Effect of Composition and Processing on the Thermal Fatigue and Toughness of High Performance Die Steels. Year 1 Report

The goal of this project is to extend the lifetime of dies for die casting by 20%. Since the die contributes about 10% to the cost of die cast parts, such an improvement in lifetime would result in annual savings of over $200 Million dollars. This is based on the estimated annual die production of one Billion dollars in the US. The major tasks of this two year project are: (1) Evaluate NEW DIE STEEL COMPOSITIONS that have been developed for demanding applications and compare them to Premium Grade H-13 die steel. (2) Optimize the AUSTENITIZING TREATMENT of the new composition. Assess the effects of fast, medium and slow COOLING RATES DURING HEAT TREATMENT, on the thermal fatigue resistance and toughness of the die steel. (3) Determine the effect of ELECTRO-DISCHARGE MACHINING (EDM) on the thermal fatigue resistance and impact properties of the steel. (4) Select demanding components and conduct IN-PLANT TESTING by using the new steel. Compare the performance of the new steel with identical components made of Premium Grade H-13. The immersion thermal fatigue specimen developed at CWRU is being used to determine resistance to heat checking, and the Charpy V-notch test for evaluating the toughness. The overall result of this project will be identification of the best steel available on the market and the best processing methods for aluminum die casting dies. This is an interim report for year 1 of the project

Moist Static Energy Budget Analysis of Tropical Cyclone Intensification in High-Resolution Climate Models

Tropical cyclone intensification processes are explored in six high-resolution climate models. The analysis framework employs process-oriented diagnostics that focus on how convection, moisture, clouds, and related processes are coupled. These diagnostics include budgets of column moist static energy and the spatial variance of column moist static energy, where the column integral is performed between fixed pressure levels. The latter allows for the quantification of the different feedback processes responsible for the amplification of moist static energy anomalies associated with the organization of convection and cyclone spinup, including surface flux feedbacks and cloud-radiative feedbacks. Tropical cyclones (TCs) are tracked in the climate model simulations and the analysis is applied along the individual tracks and composited over many TCs. Two methods of compositing are employed: a composite over all TC snapshots in a given intensity range, and a composite over all TC snapshots at the same stage in the TC life cycle (same time relative to the time of lifetime maximum intensity for each storm). The radiative feedback contributes to TC development in all models, especially in storms of weaker intensity or earlier stages of development. Notably, the surface flux feedback is stronger in models that simulate more intense TCs. This indicates that the representation of the interaction between spatially varying surface fluxes and the developing TC is responsible for at least part of the intermodel spread in TC simulation

Azimuthally Averaged Wind and Thermodynamic Structures of Tropical Cyclones in Global Climate Models and Their Sensitivity to Horizontal Resolution

Characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) in global climate models (GCMs) are known to be influenced by details of the model configurations, including horizontal resolution and parameterization schemes. Understanding model-to-model differences in TC characteristics is a prerequisite for reducing uncertainty in future TC activity projections by GCMs. This study performs a process-level examination of TC structures in eight GCM simulations that span a range of horizontal resolutions from 1° to 0.25°. A recently developed set of process-oriented diagnostics is used to examine the azimuthally averaged wind and thermodynamic structures of the GCM-simulated TCs. Results indicate that the inner-core wind structures of simulated TCs are more strongly constrained by the horizontal resolutions of the models than are the thermodynamic structures of those TCs. As expected, the structures of TC circulations become more realistic with smaller horizontal grid spacing, such that the radii of maximum wind (RMW) become smaller, and the maximum vertical velocities occur off the center. However, the RMWs are still too large, especially at higher intensities, and there are rising motions occurring at the storm centers, inconsistently with observations. The distributions of precipitation, moisture, and radiative and surface turbulent heat fluxes around TCs are diverse, even across models with similar horizontal resolutions. At the same horizontal resolution, models that produce greater rainfall in the inner-core regions tend to simulate stronger TCs. When TCs are weak, the radial gradient of net column radiative flux convergence is comparable to that of surface turbulent heat fluxes, emphasizing the importance of cloud–radiative feedbacks during the early developmental phases of TCs

