5,181 research outputs found
Part 1 of the McMaster University Laboratory Test Program on Brick Veneer/Steel Stud Wall Systems
The behaviour of steel stud backup wall panels subjected to lateral loads was investigated experimentally and analytically. In addition, various steel stud to track connections were investigated experimentally.
The experimental work consisted of the fabrication and testing of 109 steel stud to track connections. Thirty-two full size steel stud backup wall panels were also tested. Some of the panels were braced with various types of commonly used steel bridging while others were braced with gypsum board sheathing or Styrofoam SM insulation. Twelve beam tests were also performed in order to establish the flexural bending capacity of the steel studs tested.
The analytical study consisted of an evaluation of the results of the test program. A one-dimensional elastic Finite Element program was developed to investigate the distribution of torsional stresses in steel studs as part of the analysis. The model had the limitation of ignoring the effects of web perforations.
Based on analysis of the test and analytical results, several recommendations were made for design and construction of steel stud backup walls
WISDOM: A Grid-Enabled Drug Discovery Initiative Against Malaria
The goal of this chapter is to present the WISDOM initiative, which is one of
the main accomplishments in the use of grids for biomedical sciences
achieved on grid infrastructures in Europe. Researchers in life sciences are
among the most active scientifi c communities on the EGEE infrastructure.
As a consequence, the biomedical virtual organization stands fourth in
terms of resources consumed in 2007, with an average of 7000 jobs submitted
every day to the grid and more than 4 million hours of CPU consumed in
the last 12 months. Only three experiments on the CERN Large Hadron
Collider have used more resources. Compared to particle physics, the use of
resources is much less centralized as about 40 different scientifi c applications
are now currently deployed on EGEE. Each of them requires an amount
of CPU which ranges from a few to a few hundred CPU years. Thanks to the
20,000 processors available to the users of the biomedical virtual organization,
crunching factors in the hundreds are witnessed routinely. Such
performances were already achieved on supercomputers but at the cost of
reservation and long delays in the access to resources. On the contrary, grid
infrastructures are constantly open to the user communities.
Such changes in the scale of the computing resources made continuously
available to the researchers in biomedical sciences open opportunities for
exploring new fi elds or changing the approach to existing challenges. In
this chapter, we would like to show the potential impact of grids in the fi eld
of drug discovery through the example of the WISDOM initiative
Recommended from our members
Potential Sinks for Geologic Storage of CO2 Generated in the Carolinas
This document summarizes a scoping study of the current state of knowledge of carbon storage options for our geographic area.
The focus is on one aspect of carbon capture and storage—identification of deep saline aquifers in which carbon dioxide (CO2
) generated in the Carolinas might be stored. The study does not address other aspects of CO2 storage projects, such as capture and compression of the gas, well construction and development, or injection. Transport of CO2 is touched upon in this study but has not been fully addressed.
