Literature suggests that deficiencies among dental professional students in both knowledge and awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV) and its association with oropharyngeal cancers (OPC), as well as its risk factors implicating the prevalence of HPV, may be due to the lack of HPV-related education during professional schooling. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an online learning tool to educate dental and dental hygiene students about HPV and its association with OPC, rapidly evolving disease patterns, and dental professionals’ role in HPV-associated OPC prevention efforts. A three-section online learning module was developed to improve dental professionals’ comfort levels with, and knowledge of, HPV. The participants were recruited to participate in surveys before and after the intervention. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were computed to study the effectiveness of the modules in improving the knowledge of students about this topic. Pre-intervention survey participants totaled 142, and 107 participants answered the post-intervention survey. The majority of the study participants had some baseline understanding of HPV prior to accessing the modules. After reviewing the modules, there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who identified OPC ( p = 0.01), vaginal cancer (0.02), vulvar cancer (0.04), and penile cancer (0.01) as associated with HPV. A gap in the understanding of HPV vaccine–eligible groups was noted in almost half of the participants; while most participants could correctly identify that boys and girls aged 9–12 years were eligible to get the vaccine, the gap in knowledge in this regard was related to “25-year-old with an abnormal pap result.” Due to the evolving nature of this topic, there is a need to find new and effective methods of disseminating HPV-related information among the existing and future dental workforce.

Weld overlay technique can be used on a welded pipe with a flaw in the butt weld to prevent it from cracking further. Due to the application of weld overlay on top of the weld, compressive stresses are developed in the pipe wall and the weld. These stresses counteract the effect of the residual stresses from the butt weld and tensile stresses produced in the pipe during normal operation. Existing guidelines in the nuclear industry specify minimum dimensions (length & thickness) of the weld overlay. However, there is no guideline regarding the optimum repair dimensions that should be used to obtain minimum residual stresses induced by the weld overlay technique. The optimum dimensions in this study refer to the minimum material that can be used for the weld overlay. This results in reduced cost, time and exposure to radiation. Hence a size sensitivity study is performed by varying three parameters, the width and thickness of the weld overlay, and the size of the pipe being repaired. The repaired pipe is assumed to be subjected to typical pressurizer water reactor (PWR) operating conditions. The weld overlay process is simulated using an axisymmetric finite element model. The axial and hoop stresses in the region of the butt weld after the weld overlay are compared. The results from this study will be analyzed to establish optimum dimensions of the weld overlay for various pipe sizes to mitigate axial and circumferential crack initiation at the butt weld.

The net section plastic collapse equations currently used for piping flaw evaluation in ASME Section XI, IWB-3600 are derived based on thin shell theory assuming properties for a single material. Because of the wide use of weld overlays to repair piping flaws in both BWRs and PWRs, there is a need to investigate the effect of multi-layered materials on the net section plastic collapse equations since weld overlays are typically applied with the weld material being different than the underlying base material. In addition, the larger section of the weld overlay provides additional load-carrying capability. A question also arises as to the application of appropriate loads and Z-factors if the underlying material is low-toughness material and the weld overlay has high toughness, not requiring consideration of thermal expansion stresses and Z-factors. The inherent assumptions that are made may lead to over-sizing of the overlay which can increase the welding time during the overlay implementation and subsequently the outage time. In this paper, an approach is developed for inclusion of thermal expansion loads and Z-factors for a weld overlaid circumferentially cracked section. Limit load equations are derived assuming a two layered material, both with and without taking advantage of the greater area and section modulus associated with the weld overlay. The equations for the allowable applied loads include consideration of both limited and complete circumferential flaw extent into the compressive zone of the section. The formulations are then applied to the design of weld overlays which are used to repair flawed piping. The evaluation shows that there can be significant difference in the allowable piping stresses as compared to those based on use of simplified uniform material assumptions.