Submitted by Setor de Tratamento da Informa??o - BC/PUCRS (tede2@pucrs.br) on 2016-09-28T14:16:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_NATHAN_WILLIG_LIMA_COMPLETO.pdf: 3138188 bytes, checksum: 8747fa72c84172dbac724ce570075b26 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-28T14:16:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_NATHAN_WILLIG_LIMA_COMPLETO.pdf: 3138188 bytes, checksum: 8747fa72c84172dbac724ce570075b26 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-08 / In this work, molecular dynamics simulations of thin organic films irradiated by fast heavy ions were implemented. In order to represent the ion energy deposition, it was used a Thermal Spike Model, in which the ion track is represented as a cylindrical region with high temperature. Two papers were submitted for publication based on this study. In the first paper, it was studied the impact of film thickness and the ion energy in the topological effects of radiation (such as crater diameter, crater depth and rim volume) and in the sputtering, comparing the results for a crystalline and amorphous solids modeled by the Lennard-Jones potential. In the second paper, the FENE potential was implemented to build samples with molecular chains. The ionic radiation effects were then compared between films with molecular chains (modeled by the FENE potential) and without molecular chains (using the Lennard-Jones potential). In both works, the effects of radiation were explained by analyzing the different mechanisms of energy dissipation: evaporation, melt flow and plastic deformation. Our results show that radiation effects are strongly determined by film thickness. The simulations with FENE potential show that the presence of molecular chains reduces significantly the effects of radiation. In solids thinner than the mean gyration radius of the sample, there was not any radiation effect, indicating that the effect reduction is related not only to the decreasing of mobility but also to molecular conformation and entanglement. / Nesse trabalho foram realizadas simula??es computacionais por din?mica molecular de filmes finos org?nicos irradiados por ?ons pesados e r?pidos. Para representar a deposi??o de energia pelo ?on foi utilizado o Modelo de Thermal Spike, atrav?s do qual a trilha i?nica ? representada como uma regi?o cil?ndrica de alta temperatura ao longo do material. Dois artigos foram submetidos para publica??o a partir desse estudo. No primeiro artigo, o impacto da espessura do filme e da energia do ?on incidente nos efeitos topol?gicos da radia??o (como di?metro da cratera, profundidade da cratera e volume da protuber?ncia) e do sputtering foram investigados, comparando-se os resultados de s?lidos cristalinos e amorfos modelados pelo potencial de Lennard-Jones. No segundo artigo, o potencial FENE foi implementado para construir amostras com cadeias moleculares. Os efeitos da radia??o i?nica foram ent?o comparados entre os filmes com cadeias moleculares (modelados pelo potencial FENE) e filmes sem cadeias moleculares (modelados com o potencial de Lennard-Jones). Em ambos os trabalhos, os efeitos da radia??o foram explicados verificando-se os diferentes mecanismos de dissipa??o de energia: evapora??o, melt flow e deforma??o pl?stica. Nossos resultados mostram que os efeitos da radia??o s?o fortemente impactados pela espessura do filme. As simula??es com o potencial FENE mostram que a presen?a de cadeias moleculares reduz significativamente todos os efeitos da radia??o. Para s?lidos mais finos que o raio de gira??o m?dio das mol?culas, nenhum efeito da radia??o foi observado, indicando que a redu??o dos efeitos est? relacionada n?o s? ? diminui??o de mobilidade, mas tamb?m ? conforma??o e emaranhamento molecular.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:51:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 456553.pdf: 3406463 bytes, checksum: 401e17a9aecc3c36095588e483dd1282 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-12 / The causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, infects one-third of the world population. The World Health Organization estimates that 8.6 million new TB cases occurred in 2012, resulting in 1.3 million deaths worldwide. Thus, there is a continuous need to find promising molecular targets for the development of anti-TB agents and to identify pathogenic determinants associated with M. tuberculosis virulence aiming the development of attenuated mutant strains as new vaccine candidates against TB. Enzymes involved in purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis have important roles in cellular metabolism, as they provide nucleotides that are essential components of a number of essential biomolecules. Cytidine deaminase (CDA) catalyzes the hydrolytic deamination of cytidine to uridine, and belongs to the pyrimidine salvage pathway. The CDA from M. tuberculosis (MtCDA) is a target for the development of attenuated strains of M. tuberculosis because it may be involved in mechanisms of pathogenicity such as latency. This work presents the crystal structures of MtCDA in complex with uridine (2.4 ? resolution) and deoxyuridine (1.9 ? resolution). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was performed to analyze the physically relevant motions involved in the protein ligand recognition process, showing that structural flexibility of some residues are important to product binding. In addition, MD simulations allowed the analysis of the stability of tetrameric MtCDA structure. The role of the conserved glutamate-47 (E47) residue was evaluated by construction of five mutant proteins (E47A, E47D, E47L, E47H, and E47Q). Mutants E47A and E47H were expressed in insoluble fraction, whereas E47D, E47L and E47Q were soluble and purified by HPLC. The E47D, E47L and E47Q mutants contained 1 mol of Zn2+ per mol of protein subunit. These mutations had no effect on oligomerization state of MtCDA. Steady-state kinetic results showed that KM values for the E47D and E47Q mutants were not significantly altered, whereas there was a decrease in kcat values of 37-fold for E47D and 19-fold for E47Q mutant. No activity could be detected for E47L mutant. The crystal structure of the E47D mutant was solved by X-rays diffraction, using synchrotron light. An essential role was proposed for the ?-carboxyl group of E47, and its involvement in the catalityc process. On the other hand, an important part of drug and vaccine development is the identification of gene products that are critical for bacterial growth and survival. In this way the knockout of the cdd gene was performed in order to evaluate the importance of the cdd gene for mycobacteria growth in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggest that cdd gene is not an essential gene for in vitro growth under the employed experimental conditions. Infection in mice with the knockout strain of cdd gene has shown a significant reduction in the CFU s in lungs and spleen of the infected animals. Futher experiments are under way to confirm such findings. Finally, results from enzymatic characterization, site directed mutagenesis and gene replacement may be the starting point for a better understanding about the role of cytidine deaminase in M. tuberculosis metabolism and open up the possibility for a rational design of attenuated strain, that may be useful for future development of a new vaccine candidate against human TB. / O agente causador da tuberculose (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, infecta um ter?o da popula??o mundial. A Organiza??o Mundial da Sa?de estima que 8,6 milh?es de novos casos de tuberculose ocorreram em 2012, resultando em 1,3 milh?es de mortes no mundo. Assim, existe uma necessidade cont?nua de encontrar alvos moleculares promissores para o desenvolvimento de agentes anti-tuberculose e identificar determinantes de virul?ncia associados com a patog?nese de M. tuberculosis, visando a obten??o de cepas mutantes atenuadas como candidatas a novas vacinas contra a tuberculose. As enzimas envolvidas na bios?ntese de purina e pirimidina t?m pap?is importantes no metabolismo celular, uma vez que proporcionam nucle?tidos, os quais s?o componentes essenciais de um grande n?mero de biomol?culas. A enzima Citidina deaminase (CDA) catalisa a desamina??o hidrol?tica da citidina a uridina, e faz parte da via de salvamento das pirimidinas. A CDA de M. tuberculosis (MtCDA) devido a sua n?o essencialidade pode ser um alvo interesante para a obten??o de cepas atenuadas para o desenvolvimento de vacinas auxotr?ficas contra a tuberculose, j? que pode estar envolvido nos mecanismos de invas?o e lat?ncia. No presente trabalho s?o apresentadas as estruturas cristalogr?ficas da MtCDA em complexo com uridina (2,4 ? de resolu??o) e deoxiuridina (1,9 ? de resolu??o). Simula??o da Din?mica Molecular (MD) foi realizada com o prop?sito de analisar os movimentos fisicamente relevantes envolvidos no processo do reconhecimento prote?na-ligante, e mostra que a flexibilidade estrutural de algumas regi?es da prote?na s?o importantes para a liga??o do produto. Al?m disso, simula??es MD permitiram a an?lise da estabilidade da estrutura tetram?rica da MtCDA. O papel do res?duo conservado glutamato 47 (E47) foi avaliado mediante a constru??o de cinco prote?nas mutantes (E47A, E47D, E47L, E47H, e E47Q). Os mutantes E47A e E47H foram expressos na fra??o insol?vel, enquanto E47D, E47L e E47Q foram expressas na fra??o sol?vel e purificadas por cromatografia l?quida de alta performance (HPLC). Os mutantes E47D, E47L e E47Q continham 1 mol de Zn2+ por mol de subunidade de prote?na. Estas muta??es n?o tiveram efeito sobre o estado de oligomeriza??o da MtCDA. Resultados cin?ticos em estado estacion?rio mostraram que os valores de KM para os mutantes E47D e E47Q n?o foram alterados significativamente, enquanto houve uma redu??o nos valores de kcat de 37 vezes para E47D e 19 vezes para a mutante E47Q. N?o foi detectada qualquer atividade para a mutante E47L. A estrutura cristalogr?fica do mutante E47D foi resolvida por cristalografia de raios-X o que nos permitiu propor um papel catal?tico para o grupo ?