Process-Oriented Evaluation of Climate and Weather Forecasting Models

Realistic climate and weather prediction models are necessary to produce confidence in projections of future climate over many decades and predictions for days to seasons. These models must be physically justified and validated for multiple weather and climate processes. A key opportunity to accelerate model improvement is greater incorporation of process-oriented diagnostics (PODs) into standard packages that can be applied during the model development process, allowing the application of diagnostics to be repeatable across multiple model versions and used as a benchmark for model improvement. A POD characterizes a specific physical process or emergent behavior that is related to the ability to simulate an observed phenomenon. This paper describes the outcomes of activities by the Model Diagnostics Task Force (MDTF) under the NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO) Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections (MAPP) program to promote development of PODs and their application to climate and weather prediction models. MDTF and modeling center perspectives on the need for expanded process-oriented diagnosis of models are presented. Multiple PODs developed by the MDTF are summarized, and an open-source software framework developed by the MDTF to aid application of PODs to centers’ model development is presented in the context of other relevant community activities. The paper closes by discussing paths forward for the MDTF effort and for community process-oriented diagnosis

Josephson coupled Ising pairing induced in suspended MoS2 bilayers by double-side ionic gating

Contains fulltext : 216062.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access

How Chromatin Is Remodelled during DNA Repair of UV-Induced DNA Damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Global genome nucleotide excision repair removes DNA damage from transcriptionally silent regions of the genome. Relatively little is known about the molecular events that initiate and regulate this process in the context of chromatin. We've shown that, in response to UV radiation–induced DNA damage, increased histone H3 acetylation at lysine 9 and 14 correlates with changes in chromatin structure, and these alterations are associated with efficient global genome nucleotide excision repair in yeast. These changes depend on the presence of the Rad16 protein. Remarkably, constitutive hyperacetylation of histone H3 can suppress the requirement for Rad7 and Rad16, two components of a global genome repair complex, during repair. This reveals the connection between histone H3 acetylation and DNA repair. Here, we investigate how chromatin structure is modified following UV irradiation to facilitate DNA repair in yeast. Using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation to measure histone acetylation levels, histone acetylase occupancy in chromatin, MNase digestion, or restriction enzyme endonuclease accessibility assays to analyse chromatin structure, and finally nucleotide excision repair assays to examine DNA repair, we demonstrate that global genome nucleotide excision repair drives UV-induced chromatin remodelling by controlling histone H3 acetylation levels in chromatin. The concerted action of the ATPase and C3HC4 RING domains of Rad16 combine to regulate the occupancy of the histone acetyl transferase Gcn5 on chromatin in response to UV damage. We conclude that the global genome repair complex in yeast regulates UV-induced histone H3 acetylation by controlling the accessibility of the histone acetyl transferase Gcn5 in chromatin. The resultant changes in histone H3 acetylation promote chromatin remodelling necessary for efficient repair of DNA damage. Recent evidence suggests that GCN5 plays a role in NER in human cells. Our work provides important insight into how GG-NER operates in chromatin

Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals Recent Horizontal Transfer of a DNA Transposon between Divergent Mosquitoes

