Mycobacterium tuberculosis and whole genome sequencing: a practical guide and online tools available for the clinical microbiologist

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) but the lack of bioinformatic expertise among clinical microbiologists is a barrier for adoption. Software products for analysis should be simple, free of charge, able to accept data directly from the sequencer (FASTQ files) and to provide the basic functionalities all-in-one. The main aim of this narrative review is to provide a practical guide for the clinical microbiologist, with little or no practical experience of WGS analysis, with a specific focus on software products tailored made for MTB analysis. With sequencing performed by an external provider, it is now feasible to implement WGS analysis in the routine clinical practice of any microbiology laboratory, with the potential to detect resistance weeks before traditional phenotypic culture methods, but the clinical microbiologist should be aware of the limitations of this approach

Influence of High-Productivity Process Parameters on the Surface Quality and Residual Stress State of AISI 316L Components Produced by Directed Energy Deposition

The production of large components is one of the most powerful applications of laser powder-directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes. High productivity could be achieved, when focusing on industrial applications, by selecting the proper process parameters. However, it is of crucial importance to understand the strategies that are necessary to increase productivity while maintaining the overall part quality and minimizing the need for post-processing. In this paper, an analysis of the dimensional deviations, surface roughness and subsurface residual stresses of samples produced by LP-DED is described as a function of the applied energy input. The aim of this work is to analyze the effects of high-productivity process parameters on the surface quality and the mechanical characteristics of the samples. The obtained results show that the analyzed process parameters affect the dimensional deviations and the residual stresses, but have a very little influence on surface roughness, which is instead dominated by the presence of unmelted particles

Probing the hydrogen melting line at high pressures by dynamic compression

We investigate the capabilities of dynamic compression by intense heavy ion beams to yield information about the high pressure phases of hydrogen. Employing ab initio simulations and experimental data, a new wide range equation of state for hydrogen is constructed. The results show that the melting line up to its maximum as well as the transition from molecular fluids to fully ionized plasmas can be tested with the beam parameters soon to be available. We demonstrate that x-ray scattering can distinguish between phases and dissociation states

Microstructure and Residual Stress Evolution of Laser Powder Bed Fused Inconel 718 under Heat Treatments

The current work aimed to study the influence of various heat treatments on the microstructure, hardness, and residual stresses of Inconel 718 processed by laser powder bed fusion process. The reduction in residual stresses is crucial to avoid the deformation of the component during its removal from the building platform. Among the different heat treatments, 800 °C kept almost unaltered the original microstructure, reducing the residual stresses. Heat treatments at 900, 980, and 1065 °C gradually triggered the melt pool and dendritic structures dissolution, drastically reducing the residual stresses. Heat treatments at 900 and 980 °C involved the formation of δ phases, whereas 1065 °C generated carbides. These heat treatments were also performed on components with narrow internal channels revealing that heat treatments up to 900 °C did not trigger sintering mechanisms allowing to remove the powder from the inner channels

On the quality of unsupported overhangs produced by laser powder bed fusion

One of the main design constraints for additive manufacturing is the definition of downward-facing surfaces, which can lead to problems, like part failing or warping, during construction and poor surface quality. In this paper, a specific index has been defined to represent the surface quality of the downward-facing surfaces induced by the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process. In order to validate the quality index, a design of experiment (DoE) that considers geometric parameters of the overhangs has been defined and carried out, and the quality of resulting surfaces has been evaluated using an optical scanning system. The statistical analysis (ANOVA) has allowed identifying the relationships between significant geometrical parameters and the quality index here proposed

Abrasive fluidized bed finishing to improve the fatigue behaviour of Ti6Al4V parts fabricated by electron beam melting

A study of the abrasive fluidized bed (AFB) finishing process was conducted to quantify the obtainable improvement of the fatigue behaviour of Ti6Al4V parts produced by electron beam melting (EBM). Axial-symmetric EBM samples were rotated at high speed inside a fluidized bed of stainless-steel media. The effects of the treatment time and the rotational speed on morphological features and fatigue life of the EBM samples were investigated. Outcomes showed that the improvement in surface properties induced by the AFB finishing process determined an increase up to 50% in fatigue life and a shift of the S-N curve

Modelling Analytically the Dynamic Response of Thermo-Optic Phase Shifters

Thermo-optic phase shifters are widely adopted to achieve dynamical reconfiguration of integrated waveguide circuits [1], with applications encompassing diverse fields, ranging from free-space beam steering and shaping [2] to quantum information experiments [3]

A New Configuration of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine: Towards the Development of a highly distributed and efficient Wind Power Generation

Preliminary results obtained for a new configuration lift based vertical-axis wind turbine are shown. The turbine rotor is a cross flow fan type made with high curvature aerodynamic profiles. A reduced scale model of the turbine rotor has been designed and preliminary tested at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Pisa (rotor diameter 250 mm, rotor height 210 mm). The reduced scale model shows an efficiency of about eighteen per cent. The rotor is of a self-starting type. Two-dimensional CFD analyses have been performed applying both the Moving Reference Frame and the Moving Mesh conditions to the grid which surrounds the rotor blades (Fluent® Rel. 6.3 and STAR-CCM+® Rel. 6.04 have been used). Noticeable scale effects have been found numerically, so, the efficiency of a full scale lift based vertical axis multi-blades optimized wind turbine is expected to be comparable with lift based horizontal-axis wind turbines

Employment relations in Chile and Argentina

The study of employment relations in Chile and Argentina has been the outcome of research in various disciplines particularly sociology, political science, law, and history. This broadly defined scholarship has followed similar lines of analysis in both countries, reflecting their parallel socio-economic transformations and corresponding changes in employment relations actors and institutions. From the rise of import substituting industrialisation and developmentalist populist regimes in the 1930s, which provided the base upon which ‘classic’ employment relations systems began to take shape, to the crises and replacement of such regimes by military dictatorships and the introduction of neoliberalism in the 1970s, which redefined the relationship between capital and labour.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació