Physical Causes Research Articles

One-Sided Unsupervised Image Dehazing Network Based on Feature Fusion and Multi-Scale Skip Connection

Haze and mist caused by air quality, weather, and other factors can reduce the clarity and contrast of images captured by cameras, which limits the applications of automatic driving, satellite remote sensing, traffic monitoring, etc. Therefore, the study of image dehazing is of great significance. Most existing unsupervised image-dehazing algorithms rely on a priori knowledge and simplified atmospheric scattering models, but the physical causes of haze in the real world are complex, resulting in inaccurate atmospheric scattering models that affect the dehazing effect. Unsupervised generative adversarial networks can be used for image-dehazing algorithm research; however, due to the information inequality between haze and haze-free images, the existing bi-directional mapping domain translation model often used in unsupervised generative adversarial networks is not suitable for image-dehazing tasks, and it also does not make good use of extracted features, which results in distortion, loss of image details, and poor retention of image features in the haze-free images. To address these problems, this paper proposes an end-to-end one-sided unsupervised image-dehazing network based on a generative adversarial network that directly learns the mapping between haze and haze-free images. The proposed feature-fusion module and multi-scale skip connection based on residual network consider the loss of feature information caused by convolution operation and the fusion of different scale features, and achieve adaptive fusion between low-level features and high-level features, to better preserve the features of the original image. Meanwhile, multiple loss functions are used to train the network, where the adversarial loss ensures that the network generates more realistic images and the contrastive loss ensures a meaningful one-sided mapping from the haze image to the haze-free image, resulting in haze-free images with good quantitative metrics and visual effects. The experiments demonstrate that, compared with existing dehazing algorithms, our method achieved better quantitative metrics and better visual effects on both synthetic haze image datasets and real-world haze image datasets.

The Language of Trauma: War and Technology in Hoffmann, Freud, and Kafka by John Zilcosky

Reviewed by: The Language of Trauma: War and Technology in Hoffmann, Freud, and Kafka by John Zilcosky Dylan Mohr John Zilcosky, The Language of Trauma: War and Technology in Hoffmann, Freud, and Kafka. Toronto: U Toronto P, 2021. 192 pp. John Zilcosky's The Language of Trauma returns to several texts familiar to readers of his previous work such as Kafka's Travels (2003) and Uncanny Encounters (2016). The Language of Trauma further expands Zilcosky's framework for discussing the interplay between literature, medicine, and modernity. Drawing from the failure of positivist thought to deal with the etiologies of trauma, Zilcosky draws out two discursive responses to the trauma of modernity. The first is the development of a language of explanation (as put forward by the medical community). The second is the language of expression (as advanced by writers and artists). Hoffmann, Freud, and Kafka, however, bridged the two discursive fields to both "explain traumatic suffering and let it speak" (15). In other words, these three writers, Zilcosky contends, "allow for new ways of looking at modern literature from the perspective of a crisis in the semiotics of traumatic illness" (14). Zilcosky begins with E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Sandman" and claims that [End Page 74] the tale of Nathanael's descent into madness following his veiled encounter with Coppelius is actually a war story, a traumatic reenactment of Hoffmann's own experiences during the Battle of Dresden in 1813. Hoffmann's diaries record his experiences as a civilian trapped in Dresden during the battle. He witnessed soldiers decapitated by cannonballs, civilians disemboweled, and bodies torn asunder and clotted back together with congealing blood. Zilcosky reads these entries into "The Sandman" and discovers that the language of the story not only resembles Hoffmann's firsthand accounts of the battle but often quotes from the entries verbatim. This narrative mode, Zilcosky argues, forms an "uncanny subplot" (or an embodied trauma) in a text that seemingly has nothing to do with warfare. Zilcosky's second chapter returns to Freud's 1919 "The Uncanny," a "prototypical modernist crossover text" that, like "The Sandman," also harbors an "undiscovered subtext" of war—this time World War I. The First World War, after all, posed the greatest threat to the core foundations of psychoanalysis. How could one still hold that the causes of all neuroses were sexual in nature, critics of psychoanalysis asked, after witnessing the phenomenon of shell shock in soldiers? Freud, Zilcosky rightly contends, was never able to convincingly connect the war neuroses to sexuality, and this forced Freud to rethink psychoanalysis after the war—most notably in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. In trying to bridge the language of expression and explanation, Zilcosky convincingly outlines a reading of "The Uncanny" that is firmly historical in its lineage with other causal explanations of neuroses such as "Eisenbahnkrankheit" or "vent du boulet" as well as Freud's own source material (ranging from a short story in the English magazine The Strand to Freud's own sons at the front); it is also a reading that allows the text to express its own, unacknowledged traumatic logic—what Zilcosky calls "system-immanent pathologies" that could come to infect anyone, not just soldiers at the front. Such system-immanent pathologies are traced out more fully in the work of Kafka, a writer whose work exemplifies an "obsession with sourceless symptoms" (106). The insurance agents that populate some of Kafka's texts often come up against the problematic connections between the body and its symptoms. It wasn't just Freud's couch where the dramas of medical and legal insistence on locating physical causes for neuroses manifested. There was, in fact, a burgeoning business adjudicating just such things. Specific pathologies emerged from this legal and medical knotting, such as Rentenneurose, the conscious struggle to justify one's neurosis pension. Emerging from that affliction [End Page 75] was its inverse, Rentenkampfneurose, in which "the fight to prove that one was truly ill […] resulted itself in a neurosis" (129). Kafka understood how this medico-legal structure (in the form of social insurance) actually became the "cure and cause," a system-immanent pathology. Kafka's fictions, Zilcosky argues, enacts a poetics of...

