Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a debilitating irreversible fibrotic condition of the oral cavity. It is characterized by inflammation and ultimately results in trismus. Patients face difficulty in speaking, swallowing and chewing due to restricted mouth opening (trismus). This disease is also categorized as an oral premalignant disorder (OPMD). Recent reports cite a conversion rate of 10% from OSF to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Epidemiological studies and case reports over the years have correlated the habit of chewing areca nut (Areca catechu) to the manifestation of OSF. It is a major cause of concern in the South and South East Asian parts of the world where areca nut is cultivated and routinely consumed. There are an estimated 700 million areca nut chewers around the globe with 0.5% of the population in the Indian subcontinent being affected by OSF due to this habit. Previous studies have reported differential gene expression profile and up regulation of the pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) pathway in OSF. However, detailed molecular mechanisms for the pathogenesis of this disease are still unclear despite our knowledge about the etiological agent (areca nut) responsible for its progression. Therefore, to gain insights into the etiopathogeneses of OSF, following objectives were undertaken:  To study the gene expression changes induced by areca nut and pro-fibrotic cytokine TGF-β in primary fibroblast cells, and their implications in OSF.  To elucidate the mechanism of TGF-β signal activation in epithelial cells by areca nut. Fibroblast cells are the effectors in all fibrotic disorders. Therefore, it is essential to study the response of this cell type in fibrosis. With prior knowledge of the activation of TGF-β pathway in OSF and the etiological agent of this disease being areca nut; we wanted to study the differential gene response of fibroblasts to these two agents. For this purpose, human primary gingival fibroblasts (hGF) were used as a model system to study the global gene expression profile regulated by areca nut and/or TGF-β. hGF cells were treated with sub-cytotoxic dose of areca nut (5 µg/ml) with and without TGF-β (5 ng/ml) for 72 hours and microarray was performed. The results revealed 4666 genes being differentially regulated by areca nut in hGF cells while TGF-β regulated 1214 genes. Both of them together differentially regulated 5752 genes. 413 genes which were commonly regulated by areca nut and TGF-β were observed to have enhanced regulation with a combined treatment of areca nut, together with TGF-β. This result pointed towards the potential role of both areca nut and TGF-β in modulating fibroblast response. To further assess the role of areca nut in OSF manifestation, we first compared the transcriptome profile induced by it in epithelial cells with fibroblast cells. Areca nut was found to induce differential response in these two cell types which corroborates with the disease pathology wherein; epithelial atrophy is observed and conversely fibroblasts are proliferative. To extend these observations we compared the areca nut induced profile in epithelial cells with OSF differential profile and found that a majority of the genes regulated by areca nut which were common with OSF are regulated by TGF-β. Similarly, areca nut and TGF-β regulated profile in fibroblast cells overlapped significantly with OSF profile. Additionally, areca nut and TGF-β treatment positively enriched matrix associated and metabolic pathways among others which are reported to be differentially regulated in OSF. These observations also highlighted the importance of combined actions of areca nut and TGF-β in OSF manifestation. To test the physiological importance of combined actions of areca nut and TGF-β in the context of OSF; activation of fibroblasts by these treatments was assessed. Treatment of fibroblasts with areca nut and TGF-β enhanced the expression of myofibroblast markers αSMA and γSMA with a concomitant increase in the contractile property when compared to areca nut or TGF-β treatment alone. Further, we observed that areca nut did not regulate any of the TGF-β ligands or receptors in fibroblasts, whereas it induced TGF-β2 in epithelial cells. Therefore, this invoked a possible epithelial-mesenchymal interaction that may exist in OSF pathogenesis. To test this possibility in-vitro, epithelial cells were treated with areca nut and the secretome of these cells was put on hGF cells to study the regulation of fibrosis associated genes. This treatment enhanced the regulation of fibroblast activation markers (αSMA and γSMA) as compared to direct areca nut treatment. This increase in regulation was abrogated when induction of TGF-β2 was compromised in epithelial cells. Similar results were obtained for the regulation of other genes (TGM-2, THBS-1, EDN1, LOXL3, PLOD2, TMEPAI, TGFBI, CTGF, BMP1, LMIK1). Therefore, we concluded that TGF-β which is secreted in response to areca nut by epithelial cells influences fibroblasts in combination with areca nut to enhance fibrosis response. Furthermore, the secretome of untreated epithelial cells was found to down regulate the basal expression of fibrosis related