-carboxila do residuo E47, sugerindo o envolvimento de um pr?ton na cat?lise. Por outro lado, uma parte essencial para o desenvolvimento de novos f?rmacos e vacinas, ? a identifica??o de produtos de genes que s?o fundamentais para o crescimento e a sobreviv?ncia bacteriana in vitro e in vivo. Desta forma, foi realizado o nocaute do gene cdd a fim de avaliar a import?ncia deste gene para o crescimento do bacilo em vida livre e em condi??es de estresse (vida intracelular). Nossos resultados sugerem que o gene cdd n?o ? um gene essencial para o crescimento do bacilo in vitro sob as condi??es experimentais utilizadas. Experimentos de infec??o em camundongos com a cepa nocaute do gene cdd mostraram uma significativa redu??o nas UFC s determinadas no pulm?o e ba?o dos animais infectados. Con tudo, experimentos de crescimento in vitro e infec??o em camundongos est?o sendo realizados a fim de confirmar os resultados obtidos. Os resultados da caracteriza??o enzim?tica e substitui??o g?nica s?o o ponto de partida para o melhor entendimento sobre o papel da enzima no metabolismo de nucleot?deos em M. tuberculosis, al?m de abrirem a possibilidade para o desenho racional de uma cepa atenuada, ?til para o futuro desenvolvimento de uma nova candidata a vacina contra a tuberculose humana

Då det under analysens gång har urskiljts flera mansbilder i Din stund på jorden, kan jag hålla med manlighetsforskare som t.ex. Claes Ekenstam att manlighet är något som hela tiden påverkas av samhälliga förändringar och ideologier. Eftersom romanen sträcker sig under en tidsperiod på omkring 60 år har detta medfört till att mansbilderna förändrats under handlingens gång, i och med att också samhället förändrats. Analysen har dock inte närmare gått in på hur samhället i romanen förändrats utan enbart på hur de olika karaktärerna skiljer sig från varandra, där tydliga skillnader framkommit. Jag har konstaterat att brödernas mansbilder skiljer sig åt från de övriga män i det bondesamhälle de lever i då jag använt mig utav omanlighetsbegreppet. Om det beror på det moderna samhällets framväxt har jag som sagt inte studerat närmare utan enbart inriktat mig på skillnaderna i mansbilderna. Att manligheten också konstant omformas och aldrig är fast och given, är en utav mansforskningens teorier. Detta stämmer väl överens med de olika mansbilder som framträtt i Din stund på jorden där fadern står för den mer tillbakasträvande mannen som följer de regler och traditioner som finns nedärvda i samhället. Då fadern följer normerna följer han också den givna manlighet som finns i det bondesamhälle han lever i, något som de två bröderna inte gör. Bröderna går istället genom sina handlingar emot de normer som finns nedärvda, vilket gör att de formar en annan typ av manlighet som präglas av t.ex. idealism och individualism. Även om karaktärerna präglas av individualistiska egenskaper präglas de också av en splittring där deras drömmar inte införlivas i verkligheten. Den splittring och kluvenhet karaktären Albert känner har kopplats ihop med en utav mansforskningens teorier om mannens rädsla för att falla som sammankopplas med mannens krav på självbehärskning. Det jag uppmärksammat i samband med detta är att Albert inte har styrkan att leva ut sina drömmar till fullo, utan samtidigt är rädd att förlora kontrollen över sitt liv. Alberts mansbild skiljer sig därför mot de män i romanen som inte är rädda att tappa kontrollen, då de lever efter sina ideal och drömmar. Som jag tidigare nämnt anser jag att dessa män står för den ideala mansbilden i Din stund på jordens värld. Det jag har uppmärksammat i brödernas mansbilder är att de präglas av den homosociala relation som finns mellan dem. Genom relationen relaterar de och söker bekräftelse i varandra, vilket bygger upp deras identiteter som män. Min slutsats av detta är därför att brödernas homosociala förhållande speglar en stor del av romanens handling. Alberts liv och därav mansbild har alltså till viss del påverkats och formats av Sigfrids ord och öde. Dock får vi bara ta del av Alberts påverkan av deras homosociala relation då han är fokalisatorn. Sigfrids påverkan är svårare att ta del av då vi inte får ta del av hans tankar samt att han dör ung. Att bröderna främst söker bekräftelse i varandra anser jag deras hierarkiska förhållande till fadern ligger till grund för. Då män söker bekräftelse i den egna gruppen av män, kan inte bröderna relatera till fadern som befinner sig högst upp i hierarkin.