Intromission failure in a stallion

Determining the cause of poor libido in stallions can be challenging. Many factors can cause disturbance in libido (e.g., lameness or physical pain, hormonal, age, experience, and handling). Identifying the cause of poor libido is important to determine the best treatment approach. A 6-year Thoroughbred stallion was presented for failure of intromission when attempting to breed mares. Stallion was recently retired from racing. Stallion was placed on hormonal therapy that did not change stallion’s aberrant reproductive behavior. On presentation no obvious physical causes were identified and the stallion displayed masturbation behavior. Through the review of video recordings of the breeding sessions, modifications were made that eventually resulted in the stallion successfully breeding mares without hormonal intervention. This case illustrated how video recordings of breeding activity can help in determining cause of reproductive dysfunction. Furthermore, interpretation of peripheral steroid hormone concentrations needs to be carried out with caution.

Disabled Visions: Eugene Lee-Hamilton, Physical Disability, and Poetic Identity in the Later Victorian Imagination

Disabled Visions:Eugene Lee-Hamilton, Physical Disability, and Poetic Identity in the Later Victorian Imagination Heather Tilley (bio) In the 1860s–1870s, a curious phenomenon dubbed "railway spine" exposed ruptures in the mid-Victorian male psyche. Hundreds of people claimed debilitating illnesses resulting from shock experienced in railway accidents, with the phenomenon signaling the start of the medical injury compensation era as numerous litigations were brought against railway companies. As the name suggests, the site of illness was frequently the back, with a significant proportion of people displaying symptoms of progressive forms of paralysis. Medical debate raged around whether illnesses were caused by physical damage to the spine or emotional trauma, a question that had significant implications for compensation claims. John Erichsen, in his 1866 medico-legal treatise On Railway and Other Injuries of the Nervous System, established a highly influential framework for interpreting certain forms of degenerative diseases as resulting from concussion of the spine.1 In other words, he argued that the physical damage was real and sufferers should be compensated for their injuries. However, Erichsen was uncertain as to how railway injuries might cause longer-term damage to the spinal cord, noting only that "if the spine is badly jarred, shaken, or concussed by a blow or shock, … we find that the nervous force is to a certain extent shaken out of the man, and that he has in some way lost nervous power" (p. 95). Significantly, this illustrates how railway spine was framed as a loss of masculine vitality: it was a condition that affected professional men using the railways for work in particularly significant numbers. Erichsen described how the male sufferer of spinal injury frequently became depressed: "His friends remark, and he feels, that 'he is not the man he was.' He has lost bodily energy, mental capacity, business aptitude" (p. 97). Erichsen's theory of the physical causes of injury was used by sufferers to seek damages against railway companies, amounting to over £2 million paid [End Page 607] out in compensation for personal injuries in Britain. This led to a counteroffensive by railway companies, which engaged their own experts to investigate cases. Herbert Page, surgeon to the London and North Western Railway Company, for example, refuted the possibility that railway injuries could—other than very rarely—cause injury to the nerve elements of the spinal cord, noting instead "the temptation to exaggeration and imposture" that pecuniary compensation encouraged. He also suggested that the cases for "general nervous shock," or "functional" rather than "structural" disturbance of the nervous system, were far more numerous.2 Erichsen had robustly argued that railway spine was