FE Analysis of Creep and Hygroexpansion Response of a Corrugated Fiberboarad to a Moisture Flow: a Transient Nonlinear Analysis

This paper presents a model using finite element method to study the response of a typical commercial corrugated fiberboard due to an induced moisture function at one side of the fiberboard. The model predicts how the moisture diffusion will permeate through the fiberboard's layers (medium and liners) providing information on moisture content at any given point throughout the structure. The hygroexpansion response and the creep response were predicted through the development of a finite element model capable of capturing the behavior of the fiberboard. Comparing the results generated from the model with actual experimental results validates the accuracy of the computational model. The model predicts the deformation response due to combined hygroexpansion and creep as the relative humidity rises from 38% RH to 86%. The parameters studied and calibrated include: the coefficient of moisture diffusion of the liner and the medium boards, the coefficient of moisture expansion, and the constants in the creep constitutive law. The results generated from the finite element model showed excellent agreement with the experimental results for a short column corrugated fiberboard and a board model representing a container box side-panel dimension. The results were generated in a cyclic relative humidity condition. A successful development of a reliable computational model holds the promise for analyzing collapse mechanism of container boxes in the service field under real weather condition data without dependency on expensive time-consuming experimental investigations. This is of great benefit to the shipping industry and the public

The Map is Not the Territory

Hi Donald, It just occurred to me that I might be finished with this fieldwork. I’m sitting at the side of the road looking over this fucked up landscape of cattle, golf carts, trees with turning leaves, being rained on, frozen out, everything feels forced, and I’m double-taking sight after sight, saying to myself I’ve seen this before, I’ve done this already. I’m packing up my things. I’ll write more later, or perhaps I’ll call. bau Thirty-three locations in pursuit of the long view, from the borders of an expropriated forty year old ghost town. Thirty-eight Polaroids, thirty-six mobile phone photographs, thirty-six photos from a digital single lens reflex camera with an oiled lens filter, forty 15.2 x 10.2 cm drawings, fifty-six 38.4 x 16.4 cm drawings, sixty-three white-bordered 38.4 x 20.8 cm drawings, sixty-four 33.5 x 17.2 cm sketchbook spreads. 20 085 words; 14 123 by choice, 5962 out of obligation. It is important to figure things out for yourself. It is important to not learn too much of any one thing. This is a thesis because it’s a thesis; it is what it is. (That’s begging the question.) This is a thesis about begging the question

The Map is Not the Territory

Hi Donald, It just occurred to me that I might be finished with this fieldwork. I’m sitting at the side of the road looking over this fucked up landscape of cattle, golf carts, trees with turning leaves, being rained on, frozen out, everything feels forced, and I’m double-taking sight after sight, saying to myself I’ve seen this before, I’ve done this already. I’m packing up my things. I’ll write more later, or perhaps I’ll call. bau Thirty-three locations in pursuit of the long view, from the borders of an expropriated forty year old ghost town. Thirty-eight Polaroids, thirty-six mobile phone photographs, thirty-six photos from a digital single lens reflex camera with an oiled lens filter, forty 15.2 x 10.2 cm drawings, fifty-six 38.4 x 16.4 cm drawings, sixty-three white-bordered 38.4 x 20.8 cm drawings, sixty-four 33.5 x 17.2 cm sketchbook spreads. 20 085 words; 14 123 by choice, 5962 out of obligation. It is important to figure things out for yourself. It is important to not learn too much of any one thing. This is a thesis because it’s a thesis; it is what it is. (That’s begging the question.) This is a thesis about begging the question

Large-scale radio continuum properties of 19 Virgo cluster galaxies The influence of tidal interactions, ram pressure stripping, and accreting gas envelopes

Deep scaled array VLA 20 and 6cm observations including polarization of 19 Virgo spirals are presented. This sample contains 6 galaxies with a global minimum of 20cm polarized emission at the receding side of the galactic disk and quadrupolar type large-scale magnetic fields. In the new sample no additional case of a ram-pressure stripped spiral galaxy with an asymmetric ridge of polarized radio continuum emission was found. In the absence of a close companion, a truncated HI disk, together with a ridge of polarized radio continuum emission at the outer edge of the HI disk, is a signpost of ram pressure stripping. 6 out of the 19 observed galaxies display asymmetric 6cm polarized emission distributions. Three galaxies belong to tidally interacting pairs, two galaxies host huge accreting HI envelopes, and one galaxy had a recent minor merger. Tidal interactions and accreting gas envelopes can lead to compression and shear motions which enhance the polarized radio continuum emission. In addition, galaxies with low average star formation rate per unit area have a low average degree of polarization. Shear or compression motions can enhance the degree of polarization. The average degree of polarization of tidally interacting galaxies is generally lower than expected for a given rotation velocity and star formation activity. This low average degree of polarization is at least partly due to the absence of polarized emission from the thin disk. Ram pressure stripping can decrease whereas tidal interactions most frequently decreases the average degree of polarization of Virgo spiral galaxies. We found that moderate active ram pressure stripping has no influence on the spectral index, but enhances the global radio continuum emission with respect to the FIR emission, while an accreting gas envelope can but not necessarily enhances the radio continuum emission with respect to the FIR emission.Comment: 37 pages, 26 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Antibacterial Activity of Gentamicin-bonded Gelatin-sealed Polyethylene Terephthalate Vascular Prostheses

