Lintérêt pour le maintien dans lemploi des travailleurs âgés est de plus en plus présent dans les préoccupations politiques européenne et belge en particulier. Nous nous sommes penchés sur les raisons qui poussent les travailleurs à vouloir quitter volontairement leur entreprise, cest-à-dire les facteurs expliquant lintention de quitter. Notre but était didentifier pourquoi les plus âgés décident de prendre leur retraite prématurément, mais aussi ce qui les différencie des plus jeunes ayant envie de changer dentreprise. Suite à une étude exploratoire sur une population denseignants âgés, nous nous sommes intéressés à une population plus large, composée de 1772 travailleurs appartenant à 11 entreprises de différents secteurs dactivités. Ensuite, nous avons cherché à identifier des pistes de solutions au départ anticipé des employés et cadres dune entreprise spécialisée dans les produits de santé. Suite à une phase diagnostique, soit lenquête à large échelle sur les 1772 travailleurs (évaluation des niveaux de stress, de lintention de quitter et des facteurs dinsatisfaction), vingt travailleurs dune des 11 entreprises ont été interviewés afin didentifier quelles solutions ils suggèrent par rapport aux différents problèmes soulevés dans lenquête préalable. Un questionnaire exploratoire rempli en fin dinterview permet de mesurer lavis des travailleurs par rapport aux différentes solutions suggérées dans la littérature. En dautres termes, nous cherchions à voir si les solutions souhaitées concernent la gestion du changement, la revalorisation ou les conditions de travail. Il sagit donc dune investigation exploratoire. Une dernière étude visait à généraliser les résultats issus de la précédente. En effet, sur base de la grille dentretien et des résultats obtenus, un questionnaire à large échelle a pu être mis au point. Différents secteurs dactivités étaient ici concernés et la population choisie était le groupe des travailleurs âgés uniquement. Finalement, les implications de ce travail pour le futur rejoignent tout à fait les conclusions du small group meeting on Aging and Work qui sest déroulé à Tilburg en Janvier 2007 (Shalk, 2009). En effet, dans nos études, comme dans la plupart des études, peu de différences sont constatées entre les âges. Cela est en contradiction avec les attitudes stéréotypées des employeurs à lheure actuelle. On compte trois implications pour les chercheurs et les praticiens en ressources humaines. Premièrement, il faut promouvoir une égalité entre les âges jusquà preuve du contraire et ainsi lutter contre les stéréotypes et discriminations à légard des plus âgés. Deuxièmement, on sait dorénavant que les pratiques RH doivent concerner toutes les classes dâges et quil faut adopter une perspective de gestion des âges. Troisièmement, on remarque limportance dune perspective life-span, considérant la diversité individuelle dans le groupe des plus âgés et lexpérience de vie plutôt que de considérer uniquement lâge chronologique comme critère. Au-delà des différentes recherches scientifiques possibles sur les causes de départs ou les stimulants, il faut encourager chaque entreprise à mener son propre diagnostic afin de mettre en place les actions les plus efficaces mais en se focalisant sur limportance du développement professionnel et la communication et pas ou plus seulement sur les conditions temporelles ou matérielles de travail.

