Anisotropic constitutive modeling for nickel base single crystal superalloy Rene N4 at 982 C

A back stress/drag stress constitutive model based on a crystallographic approach to model single crystal anisotropy is presented. Experimental results demonstrated the need for the back stress variable in the inelastic flow equations. Experimental findings suggested that back stress is orientation dependent and controls both strain hardening and recovery characteristics. Due to the observed stable fatigue loops at 1800 F, drag stress is considered constant for this temperature. The constitutive model operated with constraints determined only from tensile data was extensively tested from simple tensile and fatigue to complicated strain hold tests. The model predicted very well under those conditions

Brain Stem Death as the Vital Determinant for Resumption of Spontaneous Circulation after Cardiac Arrest in Rats

BACKGROUND:Spontaneous circulation returns to less than half of adult cardiac arrest victims who received in-hospital resuscitation. One clue for this disheartening outcome arises from the prognosis that asystole invariably takes place, after a time lag, on diagnosis of brain stem death. The designation of brain stem death as the point of no return further suggests that permanent impairment of the brain stem cardiovascular regulatory machinery precedes death. It follows that a crucial determinant for successful revival of an arrested heart is that spontaneous circulation must resume before brain stem death commences. Here, we evaluated the hypothesis that maintained functional integrity of the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), a neural substrate that is intimately related to brain stem death and central circulatory regulation, holds the key to the vital time-window between cardiac arrest and resumption of spontaneous circulation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:An animal model of brain stem death employing the pesticide mevinphos as the experimental insult in Sprague-Dawley rats was used. Intravenous administration of lethal doses of mevinphos elicited an abrupt cardiac arrest, accompanied by elevated systemic arterial pressure and anoxia, augmented neuronal excitability and enhanced microvascular perfusion in RVLM. This period represents the vital time-window between cardiac arrest and resumption of spontaneous circulation in our experimental model. Animals with restored spontaneous circulation exhibited maintained neuronal functionality in RVLM beyond this critical time-window, alongside resumption of baseline tissue oxygen and enhancement of local blood flow. Intriguingly, animals that subsequently died manifested sustained anoxia, diminished local blood flow, depressed mitochondrial electron transport activities and reduced ATP production, leading to necrotic cell death in RVLM. That amelioration of mitochondrial dysfunction and bioenergetic failure in RVLM by coenzyme Q10, the mobile electron carrier in mitochondrial respiratory chain, or oxygenation restored spontaneous circulation further established a causal relationship between functionality of RVLM and resumed spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We conclude that whereas necrotic cell death because of bioenergetic failure triggered by anoxia in RVLM, which precipitates brain stem death, negates resuscitation of an arrested heart, maintained functional integrity of this neural substrate holds the key to resumption of spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest in rats

Surface Strain Variation in Human Patellar Tendon and Knee Cruciate Ligaments

Local surface strains in bone-fascicle-bone subunits from human patellar tendon and anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments were measured between markers using low-speed photography during low rate subfailure testing. A simple stress-strain relationship of the power form was found to describe the bone-to-bone responses up to four percent strain for all three tissue types examined. The regional material behavior were best fit using an inverted strain-stress relationship, however. The power model, fitted to the experimental data, conformed to the expected stress-strain relationship better than either the quadratic or cubic models. With few exceptions, for a given stress, the strains near the proximal and distal bone ends were not significantly different from each other, but were significantly higher than the strains in the tissue midregions. Local strain patterns generally varied among subunits from the same tissue