Evaluation of Tensile Residual Stress in Welded Steel Plates Using Acoustically Stimulated Electromagnetic Response.

Residual stress is one factor involved in the degradation and damage of industrial products. It is important to understand the magnitude and distribution of residual stress to maintain the integrity of a product. Magnetic measurements are a potential nondestructive method for evaluating residual stress in steel because the hysteresis properties are sensitive to stress. In recent years, spatial mapping of local magnetic hysteresis loop has been performed by using the acoustically stimulated electromagnetic (ASEM) method, which obtains the conversion coefficients from local hysteresis parameters to tensile stress. In this study, we demonstrate the evaluation and spatial imaging of tensile residual stress through local hysteresis parameters using welded steel specimens. We confirm that local coercivity can be used for evaluating residual tensile stress in the high-stress region. In addition, the spatial distribution of residual stress is well visualized by imaging the ASEM response signals due to remanent magnetization.

Identification of divergently selected regions between Japanese Black and Holstein cattle using bovine 50k SNP array.

Differences between average allelic frequencies of genes that relate to traits suggest that it would be evidence of artificial selections. Sliding window approach is a useful method to identify genomic regions that have been differently selected between two breeds. The objective of this study was to identify the divergently selected regions between Japanese Black (JB) and Japanese Holstein (JH) cattle based on genotypic information obtained through a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel. After genotyping of 54 001 SNP markers on 100 animals (50 JB and 50 JH), 40 635 SNPs were suitable for the analysis. For each of these SNPs, the absolute difference between allelic frequencies of JB and JH was calculated. In the current study, 10 consecutive SNPs were defined as components of a window. For each window, the average difference in allelic frequency was calculated. This was termed sliding window average difference (SWAD). Among 40 055 windows, we focused on 39 windows with the largest SWAD. This was equivalent to 0.1% of all windows and the SWAD was more than 0.435. Some of these windows overlapped and were distributed in 11 regions. These regions were in good agreement with reported quantitative trait locus, therefore would be selection signatures and good candidates that harbor the causative mutations.

Development of discrimination markers between Japanese domestic and imported beef.

In the meat industry, correct labeling of beef origins or breed is required to assure quality and safety. This paper describes the development of discrimination markers between Japanese domestic and imported beef from the United States (US) and Australia (AUS) based on a bovine 50K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array using a total of 110 samples: Japanese Black (n = 50), Japanese Holstein (n = 50) and US cattle (n = 10). Genotyping information revealed 1081 SNPs as candidate markers that were polymorphic only in US cattle. The genotyping results by PCR-restriction length polymorphism in Japanese Black (n = 300) and Holstein cattle (n = 146) revealed that 11 SNPs had alleles specific to US cattle. Their allelic frequencies in US cattle (n = 108) ranged from 0.097 to 0.250 with an average of 0.178 and the combined identification probability of US cattle was 0.987. In addition, we also verified the applicability of these US-specific markers to AUS cattle. Their allelic frequencies in AUS cattle (n = 280) ranged from 0.063 to 0.224 with an average of 0.137 and the combined identification probability of AUS cattle was 0.963. In conclusion, a set of these markers could be useful for discriminating between Japanese domestic and imported beef and would contribute to identify origins and prevent falsified labeling of beef.

Development of a biologically inspired locomotion system for a capsule endoscope.

BACKGROUND: A capsule endoscope has a limited ability to obtain images of the digestive organs because its movement depends on peristaltic motion. To overcome this problem, capsule endoscopes require a propulsion system. METHODS: This paper proposes a propulsion system for a capsule endoscope that mimics the locomotive mechanism of snails and earthworms. The prototype crawler can elongate and contract itself longitudinally and adhere to a wall via suction cups. RESULTS: We investigated the effect of the inclination angle of the propulsion plane, the mucus viscosity between the propulsion plane and the crawler, and the stiffness of the propulsion plane on the locomotion of the prototype crawler. We found that the crawler could move on a rubber sheet and on inclined planes covered with mucus. We discussed advantages and limitations of the prototype crawler compared to the different locomotive systems developed in former studies. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that the prototype crawler provides a better understanding of the propulsion mechanism for use in the gastrointestinal tract.