Crystallographic texture in polycrystalline materials are known to play an important role in tailoring suitable properties for various technological applications. In addition, the evolution of texture provides a profound basis to develop scientific understanding of physical processes occurring in the material during deformation and annealing. Between the two, the understanding of deformation texture is much broader. However, certain issues pertaining to the evolution of deformation texture evolution are yet to be explored or not uniquely agreed upon. A few notable examples are the effects of extreme grain sizes and strain rates. Moreover, most of the studies are pertaining to single phase metals and alloys. While many engineering alloys consist of two phase microstructures, the effect of second phase in the microstructure on the evolution of texture in the individual phases has not been studied in a comprehensive manner. The present thesis is an attempt to addresses these issues in a more generic manner. The studies have been specifically aimed at examining the aforesaid issues in the close packed Face Centre Cubic (FCC) and Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) metals and alloys. In brief, this thesis addresses the following problems pertaining to deformation texture: (i) the effect of extreme grain sizes, (ii) the effect of extreme strain rates and (iii) the effect of a second ductile phase. Chapter 1 of the thesis gives a detailed survey of literature pertaining to the evolution of deformation textures in different metals and alloys, while chapter 2 includes the details of the experimental techniques and simulation procedures, which are mostly common for the entire work. The issue of grain size is addressed in chapter 3. In the present investigation, the evolution of deformation texture in nickel (FCC) and titanium (HCP) with the extreme grain sizes (nanometre and millimetre) has been studied. Nanocrystalline nickel with the grain size ~ 20 nm was obtained by pulse electro-deposition while the other extreme of the grain size in nickel was obtained by annealing of a cold rolled sheet at 1373 K. The rolling texture in nanocrystalline nickel had a higher volume fraction of Brass component than in nickel with normal grain size. These results have been explained on the basis of inhibition of cross slip in small grain sizes and the operation of planar slip. This has been validated by viscoplastic self-consistent simulations. The texture of coarse grain nickel samples (typified as oligocrystalline, owing to the lesser number of grains in the thickness direction) also had higher Brass component like the nanocrystalline sample. A detailed analysis was performed by examining misorientation development in the grain interior and in the vicinity of the grain boundaries. The similarity at the two extreme length scales has been explained on the basis of lower “Grain Boundary Affected Zone” at the extreme length scales. To examine the effect of grain size in the case of HCP materials, commercially pure titanium with ultra-fine (500 nm) and normal grain size (~50 μm), was investigated. A monotonic evolution of texture was observed in the former, which has been attributed to the absence of twinning, a situation that could arise due to the lack of coordinated movement of twinning partials in the sub-micron grain size regime. Thus, a reasonable understanding of the evolution of deformation texture in hitherto unexplored regime of grain sizes was developed for the two materials. The chapter 4 of the thesis is dedicated to the study of strain rate effects in both FCC and HCP materials. The issue of strain rate has been addressed by two ways: (a) deforming the materials at extreme strain rates, namely 10-3 s-1 to 10+3 s-1 under compression up to a reasonable strain, and (b) deforming the materials under torsion within a reasonable range of strain rates, but up to large strains. In this case, in addition to nickel, copper was also investigated owing to the different strain hardening behaviour of the two materials. The compression texture in nickel and copper was characterized by the presence of <101> component at low strain rates. At high strain rate, ~10+3 s-1, there was a decrease in the intensity of the <101> component for nickel but it strengthened for copper. This has been explained on the basis of continuous dynamic recrystallization in copper. The torsion texture evolution in nickel and copper was similar at low strain rate (10-3 s-1) and was characterized by the presence of important shear texture components. At high strain rate (1 s-1), texture weakened for nickel, while for copper a rotated cube component was observed which has been attributed to dynamic recrystallization. The effect of strain rate was studied more comprehensively in hexagonal titanium by adding one more variable, that is, the initial texture. Extreme strain rates were imparted using static and dynamic compression tests. It was found that different initial textures led to different mechanical response in terms of yield strength and strain hardening as well as microstructural response in terms of twin fractions. The samples deformed at high strain rate showed increased twinning that led to some scatter in the texture components compared to low strain rate deformed samples. VPSC simulations were able to successfully capture the evolution of texture as well as microstructural evolution in terms of twin activity in the deformed samples at the extreme strain rates. Torsion tests on titanium at different strain rates indicated evolution of inhomogeneous nature of fibre texture components with increase in strain rate. Thus, weakening of texture was observed irrespective of the strain path (compression or torsion) and crystal structure (FCC or HCP) unless additional restoration mechanism like recrystallization (continuous or discontinuous) intervened. In chapter 5, the evolution of rolling texture in two phase FCC + BCC (Ni-Fe-Cr alloys) and HCP + BCC (Ti-13Nb-13Zr ) alloys has been studied. This study was aimed at examining the effect of second deforming phase on the texture evolution in the primary phase. The effect of various parameters like volume fraction and morphology of the second phase on deformation texture evolution was studied experimentally as well as by VPSC simulations. A reduction in the Brass component of texture was observed in the austenite phase due to the presence of harder ferrite phase while a characteristic rolling texture evolved in the ferrite phase. It has been established that the softer austenite phase carried maximum strain at low volume fractions of ferrite while the harder ferrite phase carried the maximum strain at higher volume fractions of ferrite. In case of the two phase HCP+BCC alloy Ti-13Nb-13Zr, both the hexagonal α and the cubic β phases showed a characteristic rolling texture irrespective of two different morphologies. For both the equiaxed and colony microstructures, the softer β phase carried the maximum strain. VPSC simulations were able to model the deformation texture evolution as well as microstructural parameters like strain partitioning and twin fraction satisfactorily for both the microstructural conditions. It was found that the deformation mechanism in one phase could be affected by the presence of the second phase and that a characteristic change in deformation texture could be produced in the presence of the second phase. Thus, a comprehensive perspective has been developed pertaining to the evolution of texture in FCC and HCP phases in the presence of a second ductile phase. The overall findings of the three investigations carried out for the thesis are summarised in chapter 6.

