State of the Art of Gadolinium Zirconate Based Thermal Barrier Coatings: Design, Processing and Characterization

The fast consumption of fossil fuel resources and economic competitiveness makes it necessary to increase the efficiency of turbine engines. For this purpose, thermal barrier coating (TBC) has been used on some critical parts of gas turbines. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is widely and commercially used as a ceramic top coat material for TBC in the gas turbine system. On the other hand, the efforts to identify new material having better properties than YSZ have been continued. Gadolinium zirconate (GZ) is a promising alternative TBC material with its lower thermal conductivity, better sintering ability, and higher melting point and phase stability than YSZ. However, recent research studies on the responses of GZ-based TBC materials to the complex demands of modern gas turbine applications should be gathered under a study by comparing them with the results of traditional TBC material. This chapter discusses the GZ based TBC system, specifically addressing issues related to the production process and designing of the coating architecture, in comparison with some of the significant properties with YSZ and the test methodology. Moreover, the chapter also contains information about laser surface modification of the GZ-based TBC

The relationship between anxiety, coping strategies and characteristics of patients with diabetes

Background This study provided essential information, about Turkish patients with type I and type II diabetes, concerning: levels of anxiety, coping strategies used, and relationships that exist among anxiety, coping strategies, sociodemographic and medical characteristics. Methods A sample comprising 161 Turkish adults with both types of diabetes participated in the study. The trait anxiety scale, the brief COPE, sociodemographic and medical questionnaire were administered to patients with diabetes. Results The mean age was 49.01 (SD = 9.74), with a range from 20 to 60 years. The majority of the participants were female (60.9%) and type II diabetes (75.8%). 79% of the participants experienced anxiety. A clear majority of the participants reported to integrate their diabetes. Acceptance, religion, planning, positive reframing, instrumental support, emotional support, self-distraction and venting were the most frequently used coping strategies. The most frequently used problem-focused and the emotion-focused coping strategies were found to be similar in both type I and type II diabetes. However, participants with type II diabetes had relatively higher scores on the problem-focused strategies than those with type I. Participants with type I diabetes used humour, venting and self-blame more than those with type II diabetes. Other findings indicated that only a small minority responded to diabetes-related problems by denial, behavioural disengagement and substance use. Significant correlations were found among anxiety, coping strategies and sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Moreover, Self-blame was found to be correlated significantly with both the problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Self-blame was also significantly correlated with both instrumental support and emotional support indicated that higher self-blame caused more frequent use of instrumental and emotional support by patients with diabetes. Conclusion The findings of this study indicate that care for patients with diabetes should address their physical, psychological, social and economic wellbeing and the findings point to the importance of taking individual coping strategies into account when evaluating the impact of diabetes on psychosocial wellbeing. Because of the mean of anxiety were not in normal range, for this study, health professionals need to pay attention to patient's psychological state. This is especially true for patients who are likely to use self-blame and behavioural disengagement as a coping strategy. Through psychosocial interventions, professionals need to assist patients in establishing positive self evaluations. Delineation of coping strategies might be useful for identifying patients in need of particular counselling and support

Host-Pathogen and Pest Interactions: Virus, Nematode, Viroid, Bacteria, and Pests in Tomato Cultivation

Several pathogens and pests damage tomato plants, and only one and/or more pathogens and pests can coexist in the same plant at the same time. As several numerous pathogens are found in the same plant, the damage to the tomato plants is higher. Pathogens such as nematodes, viruses, viroids, bacteria, and insects adversely affect the growth and development of tomato plants. They may infect roots or upper part of the plant and can cause not only slow down the growth of plants, but also crop losses and their death. Damaging of plant caused by pathogens and pests reduces the market value of plant products. Those pathogens and pests are also called biotic stress agents. The damage, mode of infection, and the mechanism of infection in each tomato plant and pathogens might be different. This situation is crucially important to understand plant pathogen relationship in detail in terms of controlling pests and pathogen. The effect of each pest/pathogen on tomato plants during the cultivation, the type of damage, and new developments and perspectives on morphological and molecular aspects in tomato-pathogen interactions will be discussed in this chapter

Measurement and clinical implications of choroidal thickness in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

ABSTRACTPurpose:Ocular inflammation is a frequent extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and may parallel disease activity. In this study, we evaluated the utility of a choroidal thickness measurement in assessing IBD activity.Methods:A total of 62 eyes of 31 patients with IBD [Crohn's disease (CD), n=10 and ulcerative colitis (UC), n=21] and 104 eyes of 52 healthy blood donors were included in this study. Choroidal thickness was measured using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography. The Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) and the modified Truelove Witts score were used to assess disease activity in CD and UC, respectively.Results:No significant differences in mean subfoveal, nasal 3000 μm, or temporal 3000 μm choroidal thickness measurements (P>0.05 for all) were observed between IBD patients and healthy controls. Age, smoking, CD site of involvement (ileal and ileocolonic involvement), CDAI, CD activity, and UC endoscopic activity index were all found to be significantly correlated with choroidal thickness by univariate analysis (P<0.05). Smoking (P<0.05) and the CD site of involvement (P<0.01) were the only independent parameters associated with increased choroidal thickness at all measurement locations.Conclusions:Choroidal thickness is not a useful marker of disease activity in patients with IBD but may be an indicator of ileal involvement in patients with CD

Investigation of Abrasive Wear Behavior of Industrial Wastes on Al 6061 Material Using Rubber Wheel Abrasion Test (RWAT) Method

In this study, the abrading characteristics of the slags, generated in the form of industrial waste during raw iron, steel and ferrochromium ore production, are investigated. Granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), basic oxygen furnace slag (BOF) ferrochromium slag (FCS) and commercial Al2O3 powder were used during the tests. Abrasion tests were conducted using Rubber Wheel Abrasion Wear (RWAT) method. Al 6061 was chosen as the counter body material. The tests were conducted under 25, 50, 75 and 100 N loads with 100 r/min rubber wheel rotational speed. The highest rate of abrasion was obtained from GBFS under all loads as a result of the conducted tests. Under high loads, the abrading performance of FCS reached that of the commercial Al2O3 powder. BOF was found to have no abrading capability. Surface morphology and SPQ (spike parameter-quadratic fit) value were as effective as the particle hardness in the evaluation of abrading performance. As dominant wear mechanisms, spalling, ploughing and micro-scratch formation were observed on the specimens abraded with GBFS and Al2O3, whereas severe plastic deformation-induced extrusion was observed on the specimen abraded with FCS