genes in fibroblasts, invoking a role for epithelial secretome in regulating the fibrosis progression. Our data highlighted the importance of TGF-β’s influence on fibroblast response in OSF, but the mechanism for the regulation of this cytokine was not known. Areca nut did not induce TGF-β ligands in fibroblast as discussed above, but previous data from our group had reported areca nut mediated up regulation of TGF-β2 in epithelial cells. Therefore, we further elucidated the mechanistic details for this induction using immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT and HPL1D) and correlated these in OSF tissues. The kinetics of the induction of TGF-β signaling by areca nut (5 µg/ml) in epithelial cells was established. Areca nut induced TGF-β2 transcript, protein and activated the canonical signaling (pSMAD2/3) at 2 hours post treatment, which persisted till 24 hours. The regulation of TGF-β2 mRNA at 2 hours was dependent on active transcription but was independent of protein translation whereas the activation of signaling (pSMAD2) required both transcription and translation at this time point. This warranted probing for the role of TβR-I in the activation of TGF-β signal by areca nut. A small molecule inhibitor was used to abrogate the kinase activity of TβR-I. Areca nut induced TGF-β2 mRNA at 2 hours even in the presence of TβR-I inhibitor whereas the induction was compromised at 24 hours although the activation of SMAD2 at both 2 and 24 hours was compromised in the presence of TβR-I. This result signified that induction of TGF-β signaling was dependent on the TβR-I activity at early and late time points, but the transcription of the ligand was independent of the receptor activity at early time point. These results indicated the activation of some other pathway by areca nut which could regulate the transcription of TGF-β2 and thereby activate TGF-β signaling in epithelial cells. To explore this possibility, a panel of pathway inhibitors was used and only JNK inhibitor compromised areca nut induced TGF-β2 mRNA and pSMAD2. The results were corroborated by transient knockdown of JNK1 and JNK2. Further, JNK was phosphorylated at 30 minutes to 2 hours by areca nut treatment on epithelial cells. This activation was found to be independent of TβR-I activity. In good correlation, activated JNK1/2 was also detected in OSF tissues and was not detectable in normal tissues. Since JNK activation was found to be a pre-requisite for areca nut induced TGF-β signal activation; we further explored the mechanism of JNK activation by areca nut itself. Areca nut mediated activation of JNK was found to be dependent on muscarinic acid receptor, Ca2+/CAMKII and ROS. Inhibition of these significantly compromised areca nut induced pJNK. In line with this, inhibition of muscarinic acid receptor activity, CAMKII and ROS also abrogated areca nut mediated induction of TGF-β2 mRNA and pSMAD2. The regulation of TGF-β signaling by areca nut in epithelial cells was dependent on transcription, and JNK activity was essential for this. We further sought to explore transcription factors which were regulated by JNK and therefore could possibly induce TGF-β2 promoter activity. ATF2 and c-Jun transcription factors were found to be induced at 30 minutes by areca nut and this up regulation also persisted till 24 hours. Further, activation of both ATF2 and c-Jun was dependent on JNK but independent of TβR-I activity. Moreover, areca nut treatment induced translocation of these phoshorylated transcription factors in the nucleus of epithelial cells. Additionally, pATF2 and p-c-Jun were enriched on TGF-β2 promoter after 2 hours of treatment by areca nut. To investigate the importance of this enrichment and regulation of TGF-β signal activation by areca nut, we transiently knocked down these proteins and studied the regulation of TGF-β2. Areca nut induced TGF-β2 mRNA and pSMAD2 was abrogated upon ATF2 and c-Jun knockdown, implicating JNK mediated activation of ATF2 and c-Jun in areca nut induced TGF- β signaling. To explore the significance of this mechanism in OSF, immunohistochemical staining for pATF2 and p-c-Jun was performed on OSF and normal tissues. Both the transcription factors were found in the nuclei of OSF tissues whereas their expression was not detected in normal tissues. This expression also correlated with the previously reported activation of SMAD2 in OSF tissues by our group. Hence, ATF2 and c-Jun were observed to be important in areca nut mediated TGF-β signaling in OSF. In conclusion, the work described in this thesis provides mechanistic details into OSF etiopathogenesis. Combined actions of areca nut and TGF-β induced a response in fibroblasts akin to OSF. Our results advocate a role for epithelial secreted factors in influencing fibroblast response in both normal and disease (OSF) conditions. Further, importance of TGF-β in OSF has been elucidated in terms of enhancing the fibroblast response to areca nut. We have also elucidated the mechanism for areca nut mediated activation of TGF-β signaling and have identified the contribution of JNK/ATF2/Jun axis in this process. This work can impact the management of oral submucous fibrosis by providing newer targets for treatment.