This master's thesis deals with stress-strain analysis of hip joint after total hip replacement. These stress-strain states are compared between four variable stems. A research study of available literature is presented with the focus on finite element analysis of hip joints. Basics of hip's joint anatomy is described along with total endoprostheses' variants and properties. Computational modeling was chosen as a solution method using finite element analysis. The solution was executed using ANSYS software. For each stem there was created a computational model which consists of several submodels such as model of geometry, material, contacts and loading. The assesed variables were total hip displacement, contact pressure between the head and liner, stress on each stem and strain on femur. The evaluation of femur's bone tissue was accomplished on basis of Frost's mechanostat in seven Gruen zones.

Unconventional superconductivity continues to be one of the most striking chapters in condensed matter physics, by posing challenges to our theoretical understanding of its origin. During the last three decades a large number of unconventional superconductors with exotic properties have been found arising great interest, such as the heavy fermion systems, high Tc cuprates as well as the Iron based superconductors etc. Sr2RuO4, the material I have studied, can be considered as an exemplary case in this regard. In spite of more than two decades of comprehensive research, Sr2RuO4 remains one of the most compelling superconductors till date. Various experimental results give evidence that the superconductivity of Sr2RuO4 is chiral: including measurements of the Kerr effect, sound velocities, critical currents across junctions, and muon spin relaxation(μSR), the experimental technique at the heart of this dissertation. Recent NMR Knight shift measurements suggests that the pairing is most likely spin-singlet, and in the tetragonal lattice of Sr2RuO4, the combination of singlet pairing and chirality compels consideration of an seemingly unlikely order parameter: dxz ± idyz. It is unlikely because it comes along with a horizontal line node at kz = 0, whereas Sr2RuO4 has a very low c-axis conductivity. And that makes the question whether or not the superconductivity of Sr2RuO4 is chiral, of great importance. This calls for an unique scenario in regard to our understanding of unconventional superconductivity, as the presence of chirality in Sr2RuO4 might imply a new form of pairing, which is yet to be firmly determined. Chiral superconductors break time reversal symmetry by definition, and in general time-reversal-symmetry breaking (TRSB) superconductivity indicates complex two component order parameters. Probing Sr2RuO4 under uniaxial pressure offers the possibility to lift the degeneracy between such components. However, despite strenuous efforts, a splitting of the superconducting and TRSB transitions under uniaxial pressure has not been observed so far. In this thesis, I report muon spin relaxation measurements on Sr2RuO4 samples, placed under uniaxial stress. The relatively large sample size suitable for μSR demanded for a customized uniaxial pressure cell in order to perform our experiments. It has been a technically challenging task to have a fully fledged uniaxial pressure cell with stringent requirements, that is suitable for time restricted facility experiments like μSR. The technical advancement has been documented thoroughly in this thesis. Using the dedicated uniaxial pressure cell, we observed the much awaited stress induced splitting between the onset temperatures of superconductivity and time reversal symmetry breaking, consistent with the qualitative expectations for a chiral order parameter in Sr2RuO4. In addition to that, we report the appearance of a bulk magnetic order in Sr2RuO4 under higher uniaxial stress for the first time, above the critical pressure at which a Lifshitz transition is known to occur. The signal in the state appearing at high stress qualitatively differs from that in the TRSB state in unstressed Sr2RuO4, which provides evidence that the enhanced muon spin relaxation at lower stresses is not a consequence of conventional magnetism. As a whole, our results strongly support the idea of two-component superconducting order parameter in Sr2RuO4, that breaks time-reversal symmetry.

