Microstructure and Defect-Based Fatigue Mechanism Evaluation of Brazed Coaxial Ti/Al2O3 Joints for Enhanced Endoprosthesis Design

Alumina-based ceramic hip endoprosthesis heads have excellent tribological properties, such as low wear rates. However, stress peaks can occur at the point of contact with the prosthesis stem, increasing the probability of fracture. This risk should be minimized, especially for younger and active patients. Metal elevations at the stem taper after revision surgery without removal of a well-fixed stem are also known to increase the risk of fracture. A solution that also eliminates the need for an adapter sleeve could be a fixed titanium insert in the ceramic ball head, which would be suitable as a damping element to reduce the occurrence of stress peaks. A viable method for producing such a permanent titanium–ceramic joint is brazing. Therefore, a brazing method was developed for coaxial samples, and two modifications were made to the ceramic surface to braze a joint that could withstand high cyclic loading. This cyclic loading was applied in multiple amplitude tests in a self-developed test setup, followed by fractographic studies. Computed tomography and microstructural analyses—such as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy—were also used to characterize the process–structure–property relationships. It was found that the cyclic loading capacity can be significantly increased by modification of the surface structure of the ceramic.

Quantum Core Affect. Process-Semantic Theory of Emotions

The paper describes model of human affect based on quantum theory of semantics. The model considers emotion as subjective representation of behavioral context relative to a basis binary choice, organized by cyclical process structure and an orthogonal evaluation axis. The resulting spherical space, generalizing well-known circumplex models, accommodates basic emotions in specific angular domains. Predicted process-semantic structure of affect is observed in the word2vec data, as well as in the previously obtained spaces of emotion concepts. The established quantum-theoretic structure of affective space connects emotion science with quantum models of cognition and behavior, opening perspective for synergetic progress in these fields.

The Legal Nature of Public Service Disputes concerning the Legality of Imposition of Disciplinary Sanctions

The paper examines the concept of a public service dispute as a type of a legal conflict, as a protective legal relationship and a juridical procedural activity. The author analyzes the modern terminology of a public service dispute enshrined in the legislation regulating public service, identifies the shortcomings of legal definitions. The author establishes and describes the mechanisms for the consideration of public service disputes provided for by the legislation.The main approaches to the definition of a public service dispute are analyzed. The author has highlighted its features as a complex protective legal relationship. The author shows the erroneous identification by some researchers of labor and public service relations and approaches to their determination of the legal nature of public service disputes, including the legality of the application of disciplinary sanctions. It has been substantiated that the legal nature of public service disputes in the civil service system is primarily determined by the content of the relations that underlie their occurrence—public service legal relations—and not by the forms of their consideration, which allows the possibility of applying labor and civil procedural legislation to disputed legal relations.The author defines a public service dispute and an official conflict, describes the signs of a public service dispute on the legality of the imposition of a disciplinary sanction, qualifies the subject matter of the dispute under consideration—substantive legal requirements (disagreements) of the parties that act as an element of the connection between the substantive legal relationship between the parties to the dispute and the procedure applied for the dispute consideration. It has been substantiated that the public service dispute consideration concerning the legality of imposing a disciplinary sanction, termination of a public service contract constitutes a type of law enforcement procedural activity that has its own basis, subject matter, goals, elements, procedural forms and stages, types of decisions, which makes it possible to single out such disputes as one of the administrative proceedings included in the administrative process structure.