The Design of the Pallet Program

This paper describes the procedures underlying the development of the Pallet program which has been produced to design regular pallet racks according to the FEM code. The program determines the buckling load of the equivalent free sway structure and, using stability functions, calculates the axial and shear forces and the bending moments within the structure including the non-linear P - Δ effects. Twelve different combinations of load are analysed and design checks given in the FEM code applied. The paper discusses the different modes of operation of the program. Finally the accuracy of the program is discussed together with future developments

Recent applications of NMR spectroscopy in plant metabolomics

Recent research has established NMR as a key method for high-throughput comparative analysis of plant extracts. We discuss recent examples of the use of NMR to provide metabolomic data for various applications in plant science and look forward to the key role that NMR will play in data provision for plant systems biology

Rotational Stiffnesses of Semi-rigid Baseplates

The paper describes a test procedure to determine the rotational stiffnesses and moment-curvature relationships of semi-rigid baseplates of cold-formed structures. The influence of the modulus of the foundation subgrade on baseplate performance is determined. Increasing the axial load applied to a baseplate is shown to increase the ultimate moment-rotation capacity of a baseplate

Experimental Procedures for Stub Column Tests

In this paper a total of 36 stub columns was tested by two different experimental procedures, namely the FEM and AISI procedures, to investigate the difference in the ultimate load between these procedures. Of these 26 were carried out in the pin-ended condition according to FEM, the rest were in the fixed-end condition according to AlSI specification. It is shown that the failure loads obtained by the two experimental procedures were very close to each other. Both procedures worked well. The AISI procedure is recommended as the standard procedure

Identification of the connections in biologically inspired neural networks

We developed an identification method to find the strength of the connections between neurons from their behavior in small biologically-inspired artificial neural networks. That is, given the network external inputs and the temporal firing pattern of the neurons, we can calculate a solution for the strengths of the connections between neurons and the initial neuron activations if a solution exists. The method determines directly if there is a solution to a particular neural network problem. No training of the network is required. It should be noted that this is a first pass at the solution of a difficult problem. The neuron and network models chosen are related to biology but do not contain all of its complexities, some of which we hope to add to the model in future work. A variety of new results have been obtained. First, the method has been tailored to produce connection weight matrix solutions for networks with important features of biological neural (bioneural) networks. Second, a computationally efficient method of finding a robust central solution has been developed. This later method also enables us to find the most consistent solution in the presence of noisy data. Prospects of applying our method to identify bioneural network connections are exciting because such connections are almost impossible to measure in the laboratory. Knowledge of such connections would facilitate an understanding of bioneural networks and would allow the construction of the electronic counterparts of bioneural networks on very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits

Shear Stiffness of Pallet Rack Upright Frames

PaIIet racks, often fabricated using cold-formed steel, are used for the storage of goods. Uprights of these racks are braced in the cross-aisle direction forming a frame, which behaves like a built-up column. Evaluation of the shear stiffness of this frame is needed to determine the buckling load. Currently two approaches prevail in the rack industry to determine the shear stiffness. The RMI code uses a theoretical formula and the FEM code requires testing. There is a considerable difference in the stiffness values determined by two approaches. The present paper describes experimental and numerical studies conducted at Oxford Brookes University to evaluate shear stiffness in an ongoing research project

Cross-aisle Stiffness Tests on Rack Upright Frames

The US Rack Manufacturers Institution (RMI) code uses a theoretical formula derived by Timoshenko and the new Eurocode EN15512 requires testing. There is a considerable difference in the stiffn ess values determined by two approaches. This paper describes the experiments conducted on 80 full sized upright frames at Oxford Brookes University varying upright size, number of panels in the frame, aspect ratio of the panel (panel length/depth), restraints at the intermediate nodes of the frame, loading pattern, lacing pattern (channels back to back or front to front) and bolt tightness. The experimental data reported can be used in proposing revised design procedures