distinguishable from "hysteria," noting the latter's association with young women rather than "hard-headed, active, practical men of business" (p. 126). Erichsen was intent on identifying an underlying organic cause to these cases to avoid confronting the notion of a masculine self in crisis; he sought to define the loss of masculine qualities of vigor and action as a product of physiological illness rather than the cause of it. The debates that raged around railway spine illustrate anxieties generated by the intersection of masculinity with physical disability in the mid- to late Victorian period. Disability studies scholars have examined the way in which disability more widely was characterized by its relationship to the emotions in the Victorian period. Martha Stoddard Holmes's study of disability across a range of Victorian discourses—including literature, medicine, and sociology—establishes convincingly how "[t]he connection between emotion and impairment" becomes a kind of "cultural shorthand … to indicate or produce emotional excess, add [sic] disability."3 Holmes points to the ways in which Victorian discourses of disability are "melodramatic": not only do we repeatedly encounter disabled characters in that most popular of Victorian literary genres, the stage melodrama, but, more broadly, physical disability is habitually associated with emotional excess, producing a social identity for disabled people defined in emotional terms. Disabled characters and people were becoming defined by their perceived capacity for heightened sensitivity and affect, blurring traditional categories of gender. As Holmes points out, "The distinction between abled and disabled bodies in Victorian culture (and our own) was produced partly in terms of the...

Attribution and Health Seeking Behavior of Family Members towards Conversion (Dissociative) Disorders

Introduction: Patients with conversion disorder (dissociative disorder) are common in various hospitals and communities in Pakistan. What people think about the disease decides what treatment they receive. Therefore, this analysis was held to determine the attribution and health seeking behaviours for conversion disorder. Study Design: A cross-sectional and exploratory hospital study. Place and Duration: In the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences PGMI /AMC / LGH, Lahore Pakistan for the duration from February 2022 to July 2022. Methods: A total of 60 patients were included in this study and selected with purposive sampling method. Conferring to the criteria of ICD 10; the analysis of dissociative disorder was made. A self-developed questionnaire was used. The help seeking behavior and knowledge regarding dissociative disorder was assessed by self developed questionnaire. Results: The results exhibited that the frequency of dissociative convulsions (26.8%) and possession and trance (33.3%) were higher than in the other groups. Similarly, 8 (13.3%) had stupor, 6 (10%) has motor disorders in all movement and (3.3%) has sensory disorders and (5%) had mixed dissociative disorder. It was found that the majority of family members seeking treatment from faith healer (63.3%), trailed by paramedics (11.7%) and doctors (25%). Of all subjects, 46.6% visited a mental health professional for more than 2 weeks, 31.7% visited them within 48 hrs to two weeks, and 21.7% within 48 hours. 38.3% of members answered to ailment as a physical cause. About 43.3% of participants said conversion disorder was a mental condition. The participants who replied disease as a supernatural problem were 40%. Solitary 35% of contributors believed that counseling, psychotherapy and medicine could cure conversion disorder, while 46.7% believed that a faith-healer might cure it. Conclusion: Societies in Pakistan still have their roots in ethnic practices and faith healing. It is very important to run the awareness program and work in co-operation with faith healers is significant. Keywords: Conversion (Dissociative) Disorder, Attribution, health seeking, attribution