Currently, the production of most non-asbestos organic (NAO) friction materials depends on a long and energy intensive manufacturing process and an unsustainable supply of synthetic resins and fibres; it is both expensive and bad for the environment. In this research, a new, more energy efficient, manufacturing process was developed which makes use of a naturally derived resin and natural plant fibres. The new process is known as 'cold moulding' and is fundamentally different from the conventional method. It was used to develop a new brake pad for use in low temperature (<400 °C) applications, such as rapid urban rail transit (RURT) trains. A commercially available resin based upon cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) was analysed and found to have properties suitable for cold moulding. In addition, hemp fibre was identified as a suitable composite reinforcement. This was processed to improve its morphology and blended with aramid to improve its thermal stability. Each stage of cold mould manufacture was thoroughly investigated and the critical process parameters were identified. The entire procedure was successfully scaled up to produce an industrially sized 250 kg batch of material and the resultant composites were found to have appropriate thermal and mechanical properties for use in a rail brake pad. The tribological performance of these composites was iteratively developed through a rigorous testing and evaluation procedure. This was performed on both sub- and full-scale dynamometers. By adding various abrasives, lubricants, and fillers to the formulation it was possible to produce a brake pad with similar friction characteristics to the current market material, but with a 60% lower wear rate. In addition, this brake pad caused 15% less wear to the brake disc. A detailed examination of both halves of the friction couple found that cold moulded composites exhibit a different wear mechanism from the current market material, which was suggested to be the reason for their superior properties. Cold moulding is 3.5x faster and uses 400% less energy than the conventional method.

Orientador: Vera Nisaka Solferini / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T11:33:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sujii_PatriciaSanae_M.pdf: 17345942 bytes, checksum: f238cb8a37114affa63e3106ca0b1db9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Matas de terra-firme da Amazônia são formações florestais extensas e podem ser encontradas compondo grandes florestas contínuas. Existem diversos estudos a respeito da estrutura genética populacional de espécies presentes nessas florestas, mas são poucos os trabalhos que buscam compreender a estruturação genética ao longo da Amazônia. A castanheira-do-brasil é uma espécie monotípica, Bertholletia excelsa, endêmica de matas de terra-firme e distribuída ao longo de quase toda extensão da Amazônia. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a estruturação genética de populações de Bertholletia excelsa ao longo da Amazônia e verificar se a estruturação é influenciada pela distância que as separa. Foi coletado material de 379 indivíduos, pertencentes a nove subpopulações distribuídas em cinco estados brasileiros. Foram desenvolvidos sete marcadores microssatélites que foram somados a outros quatro anteriormente publicados, para genotipagem das amostras. Análises populacionais intra e interpopulacionais foram realizadas para avaliar a diversidade genética e sua estruturação. As estimativas de distância genética encontradas foram correlacionadas com diferentes fatores para encontrar possíveis causas para estruturação. O número de alelos encontrado em cada subpopulação foi baixo. Os alelos presentes em diferentes subpopulações e suas frequências apresentaram grande variação, em especial quando comparadas subpopulações mais distantes. Foi observado FIS negativo para cinco das subpopulações e não significativamente diferente de zero para as quatro demais, indicando excesso de heterozigotos. A estruturação em micro-escala, quando presente, foi pequena. Os valores encontrados para estimativas de estrutura em macro-escala foram bastante variáveis, sendo observada diferenciação genética muito baixa ('teta' = 0,02) a muito alta ('teta' = 0,244). A estrutura genética encontrada pode ser analisada considerando três escalas: (i) intrapopulacional; (ii) entre subpopulações separadas por distâncias moderadas (<500km); e (iii) entre subpopulações separadas por grandes distâncias. Em todas as escalas, foi encontrada correlação significativa entre a estruturação genética e a distância que separa os pares de indivíduos ou subpopulações, indicando ser esse um fator importante para estruturação, mas com influência também de outros fatores, principalmente em escalas geográficas maiores / Abstract: Amazonian upland forests are wide formations and can compose large continuous forests. There are several studies about population genetic structure of species in this kind of forest, but there are few studies that aim to understand the genetic structure along the Amazon. Brazil-nut tree is a