Die ökologische Bewertung von Prozessen gewinnt zunehmend an Bedeutung. Der Betrachtungsgegenstand dieser Arbeit ist der Prozess Reinigen, der in der Oberflächentechnik breite Anwendung findet. Mit einer Systematisierung und Wertung der Bedeutung der Hauptverfahren wird sich dann auf den Prozess des wässrigen Reinigens konzentriert, der den größten Anteil der Anwendungen ausmacht. Die Analyse des Technologiefeldes ergab ein breites Spektrum möglicher Verfahrensvariationen. Dies hat zur folge, dass fast jede einzelne Reinigungsanlage auf den jeweiligen Einsatzzweck mit Hilfe der möglichen Anwendungsparameter optimiert werden kann. Ziel dabei ist es, die Anlagen ökonomisch-ökologisch optimal zu betreiben. Dieses Ziel kann durch Investitionen in bereits angebotene Umweltschutztechnologien auch mit Kostenvorteilen erreicht werden. Die in der Arbeit vorgestellten und systematisierten integrierten Umweltschutztechnologien sind geeignet, die ebenfalls dargelegten ökologischen Schwachstellen des Prozesses auszugleichen. Mit dem Einsatz dieser Technologien steigt die Komplexität der Prozessführung, so dass sich daraus Forschungsbedarf zur automatisierten Überwachung und Regelung dieses Prozesses unter Einbeziehung neuer Sensorik ergibt. Weiterhin wird die Norm DIN ISO 14031 zur Umweltleistungsbewertung vorgestellt und ein Vorschlag für potentielle prozessorientierte Umweltziele sowie entsprechende Kennzahlen unterbreitet. Die kritische Betrachtung des Reinigungsprozesses aus ökologischer Sicht hat gezeigt, dass bereits ein hohes Aktivitätsniveau bei der Forschung zu diesem Prozess zu verzeichnen ist und somit dessen Bedeutung für Wirtschaft und Umwelt unterstreicht.

Public transport organizations, such as Din Tur, require affordable modern solutions to improve their public image and passenger satisfaction. An easy way to create positive associations in people is to provide either useful services or, preferably, entertainment. This report covers the design, development and evaluation of an entertainment system – consisting of a smartphone game, a cloud-hosted backend, and a supporting on-bus hardware system – with the objective of making Din Tur's bus service seem more modern and appealing. The smartphone game, “Håll Platsen”, is developed in Unity game engine, focuses on providing brief entertainment during bus commutes, and incorporates gamification design elements. The Python-based back-end resides in Google's App Engine and Datastore platforms, and provides a unified virtual game environment enabling player cooperation and competition. The prototype on-bus hardware system uses the Raspberry Pi as a Light-Emitting Diode control system to supply real-world feedback of the game's virtual environment. The systems incorporate real-world busstop positioning, player location, online mapping services, team location-control mechanics, reflex-based minigames, player progression mechanics, and mobile-focused design. The resulting system can be useful in estimating public response to non-standard “smart” promotion methods, the use of games to improve everyday routines (i.e. commuting), and serve as a basis for further research in human & smart-technology interaction.

Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen species represents an additional nutrient source to natural environments, and can alter the nitrogen cycle by increasing nutrient levels beyond the requirements of organisms. In Tampa Bay, atmospheric deposition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen species (DIN) has been found to be the second largest nitrogen source, but little is known about dissolved organic nitrogen species (DON). The research goal was to improve the dry and wet deposition estimates by inclusion of the DON contribution. In the atmospheric chemistry field a standard method to measure DON in atmospheric samples has not been agreed upon. This research proposes the use of the ultraviolet (UV)-photolysis method and presents the optimal settings for its application on atmospheric samples. Using a factorial design scheme, experiments on surrogate nitrogen compounds, typically found in the atmosphere, indicated that DON can be xviii measured with no biases if optimal settings are fixed to be solution pH 2 with a 24-hr irradiance period. DIN species (NH4 +, NO2 -, NO3 -) and DON concentrations were determined in fine (PM2.5) and coarse particles (PM10-2.5) as well as in rainwater samples collected at Tampa Bay. The estimates of wet deposition fluxes for NH4 +, NO3 - and DON were 1.40, 3.18 and 0.34 kg-N ha-1yr-1, respectively. Hourly-measured gas concentrations and 24-hr integrated PM10 concentrations were used in conjunction with a below-cloud scavenging model to explain DIN and DON concentration in rainwater samples. Scavenging of aerosol-phase DON contributed only 0.9 ± 0.2% to rainwater DON concentrations, and therefore gas scavenging should be responsible for 99%. These results confirmed the existence of negative biases in the dry and wet deposition fluxes over Tampa Bay. There is increasing interest in simulating wet deposition fluxes, and the proposed below-cloud scavenging model offers a new computational approach to the problem. It integrates the typical gas and particle collection functions and the concept of the deposition-weighted average concentrations. The model uses mass balance to describe the time-dependent cumulative contribution of all droplets in the rain spectrum to the rainwater concentration, giving predictions closer to experimental values and better estimations than those reported in the literature for similar cases.

Den moderna informationsteknologin och ett alltmer multifunktionellt Internet bjuder på nya men framförallt lättare sätt att utföra sina vardagsangelägenheter. Många myndigheter följer med i ”informations- och kommunikationsrevolutionen” och erbjuder sina användare e-tjänster. Så även hälso- och sjukvården. De senaste åren har varit framgångsrik med framtagning av olika hälsotjänster för medborgarna online. Detta har visat sig vara omtyckt bland patienter men mindre uppskattad bland vårdpersonal. Speciellt är det läkarna som oroas av bland annat missförstånd av texter och därigenom ökad belastning med frågor till vårdenheter. Uppsala län införde tjänsten först i landet och då uppkom olika klagomål från läkarnas sida. Skåne län var andra län som införde tjänsten i mars 2014. Eftersom de flesta synpunkter handlade om läkarna i regionerna runt Uppsala län undersöks i denna studie vårdpersonals syn i Skåne län. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vårdpersonals inställning och kunskap ett år efter att patienten fått tillgång till sin journal via Internet. För att undersöka detta utfördes en kvantitativ studie med strukturerade enkäter och intervjuer bland olika vårdcentraler i Malmö stad. Resultatet av dataanalysen är att vårdpersonal är oroliga, främst för att det skall uppkomma missförstånd som orsakar onödig oro hos patienterna, men också för att vården skall bli mer belastad med oroliga patienters frågor. De tycker inte att journalen på nätet är en patientsäker tjänst även om resultatet visar att det finns bara någon som har kommit till lindrig skada vid läsning av journal på nätet. Slutsatsen är att vårdpersonal är oroliga och kritiska till tjänsten. Det som kom fram skiljer sig inte från tidigare undersökningar.