Teologi Diakonia dalam Merespon Kemiskinan dan Penyandang Disabilitas

This paper is a study analytical literature role diakonia in respond poverty and disability. In analyze study this writer collect poverty data and disability from study earlier. For next writer analyze it from various source book and then expose role theology diakonia in respond problem poverty and disability. As for results from study this namely: diakonia is a calling for share life to fellow specifically they clan poor and the oppressed because a limitations physique nor mentally. Experienced people limitations physique and mentally called with disabled disability that is those who have disabled in a manner biological and physical cause sufferer disturbed in to do activity every day. Situation this is necessary responded with method apply the diakonia which one duty from church. The church not only to do service in a manner routine will but must open eye for those who experience suffering as well as presenting the kingdom of God in the midst clan poor and disabled disability.

Borehole Effects on Coaxial and Coplanar Logs of Triaxial Tools in Laminated Formations with Anisotropic Shale Host

This paper studies the borehole effect in the triaxial induction logs within sand-shale laminated models with isotropic and anisotropic shale laminae with transverse isotropy. This study compares results from a 3D Vector Finite Element program (with borehole) and a 1D-Analytic code (no borehole). In comparison with the coaxial configuration, the vertical coplanar logs show a stronger horning effect in front of the laminated pack boundaries; a more intense skin effect to the conductivity media; and a more prominent oscillation within the laminated formation. In addition, feature changes (angular or smooth shapes) occur on the coaxial and coplanar responses as the dipping angle varies. The sensitivities of the logs to the anisotropy and borehole are opposite, i.e., for small angles where the coaxial is least sensitive, the coplanar is most sensitive, and for large angles where the coaxial is most sensitive, the coplanar is least sensitive. The main physical cause of these opposite behaviors to the anisotropy and borehole effect is the same: the weight of the horizontal magnetic component of the horizontal dipole contribution on the coaxial and coplanar dipping logs since it is the only one of the four magnetic field components that has anisotropy sensitivity and strongest skin effect.

Convergence of the Fefferman-Graham expansion and complex black hole anatomy

Given a set of sources and one-point function data for a Lorentzian holographic QFT, does the Fefferman-Graham expansion converge? If it does, what sets the radius of convergence, and how much of the interior of the spacetime can be reconstructed using this expansion? As a step towards answering these questions we consider real analytic conformal field theory data, where in the absence of logarithms, the radius is set by singularities of the complex metric reached by analytically continuing the Fefferman-Graham radial coordinate. With the conformal boundary at the origin of the complex radial plane, real Lorentzian submanifolds appear as piecewise paths built from radial rays and arcs of circles centred on the origin. This allows singularities of Fefferman-Graham metric functions to be identified with gauge-invariant singularities of maximally extended black hole spacetimes, thereby clarifying the physical cause of the limited radius of convergence in such cases. We find black holes with spacelike singularities can give a radius of convergence equal to the horizon radius, however for black holes with timelike singularities the radius is smaller. We prove that a finite radius of convergence does not necessarily follow from the existence of an event horizon, a spacetime singularity, nor from caustics of the Fefferman-Graham gauge, by providing explicit examples of spacetimes with an infinite radius of convergence which contain such features.

