Theoretical assessment of the errors involved in ultrasonic location and sizing of molten weld pools

Ultrasonic transit times may be used to locate the interface between molten weld metal and parent plate as a weld is formed. These transit times will lead to errors in interpretation of the location of the weld interface if account is not taken of the variation of ultrasonic velocity with temperature. We assess the magnitude of these errors using a theoretical model based on the Green's function to obtain the temperature distribution at any time and then convert the temperatures into elastic constants through empirical fits to high temperature data. A ray tracing method and a semi-analytical approach are used to estimate the effects of the changes in elastic constants on the ray paths and transit times. From these theoretical predictions we conclude that the location errors incurred by assuming ultrasonic velocities appropriate to cold metal are less than 0.5 mm for a 3.5 mm radius weld in austenitic steel or in iron. Experimental values tend to be larger than this, possibly suggesting that the solid-liquid interface is not as perfect as in the theoretical model. Under all of the conditions investigated, predicted errors are smaller with compression waves than with shear waves.     

An investigation of structure-reactivity relationships of δ-alkenyl oximes; competitive thermal reactions leading to cyclic nitrones and/or N-unsubstituted bicyclic isoxazolidines

Thermal reactions of C-aryl δ-alkenyl oximes give N-unsubstituted bicylic lactone, lactam and pyrrolidine fused isoxazolidines by an intramolecular oxime olefin cycloaddition pathway (IOOC) and/or cyclic nitrones by an azaprotio cyclotransfer (APT) route; a number of factors, including the nature of the aryl group, the oxime geometry and the structure of the linker between the oxime and the terminal alkene, contribute to the competition.     

Coil-stretch Transition of DNA Molecules in Slit-like Confinement

We experimentally investigate the influence of slit-like confinement on the coil-stretch transition of single DNA molecules in a homogeneous planar elongational electric field. We observe a more gradual coil-stretch transition characterized by two distinct critical strain rates for DNA in confinement, different from the unconfined case where a single critical strain rate exists. We postulate that the change in the coil-stretch transition is due to a modified spring law in confinement. We develop a dumbbell model to extract an effective spring law by following the relaxation of an initially stretched DNA. We then use this spring law and kinetic theory modeling to predict the extension and fluctuations of DNA in planar elongational fields. The model predicts that a two-stage coil-stretch transition emerges in confinement, in accord with experimental observations.     

Differentiation between intra-axial metastatic tumor progression and radiation injury following fractionated radiation therapy or stereotactic radiosurgery using MR spectroscopy, perfusion MR imaging or volume progression modeling

Objective

To determine the accuracy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), perfusion MR imaging (MRP), or volume modeling in distinguishing tumor progression from radiation injury following radiotherapy for brain metastasis.

Methods

Twenty-six patients with 33 intra-axial metastatic lesions who underwent MRS (n=41) with or without MRP (n=32) after cranial irradiation were retrospectively studied. The final diagnosis was based on histopathology (n=4) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) follow-up with clinical correlation (n=29). Cho/Cr (choline/creatinine), Cho/NAA (choline/N-acetylaspartate), Cho/nCho (choline/contralateral normal brain choline) ratios were retrospectively calculated for the multi-voxel MRS. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), relative peak height (rPH) and percentage of signal-intensity recovery (PSR) were also retrospectively derived for the MRPs. Tumor volumes were determined using manual segmentation method and analyzed using different volume progression modeling. Different ratios or models were tested and plotted on the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), with their performances quantified as area under the ROC curve (AUC). MRI follow-up time was calculated from the date of initial radiotherapy until the last MRI or the last MRI before surgical diagnosis.

Results

Median MRI follow-up was 16 months (range: 2-33). Thirty percent of lesions (n=10) were determined to be radiation injury; 70% (n=23) were determined to be tumor progression. For the MRS, Cho/nCho had the best performance (AUC of 0.612), and Cho/nCho >1.2 had 33% sensitivity and 100% specificity in predicting tumor progression. For the MRP, rCBV had the best performance (AUC of 0.802), and rCBV >2 had 56% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The best volume model was percent increase (AUC of 0.891); 65% tumor volume increase had 100% sensitivity and 80% specificity.

Conclusion

Cho/nCho of MRS, rCBV of MRP, and percent increase of MRI volume modeling provide the best discrimination of intra-axial metastatic tumor progression from radiation injury for their respective modalities. Cho/nCho and rCBV appear to have high specificities but low sensitivities. In contrast, percent volume increase of 65% can be a highly sensitive and moderately specific predictor for tumor progression after radiotherapy. Future incorporation of 65% volume increase as a pretest selection criterion may compensate for the low sensitivities of MRS and MRP.     

A modest proposal: an approach to making the internal R system extensible

The R computing environment has become an important part of the statistical community and fostered the development of over a thousand add-on packages, many representing state-of-the-art research in statistical methodology. Although it is relatively easy to develop functionality on top of the system, it is very difficult for developers to directly extend the core system itself—the language, the interpreter and the internal data structures. Yet the ability to easily introduce new core, first-class data structures into the system that are customized and efficient is becoming essential in this era of large, complex data sets and innovative algorithms and data structures. While the community that might use such a facility to introduce new data types may be small, it is potentially very talented and important, and may lead to significant innovations that allow us to continue to leverage R for the next 5 years or more in rich new ways. I describe some of the difficulties that people encounter in extending the system and suggest that an object-oriented architecture for the internal implementation of R (or any system) would make such low-level internals extensible by package developers and not just the core development team. This would promote potentially rich experimentation that would allow us and others to approach new styles of computation in R, while simultaneously maintaining the existing important community which provides so much value-added to the R environment. Specifically, transforming the R implementation from a representation-specific architecture to a C++ abstract/virtual interface-based architecture may be the least disruptive approach to the continued evolution of R, and would bring many advantages and some technical challenges. Such an approach involves many technical details and potential degradations in performance. Due to the length of the this paper, I do not explore these issues in great detail but introduce the basic concepts. I do, however, refer to some technical aspects that are best understood with some knowledge of the implementation of R at the level of using the .Call () interface in R.     

Methyl modified siloxane melting gels for hydrophobic films

Hybrid melting gels were prepared by a sol–gel process, starting with a mono-substituted siloxane and a di-substituted siloxane. Methyl-modified melting gels were prepared using (a) methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) with dimethyldiethoxysilane (DMDES) and (b) methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) together with dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMS). The gels with MTES–DMDES were prepared with concentrations between 50–50 and 75–25 mol%. The gels with MTMS–DMDMS were prepared with concentrations between 50–50 and 70–30 mol%. For both systems, the consolidation temperature, after which the melting gel no longer softens, increased with an increase in the amount of the mono-substituted siloxane, increasing from 135 to 160 °C for MTES–DMDES and increasing from 145 to 170 °C for MTMS–DMDMS. Coatings formed on mica substrates were about 1 mm thick, and showed no visible cracks. The surfaces of the coatings were profiled using micro-Raman spectroscopy, which revealed that methyl groups were concentrated at the surfaces of the films. All contact angles measured with water were greater than 90°.