Dislocations and cracks in generalized continua

Dislocations play a key role in the understanding of many phenomena in solid state physics, materials science, crystallography and engineering. Dislocations are line defects producing distortions and self-stresses in an otherwise perfect crystal lattice. In particular, dislocations are the primary carrier of crystal plasticity and in dislocation based fracture mechanics.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1708.0529

Estimation of (co)variance components and breeding values for test-day milk production traits of Holstein dairy cattle via Bayesian approach

Genetic parameters of milk, fat, and protein yields were estimated in the first lactation of Holstein dairy cattle. The records were collected during the period 2006 to 2011 and analyzed fitting the random regression model. The data included 41178, 25397 and 18716 test-day records of milk, fat and protein yields, respectively that produced by 4746, 3437 and 2525 cows respectively. Fixed effects in model included herd-year-month of test day and age-season of calving. The fixed and random regressions were modeled with normalized Legendre polynomials and (co)variance components were estimated by Bayesian method and Gibbs sampling was used to obtain posterior distributions. Estimates of heritability for milk, fat and protein yields ranged from 0.18 to 0.26; 0.06 to 0.11 and 0.09 to 0.22, respectively. Heritabilities for 305-d milk, fat and protein yields were 0.36, 0.23 and 0.29, respectively. For milk and protein yields, heritabilities were lower at the early of lactation due to the trends of lower additive genetic variance, higher permanent environmental variance. Genetic correlations for milk, fat and protein yields ranged from 0.14 to 1.00; 0.39 to 1.00 and 0.27 to 1.00, respectively. Ranges of estimated breeding values for 305-d yield of milk, fat and protein yields were from -1194.48 to 1412.44; -210.57 to 271.22 and -194.08 to 203.25, respectively. According to the results of this study, random regression model seems to be a flexible and reliable procedure for the genetic evaluation of milk production traits and it can be useful in the breeding programs for Iranian dairy cattle

Streamwise-travelling viscous waves in channel flows

The unsteady viscous flow induced by streamwise-travelling waves of spanwise wall velocity in an incompressible laminar channel flow is investigated. Wall waves belonging to this category have found important practical applications, such as microfluidic flow manipulation via electro-osmosis and surface acoustic forcing and reduction of wall friction in turbulent wall-bounded flows. An analytical solution composed of the classical streamwise Poiseuille flow and a spanwise velocity profile described by the parabolic cylinder function is found. The solution depends on the bulk Reynolds number R, the scaled streamwise wavelength (Formula presented.), and the scaled wave phase speed U. Numerical solutions are discussed for various combinations of these parameters. The flow is studied by the boundary-layer theory, thereby revealing the dominant physical balances and quantifying the thickness of the near-wall spanwise flow. The Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin–Jeffreys (WKBJ) theory is also employed to obtain an analytical solution, which is valid across the whole channel. For positive wave speeds which are smaller than or equal to the maximum streamwise velocity, a turning-point behaviour emerges through the WKBJ analysis. Between the wall and the turning point, the wall-normal viscous effects are balanced solely by the convection driven by the wall forcing, while between the turning point and the centreline, the Poiseuille convection balances the wall-normal diffusion. At the turning point, the Poiseuille convection and the convection from the wall forcing cancel each other out, which leads to a constant viscous stress and to the break down of the WKBJ solution. This flow regime is analysed through a WKBJ composite expansion and the Langer method. The Langer solution is simpler and more accurate than the WKBJ composite solution, while the latter quantifies the thickness of the turning-point region. We also discuss how these waves can be generated via surface acoustic forcing and electro-osmosis and propose their use as microfluidic flow mixing devices. For the electro-osmosis case, the Helmholtz–Smoluchowski velocity at the edge of the Debye–Hückel layer, which drives the bulk electrically neutral flow, is obtained by matched asymptotic expansion

A case study of the occupational stress implications of working with two different actuation/safety devices

A case study was conducted using an automatic sphygmomanometer to compare the stress encountered by workers using two different machine actuation/safety devices. The experiment took place in a small metal stamping plant as part of a government authorised comparison of the devices. Six experienced female workers separately performed the same task on the same power presses using either a photo electronic or a two-hand button device. These two devices perform dual duty as both machine actuators and machine safeguards. Blood pressure at the ankle and heart rate were measured periodically and a questionnaire was administered. The case study approach to this experiment was necessitated by government restrictions which limit the population of workers experienced with both devices. The results of the case study are twofold: (1) For the small population tested no significant difference was found in the stress measures examined for machine operators; and (2) A feasible in-plant methodology is demonstrated for unobtrusively monitoring worker populations exposed to machine related stress