However, it also led to sharp strength degradation at high temperature because the metallic phase was easier to be oxidized and get soft at high temperature in air. The effects

of metallic phase on strengthening and toughening were discussed. The improved fracture toughness of composite with metallic phase was attributed to the lower residual tensile stress in the matrix and the interaction of more effective energy consuming mechanisms, such as crack bridged by particle, crack deflection and intragranular grain failure. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.”
“We studied the association between occupational exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) and electrical shocks and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in selleck screening library the Nordic Occupational Cancer cohort (NOCCA). We included 5,409 adult AML cases diagnosed between 1961 and 2005 in Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden and 27,045 controls matched by age, sex, and country.

Lifetime occupational ELF-MF exposure and risk of electrical shocks were assigned to jobs reported in the censuses using job-exposure matrices. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) using conditional logistic regression adjusted for concurrent occupational exposures relevant for AML risk (e.g., benzene, ionizing Saracatinib purchase radiation). We conducted sensitivity analyses with different assumptions to assess the robustness of our results. Approximately 40 % of the subjects were ever occupationally exposed to low levels and 7 % to high levels of ELF-MF, whereas 18 % were ever at low risk and 15 % at high risk of electrical shocks. We did not observe an association between occupational exposure to neither ELF-MF nor electrical shocks and AML. The HR was 0.88 (95 % CI 0.77-1.01) for subjects with high levels of ELF-MF see more exposure and 0.94 (95 % CI 0.85-1.05) for subjects

with high risk of electrical shocks as compared to those with background-level exposure. Results remained materially unchanged in sensitivity analyses with different assumptions. Our results do not support an association between occupational ELF-MF or electric shock exposure and AML.”
“This study evaluated the ‘constancy’ of head turning as recorded two-dimensionally by accelerometers. Fourteen healthy participants turned the head with his/her natural and comfortable speed. Maximum inclination angles (MIA) during head turning were measured in four (anterior, posterior, right, and left) directions of clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW) conditions. Three indices were used for the evaluation: (1) standard deviations of MIA as an index of ‘spatial constancy,’ (2) anterior/posterior and right/left ratios from intervals among four MIA as indices of ‘temporal constancy,’ and (3) first derivatives from head turning trajectories as an index of ‘angular velocity.’ The spatial index varied from 0.15A degrees to 9.