AbstractObjectivesTo create an antibiotic-modified vascular prosthesis with a prolonged bactericidal activity, susceptible to endothelialisation.MethodsWe used a covalent method of gentamicin sulphate immobilisation to polyethylene terephthalate prosthesis sealed with gelatin. Antibacterial activity was assayed in Luria-Bertani medium against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. Prosthesis endothelialisation was performed using bovine aorta endothelial cells (BAEC).ResultsGentamicin was bound to vascular prostheses in the amount of 12g per kg of prosthesis. Ninety-seven percent of antibiotic bound in covalent way and remained on the biomaterial for at least 30 days during shaking in PBS solution. Gentamicin-modified prostheses exerted bactericidal or bacteriostatic effect on growth of clinical and reference bacterial strains, prevented biofilm formation and were highly susceptible to endothelialisation. BAEC viability exceeded 90%, which indicated that gentamicin-vascular prostheses were not toxic for these cells.ConclusionsCovalent gentamicin immobilisation resulted in effective antibacterial protection of vascular prostheses against clinical and reference strains of S. aureus, E. coli and P. aeruginosa and allowed for a strong adherence of endothelial cells to antibiotic-modified prostheses

17β-Estradiol Potentiates the Reinstatement of Cocaine Seeking in Female Rats: Role of the Prelimbic Prefrontal Cortex and Cannabinoid Type-1 Receptors

Clinical observations imply that female cocaine addicts experience enhanced relapse vulnerability compared with males, an effect tied to elevated estrogen phases of the ovarian hormone cycle. Although estrogens can enhance drug-seeking behavior, they do not directly induce reinstatement on their own. To model this phenomenon, we tested whether an estrogen could augment drug-seeking behavior in response to an ordinarily subthreshold reinstatement trigger. Following cocaine self-administration and extinction, female rats were ovariectomized to isolate estrogen effects on reinstatement. Although neither peak proestrus levels of the primary estrogen 17β-estradiol (E2; 10 μg/kg, i.p., 1-h pretreatment) nor a subthreshold cocaine dose (1.25 mg/kg, i.p.) alone were sufficient to reinstate drug-seeking behavior, pretreatment with E2 potentiated reinstatement to the ordinarily subthreshold cocaine dose. Furthermore, E2 microinfusions revealed that E2 (5 μg/0.3 μl, 15-min pretreatment) acts directly within the prelimbic prefrontal cortex (PrL-PFC) to potentiate reinstatement. As E2 has been implicated in endocannabinoid mobilization, which can disinhibit PrL-PFC projection neurons, we investigated whether cannabinoid type-1 receptor (CB1R) activation is necessary for E2 to potentiate reinstatement. The CB1R antagonist AM251 (1 or 3 mg/kg, i.p., 30-min pretreatment) administered prior to E2 and cocaine suppressed reinstatement in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, PrL-PFC AM251 microinfusions (300 ng/side, 15-min pretreatment) also suppressed E2-potentiated reinstatement. Together, these results suggest that E2 can augment reactivity to an ordinarily subthreshold relapse trigger in a PrL-PFC CB1R activation-dependent manner

Surface of underdoped YBa2Cu3O7- δ as revealed by STM/STS

We performed scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy on untwinned crystals of underdoped YBa2Cu3O7- δ at δ = 0.4. A comprehensive statistical analysis of our topographic data indicates a doping dependent cleaving behavior of this material. We find in particular that at δ = 0.4 the material primarily cleaves in multiples of one unit cell along the c-axis with a high corrugation of the topmost layer. Our data suggest that the low temperature cleaving mainly results in a disruption of the CuO chain layers involving a redistribution of the layer atoms onto the two cleaving planes. In a few instances, fractional step heights (in terms of the c-axis lattice constant) are observed as well. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals that such fractional steps connect surfaces which differ significantly in their tunneling conductance

Analysis of corpus callosum size depending on age and sex

Background: The aim of the study was to analyse changes in the size of the corpus callosum (CC) depending on age and sex and to establish the reference values of the morphometric indices of the CC in the Polish population.  Materials and methods: The results of magnetic resonance studies of 1108 patients performed in the years 2010–2014 were analysed. Two independent radiologists evaluated cerebral images to exclude deviations from normal state. In patients divided according to sex and to 10 age groups, measurements of CC and brain dimensions were made and morphometric indices were calculated.  Results: The results of measurements related to the following parameters: lengths of longitudinal cross-section of CC (CD), CC thickness in the narrowest place — isthmus (EF), the largest linear dimension of the brain from the frontal pole to the occipital pole (AB), the longitudinal cross-section area of the CC (A1) and cerebral cross-section area (A2) as well as CD/AB and A1/A2 ratios are summarised in 7 figures and 3 tables.  Conclusions: It was demonstrated, that in all age groups there are statistically significant differences in the values of the analysed parameters and ratios of CC size. It was indicated, that there are no statistically significant differences between men and women in the CD, EF, and A1 parameters related to CC size, and the profiles of variations of these parameters are very similar. It was proved that the- re are statistical differences between women and men in parameters/indicators concerning of the brain size.

The Nature of Composite LINER/HII Galaxies, As Revealed from High-Resolution VLA Observations

A sample of 37 nearby galaxies displaying composite LINER/HII and pure HII spectra was observed with the VLA in an investigation of the nature of their weak radio emission. The resulting radio contour maps overlaid on optical galaxy images are presented here, together with an extensive literature list and discussion of the individual galaxies. Radio morphological data permit assessment of the ``classical AGN'' contribution to the global activity observed in these ``transition'' LINER galaxies. One in five of the latter objects display clear AGN characteristics: these occur exclusively in bulge-dominated hosts.Comment: 31 pages, 27 figures, accepted by ApJ