Determining relationship between bone screw insertion torque and insertion speed

Abstract Bone screws are used in many orthopaedic procedures. For low-density cancellous and osteoporotic bone, the torque margin for bone screw insertion can be low; over-tightening will strip the threads, while under-tightening may allow screw loosening over time. A model-based system of automatic individualised torque regulation has been proposed, however current efforts assume speed-independence. This publication addresses the lack of knowledge on the speed dependance of insertion torque. Therefore, a bone screw was inserted at various speeds between 2.5 and 25 rpm into 4 different densities of polyurethane foam synthetic bone. A statistically significant upwards trend was found for all materials (p < 0.05). These findings can be used to correct identified bone strength values from previous models, although investigating the physical cause may improve correction schemes.

Premaximum Spectroscopic Diversity of Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae

We search for the reasons behind the spectroscopic diversity of hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) in the premaximum phase. Our analysis is a continuation of the paper of Könyves-Tóth & Vinkó, who disclosed two new subtypes of SLSNe-I characterized by the presence/absence of a W-shaped absorption feature in their premaximum spectra between 4000 and 5000 Å (called Type W and Type 15bn, respectively). However, the physical cause of this bimodality is still uncertain. Here we present premaximum spectral synthesis of 27 SLSNe-I with special attention to the photospheric temperature (T phot) and velocity (v phot) evolution. We find that a T phot limit of 12,000 K separates the Type W and Type 15bn SLSNe-I: Type W objects tend to show T phot ≥ 12,000 K, while Type 15bn ones have T phot ≤ 12,000 K. This is consistent with the chemical composition of the studied objects. Another difference between these groups may be found in their ejecta geometry: Type W SLSNe-I may show null polarization, implying spherical symmetry, while the polarization of Type 15bn objects may increase in time. This suggests a two-component model with a spherical outer carbon–oxygen layer and an asymmetric inner layer containing heavier ions. The two subgroups may have different light-curve evolution as well, since six Type W objects show early bumps, unlike Type 15bn SLSNe-I. This feature, however, needs further study, as it is based on only a few objects at present.

Failure Analysis – An Overview with Case Study

Failure analysis is an important tool to determine the physical root causes of problems. The process is critical, based upon many different technical disciplines and uses a variety of observation, inspection, and laboratory techniques. It relies on collecting failed components for subsequent examination of the cause or causes of failure using a wide array of methods, especially microscopy and spectroscopy [1]. One of the important parameter in performing a failure analysis is properly observing each and every factor related to failed component and provide unbiased conclusion and corrective action. The objective of failure analysis is to identify whether component or product has failed in service or during manufacturing or during production processing. In any case, one must determine the cause of failure to prevent future occurrence, and/or to improve the performance of the device, component or structure.
 This paper briefly introduces the basics of failure analysis, various modes of failure and the role of failure analysis as a general engineering tool for enhancing product quality and failure prevention. In addition, this paper also covers a typical case study to explain the process methodology in detail.

Bruno Schulz's 1933 Monograph: On the Hereditary Etiology of Schizophrenia.

In his 1933 article, Bruno Schulz reported a follow-up and reanalysis of the schizophrenic probands and their relatives first studied by Rüdin 20 years earlier that sought to clarify whether schizophrenia was a valid "unit-character" for Mendelian genetic analysis. He proposed a range of subgroupings of probands, particularly traditional subtyping, presence or absence of identifiable causal influences, and outcome. He then compared those subgroupings in several ways, most commonly by the risk for schizophrenia in their siblings and by the level of resemblance among proband-sibling affected pairs. Of his many findings, those of greatest interest included (1) probands with possible and probable physical causes, particularly those with head trauma, had substantially lower risk of illness in siblings, (2) probands with a hebephrenic subtype had a striking elevation of risk for schizophrenia in siblings, (3) probands with psychological causes had higher rates of good outcome, (4) proband-sibling pairs resembled one another for the classical schizophrenic subtypes, and (5) an absence of any cases of schizophrenia in siblings of a small group of schizophrenic probands with birth complications, convulsions, and skull deformities. Schulz used this sample in a fundamentally different way than Rüdin. Rather than seeking for Mendelian transmission patterns, Schulz used family data to evaluate hypothesis about clinical/etiological heterogeneity, thereby presaging many subsequent family studies of psychiatric disorders. While Schulz did not claim to have proved the etiologic heterogeneity of schizophrenia, he raised important questions, still unanswered, about whether schizophrenia is a legitimate "unit-character" appropriate for genetic analysis.

