In situ three-dimensional study of corrosion fatigue crack initiation and growth of corroded 7075 aluminum alloys

Corrosion fatigue crack initiation in aluminum alloys can have significant effects on part life. An improved understanding of the mechanisms governing corrosion and corrosion fatigue damage of Al alloys is necessary. Alloy design and environmental chemistry have significant effects on corrosion fatigue crack initiation and growth. Influential alloy design features include alloy chemistry, precipitate structure, and grain structure. Environmental factors such as environmental chemistry and preexisting corrosion damage can also effect the corrosion fatigue behavior of the alloys. To investigate the effects of environment and precipitate size on corrosion fatigue of aluminum alloys, the in situ corrosion fatigue testing of corroded peak-aged and overaged 7075 Al alloys in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution will be presented. For this study, rolled 7075 Al alloy was heat-treated to peak-aged, overaged, and highly overaged conditions. The samples were machined, mechanically polished, masked, and then soaked in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution for fifteen days to yield significant corrosion damage in a region of interest. The corroded specimens were fatigue tested in situ in 3.5 wt.% NaCl using synchrotron X-ray tomography to gain three dimensional information regarding fatigue crack initiation and growth characteristics. Hydrogen bubbles were observed within the crack during propagation, indicating chemical changes in the sample during corrosion fatigue. The crack initiation, growth, and bubble evolution were quantified and discussed. A relationship was observed between the bubble volume and crack surface area as the test progressed, which suggested an effect from stress at the crack tip. Ultimately, this in situ study provided new insights regarding the localized processes occurring during the corrosion fatigue cracking of aluminum alloys which previous post-mortem and two dimensional studies were unable to discover

Large Deviations for the Stochastic Shell Model of Turbulence

In this work we first prove the existence and uniqueness of a strong solution to stochastic GOY model of turbulence with a small multiplicative noise. Then using the weak convergence approach, Laplace principle for so- lutions of the stochastic GOY model is established in certain Polish space. Thus a Wentzell-Freidlin type large deviation principle is established utilizing certain results by Varadhan and Bryc.Comment: 21 pages, submitted for publicatio

The Persistency of the India-Pakistan Conflict: Chances and Obstacles of the Bilateral Composite Dialogue

This article investigates the underlying causes for the persistency of the India–Pakistan conflict and, on this basis, the chances and obstacles of the bilateral composite dialogue initiated in 2004. In particular, it wants to provide a theoretically grounded account of the factors that facilitated and constrained the bilateral composite dialogue process. Drawing on the regional security complex theory, this article examines the rivalry between the two South Asian nuclear powers on four levels of analysis: the domestic, the regional, the interregional and the global level. The analysis shows that there have been some substantial changes on all four levels in the recent decade or so and that these changes have provided more beneficial conditions for a peace process. These changes include, inter alia, India’s new regional policy, the consequences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the region and India’s growing power capacities. However, major obstacles to the India–Pakistan dialogue and a permanent conflict resolution continue to persist: the dominant role of the military in Pakistan, conflicting national identities and the still partially contested nature of statehood in India and Pakistan, which is in the case of Pakistan linked to the growing power of Islamic fundamentalists

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Large deviations for the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations with multiplicative noise

A Wentzell-Freidlin type large deviation principle is established for the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations perturbed by a multiplicative noise in both bounded and unbounded domains. The large deviation principle is equivalent to the Laplace principle in our function space setting. Hence, the weak convergence approach is employed to obtain the Laplace principle for solutions of stochastic Navier-Stokes equations. The existence and uniqueness of a strong solution to (a) stochastic Navier-Stokes equations with a small multiplicative noise, and (b) Navier-Stokes equations with an additional Lipschitz continuous drift term are proved for unbounded domains which may be of independent interest.Stochastic Navier-Stokes equations Large deviations Girsanov theorem

Information heuristics of information literate people

It is confirmed through information users’ daily activities that they apply many shortcuts, ignore some information and use heuristics – particularly in electronic social networking environments. The critical analysis of the literature and research findings are used as a base to identify and create a short (preliminary) inventory of information heuristics that people use at various stages of seeking and conducting source evaluation (credibility assessment) to solve their everyday information problems. The use of heuristics (understood as sense-making activities that help information users to make a satisfying choice of the sources and distinguish the content of various quality and sufficiency) is discussed in the context of information literacy (IL) concept. The analysis of heuristics offers some additional explanation of online information behavior and personal information management strategies. The result of the research is a proposal to treat heuristics as intuitive but not accidental search tactics based on experience that should be included in IL training

Acceptance and Speed of Animations in Business Software

Part 1: Long and Short PapersInternational audienceWell-designed animations can improve the usability of graphical user interfaces for business software. It is crucial in this area that the user considers animations to be helpful and that they do not decrease perceived work efficiency. Thus, both the acceptance of animations and the selection of an appropriate animation speed are of high importance. We investigate those aspects in three explorative studies. Results show that animated interactions are considered to be useful by a considerable majority of participants. The observed settings for the animation speed show that quite fast animations are generally preferred. We demonstrate that for some of these animations the observed settings for animation speed can be explained by cognitive modeling