The Manaqib al-`Arifin is a series of hagiographic biographies of the first Mevlevi masters. It was written in Persian by the dervish Eflaki in the first half of the fourteenth century in Konya. Because of the limited number of narrative sources from that period, Eflaki appears as an outstanding witness of the late Seldjuk, Ilkhanid, and early Beylik period in Anatolia. / This thesis intends to evaluate the Manaqib al-`Arifin as a source for political history. While previous historical scholarship has made frequent use of this source for isolated episodes, barely any systematic study of the Manaqib has been published yet. / The evaluation presented in this thesis results from a comparison between every element of information that can be considered "political" in the Manaqib al-`Arifin and current scholarship on the respective topic. These elements of information fall into four broad categories: The Seldjuk of Anatolia, the akhi organization, the Ilkhan state, and the beylik states. / The most part of this thesis consists in an exhaustive enumeration of the elements of political history that could be found in the Manaqib. In turn, these elements set the tone of the global conclusion of the inquiry, that is to say that the Manaqib al-`Arifin, without being a revolutionary source, offers information which is often original and which, under certain conditions, can prove highly reliable.

Baigiamajame magistro darbe, kuris atliktas pagal VGTU, Statybos fakulteto, Geotechnikos katedros pateiktą užduotį, atliktas geosintetinių medžiagų taikymo pagrindo stiprinimui galimybės vertinimas. Darbą, kurio tema „Pagrindo stiprinimas naudojant geosintetinę armatūrą“, sudaro supažindinimas su geosintetikos sąvoka, pagrindinių gaminių pavyzdžių ir jiems gaminti naudojamų žaliavų aprašymas ir taikymo sričių aprašymas, geosintetinių gaminių ilgaamžiškumo ir destrukcijos nagrinėjimas, realiai įgyvendintų statybos projektų Lietuvoje apžvalga, geosintetikos darbo grunte nagrinėjimas ir literatūros šaltinių analizė, pateikiamos dažniausiai taikomos geosintetikos skaičiavimo metodikos. Pagrindinės darbo dalys yra eksperimentinis tyrimas horizontalių grunto deformacijų priklausomybei nuo armavimo tipo nustatymas, jo kompiuterinis modeliavimas programiniu paketu „Plaxis“ bei vokiečių standarto DIN skaičiavimo metodikos sekliojo pamato galios nustatymui nagrinėjimas ir analogiškos situacijos rezultatų gautų kompiuterinio modeliavimo programa „GEO5“ palyginimas. Darbe pateikiami atliktų eksperimentų metodikų aprašymai, nuotraukos iš tyrimo vietų bei gauti rezultatai ir jais paremtos išvados bei rekomendacijos. / The Masters thesis has been done by the tasks of the Department of Civil Engineering of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. Thesis, titled „Ground reinforcement using geogrids“, contains introduction of geosynthetics conception, description of main products and raw materials used in manufacture process, analysis of geosynthetics‘ durability and destruction, overview of construction projects with geosynthetics used in Lithuania, analysis of geosynthetics‘ and soils‘ performance, investigation and analysis of usually used geosynthetics designing methodology. The main parts of the work is an experimental study of horizontal ground deformation dependence on reinforcement type, the computer simulation with program package „Plaxis“ and analysis of German DIN standard calculation methodology for shallow foundation bearing capacity on reinforced subgrade and results comparison with ones obtained by computer simulation program „GEO5“. The paper presents the methodologies and descriptions of carried experiments, photos from test sites, conclusions and recommendations based on obtained results.

DIN 35NiCrMoV125 (equivalent to AISI 4340), which is a high strength low alloy steel (HSLA), is mainly used at military applications in the production of gun barrels. The main aim of this study was to determine the low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviour and the influence of temperature on low cycle fatigue failure properties of that steel. Three different temperatures (room temperature, 2500C and 4000C) were used in the experiments in order to analyze the effect of temperature. For each temperature, five strain amplitudes (in the range of 0.2% offset yield point to 2% strain) were applied and the duplicates of each experiment were performed to obtain more accurate results. Strain amplitudes and the corresponding stresses were calculated from tension tests performed at each temperature. Strain amplitude versus fatigue life (e- N) curves for three different temperatures predicted that fatigue life at a given strain increases with increasing temperature. The transition lives of those three curves were observed at 1 % strain amplitude and no significant effect of temperature on transition lives was observed. For stress based analysis, stress versus fatigue life (S-N) curves were drawn. These curves pointed that fatigue strength at a given number of cycle decreases with increasing temperature. Fractographic analyses of the fracture surfaces were performed to examine the effects of load and temperature on the specimens. It was observed that the number of crack initiation sites increases with increasing strain.