Residual stress distributions in welded stainless steel sections

Residual stress magnitudes and distributions in structural stainless steel built-up sections have been comprehensively investigated in this study. A total of 18 test specimens were fabricated from hot-rolled stainless steel plates by means of shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). Two grades of stainless steel were considered, namely the austenitic grade EN 1.4301 and the duplex grade EN 1.4462. Using the sectioning method, the test specimens were divided into strips. The residual stresses were then computed by multiplying the strains relieved during sectioning by the measured Young׳s moduli determined from tensile and compressive coupon tests. Residual stress distributions were obtained for 10 I-sections, four square hollow sections (SHS) and four rectangular hollow sections (RHS). Peak tensile residual stresses reached around 80% and 60% of the material 0.2% proof stress for grades EN 1.4301 and EN 1.4462, respectively. Based upon the test data, simplified predictive models for residual stress distributions in stainless steel built-up I-sections and box sections were developed. Following comparisons with other available residual stress test data, the applicability of the proposed models was also extended to other stainless steel alloys. The proposed residual stress patterns are suitable for inclusion in future analytical models and numerical simulations of stainless steel built-up sections

Vibration suppression in high-speed trains with negative stiffness dampers

Copyright © 2018 Techno-Press, Ltd. This work proposes and investigates re-centering negative stiffness dampers (NSDs) for vibration suppression in high-speed trains. The merit of the negative stiffness feature is demonstrated by active controllers on a high-speed train. This merit inspires the replacement of active controllers with re-centering NSDs, which are more reliable and robust than active controllers. The proposed damper design consists of a passive magnetic negative stiffness spring and a semi-active positioning shaft for re-centering function. The former produces negative stiffness control forces, and the latter prevents the amplification of quasi-static spring deflection. Numerical investigations verify that the proposed re-centering NSD can improve ride comfort significantly without amplifying spring deflection

High nuclear expression of STAT3 is associated with unfavorable prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of the study was to investigate the expression and prognostic value of STAT3 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy-four DLBCL patients from 2001 to 2007 were reviewed in the study. The STAT3 expression in their tumor tissues was examined using the immunohistochemistry (IHC) method, and evaluated for its association with clinicopathological parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Strong nuclear staining of STAT3 and phosphorylated-STAT3^tyr705(P-STAT3) were observed in 19 cases (25.7%) and 24 cases (32.4%), respectively, and the expression levels were highly consistent between them (<it>P </it>= 0.001). The high nuclear expression of STAT3 was more frequent in the non-germinal center B cell-like (non-GCB) DLBCL than that in the GCB subtype, but not reaching significance (<it>P </it>< 0.061). The high nuclear expression of STAT3 was found to be correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (<it>P </it>= 0.005). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the STAT3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for DLBCL patients regardless of CHOP or R-CHOP regimen used as the first-line therapy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>STAT3 is more frequently expressed in non-GCB DLBCL than that in GCB subtype, and its strong nuclear expression is correlated with poor OS in DLBCL.</p

The expression patterns of nogo-A, myelin associated glycoprotein and oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein in the retina after ocular hypertension : the expression of myelin proteins in the retina in glaucoma

Nogo-A, a major myelin inhibitory protein, inhibits axon growth and synaptic function in the central nervous system. Glaucoma is a progressive neuropathy as a result of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death. Synaptic degeneration is thought to be an early pathology of neurodegeneration in glaucoma and precedes RGC loss. Here experimental ocular hypertension model was induced in adult rats with laser coagulation of the episcleral and limbal veins. The expression of Nogo-A, myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) and oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein (OMgp) in the retina was investigated using immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. We found that Nogo-A was expressed in the RGCs and upregulated after the induction of ocular hypertension. OMgp was only expressed in the inner plexiform layer. There was no MAG expression in the retina. Our data provided, for the first time, the expression patterns of three myelin proteins in the adult retina and suggested an important role of Nogo-A in the RGC death and synaptic degeneration in glaucoma. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.postprin