monotypic species, Bertholletia excelsa, endemic to upland forests and distributed along almost the entire expanse of the Amazon. This study aimed to evaluate genetic structure of Bertholletia excelsa populations over Amazon and verify if the structuring is influenced by distance between them. Material from 379 individuals was collected in nine subpopulations distributed in five states. Seven microsatellites markers were developed to the species and were used with four others, previously published, to samples genotyping. Analyses within and among populations were performed to evaluate genetic diversity and population structure. Genetic distance estimates were correlated to different potential factors to find possible causes to genetic structure. A few alleles were found in each subpopulation and considerable variation was observed in alleles found in each subpopulation and in their allele frequencies, especially when compared very distant subpopulations. Heterozygote excess was observed in five subpopulations while in the other four subpopulations non-significantly different from zero estimates of FIS were found. Fine-scale structure, when present, was small. Estimates to inter population genetic structure varied from low ('teta' = 0,02) to higt ('teta' = 0,244) values. B. excelsa genetic structure can be analysed considering three different scales: (i) within population; (ii) among moderately distant populations (<500km); and among very distant subpopulations. At all scales, significant correlations were found between genetic structure and geographic distance between pairs of individuals or populations. It may indicate that distance is an important factor to this population's genetic structure, but probably there are other factors acting together, especially at great geographical scales / Mestrado / Genetica Vegetal e Melhoramento / Mestre em Genética e Biologia Molecular

Orientador: Matthieu Tubino / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Química / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T17:54:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bastos_FlavioAdriano_D.pdf: 1277928 bytes, checksum: 9039000b025b809b99909b347545f47f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A primeira parte deste trabalho consiste na apresentação de um novo método, seletivo e quantitativo, para a determinação de metóxido de sódio em solução metanólica, utilizando-se a termometria. O metóxido é usado como reagente em muitos processos industriais, como na indústria farmacêutica e também como catalisador na síntese de biodiesel. O método desenvolvido está baseado no aumento da temperatura da solução como consequência da reação exotérmica entre a água e o íon metóxido. Em relação ao método atualmente usado, ele apresenta vantagens como maior rapidez e simplicidade nas análises, além de custo mais baixo. Os resultados obtidos pelos dois métodos foram submetidos a testes estatísticos que comprovaram, em nível de confiança de 95%, que os resultados obtidos com os dois procedimentos não diferem entre si. Os valores de desvio padrão estão abaixo de 2,0 %. O método proposto pode ser aplicado, por exemplo, no controle da concentração de metilato de sódio em lotes do produto adquirido para fins de síntese e, também, no controle da produção industrial deste reagente. Na segunda etapa, foi realizado o estudo da influência do líquido obtido da casca de castanha de caju (LCC) na estabilidade oxidativa de biodieseis oriundos de óleos de soja, de milho, de canola e de girassol utilizando-se o método Rancimat® e variando-se a concentração do antioxidante para cada um dos tipos de biodiesel. Em todos os casos, pode-se observar que a adição do antioxidante eleva a resistência à oxidação do biodiesel, sendo que concentrações, em mol L-1, da ordem de 10-5, para o biodiesel de girassol, e de 10-3 para os demais, já se nota ação antioxidante em função da diminuição da velocidade de oxidação do biodiesel estudado. Também foram determinados parâmetros cinéticos e termodinâmicos das reações envolvendo o antioxidante / Abstract: The first part of this work presents a new and selective quantitative analytical thermometric method for sodium methoxide determination in methanol solutions in the presence of hydroxide ions. The sodium methoxide is used as a reagent or a catalyst in many industrial processes such as, for example, pharmaceuticals and biodiesel syntheses. The procedure is based on the measurement of the temperature increase of the solution caused by the exothermic reaction between water and the ion methoxide. In relation to the current method, the method proposed has advantages such as lower cost and has greater speed and simplicity analysis, besides is faster. The results obtained in this work were compared with those obtained by current method were subjected to statistical tests proved that, within certain levels of confidence, the results obtained by the proposed method does not differ significantly from the current method used by manufacturers. The observed relative standard deviations are below 2,0 %. The proposed method can be applied, for