Horizontal transfer of genetic material between complex organisms often involves transposable elements (TEs). For example, a DNA transposon mariner has been shown to undergo horizontal transfer between different orders of insects and between different phyla of animals. Here we report the discovery and characterization of an ITmD37D transposon, MJ1, in Anopheles sinensis. We show that some MJ1 elements in Aedes aegypti and An. sinensis contain intact open reading frames and share nearly 99% nucleotide identity over the entire transposon, which is unexpectedly high given that these two genera had diverged 145–200 million years ago. Chromosomal hybridization and TE-display showed that MJ1 copy number is low in An. sinensis. Among 24 mosquito species surveyed, MJ1 is only found in Ae. aegypti and the hyrcanus group of anopheline mosquitoes to which An. sinensis belongs. Phylogenetic analysis is consistent with horizontal transfer and provides the basis for inference of its timing and direction. Although report of horizontal transfer of DNA transposons between higher eukaryotes is accumulating, our analysis is one of a small number of cases in which horizontal transfer of nearly identical TEs among highly divergent species has been thoroughly investigated and strongly supported. Horizontal transfer involving mosquitoes is of particular interest because there are ongoing investigations of the possibility of spreading pathogen-resistant genes into mosquito populations to control malaria and other infectious diseases. The initial indication of horizontal transfer of MJ1 came from comparisons between a 0.4x coverage An. sinensis 454 sequence database and available TEs in mosquito genomes. Therefore we have shown that it is feasible to use low coverage sequencing to systematically uncover horizontal transfer events. Expanding such efforts across a wide range of species will generate novel insights into the relative frequency of horizontal transfer of different TEs and provide the evolutionary context of these lateral transfer events

Measurements of the Electron-Helicity Dependent Cross Sections of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering with CEBAF at 12 GeV

We propose precision measurements of the helicity-dependent and helicity independent cross sections for the ep->epg reaction in Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) kinematics. DVCS scaling is obtained in the limits Q^2>>Lambda_{QCD}^2, x_Bj fixed, and -\Delta^2=-(q-q')^22 GeV^2, W>2 GeV, and -\Delta^21 GeV^2. We will use our successful technique from the 5.75 GeV Hall A DVCS experiment (E00-110). With polarized 6.6, 8.8, and 11 GeV beams incident on the liquid hydrogen target, we will detect the scattered electron in the Hall A HRS-L spectrometer (maximum central momentum 4.3 GeV/c) and the emitted photon in a slightly expanded PbF_2 calorimeter. In general, we will not detect the recoil proton. The H(e,e'g)X missing mass resolution is sufficient to isolate the exclusive channel with 3% systematic precision

Peripheral Arterial and Venous Response to Tilt Test after a 60-Day Bedrest with and without Countermeasures (ES-IBREP)

We quantified the impact of 60-day head-down bed rest (HDBR) with countermeasures on arterial and venous response to tilt. Methods: Twenty-one males: 7 control (Con), 7 resistive vibration exercise (RVE) and 7 Chinese herb (Herb) were assessed. Subjects were identified as finisher (F) or non-finishers (NF) at the post-HDBR 20-min tilt test. The cerebral (MCA), femoral (FEM) arterial flow velocity and leg vascular resistance (FRI), the portal vein section (PV), the flow redistribution ratios (MCA/FEM; MCA/PV), the tibial (Tib), gastrocnemius (Gast), and saphenous (Saph) vein sections were measured by echography and Doppler ultrasonography. Arterial and venous parameters were measured at 3-min pre-tilt in the supine position, and at 1 min before the end of the tilt. Results: At post-HDBR tilt, MCA decreased more compared with pre-HDBR tilt in the Con, RVE, and Herb groups, the MCA/FEM tended to decrease in the Con and Herb groups (not significant) but remained stable in the RVE gr. FRI dropped in the Con gr, but remained stable in the Herb gr and increased in the RVE gr. PV decreased less in the Con and Herb groups but remained unchanged in the RVE gr. MCA/PV decreased in the Con and Herb groups, but increased to a similar extent in the RVE gr. Gast section significantly increased more in the Con gr only, whereas Tib section increased more in the Con and Herb groups but not in the RVE gr. The percent change in Saph section was similar at pre- and post-HDBR tilt. Conclusion: In the Con gr, vasoconstriction was reduced in leg and splanchnic areas. RVE and Herb contributed to prevent the loss of vasoconstriction in both areas, but the effect of RVE was higher. RVE and Herb contributed to limit Gast distension whereas only RVE had a protective effect on the Tib