SSGAN: Secure Steganography Based on Generative Adversarial Networks

In this paper, a novel strategy of Secure Steganograpy based on Generative Adversarial Networks is proposed to generate suitable and secure covers for steganography. The proposed architecture has one generative network, and two discriminative networks. The generative network mainly evaluates the visual quality of the generated images for steganography, and the discriminative networks are utilized to assess their suitableness for information hiding. Different from the existing work which adopts Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks, we utilize another form of generative adversarial networks. By using this new form of generative adversarial networks, significant improvements are made on the convergence speed, the training stability and the image quality. Furthermore, a sophisticated steganalysis network is reconstructed for the discriminative network, and the network can better evaluate the performance of the generated images. Numerous experiments are conducted on the publicly available datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method

Efficient inverted polymer solar cells with thermal-evaporated and solution-processed small molecular electron extraction layer

Efficient inverted polymer solar cell is reported upon by integrating with a small molecular 1,3,5-tri(phenyl-2-benzimi-dazolyl)-benzene (TPBi) electron extraction layer (EEL) at low processing temperature with thermal-evaporation and solution-process, resulting in the power conversion efficiencies of 3.70 and 3.47, respectively. The potential of TPBi as an efficient EEL is associated with its suitable electronic energy level for electron extraction and hole blocking from the active layer to the indium tin oxide cathode. © 2013 American Institute of Physics

Geochemistry of reduced inorganic sulfur, reactive iron, and organic carbon in fluvial and marine surface sediment in the Laizhou Bay region, China

Understanding the geochemical cycling of sulfur in sediments is important because it can have implications for both modern environments (e.g., deterioration of water quality) and interpretation of the ancient past (e.g., sediment C/S ratios can be used as indicators of palaeodepositional environment). This study investigates the geochemical characteristics of sulfur, iron, and organic carbon in fluvial and coastal surface sediments of the Laizhou Bay region, China. A total of 63 sediment samples were taken across the whole Laizhou Bay marine region and the 14 major tidal rivers draining into it. Acid volatile sulfur, chromium (II)-reducible sulfur and elemental sulfur, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen were present in higher concentrations in the fluvial sediment than in the marine sediment of Laizhou Bay. The composition of reduced inorganic sulfur in surface sediments was dominated by acid volatile sulfur and chromium (II)-reducible sulfur. In fluvial sediments, sulfate reduction and formation of reduced inorganic sulfur were controlled by TOC and reactive iron synchronously. High C/S ratios in the marine sediments indicate that the diagenetic processes in Laizhou Bay have been affected by rapid deposition of sediment from the Yellow River in recent decades

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells prevent allergic airway inflammation in mice.

published_or_final_versio

Male germ cell-specific protein Trs4 binds to multiple proteins

Temperature-related sequence 4 (Trs4) has been identified as a testis-specific gene with expression sensitive to the abdominal temperature changes induced by artificial cryptorchidism. In murine testes, Trs4 mRNA was detected in round spermatids and its protein was localized mainly in the elongating spermatids as well as in the acrosomes and tails of mature spermatozoa. Using a yeast two-hybrid screening system, we identified Rshl-2, Gstmu1, and Ddc8 as putative binding partners of the Trs4 protein in mouse testes. Their interactions were confirmed by in vivo and in vitro binding assays. Further studies demonstrated that Ddc8, a newly identified gene with unknown functions, displayed a similar expression pattern with Trs4 in mouse testes. In particular, Trs4, Ddc8, and Rshl-2 proteins were co-localized to the tails of mature spermatozoa. These results suggested that Trs4 might be involved in diverse processes of spermiogenesis and/or fertilization through interactions with its multiple binding partners. © 2009 Elsevier Inc.postprin

Influence of salinity on COD measurements in coastal water management

COD is an important parameter in water quality assessment. COD values by different determination methods were investigated in coastal rivers. The results show that there is no clear relationship between CODCr and CODMn in coastal areas. CODCr does not reflect the degree of pollution of coastal waters. As salinity increased, CODCr and acidic CODMn increased significantly, but there was little/no change observed for alkaline CODMn. Coastal zone water quality standards should be proposed to solve the connection problems between the marine quality standard and surface water quality standard