NESC-IV Project: an Investigation of the Transferability of Master Curve Technology to Shallow Flaws in Reactor Pressure Vessel Applications - Final Report

The NESC-IV project addressed the transferability of fracture toughness data from laboratory specimens to applications that assess the integrity of reactor pressure vessels subjected to upset and normal loading transients. The main focus was six biaxial bend cruciform tests of surface-breaking semi-elliptic defects in a RPV longitudinal weld and four uniaxial tests on extended sub-clad defects in RPV plate material. The co-ordinated experimental/analytical program drew from major elements of the US Heavy Section Steel Technology Program. Extensive materials testing and fracture analyses were performed by 20 European organizations, co-ordinated by the Network for Evaluating Structural Components (NESC).JRC.F.4-Nuclear design safet

Karola Bloch en la Alemania del Este (RDA, 1950-55). La estandarización de guarderías como herramienta de emancipación para las mujeres

The architect Karola Bloch, who was working for the Deutsche Bauakademie in the GDR after World War II, aimed to meet the goal of gender equality according to socialist principles by realising numerous crèches and kindergartens through the development of schematic plans and guidelines for building construction. For the newly founded socialist state of the GDR, this was a way to free women from domestic unpaid care work in order to integrate them into wage-earning labour, which was considered crucial for women to become equal members of society. The implementation of a nationwide network of childcare centres via typification and standardisation promised to realise these ambitious goals quickly and cost-effectively. La arquitecta Karola Bloch, que trabajaba para la Deutsche Bauakademie en la RDA después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, se propuso cumplir el objetivo de la igualdad de género según los principios socialistas realizando numerosas guarderías y jardines de infancia mediante el desarrollo de planos esquemáticos y directrices para la construcción de estos edificios. Para el recién fundado Estado socialista de la RDA, esta era una forma de liberar a las mujeres del trabajo doméstico no remunerado de cuidados, e integrarlas en el trabajo asalariado, lo cual se consideraba crucial para que las mujeres se convieran en miembros iguales de la sociedad. La puesta en marcha de una red nacional de guarderías mediante su tipificación y estandarización prometía hacer realidad estos ambiciosos objetivos de forma rápida y rentable

Induced Magnetic Ordering by Proton Irradiation in Graphite

We provide evidence that proton irradiation of energy 2.25 MeV on highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite samples triggers ferro- or ferrimagnetism. Measurements performed with a superconducting quantum interferometer device (SQUID) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) reveal that the magnetic ordering is stable at room temperature.Comment: 3 Figure

Cytological and transcript analyses reveal fat and lazy persister-like bacilli in tuberculous sputum

As nonreplicating tubercle bacilli are tolerant to the cidal action of antibiotics and resistant to multiple stresses, identification of this persister-like population of tubercle bacilli in sputum presents exciting and tractable new opportunities to investigate both responses to chemotherapy and the transmission of tuberculosis

We were all just trying to stay afloat : The Career Experiences of NCAA Division I Female Swimming Coaches

Although sport participation for women and girls is at an all-time high in the United States, female coaches are widely underrepresented. In the sport of swimming at the collegiate level, women hold just 18% of the head coaching positions of women’s teams. A qualitative research design was implemented to examine the career experiences of NCAA Division I female swimming coaches. Twenty-one current and recently retired Division I female swimming coaches were interviewed regarding their career experiences. Analysis of the data produced three themes: (a) Sexism, (b) The Career Path, and (c) Life as a Coach-Mom. These findings indicate that female coaches experience sexism from a variety of sources in their profession. Additionally, in a changing landscape of fewer opportunities available for female coaches, women are increasingly relying on mentoring and professional development to better position themselves in a competitive work environment. Finally, coaches with children need a wide support system, but also find balance through motherhood. These findings may help current coaches and potential coaches navigate their careers, as well as administrators who can provide support for the coaches’ careers

Nachhaltigkeit Im Alpinen Tourismus – Datengestützte Theoriebildung Für Die Praxis

This thesis deals with the possibilities of sustainable development in alpine tourism. The aim of the work is to develop concrete approaches for the practice of tourism professionals. When searching through the literature, it was found that predominantly people unfamiliar with tourism deal with and evaluate aspects of sustainability in alpine tourism. On the part of tourism experts, the topic is treated inadequately, at least in the literature. In order to close this gap, the options for action on the part of the provider were therefore worked out in this work. As a result, the work is primarily aimed at everyone working in tourism. This is achieved by the fact that the surveys have already been carried out with a corresponding focus. In order to achieve this, the actual situation on the market was first surveyed. Concrete examples of sustainable tourism from practice were also analysed. In addition to the relevant literature, legal regulations and statistics were analysed. Interviews were also carried out with decision makers and people directly connected to the tourist system. In addition to the employees and the guests, also indirectly affected profiteers and suffering people were interviewed in order to capture as many perspectives as possible. With the ground theory, a qualitative method was chosen with which the collected data was analysed, concepts created and reassembled in a new way. It transpired that the topic of sustainability has been anchored directly and indirectly in many parts of alpine tourism for a long time. In addition to the core competence of a company, its partnerships and the willingness of the individual participants are of great importance for sustainable development. A major challenge in the tourism market is the difficult assessment of the sustainability of an offer. This fact makes a comparison difficult for both guests and tourism professionals. In this context, interesting and above all relevant findings were discovered, which are particularly relevant for the decision makers of tourism companies and which represent helpful approaches

Gene expression from plasmids containing the araBAD promoter at subsaturating inducer concentrations represents mixed populations

Gene expression from plasmids containing the araBAD promoter can be regulated by the concentration of arabinose in the growth medium. Guzman et al. [Guzman, L.-M., Belin, D., Carson, M. J. & Beckwith, J. (1995) J. Bacteriol. 177, 4121–4130] showed that expression of a cloned gene could be modulated over several orders of magnitude in cultures grown in the presence of subsaturating concentrations of arabinose. We constructed plasmids expressing a fast-folding mutant Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein from the araBAD promoter to examine the distribution of expressed gene products in individual cells at intermediate induction levels. Microscopic examination of cells grown at low arabinose concentrations shows mixtures of brightly fluorescent and dark cells, suggesting that intermediate expression levels in cultures reflect a population average of induced and uninduced cells. The kinetics of green fluorescent protein induction suggest that this reflects an “autocatalytic” induction mechanism due to accumulation of the inducer by active transport. This mechanism, which is analogous to the induction of the lac operon at subsaturating inducer concentrations in lacY(+) cells, was described 40 years ago by Novick and Weiner [Novick, A. & Weiner, M. (1957) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 43, 553–566]

High-throughput, quantitative analyses of genetic interactions in E. coli.

Large-scale genetic interaction studies provide the basis for defining gene function and pathway architecture. Recent advances in the ability to generate double mutants en masse in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have dramatically accelerated the acquisition of genetic interaction information and the biological inferences that follow. Here we describe a method based on F factor-driven conjugation, which allows for high-throughput generation of double mutants in Escherichia coli. This method, termed genetic interaction analysis technology for E. coli (GIANT-coli), permits us to systematically generate and array double-mutant cells on solid media in high-density arrays. We show that colony size provides a robust and quantitative output of cellular fitness and that GIANT-coli can recapitulate known synthetic interactions and identify previously unidentified negative (synthetic sickness or lethality) and positive (suppressive or epistatic) relationships. Finally, we describe a complementary strategy for genome-wide suppressor-mutant identification. Together, these methods permit rapid, large-scale genetic interaction studies in E. coli