example, in incoming inspection of raw materials and in quality control of the industrial production of sodium methoxide. In the second part of this work we carried out a study of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) influence as antioxidant on biodiesel came from the refined vegetable oils from soybean, sunflower, canola and corn through the official Rancimat® method. The tests were performed varying the temperature and concentration of the antioxidant for each of the biodiesel. In all cases, it can be seen that the addition of antioxidant increases the oxidation resistance of biodiesel, with concentrations, in mol L-1, in the order of 10-5 for sunflower biodiesel and 10-3 for the other ones, already observed antioxidant activity due to the decrease in the rate of oxidation of biodiesel studied. Besides that, it was determined kinetics and thermodynamics parameters from the antioxidant action / Doutorado / Quimica Analitica / Doutor em Ciências

M. Tech (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences) Vaal University of Technology. / In this study, analytical method for determining the chlorinated phenols in water was developed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The following four compounds which are 2, 4, 6- Trichlorophenol (2, 4, 6 TCP), 3-chlorophenol (3CP), 2, 4- Dichlorophenol (2, 4 DCP) and 4-chloro-3-methylphenol (4C3MP) were identified and quantified with a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The validation parameters tested were,: linearity, trueness, precision, detection limit of quantitation, sensitivity, specificity, selectivity. The linear calibration ranges of five standard solution from 1-10 ppm. The linearity ranges between 0.9298-0.9813. The activated carbon based on the waste macadamia nutshell activated carbon (MAC) was investigated for its potential uses as an adsorbent for chlorinated phenols removal and compared with grafted macadamia nutshell activated carbon (GMAC). The adsorbent was characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The parameters such as pH, temperature, contact time, concentration and adsorbent were investigated by adsorption technique. The strata C18E has been used before for the same reason and therefore the research was based on mimic the functional group of solid phase extraction (SPE) into macadamia activated carbon (MAC). The functional groups in SPE C18E are benzene and octadecyl. MAC was grafted with strata C18E functional groups to compare its potential with the SPE. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were applied to verify the experimental data. The pseudo-second order exhibited the best fit for the kinetic studies for MAC adsorption. Chemical removal of chlorinated phenols from wastewater is necessary to reduce harmful products on the environment and human health. Chlorinated phenols have been previously listed as some of the highest priority contaminants and as well as mainly important capability carcinogenic toxins released from chemical plants. Their availability in water supplies was perceived by their bad taste and smell. The acceptable chlorinated phenols concentration in portable water is 1 (mg/l) base on the approval of world health organization. The permanent checking of chlorinated phenols in environmental samples has a greater significance and stresses highly effectiveness, common selectively and great sensitively methods. The maximum uptake of Phenol using weighed mass of MAC was found to be 78 % and for GMAC was 84% for both 2,4,6TCP. t=250 min, pH=5, Co=1mg/l, T = 25 oC and m = 0.3 g/l were the optimum condition for Phenol-MAC system and GMAC system. Over all analysis of equilibrium model analysis indicates the fitness of Langmuir isotherm model to Phenol MAC adsorption system, suggesting a monolayer adsorption of phenol on the surface of MAC. Phenol adsorption capacity of MAC was found to be decreasing with increase in temperature suggesting that the adsorption process was exothermic in nature, which was further supported by the negative values of change in enthalpy. Characterization of MAC and GMAC confirmed the mesoporous texture, highly carbonaceous nature and a higher effective surface area of 912 m2/g. The highest phenol uptake capacity of GMAC was found to be 8.0049 mg/g. The optimal conditions for various process parameters are t = 250 min, pH=5, Co=1mg/l, T = 25 oC and m = 0.3 g/l were the optimum condition for Phenol-GMAC system. Like Phenol-MAC system, the kinetics studies confirmed that Phenol-GMAC adsorption system can be described by pseudo- second-order kinetics model. Equilibrium model analysis indicates the fitness of Langmuir isotherm model to Phenol-MAC adsorption system, suggesting a monolayer adsorption of phenol on the surface of GMAC. Phenol adsorption capacity of GMAC was found to be decreasing with increase in temperature suggesting that the adsorption process was exothermic in nature, which was further supported by the negative values of change in enthalpy. The negative values of Gibb’s free energy suggested that adsorption of phenol onto GMAC was a spontaneous process.

