metallic materials and to derive parameters from this, which are used in short-term methods to calculate the fatigue life. Within the SteBLife (stepped-bar fatigue life) approach, only three to five fatigue tests with a stepped fatigue specimen are required to determine a complete S–N or Woehler curve with scatter bands for different failure probabilities. If only a trend S–N curve is required, the number of tests can be reduced to a single fatigue test only. In the framework of this paper, these approaches will be presented for normalised SAE 1045 (C45E) and quenched and tempered SAE 4140 (42CrMo4) steels

Microstructure-Based Lifetime Assessment of Austenitic Steel AISI 347 in View of Fatigue, Environmental Conditions and NDT

The assessment of metallic materials used in power plants’ piping represents a big challenge due to the thermal transients and the environmental conditions to which they are exposed. At present, a lack of information related to degradation mechanisms in structures and materials is covered by safety factors in its design, and in some cases, the replacement of components is prescribed after a determined period of time without knowledge of the true degree of degradation. In the collaborative project “Microstructure-based assessment of maximum service life of nuclear materials and components exposed to corrosion and fatigue (MibaLeb)”, a methodology for the assessment of materials’ degradation is being developed, which combines the use of NDT techniques for materials characterization, an optimized fatigue lifetime analysis using short time evaluation procedures (STEPs) and numerical simulations. In this investigation, the AISI 347 (X6CrNiNb18-10) is being analyzed at different conditions in order to validate the methodology. Besides microstructural analysis, tensile and fatigue tests, all to characterize the material, a pressurized hot water pipe exposed to a series of flow conditions will be evaluated in terms of full-scale testing as well as prognostic evaluation, where the latter will be based on the materials’ data generated, which should prognose changes in the material’s condition, specifically in a pre-cracked stage. This paper provides an overview of the program, while the more material’s related aspects are presented in the subsequent paper

A Short-Time Approach for Fatigue Life Evaluation of AISI 347 Steel for Nuclear Power Energy Applications

AISI 347 austenitic steel is, as an example, used in nuclear energy piping systems. Piping filled with superheated steam or cooled water is particularly exposed to high stresses, whereupon local material properties in the pipes can change significantly, especially in the case of additional corrosive influences, leading to aging of the material. In the absence of appropriate information, such local material property variations are currently covered rather blanketly by safety factors set during the design of those components. An increase in qualified information could improve the assessment of the condition of such aged components. As part of the collaborative project “Microstructure-based assessment of the maximum service life of core materials and components subjected to corrosion and fatigue (MiBaLeB)”, the short-time procedure, StrainLife, was developed and validated by several fatigue tests. With this procedure, a complete S–N curve of a material can be determined on the basis of three fatigue tests only, which reduces the effort compared to a conventional approach significantly and is thus ideal for assessing the condition of aged material, where the material is often rare, and a cost-effective answer is often very needed. The procedure described is not just limited to traditional parameters, such as stress and strain, considered in destructive testing but rather extends into parameters derived from non-destructive testing, which may allow further insight into what may be happening within a material’s microstructure. To evaluate the non-destructive quantities measured within the StrainLife procedure and to correlate them with the aging process in a material, several fatigue tests were performed on unnotched and notched specimens under cyclic loading at room and elevated temperatures, as well as under various media conditions, such as distilled water and reactor pressure vessel boiling water (BWR) conditions

Sarcasm in written communication: emoticons are efficient markers of intention

Here we present two studies that investigate the use of emoticons in clarifying message intent. We look at sarcasm in particular, which can be especially hard to interpret correctly in written communication. In both studies, participants were required to make the intentions of their messages clear. In the first, they clarified the meaning of existing sentences without altering the wording; in the second, they produced their own sentences. Results provided clear evidence that tongue and wink emoticons are the principal indicators of sarcastic intent, and that ellipsis is associated more with criticism, rather than with sarcasm. These findings highlight the significant role emoticons play in clarifying message intention, compensating for the absence of non-verbal cues in written communicatio

Fine-mapping identifies multiple prostate cancer risk loci at 5p15, one of which associates with TERT expression

Associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at 5p15 and multiple cancer types have been reported. We have previously shown evidence for a strong association between prostate cancer (PrCa) risk and rs2242652 at 5p15, intronic in the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene that encodes TERT. To comprehensively evaluate the association between genetic variation across this region and PrCa, we performed a fine-mapping analysis by genotyping 134 SNPs using a custom Illumina iSelect array or Sequenom MassArray iPlex, followed by imputation of 1094 SNPs in 22 301 PrCa cases and 22 320 controls in The PRACTICAL consortium. Multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis identified four signals in the promoter or intronic regions of TERT that independently associated with PrCa risk. Gene expression analysis of normal prostate tissue showed evidence that SNPs within one of these regions also associated with TERT expression, providing a potential mechanism for predisposition to disease