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: physical drivers of stellar-gas kinematic misalignments in the nearby Universe

ABSTRACT Misalignments between the rotation axis of stars and gas are an indication of external processes shaping galaxies throughout their evolution. Using observations of 3068 galaxies from the SAMI Galaxy Survey, we compute global kinematic position angles for 1445 objects with reliable kinematics and identify 169 (12 per cent) galaxies which show stellar-gas misalignments. Kinematically decoupled features are more prevalent in early-type/passive galaxies compared to late-type/star-forming systems. Star formation is the main source of gas ionization in only 22 per cent of misaligned galaxies; 17 per cent are Seyfert objects, while 61 per cent show Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region features. We identify the most probable physical cause of the kinematic decoupling and find that, while accretion-driven cases are dominant, for up to 8 per cent of our sample, the misalignment may be tracing outflowing gas. When considering only misalignments driven by accretion, the acquired gas is feeding active star formation in only ∼1/4 of cases. As a population, misaligned galaxies have higher Sérsic indices and lower stellar spin and specific star formation rates than appropriately matched samples of aligned systems. These results suggest that both morphology and star formation/gas content are significantly correlated with the prevalence and timescales of misalignments. Specifically, torques on misaligned gas discs are smaller for more centrally concentrated galaxies, while the newly accreted gas feels lower viscous drag forces in more gas-poor objects. Marginal evidence of star formation not being correlated with misalignment likelihood for late-type galaxies suggests that such morphologies in the nearby Universe might be the result of preferentially aligned accretion at higher redshifts.

Stars on the Verge: From Days to Decades, Studying the Photometric Variations of the Red Supergiant W Persei

W Persei is a massive, luminous and large red supergiant located relatively nearby. W Persei is a probable SN-II progenitor. We analyzed ∼120 yr of photometry from the AAVSO database. The analysis was conducted in the period analysis software Peranso where the CLEANest power spectrum and WWZ-wavelet programs were utilized. Two dominant periods of P = 532 ± 68 days and P = 2922 ± 140 days are found. Intermediate and transitory periods are also uncovered along with period events such as a significant increase in the long-period, period-merging and period-splitting. Using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite observations, stochastic ∼0.3–0.8 mmag light variability on timescales of ∼0.3 day appears present. The physical causes of these variations is discussed.

Derivation of a second-order acoustic wave equation in an air-saturated porous medium from a volume-averaged transport model

For propagation of high-amplitude acoustic waves in a rigid porous frame saturated by air, significant departures from a constant flow resistivity model have been observed. This departure can be modeled as a quadratic modification to the linear Darcy’s drag law, known as Forchheimer’s correction. To study the physical cause and relative significance of this nonlinear correction with respect to convective nonlinearity, a second-order acoustic wave equation is derived from volume-averaged equations of mass, momentum, and entropy conservation. Due to the scale separation between the wavelength and the porous structure, the particle velocity is approximated as the sum of irrotational macroscopic and incompressible microscopic fields. The porosity, tortuosity, and permeability are defined and incorporated into the macroscopic conservation equations. Porous drag terms are also derived in the macroscopic momentum equation for Darcy’s law and Forchheimer’s correction. Conservation equations for fluid parameter perturbations are obtained, and a second-order wave equation is derived. Dimensional analysis, in terms of the acoustic Reynolds number and Darcy number, describes the criteria for significant Forchheimer and convective nonlinearity. A case is obtained for a Westervelt-like equation for approximately progressive plane waves. These results inform modeling of nonlinearities for sound propagation in porous media under practical conditions.

