Flexural ductility and deformability of reinforced and prestressed concrete sections

In designing a flexural member for structural safety, both the flexural strength and ductility have to be considered. For this purpose, the flexural ductility of reinforced concrete sections has been studied quite extensively. As there have been relatively few studies on the flexural ductility of prestressed concrete sections, it is not well understood how various structural parameters affect the flexural ductility. In the present study, the full-range flexural responses of reinforced and prestressed concrete sections are analyzed taking into account the nonlinearity and stress-path dependence of constitutive materials. From the numerical results, the effects of steel content, yield strength and degree of prestressing on the yield curvature and ultimate curvature are evaluated. It is found that whilst the concept of flexural ductility in terms of the ductility factor works well for reinforced sections, it can be misleading when applied to prestressed concrete sections. For prestressed concrete sections, the concept of flexural deformability in terms of ultimate curvature times overall depth of section may be more appropriate.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Development and validation of the scoliosis misconception scale (SMS) for assessing level of misconception of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

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A comprehensive framework to analyze co-verbal gestures during discourse production

Session 7893 - Poster Board 330Co-verbal gestures play an important role in human communication. A major limitation of most existing frameworks is the mixed coding of forms and functions of gestures within a system. This paper reports a framework to annotate gesture forms and functions independently among 119 normal speakers engaged in oral discourse tasks.link_to_OA_fulltex

A multi-dimensional analysis of gesture employment among native Cantonese speakers

Poster Session - no. 26P.21 (Poster 21)Non-verbal behaviors are used together with spoken language in human communication. According to Knapp and Hall (2010), co-verbal gestures are often used to supplement verbal communications, maintain and establish attention of conversations, and add emphasis to speech. This investigation aims to develop a multi-dimensional classification framework that codes and quantifies gesture forms and functions employed during spontaneous speech tasks. The development of this system was motivated by the lack of a distinction between forms and functions in most previous works. Specifically, we explored the relationship between gesture forms and functions. How linguistic proficiency and age affected the use of gestures was also examined. METHODS: ...link_to_OA_fulltex

Prevalence of silent kidney disease in Hong Kong: The Screening for Hong Kong Asymptomatic Renal Population and Evaluation (SHARE) program

Background. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is epidemic worldwide. In Hong Kong, the annual incidence of ESRD has risen from 100 pmp (per million population) in 1996 to 140 pmp in 2003. SHARE (Screening for Hong Kong Asymptomatic Renal Population and Evaluation program) is a population-based screening program aimed at identifying the prevalence of unrecognized renal disease in asymptomatic individuals, allowing further evaluation and disease-modifying interventions. Methods. From November to December 2003, SHARE was conducted in several large residential communities in Hong Kong. The screening tool included a questionnaire documenting demographics and history or family history of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HT), and chronic kidney disease (CKD), together with on-site measurements of blood pressure (BP) and urine dipstick for protein, blood, and glucose. Results. There were a total of 1811 participants. One thousand two hundred and one subjects were entered into the final analysis. Among the 1201 who were apparently "healthy" (asymptomatic and without history of DM, HT, or CKD), the prevalence of positive (≥1+) urine dipstick for protein, glucose, blood, protein or blood, any urine abnormality, and HT (BP≥140/90) was 3.2%, 1.7%, 13.8%, 16%, 17.4%, and 8.7%, respectively. Thirty three percent of the age over 60 years old group had either hypertension or urine abnormalities, compared with 24.0% in the 41- to 60-year-old group and 9.7% in the 20- to 40-year-old group. Having a family history of diabetes or hypertension increases the risk of having urine abnormalities, while a family history of hypertension also increases the risk of high blood pressure. Conclusion. It is concluded that subclinical abnormalities in urinalysis or BP readings are prevalent across all age groups in the adult population. An effective screening program at the primary care level that identifies these subjects for further evaluation is warranted, and the public in Hong Kong should be educated toward the significance of such findings in order to have regular health check for asymptomatic renal diseases. © 2005 by the International Society of Nephrology.link_to_subscribed_fulltex