This master thesis deals with the strain, stress and reliability analysis of the safety frame of racing car. The safety frame is a part of passive safety, which it becomes active in a case of impact. The safety frame makes a reinforcement of the car body and provides its sufficient stiffness. The first part of the master thesis is focused on determination of stress and strain states during the static loading tests and their analysis. The loading conditions are prescribed by homologation regulations of Fédération Internationale de l´Automobile (FIA). The problem is solved, making use of computational modeling utilizing the Finite Element Method (FEM). The first part of thesis is used for the stiffness and safety analysis under the static loading test. The second part deals with the effect of loading velocity on the stress and strain states using the computational modeling and solver LS-DYNA.

Infrastructure is developing at an extremely fast pace which includes construction of metros, underground storage places, railway bridges, caverns and tunnels. Very often these structures are found in or on the rock masses. Rock masses are seldom found in nature without joints or discontinuities. Jointed rocks are characterized by the presence of inherent discontinuities of varied sizes with different orientations and intensities, which can have significant effect on their mechanical response. Constructions involving jointed rocks often become challenging jobs for Civil Engineers as the instability of slopes or excavations in these jointed rocks poses serious concerns, sometimes leading to the failure of structures built on them. Experimental investigations on jointed rock masses are not always feasible and pose formidable problems to the engineers. Apart from the technical difficulties of extracting undisturbed rock samples, it is very expensive and time consuming to conduct the experiments on jointed rock masses of huge dimensions. The most popular methods of evaluating the rock mass behaviour are the Numerical methods. In this thesis, numerical modelling of jointed rock masses is carried out using computer program FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua). The objective of the present study is to study the effect of various joint parameters on the response of jointed rock masses in static as well as seismic shaking conditions. This is achieved through systematic series of numerical simulations of jointed rocks in triaxial compression, in underground openings and in large rock slopes. This thesis is an attempt to study the individual effect of different joint parameters on the rock mass behaviour and to integrate these results to provide useful insight into the behaviour of jointed rock mass under various joint conditions. In practice, it is almost impossible to explore all of the joint systems or to investigate all their mechanical characteristics and implementing them explicitly in the model. In these cases, the use of the equivalent continuum model to simulate the behaviour of jointed rock masses could be valuable. Hence this approach is mainly used in this thesis. Some numerical simulations with explicitly modelled joints are also presented for comparison with the continuum modelling. The applicability of Artificial Neural Networks for the prediction of stress-strain response of jointed rocks is also explored. Static, pseudo-static and dynamic analyses of a large rock slope in Himalayas is carried out and parametric seismic analysis of rock slope is carried out with varying input shaking, material damping and shear strength parameters. Results from the numerical studies showed that joint inclination is the most influencing parameter for the jointed rock mass behaviour. Rock masses exhibit lowest strength at critical angle of joint inclination and the deformations around excavations will be highest when the joints are inclined at an angle close to the critical angle. However at very high confining pressures, the influence of joint inclination gets subdued. Under seismic base shaking conditions, the deformations of rock masses largely depend on the acceleration response with time, frequency content and duration rather than the peak amplitude or the magnitude of earthquake. All these aspects are discussed in the light of results from numerical studies presented in this thesis.

Components of turbines, combustion chambers, multi-layered electronic packaging structures and nuclear reactors are subjected to transient thermal loads during their service life. In the presence of a discontinuity like crack or dislocation, the thermal load creates high temperature gradient, which in turn causes the stress intensification at the crack tips. If proper attention is not paid in the design and maintenance of components on this high stress in the vicinity of crack tips, it may lead to instability in the system and decrease in the service life. The concepts of thermal fracture mechanics and its major parameter called transient thermal stress intensity factors can greatly help in the assessment of stability and residual life prediction of such structures. The evaluation of thermal stress intensity factors becomes computationally difficult when the body constitutes of two different materials or is non-homogenous or made of composites. Fracture at bi-material interface is different from its homogenous counterpart because of mixed mode stress condition that prevails at the crack tip even when the geometry is symmetric and loading unidirectional. Because of this, the mode 1 and mode 2 stress intensity factors can not be decoupled to represent tension and shear stress fields as can be done in the case of homogeneous materials. Mathematically, the stress intensity factors at bi-material interfaces are complex due to oscillatory singularity that exists at the crack tip. Although plenty of literature is available for bi-material systems subjected to mechanical loads, very little information is available on problems related to thermal loads. Besides, problems related to transient thermal loads need special attention, since no thermal weight functions are available and the existing methods are computationally expensive. Therefore, the present investigation has been undertaken to develop computational and analytical approaches for obtaining the Mode 1 and Mode 2 stress intensity factors for bi-material interface crack problems using conservation of energy principle in conjunction with the weight function approach for various kinds of thermal loads. In the beginning of the studies, a method to extract the Mode 1 and Mode 2 stress intensity factors for bi-material interface crack subjected to mechanical load is proposed using the concept of Jk integrals. This is extended to thermal loads using J2 line integral and J2 domain integral. Furthermore, weight functions are analytically derived for thermal bi-material stress intensity factors and a computational scheme is developed. These methods are validated for several benchmark problems with known solutions.