Methodology to Analyse Three-Dimensional Asymmetries in the Forces Applied to the Pedals in Cycling

The asymmetries study between both legs of the forces applied to the pedals in cycling is important because they may affect the performance of the cyclist or prevent the occurrence of injuries. Studies focused on analysing asymmetries in forces tend to consider only the effective force, disregarding the three-dimensional nature of the force. Furthermore, these studies do not analyse the possible physical or neurological causes that may have led to the appearance of the asymmetries. This paper presents a methodology to carry out three-dimensional analysis of the asymmetries of the forces applied in both pedals and discriminate the possible sources of these asymmetries. Seven participants, amateurs and without pathologies, were analysed. Two commercial pedals were instrumented to measure the three components of the force applied to each pedal. The Normalized Symmetry Index (NSI) and the Cross Correlation Coefficient (CCC) were used for the asymmetries analysis. Results showed that both indexes need to be used in conjunction to analyse the causes of asymmetry in the pedal forces from a 3D perspective along the pedal cycle. The NSI is an index that makes it possible to evaluate asymmetry by considering only the value of the force applied by each leg at each instant. The CCC makes it possible to evaluate whether the temporal evolutions of the forces applied by each leg are similar. Preliminary results suggest that the proposed methodology is effective for analysing asymmetries in the forces in a pedalling cycle from a three-dimensional point of view. Forces in the sagittal plane showed a high level of symmetry. The lateral-medial force presented the highest level of asymmetry due to the difference in the magnitudes of the applied forces by both legs and the existing time shift between the two force patterns. The results of this work will allow for more complete and accurate three-dimensional dynamic analyses of the lower body during pedalling.

Computer aided numerical damage analysis of the axle shaft

Today, while transportation is constantly moving forward, costs are increasing. The aim is to obtain light structures that are suitable in terms of weight, sufficient in strength, and to save materials and energy. Axles are not only used in transport vehicles, but also in buses, automobiles and forklifts. Axles must be of a reliable structure due to their place of use. The external effects that the axles are generally exposed to are the applied loads. In this study, the mechanical damage analysis of the axle shaft and the characteristic changes in steel materials as a result of static loading were investigated numerically. In order to observe the mechanical behavior of the axle shaft under various loading conditions, mechanical tests should be supported by numerical analysis. Because the physical causes of damage development can be understood through numerical analysis. The aim of our study is to reach the most suitable values in the design of the variables with the optimization technique of the axle shaft made of AISI 1035 steel. Optimum values were obtained by performing numerical analyzes of the axle shaft designed with Solidworks program. As a result of the analysis, it was observed that deformation occurred at the ends of the axle.

Accurate pKa Calculations in Proteins with Reactive Molecular Dynamics Provide Physical Insight Into the Electrostatic Origins of Their Values.

Classical molecular dynamics simulations are a versatile tool in the study of biomolecular systems, but they usually rely on a fixed bonding topology, precluding the explicit simulation of chemical reactivity. Certain modifications can permit the modeling of reactions. One such method, multiscale reactive molecular dynamics, makes use of a linear combination approach to describe condensed-phase free energy surfaces of reactive processes of biological interest. Before these simulations can be performed, models of the reactive moieties must first be parametrized using electronic structure data. A recent study demonstrated that gas-phase electronic structure data can be used to derive parameters for glutamate and lysine which reproduce experimental pKa values in both bulk water and the staphylococcal nuclease protein with remarkable accuracy and transferability between the water and protein environments. In this work, we first present a new model for aspartate derived in similar fashion and demonstrate that it too produces accurate pKa values in both bulk and protein contexts. We also describe a modification to the prior methodology, involving refitting some of the classical force field parameters to density functional theory calculations, which improves the transferability of the existing glutamate model. Finally and most importantly, this reactive molecular dynamics approach, based on rigorous statistical mechanics, allows one to specifically analyze the fundamental physical causes for the marked pKa shift of both aspartate and glutamate between bulk water and protein and also to demonstrate that local steric and electrostatic effects largely explain the observed differences.

