Stem Cell Niche Dynamics: From Homeostasis to Carcinogenesis

The stem cell microenvironment is involved in regulating the fate of the stem cell with respect to self-renewal, quiescence, and differentiation. Mathematical models are helpful in understanding how key pathways regulate the dynamics of stem cell maintenance and homeostasis. This tight regulation and maintenance of stem cell number is thought to break down during carcinogenesis. As a result, the stem cell niche has become a novel target of cancer therapeutics. Developing a quantitative understanding of the regulatory pathways that guide stem cell behavior will be vital to understanding how these systems change under conditions of stress, inflammation, and cancer initiation. Predictions from mathematical modeling can be used as a clinical tool to guide therapy design. We present a survey of mathematical models used to study stem cell population dynamics and stem cell niche regulation, both in the hematopoietic system and other tissues. Highlighting the quantitative aspects of stem cell biology, we describe compelling questions that can be addressed with modeling. Finally, we discuss experimental systems, most notably Drosophila, that can best be used to validate mathematical predictions

Response of the al Σ5 〈001〉 left {310} symmetric tilt grain boundary to the shear deformation simulated by molecular dynamics

In the present study, shear response of the Al [001] symmetrical tilting Σ5 (310) grain boundary (GB) was investigated by a three dimensional bicrystal at 500~750 K. It was found that the GB gradually rotated around the [001] tilt axis during the shear deformation due to the combination of surface strain, GB sliding and GB coupled motion. These rotated grain boundaries were Σ5 asymmetrical or symmetrical tilt grain boundaries and led to the normal stress σxx in the bicrystal system. It was also found that the response of the grain boundary to the shear deformation was closely related to the temperatures. At lower temperature (500~650 K), further shear deformation was mediated by crack initiation or dislocation release which is closely related to the local stress condition and temperature etc. The lattice dislocations emitted from GB were identified as pure edge dislocations with Burgers vectors of 〈110〉/2. Interestingly, they have the [001] line direction and glide on the left curly bracket110right curly bracket planes. The reaction between grain boundary and lattice dislocations has been carefully discussed with its role in the shear deformation. At higher temperatures (above 700 K), after a short while of perfect coupling at the early stage the grain boundary quickly rotated and the two grains smoothly slid away from each other in the way of viscous grain boundary sliding under the shear deformation. 2014 by American Scientific Publishers

A validated thermal model of bead-on-plate welding

In this paper, finite element model is used to carry out thermal analysis of bead-on-plate welding. The model followed the proposed five step strategies which were then built into a model to obtain temperature history at the positions of thermocouples. Temperature field was also evaluated by comparing predicted weld bead with the actual weld bead. Using these proposed strategies, well matched temperature histories and temperature field have been obtained

Microstructure and mechanical properties of AA5005/AA6061 laminated composite processed by accumulative roll bonding

ULTRAFINE-GRAINED (UFG) materials have been gathering much interest for the last two decades as the materials have extraordinary mechanical properties such as high strength, low temperature superplastisity, and high corrosion resistance. Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is the most widely used method to produce UFG materials. Accumulative roll bonding (ARB) has become one of the most important SPD techniques since it was first introduced by Saito et al.[1] As the same equipment as in conventional rolling is used, ARB is considered to be one of the most promising methods for manufacturing UFG sheet materials

A dual deformation mechanism of grain boundary at different stress stages

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with embedded-atom method (EAM) potential was carried out to study the structure and shear response of an asymmetric tilt grain boundary in copper bicrystal. A non-planar structure with dissociated intrinsic stacking faults was observed in the grain boundary. Simulation results show that this type of structure can significantly increase the ductility of the simulation sample under shear deformation. A dual deformation mechanism of the grain boundary was observed; the grain boundary can be a source of dislocation emission and migrate itself at different stress stages. The result of this study can provide further information to understand the grain boundary mediated plasticity in nanocrystalline materials

Friction and anti-wear property of aqueous tri-block copolymer solutions in metal forming

Friction and anti-wear property of aqueous symmetrical tri-block normal PEOm-PPOn-PEOm and reverse PPOn-PEOm-PPOn copolymer solutions have been studied. The study focuses on the effect of the solution bulk temperatures and the copolymer block structures. It was found that the concentration and the length of the copolymer blocks affect the solution cloud points, friction and anti-wear property. When solution was supplied at bulk temperature above their cloud point, aqueous copolymer solutions were not able to develop effective adsorbed film resulting in high friction and severe wear. When the bulk temperatures were below the cloud point, the anti-wear property improved significantly and the dynamic friction is lower than that when the temperatures were above the cloud point. This demonstrates the importance of the supply temperature of this type of lubricant in metal forming. However by adding ethyl phosphate ester to the copolymer solutions further improved friction reducing property of the solutions was observed and the friction and anti-wear property of the lubricant become insensitive to bulk temperature. In the effort to understand the lubrication mechanism of the aqueous solutions, wear tracks were studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), and the surface wetting ability via contact angle measurements

Influence of loading conditions during tensile testing on acoustic emission

The Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring technique is widely used in mechanical and material research for detection of plastic deformation, fracture initiation and crack growth. However, the influence of AE features (such as signal amplitude, frequency, rise time and duration) on the fracture parameters (such as brittle or ductile mode of propagation and fracture propagation speed) is not completely understood. In this paper, the effect of loading conditions on fracture behavior was studied using AE monitoring during tensile testing of an aluminum alloy specimen. The fracture development was observed using a high speed video camera and was analyzed using the finite element method. The hardware and software produced by Physical Acoustics Corporation (USA) was used. Variations in AE parameters were analyzed and correlated to the stress-Strain curves obtained during testing. It is shown that the strain rate and the presence of a crack (modeled by a notch on the sample), affect the fracture mode (brittle or ductile) and a relative amount of the mode dependent AE signatures

Friction and asperity contact in strip rolling

This paper reviews different aspects of friction and asperity contacts in strip rolling. The mixed film lubrication model considers the effect of asperity flattening and the lubrication within the working zone. The oil concentration of the emulsion at entry and throughout the roll bite is considered together with the thermal effects of the contacts. The actual area of contact due to asperity deformation can be determined from a 3-wavelength FEM model. The deformation of a randomly generated surface of the hot strip with oxide scale can also be modeled by an FEM method. The friction variation in the roll bite can be determined by a sensor roll, and the average friction determined from the forward slip by the marking method or laser Doppler method. The friction models in FEM modeling are also discussed

Circular domain features based condition monitoring for low speed slewing bearing

This paper presents a novel application of circular domain features calculation based condition monitoring method for low rotational speed slewing bearing. The method employs data reduction process using piecewise aggregate approximation (PAA) to detect frequency alteration in the bearing signal when the fault occurs. From the processed data, circular domain features such as circular mean, circular variance, circular skewness and circular kurtosis are calculated and monitored. It is shown that the slight changes of bearing condition during operation can be identified more clearly in circular domain analysis compared to time domain analysis and other advanced signal processing methods such as wavelet decomposition and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) allowing the engineer to better schedule the maintenance work. Four circular domain features were shown to consistently and clearly identify the onset (initiation) of fault from the peak feature value which is not clearly observable in time domain features. The application of the method is demonstrated with simulated data, laboratory slewing bearing data and industrial bearing data from Coal Bridge Reclaimer used in a local steel mill

On the role of alternatives in the acquisition of simple and complex disjunctions in French and Japanese

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