Les phénomènes liés au comportement à la rupture de la glace sous impact sont fréquents dans le génie civil, pour les structures offshore, et les processus de dégivrage. Pour réduire les dommages causés par l'impact de la glace et optimiser la conception des structures ou des machines, l'étude sur le comportement à la rupture dynamique de la glace sous impact est nécessaire. Ces travaux de thèse portent donc sur la propagation dynamique des fissures dans la glace sous impact. Une série d'expériences d'impact est réalisée avec un dispositif de barres de Hopkinson. La température est contrôlée par une chambre de refroidissement. Le processus dynamique de la rupture de la glace est enregistré avec une caméra à grande vitesse et ensuite analysé par des méthodes d'analyse d'images. La méthode des éléments finis étendus complète cette analyse pour évaluer la ténacité dynamique. Au premier abord, le comportement dynamique de la glace sous impact est étudié avec des échantillons cylindriques afin d'établir la relation contrainte-déformation dynamique qui sera utilisée dans les simulations numériques plus tard. Nous avons observé de multi-fissuration dans les expériences sur les échantillons cylindriques mais son étude est trop difficile à mener. Pour mieux comprendre la propagation des fissures dans la glace, des échantillons rectangulaires avec une pré-fissure sont employés. En ajustant la vitesse d'impact on aboutit à la rupture des spécimens avec une fissure principale à partir de la pré-fissure. L'histoire de la propagation de fissure et de sa vitesse sont évaluées par analyse d'images basée sur les niveaux de gris et par corrélation d'images. La vitesse de propagation de la fissure principale est identifiée dans la plage de 450 à 610 m/s ce qui confirme les résultats précédents. Elle varie légèrement au cours de la propagation, dans un premier temps elle augmente et se maintient constante ensuite et diminue à la fin. Les paramètres obtenus expérimentalement, tels que la vitesse d'impact et la vitesse de propagation de fissure, sont utilisés pour la simulation avec la méthode des éléments finis étendus. La ténacité d'initiation dynamique et la ténacité dynamique en propagation de fissure sont déterminées lorsque la simulation correspond aux expériences. Les résultats indiquent que la ténacité dynamique en propagation de fissure est linéaire vis à vis de la vitesse de propagation et semble indépendante de la température dans l'intervalle -15 à -1 degrés. / The phenomena relating to the fracture behaviour of ice under impact loading are common in civil engineering, for offshore structures, and de-ice processes. To reduce the damage caused by ice impact and to optimize the design of structures or machines, the investigation on the dynamic fracture behaviour of ice under impact loading is needed. This work focuses on the dynamic crack propagation in ice under impact loading. A series of impact experiments is conducted with the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. The temperature is controlled by a cooling chamber. The dynamic process of the ice fracture is recorded with a high speed camera and then analysed by image methods. The extended finite element method is complementary to evaluate dynamic fracture toughness at the onset and during the propagation. The dynamic behaviour of ice under impact loading is firstly investigated with cylindrical specimen in order to obtain the dynamic stress-strain relation which will be used in later simulation. We observed multiple cracks in the experiments on the cylindrical specimens but their study is too complicated. To better understand the crack propagation in ice, a rectangular specimen with a pre-crack is employed. By controlling the impact velocity, the specimen fractures with a main crack starting from the pre-crack. The crack propagation history and velocity are evaluated by image analysis based on grey-scale and digital image correlation. The main crack propagation velocity is identified in the range of 450 to 610 m/s which confirms the previous results. It slightly varies during the propagation, first increases and keeps constant and then decreases. The experimentally obtained parameters, such as impact velocity and crack propagation velocity, are used for simulations with the extended finite element method. The dynamic crack initiation toughness and dynamic crack growth toughness are determined when the simulation fits the experiments. The results indicate that the dynamic crack growth toughness is linearly associated with crack propagation velocity and seems temperature independent in the range -15 to -1 degrees.