This thesis presents proposals of production technologies based on the drawing of a ball nut. The content of the thesis is finding out the purpose of the part in the machine unit, analyzing similar production processes, detail drawing analysis, developing manufacturing technologies, including machine and material equipment. In this thesis all the necessary technological problems are formulated and solved, such as calculation of cutting conditions, machine time and costs. The proposed production technologies are compared and in conclusion of the thesis is a brief summary of achieved results, their evaluation and selection of the appropriate production technology and some recommendations are given.

Master´s thesis is focused on portal milling machine driven by ball screw and nut. There is a limit where it is suitable to use a driven screw or driven nut. Both variants are solved based on specified X-axis travel distance. In last part is solved the design of support long shaft ball screw driven by nut. The work also includes 3D CAD model of both variants and drawing documentation.

This paper deals with the manufacture and characterisation of cheese analogues, which are products, where the milk components are totally or partially replaced by non-milk components. Model samples, edam type cheese and the analogue containing hazelnut oil, were manufactured using the standard way at Brno Mendelu. The main parameters chosen to describe the quality of samples were free and bound fatty acids, volatile compounds and sensory quality. The main aim was to judge the influence of added hazelnut oil on mentioned parameters. For the identification and semiquantification of volatile compounds HS-SPME-GC-MS method was used. Fat extraction from sample was made with a mixture of two solvents (diethylether, petrolether), fatty acids were identified and quantified by GC-FID, with their former acid transesterification using methanolic solution of BF3 as a catalyst. For sensory analysis of the appearance, colour, texture, aroma, taste and overall acceptance of the sample descriptive scales and comparison with standard were used, the structure was observed by electron microscopy. The results show that addition of hazelnut oil affects the sensory properties, ripening process (higher amount of volatile compounds, faster lipolysis), nutrition value (higher amount of unsaturated fatty acids), and the stability of the product.

This paper presents a design of the production process for the clamping nut by cold extrusion. The nut, which is made of material ČSN 12 050, is used to clamp the injection nozzle to the injection system. Subsequently different variants of production were processed, from which the variant B was chosen. For slug a rod with diameter size of 24 mm with toleration f9 made by the company Ferona a. s was chosen. Calculations of process parameters were made for this variant. Based on the parameters the automatic forming machine TPD 630 with nominal force of 6 000 kN was chosen. For the selected machine, operational tools were designed for each forming operation, whose geometry is shown in the drawing documentation. Based on the technical and economical evaluation, the final price of the formed part was set at CZK 18,48.

Increasing the use of Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) in vehicle bodystructures is important for reducing weight and cutting CO2 emissions. This thesis investigates challenges in resistance welding that can be a barrier to implementing UHSS as a replacement for low strength steels in vehicle structures. Empirical research has been performed to offer new approaches for improved joint strength and to increase knowledge on cracking mechanisms in resistance projection welding and resistance spot welding of UHSS. By optimising the current build-up phase and peak current during the first milliseconds of weld time, it was shown that the strength could be improved by up to two-fold for projection welded joints. An approach to improve the ductility and strength of resistance spotwelds in UHSS using reduced cooling time was unsuccessful. The reduced cooling rate after weld metal solidification did not fully create the desired softened microstructure. The study on the surface cracking mechanism in resistance spot welded dual-phase UHSS showed that cracking is linked to the galvanization method. It is proposed that formation of aluminium oxide layers on the electrode tips increases the surface temperature and thereby increases the probability for liquid metal embrittlement and surface cracking. / <p>QC 20150526</p>