Small punch (SP) fracture testing with subsequent SEM fractographic analysis was applied to an A 508 Class 3 reactor pressure vessel(RPV) steel, used originally in the NESC-I spinning cylinder experiment, in order to determine the SP ductile-brittle transition temperature of both the base material and the sub-clad heat affected zone. In addition to the evaluation of the SP transition temperature,

Numerous geometric problems in computer vision involve the solu- tion of systems of polynomial equations. This is particularly true for so called minimal problems, but also for finding stationary points for overdetermined prob- lems. The state-of-the-art is based on the use of numerical linear algebra on the large but sparse coefficient matrix that represents the original equations multi- plied wi

Typically, a significant fraction of phosphorus in soils is composed of organic phosphates, and this fraction thus plays an important role in the global phosphorus cycle. Here we have studied adsorption of monomethyl phosphate (MMP) to goethite (alpha-FeOOH) as a model system in order to better understand the mechanisms behind adsorption of organic phosphates to soil minerals, and how adsorption a

Engineers face challenges when they are to manage project groups and be leaders for organisations because such positions demand skills in social competence and empathy. Previous studies have shown that engineers have low degrees of social competence skills. In this study, the level of empathy as measured by the four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, perspective taking, fantasy, empa

Background: An early sign of heart failure (HF) is a decreased cardiac reserve or inability to adequately increase cardiac output during exercise. Under normal circumstances maximal cardiac output is closely related to peak oxygen uptake (VO(2)peak) which has previously been shown to be closely related to total heart volume (THV). Thus, the aim of this study was to derive a VO(2)peak/THV ratio and

Abstract Platelets play an important role in abdominal sepsis and P2Y12 receptor antagonists have been reported to exert anti-inflammatory effects. Herein, we assessed the impact of platelet inhibition with the P2Y12 receptor antagonist ticagrelor on pulmonary neutrophil recruitment and tissue damage in a model of abdominal sepsis. Wild-type C57BL/6 mice were subjected to cecal ligation and punctu

Background: Risks that are potentially associated with long-term therapies should be assessed. Objective: The present analyses were performed to determine the risk of malignancy in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) receiving subcutaneous (sc) interferon (IFN) beta-1a, using pooled safety data from key clinical trials and data from the Merck Serono Global Drug Safety database. Methods: The stan

The constitution and biophysical properties of extracellular matrices can dramatically influence cellular phenotype during development, homeostasis, or pathogenesis. These effects can be signaled through a differentially regulated assembly of collagen fibrils, orchestrated by a family of collagen-associated Small Leucine-Rich Proteins, SLRPs. In this report, we describe the tissue-specific express

Formation of cubic diamond from graphite following irradiation by a single, intense, ultra-short laser pulse has been observed. Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) samples were irradiated by a 100 fs pulse with a center wavelength of 800 nm. Following laser exposure, the HOPG samples were studied using Raman spectroscopy of the sample surface. In the laser-irradiated areas, nanoscale cubic d

We have used proteomic fingerprinting to investigate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Samples of lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from clinically-diagnosed AD cases (n = 33), age-matched controls (n = 20), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients (n = 10) were used to obtain proteomic profiles, followed by bioinformatic analysis that generated a set of potential biomarkers in CSF samples

The impact of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) on adverse events in patients with mechanical heart valves (MHVs) is unknown. We analyzed the independent association of eGFR and thromboembolism (TE), major bleeding, and mortality in patients with MHV in an observational cohort study.

We present an evaluation of a nested high-resolution Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem chemistry transport model simulation of tropospheric chemistry over tropical South America. The model has been constrained with two isoprene emission inventories: (1) the canopy-scale Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) and (2) a leaf-scale algorithm coupled to the Lund-Potsdam-

Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are a class of recently developed luminescent biomarkers that - in several aspects - are superior to organic dyes and quantum dots. UCNPs can emit spectrally narrow anti-Stokes shifted light with quantum yields which greatly exceed those of two-photon dyes for fluence rates relevant for deep tissue imaging. Compared with conventionally used Stokes-shifting fluoro

The ability to detect a virtualized environment has both malicious and non-malicious uses. This paper reveals a new exploit and technique that can be used to remotely detect VMware Workstation, VMware Player and VirtualBox. The detection based on this technique can be done completely passively in that there is no need to have access to the remote machine and no network connections are initiated by

The methylammonium cation in [CH3NH3]PbI3 demonstrates increasing positional disorder on heating from 100 K to 352 K. In the tetragonal phase, stable between 165 K and 327 K, the cation is disordered over four sites directed toward the faces of the distorted cubic [PbI3](-) framework and migrates towards the cavity centre with increasing temperature.

The production of nitrogen fertilizers are almost exclusively based on fossil feedstocks such as natural gas and coal. Nitrogen fertilizers are a necessity to maintain the high agricultural production that the world's population currently demands. Ammonia produced from nonfossil-based feedstocks would enable renewable production of ammonia. Renewable feedstocks are one thing, but perhaps even more

For the very first time we present 3D simulations of planets embedded in stellar irradiated discs. It is well known that thermal effects could reverse the direction of planetary migration from inwards to outwards, potentially saving planets in the inner, optically thick parts of the protoplanetary disc. When considering stellar irradiation in addition to viscous friction as a source of heating, th

Robot-assisted surgery is a technically feasible alternative to open and laparoscopic surgery, which is being more frequently used in general surgery. We undertook this review to investigate whether robotic assistance provides a significant benefit for oesophagogastric cancer surgery.