Erkrankungen des Herz-Kreislaufsystems sind trotz erheblicher Fortschritte in Diagnostik und Therapie noch immer die häufigste Todesursache in Deutschland. Neben bekannte Risikofaktoren wie Hypercholesterinämie, Hyperlipoproteinämie, Diabetes mellitus, Adipositas, Bewegungsmangel, Stress und hohem Alter wird eine pathophysiologisch erhöhte Bildung reaktiver Sauerstoffspezies (ROS) als Ursache für deren Entstehung diskutiert. NAD(P)H-Oxidasen, von denen 7 Isoformen der katalytischen Nox-Untereinheiten bekannt sind, stellen dabei die Hauptquelle für vaskuläre Superoxidanionen und oxidativen Stress dar. In dieser Arbeit konnte die vorrangige Bedeutung eines intrazellulär lokalisierten Nox4-haltigen NAD(P)H-Oxidase-Komplexes für die konstitutive Radikalbildung in primären humanen Endothelzellen nachgewiesen werden. Weiterhin konnte gezeigt werden, dass durch chronische Applikation der biomechanischen Kräfte Schubspannung und Dehnung oxidativer Stress in humanen Endothelzellen in vitro vermindert werden kann. Die Herabregulation der Superoxidanionen-Bildung sowie die vermehrte Freisetzung von NO durch chronische Applikation biomechanischer Kräfte trägt zur positiven Balance von NO/Superoxidanionen und zum vasoprotektiven Potential physiologischer Schubspannung bzw. Dehnung bei. Durch Nox4-Promotordeletionsanalysen und Mutationsstudien konnte der Transkriptionsfaktor AP-1 als entscheidend für die schubspannungsabhängige Herabregulation von Nox4 identifiziert werden. Durch Stimulation von Endothelzellen bzw. murinen Gefäßringen mit oxidiertem LDL konnte dagegen die vaskuläre ROS-Bildung in vitro und ex vivo induziert werden. Zur weiteren Aufklärung des Mechanismus der LDL-induzierten ROS-Bildung in vivo und des Einflusses von NAD(P)H-Oxidasen wurden C57BL/6 (Wildtyp)- und Nox2-/--Mäuse 10 Wochen lang mit einer fettreichen Diät (Western diet) gefüttert und anschließend der Einfluss dieser Fütterung auf die NAD(P)H-Oxidase-Expression und ROS-Bildung analysiert. In der Aorta thoracalis beider Mausstämme zeigte sich durch das fettreiche Futter ein signifikanter Anstieg der NAD(P)H-Oxidase-Aktivität im Vergleich zum Standardfutter. Durch Western diet-Fütterung wurde die Nox4-mRNA-Expression in der A. thoracalis von Nox2-/--Mäuse und die p22phox-mRNA-Expression in beiden Mausstämmen induziert. Die Analyse weiterer Organe (Herz, Niere) zeigte keine Induktion von NAD(P)H-Oxidase-Untereinheiten durch Western diet-Fütterung. Zusammenfassend sprechen die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit für eine entscheidende Rolle der Nox4-haltigen NAD(P)H-Oxidase bei der vaskulären Radikalbildung in vitro und in vivo. / Cardiovascular diseases are the most common causes of death in Germany. Beside the known risk factors hypercholesteremia, hyperlipoproteinemia, diabetes mellitus, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, stress and high age, a pathophysiologically increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are discussed as cause of development of cardiovascular diseases. Nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase complexes have been identified as main source of oxidative stress and vascular superoxide anions. There are 7 known isoforms of the catalytic Nox subunit of the NADPH oxidase. In this dissertation it was shown that NADPH oxidase subunit Nox4 is the major Nox isoform in human endothelial cells. Nox4 could be localized in the perinuclear space. Overexpression of Nox4 enhanced endothelial superoxide anion formation. Furthermore, a reduction of oxidative stress could be demonstrated by chronic application of the biomechanical forces laminar shear stress and cyclic strain in endothelial cells in vitro. The observed downregulation of superoxide anion formation and upregulation of NO formation by application of biomechanical forces contribute to the positive balance between NO and superoxide anion and the vasoprotective