The association between pain-related factors and psychological distress in patients with temporomandibular disorder

ABSTRACT Chronic pain is associated with high levels of psychological distress, which can have implications for general functioning, acceptance, quality of life, and compliance with health-promoting behaviour. This study explored the association between pain-related factors and psychological distress in a sample of patients with long lasting temporomandibular disorder (TMD). In this cross-sectional study design, psychological distress was measured in 133 Norwegian patients with long lasting and severe TMD. Participants completed a survey including the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), and questions about pain intensity, pain duration, catastrophizing, and causal attributions of their TMD symptoms along with a clinical interdisciplinary investigation. Higher levels of catastrophizing were associated with psychological distress. Pain intensity was associated with psychological distress in the unadjusted model, but not when controlling for the other variables. The majority attributed their TMD symptoms to physical factors. The findings support psychological interventions aimed at reducing catastrophizing in treatment of TMD. However, the patients emphasized physical causes for their TMD symptoms, suggesting that psychological interventions alone are not sufficient. The findings support a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of TMD.

Ultrasonic measurements of grouted tendon ducts in the concrete structure using Elop Insight Scanner

Infrastructures such as bridges, tunnels, dams, retaining walls, docks, parking garages and buildings are constructed from reinforced concrete. These structures deteriorate due to cyclic temperature and loading variations, aging, as well as physical causes such as accidents and aggressive chemical attack from the environment. Post tension tendon ducts commonly used in bridges are filled with grout and steel tendons. The voids in the grout inside the tendon ducts can occur due various reasons such as improper filling, material mixing, blockage due to tendons etc. The water can penetrate in these voids inside the tendon ducts which can initiate corrosion. It is therefore vital to detect voids/ unfilled or defective portions of the tendon ducts at an early stage of the construction phase to ensure the strength and safety of the structure. Different types of NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) methods are frequently used for monitoring such infrastructures during regular operation to prevent failure, increase life span and improve safety. One of these NDT techniques, ultrasonic testing, is relatively simple in operation and gives more accurate description of air pockets, voids, cracks, and delaminations in the concrete structures compared to other NDT methods. ELOP has developed a rolling ultrasonic scanner COBRI (COncrete and BRidge Inspection) together with a complete software solution for asset management of structures for faster and better inspection and monitoring of the internal condition of the concrete. It will provide asset owners with information about when, where and how to inspect, maintain and more accurately assess damages and overall condition of their structures. The COBRI scanner contains an array of transducers assembled in two separate rollers used in pitch-catch mode. It uses a patented elastomer solution to provide dry coupling to the concrete surface during scanner movement, without the need for any added fluid couplant. The system uses SAFT (Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique) algorithm for image reconstruction to increase image quality and signal to noise ratio. It will provide users with improved tomographic (B, C and D-scan) image quality and 3D imaging. In the current work, we have used the COBRI scanner to explore its ability to image grouting defects inside tendon ducts used in concrete structures. The concrete specimen used in the evaluation has two tendon ducts positioned at 8 cm from the top surface with dimensions of 70 cm in length, 55 cm in width and 25 cm in thickness with average aggregate size of 22 mm. One of the tendon ducts is completely empty. The second one is half-length fully filled with grouting along the prestressed steel and other half only three quarters filled, leaving an air cavity on the top. The scanner is rolled approximately 50 cm over the concrete surface and the tomographic (B, C and D-scan) SAFT images are generated at different locations of the concrete specimen together with a 3D volume image. The results showed that the COBRI scanner is able to differentiate the filled and partially filled tendon ducts in the concrete structure. As COBRI is a rolling ultrasound scanner, it will help the bridge owners to scan and assess the grouting defects in the tendon ducts much more efficiently than other scanners available in the market.