Inhibition of angiogenesis by interleukin-4 gene therapy in rat adjuvant-induced arthritis

Objective Interleukin-4 (IL-4) can modulate neovascularization. In this study, we used a gene therapy approach to investigate the role of IL-4 in angiogenesis in rat adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA), a model for rheumatoid arthritis. Methods Rats received an adenovirus producing IL-4 (AxCAIL-4), a control virus without insert, or control vehicle (phosphate buffered saline) intraarticularly before arthritis onset. At peak onset of arthritis, rats were killed. Vascularization was determined in the synovial tissue, and correlations with inflammation were assessed. Ankle homogenates were used in angiogenesis assays in vitro and in vivo, and protein levels of cytokines and growth factors were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Synovial tissue expression of Αv integrins was determined by immunohistochemistry. Results IL-4 induced a reduction in synovial tissue vessel density, which was paralleled by a decrease in inflammation. AxCAIL-4 joint homogenates significantly ( P < 0.05) inhibited both endothelial cell (EC) migration and tube formation in vitro. Similarly, AxCAIL-4 inhibited capillary sprouting in the rat aortic ring assay, and vessel growth in the in vivo Matrigel plug assay. The angiostatic effect occurred despite high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and was associated with down-regulation of the proangiogenic cytokines IL-18, CXCL16, and CXCL5 and up-regulation of the angiogenesis inhibitor endostatin. Of interest, AxCAIL-4 also resulted in decreased EC expression of the Αv and Β3 integrin chains. Conclusion In rat AIA, IL-4 reduces synovial tissue vascularization via angiostatic effects, mediates inhibition of angiogenesis via an association with altered pro- and antiangiogenic cytokines, and may inhibit VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and exert its angiostatic role in part via ΑvΒ3 integrin. This knowledge of the specific angiostatic effects of IL-4 may help optimize target-oriented treatment of inflammatory arthritis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55808/1/22034_ftp.pd

Online calculator for individual affiliation to a major population group

Because of their sensitivity and high level of discrimination, short tandem repeat (STR) maker systems are currently the method of choice in routine forensic casework and data banking, usually in multiplexes up to 15–17 loci. Constraints related to sample amount and quality, frequently encountered in forensic casework, will not allow to change this picture in the near future, notwithstanding the technological developments. In this study, we present a free online calculator named PopAffiliator (http://cracs.fc.up.pt/popaffiliator) for individual population affiliation in the three main population groups, Eurasian, East Asian and sub-Saharan African, based on genotype profiles for the common set of STRs used in forensics. This calculator performs affiliation based on a model constructed using machine learning techniques. The model was constructed using a data set of approximately fifteen thousand individuals collected for this work. The accuracy of individual population affiliation is approximately 86%, showing that the common set of STRs routinely used in forensics provide a considerable amount of information for population assignment, in addition to being excellent for individual identification

Thromboxane biosynthesis in cancer patients and its inhibition by aspirin: a sub-study of the Add-Aspirin trial

BACKGROUND: Pre-clinical models demonstrate that platelet activation is involved in the spread of malignancy. Ongoing clinical trials are assessing whether aspirin, which inhibits platelet activation, can prevent or delay metastases. METHODS: Urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (U-TXM), a biomarker of in vivo platelet activation, was measured after radical cancer therapy and correlated with patient demographics, tumour type, recent treatment, and aspirin use (100 mg, 300 mg or placebo daily) using multivariable linear regression models with log-transformed values. RESULTS: In total, 716 patients (breast 260, colorectal 192, gastro-oesophageal 53, prostate 211) median age 61 years, 50% male were studied. Baseline median U-TXM were breast 782; colorectal 1060; gastro-oesophageal 1675 and prostate 826 pg/mg creatinine; higher than healthy individuals (~500 pg/mg creatinine). Higher levels were associated with raised body mass index, inflammatory markers, and in the colorectal and gastro-oesophageal participants compared to breast participants (P < 0.001) independent of other baseline characteristics. Aspirin 100 mg daily decreased U-TXM similarly across all tumour types (median reductions: 77-82%). Aspirin 300 mg daily provided no additional suppression of U-TXM compared with 100 mg. CONCLUSIONS: Persistently increased thromboxane biosynthesis was detected after radical cancer therapy, particularly in colorectal and gastro-oesophageal patients. Thromboxane biosynthesis should be explored further as a biomarker of active malignancy and may identify patients likely to benefit from aspirin