potential of physiological shear stress and cyclic strain. Molecular cloning and functional analysis of the human Nox4 promoter revealed that an AP-1 binding site is essential for downregulation of Nox4 by laminar shear stress. On the other hand stimulation of endothelial cells and murine vessels with oxidized lipids caused an upregulation of vascular ROS production in vitro and ex vivo. In order to examine the mechanism of LDL induced ROS formation and the influence of NADPH oxidase, C57BL/6 (wild-type) and Nox2-/- mice were feed with a diet high in fat and sugar (Western-type diet) for 10 weeks. After feeding, the influence of diet on the expression of NADPH oxidase and ROS production was analyzed in the A. thoracalis. Both mice strains showed a significant upregulation of aortic ROS production in comparison to normal chow. The mRNA expression of aortic Nox4 was induced in Nox2-/- mice. Furthermore, the aortic p22phox mRNA expression was upregulated in both mice strains. The analysis of other organs (heart, kidney) showed no influence of the Western-type diet. In conclusion, the results demonstrate a major role of a Nox4 containing NADPH oxidase in the vascular radical formation in vitro and in vivo.

Der Vortrag beschreibt wie sich mittels der unterschiedlichen Berechnungsverfahren zur Lösung dynamischer Strukturpobleme der Einschlag eines idealisierten Bruchstücks in eine Schutzwand berechnen lässt. Dies wird mittels zweier kommerzieller FEM-Programme beschrieben: a.) Creo Simulate nutzt zur Lösung die Methode der modalen Superposition, d.h., es können nur lineare dynamische Systeme mit rein modaler Dämpfung berechnet werden. Kontakt zwischen zwei Bauteilen lässt sich damit nicht erfassen. Die unbekannte Kraft-Zeit-Funktion des Einschlagvorganges muss also geeignet abgeschätzt und als äußere Last auf die Schutzwand aufgebracht werden. Je dynamischer der Einschlagvorgang, desto eher wird der Gültigkeitsbereich des zugrunde liegenden linearen Modells verlassen. b.) Abaqus/Explicit nutzt ein direktes Zeitintegrationsverfahren zur schrittweisen Lösung der zugrunde liegenden Differentialgleichung, die keine tangentiale Steifigkeitsmatrix benötigt. Damit können sowohl Materialnichtlinearitäten als auch Kontakt geeignet erfasst und damit die Kraft-Zeit-Funktion des Einschlages ermittelt werden. Auch bei extrem hochdynamischen Vorgängen liefert diese Methode ein gutes Ergebnis. Es müssen dafür jedoch weit mehr Werkstoffdaten bekannt sein, um das nichtlineare elasto-plastische Materialverhalten mit Schädigungseffekten korrekt zu beschreiben. Die Schwierigkeiten der Werkstoffdatenbestimmung werden in den Grundlagen erläutert. / The presentation describes how to analyze the impact of an idealized fragment into a stell protective panel with different dynamic analysis methods. Two different commercial Finite Element codes are used for this: a.) Creo Simulate: This code uses the method of modal superposition for analyzing the dynamic response of linear dynamic systems. Therefore, only modal damping and no contact can be used. The unknown force-vs.-time curve of the impact event cannot be computed, but must be assumed and applied as external force to the steel protective panel. As more dynamic the impact, as sooner the range of validity of the underlying linear model is left. b.) Abaqus/Explicit: This code uses a direct integration method for an incremental (step by step) solution of the underlying differential equation, which does not need a tangential stiffness matrix. In this way, matieral nonlinearities as well as contact can be obtained as one result of the FEM analysis. Even for extremely high-dynamic impacts, good results can be obtained. But, the nonlinear elasto-plastic material behavior with damage initiation and damage evolution must be characterized with a lot of effort. The principal difficulties of the material characterization are described.