The information contained in this document is primarily from review of published geologic literature and unpublished data. No field data collection has been completed as part of this study. Further work will be necessary to increase confidence in the suitability of the potential CO2 storage sites identified in this report. This study does not address the regulatory, environmental, or public policy issues associated with carbon storage, which are under development at this time.Duke Energy, Progress Energy, Santee Cooper Power, South Carolina Electric and Gas, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Southern States Energy Board (SSEB)Bureau of Economic Geolog
Euclidean Preferences, Option Sets and Strategy Proofness
In this note, we use the technique of option sets to sort out the implications of coalitional strategyproofness in the spatial setting. We also discuss related issues and open problems
The Copeland measure of Condorcet choice functions
AbstractWe propose a measure to compare an arbitrary choice function with the Copeland choice function. We compute this measure for the familiar Condorcet choice functions
Validation of the GATE Monte Carlo simulation platform for modelling a CsI(Tl) scintillation camera dedicated to small animal imaging
Monte Carlo simulations are increasingly used in scintigraphic imaging to
model imaging systems and to develop and assess tomographic reconstruction
algorithms and correction methods for improved image quantitation. GATE (GEANT
4 Application for Tomographic Emission) is a new Monte Carlo simulation
platform based on GEANT4 dedicated to nuclear imaging applications. This paper
describes the GATE simulation of a prototype of scintillation camera dedicated
to small animal imaging and consisting of a CsI(Tl) crystal array coupled to a
position sensitive photomultiplier tube. The relevance of GATE to model the
camera prototype was assessed by comparing simulated 99mTc point spread
functions, energy spectra, sensitivities, scatter fractions and image of a
capillary phantom with the corresponding experimental measurements. Results
showed an excellent agreement between simulated and experimental data:
experimental spatial resolutions were predicted with an error less than 100 mu
m. The difference between experimental and simulated system sensitivities for
different source-to-collimator distances was within 2%. Simulated and
experimental scatter fractions in a [98-182 keV] energy window differed by less
than 2% for sources located in water. Simulated and experimental energy spectra
agreed very well between 40 and 180 keV. These results demonstrate the ability
and flexibility of GATE for simulating original detector designs. The main
weakness of GATE concerns the long computation time it requires: this issue is
currently under investigation by the GEANT4 and the GATE collaboration
Palaeoecology of the Cenomanian amber forest of Sarthe (western France)
Cretaceous ambers have been discovered in France since the beginning of the 18th century. The best known are those from south-western France which are Late Albian-Early Cenomanian in age, but there are other important amber deposits in other regions. Here, we summarise the data on one of these other Cretaceous amber regions, the Sarthe Department. These deposits have been mentioned in the literature since the end of the 18th century, but they have remained relatively unknown. The material, that has been studied during the 1970's and 1980's, yielded a well-diversified arthropod fauna (72 arthropod specimens, including arachnids, cockroaches, bugs, beetles, flies, wasps...) dated to late Early-Middle Cenomanian. In the last decade, 4 types of bacteria, a possible testate amoeba and fungal remains were also found. A re-examination of the historical collections of the Sarthe amber, housed in the "Musée Vert" (Le Mans, France), allows to estimate the geographical extent of the amber deposits in the Sarthe Department. The study of the microfossils of these samples provides new data on their palaeoenvironment
Recommended from our members
Potential sinks for geologic storage of carbon dioxide generated by power plants in North and South Carolina
Duke Energy
Progress Energy
Santee Cooper Power
SCANA CorporationBureau of Economic Geolog
Stress response function of a two-dimensional ordered packing of frictional beads
We study the stress profile of an ordered two-dimensional packing of beads in
response to the application of a vertical overload localized at its top
surface. Disorder is introduced through the Coulombic friction between the
grains which gives some indeterminacy and allows the choice of one constrained
random number per grain in the calculation of the contact forces. The so-called
`multi-agent' technique we use, lets us deal with systems as large as
grains. We show that the average response profile has a double
peaked structure. At large depth , the position of these peaks grows with
, while their widths scales like . and are analogous to
`propagation' and `diffusion' coefficients. Their values depend on that of the
friction coefficient . At small , we get and , with , which means that the peaks get
closer and wider as the disorder gets larger. This behavior is qualitatively
what was predicted in a model where a stochastic relation between the stress
components is assumed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted version to Europhys. Let
Ariane Utilization for Secondary Payloads
In preparing for the future, the European Space Agency (ESA) has identified a growing shortage of flight opportunities for secondary payloads. This was most directly felt in the execution of the In-Orbit Technology Demonstration Programme (TOP), which is aimed at the demonstration of new technologies in orbit, before their application in projects, thereby reducing the overall risk. The TOP took a lead in investigating the possibility of using the European heavy lift launcher Ariane-IV as a low cost secondary payload carrier, not only for technological, but also for scientific and educational experiments. The secondary payloads were in the form of attached platforms, and small satellites. This paper gives a detailed account of the efforts, which resulted in firm plans to establish a secondary payload capability on the Ariane-IV. Also, an overview of the technical implementation is given
- …