Electrostatic Field Classifier for Deficient Data

This paper investigates the suitability of recently developed models based on the physical field phenomena for classification problems with incomplete datasets. An original approach to exploiting incomplete training data with missing features and labels, involving extensive use of electrostatic charge analogy, has been proposed. Classification of incomplete patterns has been investigated using a local dimensionality reduction technique, which aims at exploiting all available information rather than trying to estimate the missing values. The performance of all proposed methods has been tested on a number of benchmark datasets for a wide range of missing data scenarios and compared to the performance of some standard techniques. Several modifications of the original electrostatic field classifier aiming at improving speed and robustness in higher dimensional spaces are also discussed

The Ginzburg-Landau Free Energy Functional of Color Superconductivity at Weak Coupling

We derive the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional of color superconductivity in terms of the thermal diagrams of QCD in its perturbative region. The zero mode of the quadratic term coefficient yields the same transition temperature, including the pre-exponential factor, as the one obtained previously from the Fredholm determinant of the two quark scattering amplitude. All coefficients of the free energy can be made identical to those of a BCS model by setting the Fermi velocity of the latter equal to the speed of light. We also calculate the induced symmetric color condensate near $T_c$ and find that it scales as the cubic power of the dominant antisymmetric color component. We show that in the presence of an inhomogeneity and a nonzero gauge potential, while the color-flavor locked condensate dominates in the bulk, the unlocked condensate, the octet, emerges as a result of a simultaneous color-flavor rotation in the core region of a vortex filament or at the junction of super and normal phases.Comment: 32 pages, Plain Tex, 3 figure

Extending Direct Strength Design to Cold-formed Steel Beams with Holes

The extension of the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Direct Strength Method (DSM) to cold-formed steel beams with holes is nearly in place. DSM was first introduced to th e AISI specification in 2004 as an alternative to the effective width met hod, and is widely considered a major advancement in cold-formed steel component design. In DSM, the beam elastic buckling properties for a general cross-section are obtained with a computer analysis utilizing the finite strip method. A disadvantage of the finite strip method and DSM has been that discrete holes along the member length could not be easily accounted for, although the recent development of simplified elastic buckling approximations including holes has now alleviated the inherent shortcoming. This paper provides an introduction to the DSM approach for cold- formed steel beams with holes, where th e critical elastic buckling moments for local, distortional, and global buckling are calculated including the presence of holes, and then input into strength prediction expressions modified to capture the strength reduction from yielding at the net section. A DSM design example of a joist with evenly spaced web holes is provided

Diquark Condensates and Compact Star Cooling

The effect of color superconductivity on the cooling of quark stars and neutron stars with large quark cores is investigated. Various known and new quark-neutrino processes are studied. As a result, stars being in the color flavor locked (CFL) color superconducting phase cool down extremely fast. Quark stars with no crust cool down too rapidly in disagreement with X-ray data. The cooling of stars being in the N_f =2 color superconducting (2SC) phase with a crust is compatible with existing X-ray data. Also the cooling history of stars with hypothetic pion condensate nuclei and a crust does not contradict the data.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Experimental Seismic Behavior of the CFS-NEES Building: System-Level Performance of a Full-Scale Two-Story Light Steel Framed Building

In the summer of 2013, testing of two full-scale cold-formed steel (CFS) framed buildings under seismic excitations took place at the Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Lab (SEESL) at the University at Buffalo. Utilizing the twin shake tables, the two-story building specimens were subjected to ground motions from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. These experiments were conducted as a part of the CFS-NEES experimental effort in an attempt to advance cold-formed steel earthquake engineering and design. Two buildings were tested: the first, a specimen constructed with only structural components (CFS-framed gravity walls, shear walls, floor and roof diaphragms, with OSB sheathing on shear walls and diaphragms); the second began with an exact replica of the first building, but saw the addition of various non-structural systems such as gravity wall sheathing, full diaphragm sheathing, interior partition walls, and exterior weatherproofing. Prior to these experiments, little experimental data existed on full building system behavior for CFS framing. This paper presents results on full-system behavior, specifically examining: drifts, acceleration amplification, shear wall behavior, base shear, diaphragm flexibility, damping, and period of vibration. Comparison to the North American specification for CFS, and design recommendations are also provided

DRC-1339 AND DRC-2698 RESIDUES IN STARLINGS: PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF THEIR EFFECTS ON SECONDARY HAZARD POTENTIAL

DRC-1339 (3-chloro-4-methylbenzenamine HCI) is the active ingredient in Starlicide Complete, a commercial bait used to control starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) at animal feedlots throughout the U.S. Because of the recent widespread use of this product, par- ticularly within the wintering range of many raptors, they and other avian or mammalian scavenger or predator species may be exposed to large numbers of dead or dying star- lings and blackbirds (Icteridae) throughout the winter roosting season (November-March). Acute toxicity data are available for five species of raptors and a number of mammals indicating that DRC-1339 or its primary toxic metabolite DRC-2698 (N-(3-chloro-4-methylphenyl) acetamide, CAT), a potential roost toxicant, are only moderately toxic (100-300 mg/kg) to these animals. However, there are some avian and mammalian scavengers or predators to which these compounds are considerably more toxic (i.e., cats, owls, magpies). Secondary hazards have not been observed when DRC-1339 killed starlings were fed to three raptor species for as long as 141 days and to domestic cats for seven days (DeCino, Cunningham and Schafer 1966; Holler et al. 1979, unpubl, manuscript); however, the direct long-term effects of both chemicals have not been determined on raptors or other predatory or scavenger species. In order to decide if long-term studies are needed on predator or scavenger species, it is necessary to estimate accurately the degree of expected exposure to DRC-1339 and DRC-2698under actual use conditions. Since exposure will depend primarily upon the amount of these chemicals that remains in bird carcasses from bait ingestion until death, the metabolic or excretion rate of DRC-1339 and DRC-2698 must be known in target and at-risk, nontarget bird species. Although considerable data are available to determine the metabolic or excretion rate of DRC-1339 in target birds, some of these data are conflicting. We are therefore presenting the preliminary results of some of our current research with DRC-1339 and DRC-2698

Characterizaiton of Cold-formed Steel Shear Wall Behavior under Cyclic Loading for the CFS-NEES Building

The objective of this paper is to provide a full hysteretic characterization of OSB sheathed cold-formed steel (CFS) shear walls designed for use in the National Science Foundation funded Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) project: CFS-NEES (www.ce.jhu.edu/cfsnees). The shear walls were designed for a two-story ledger-framed building (i.e., the CFS-NEES building) that will undergo full-scale shake table testing at the University of Buffalo NEES site. Shear walls in real construction, such as the CFS-NEES building, have details that differ from the shear walls tested and provided for strength prediction in standards such as AISI-S213-07. Differences include: (a) ledger (rim track) members are attached across the interior face of the studs, (b) OSB panel seams, both horizontal and vertical, may not be aligned with the chord studs or only blocked with strap, (c) interior gypsum board is in place, (d) field studs may have a different thickness or grade from the chord studs, and other differences. In this work, these four highlighted differences (a-d) are specifically explored in a series of shear walls tests loaded via cyclic (CUREE) protocols to determine their hysteretic performance. The test results are compared with AISIS213-07 and hysteretic material characterizations utilizing an elastic-plastic model (EEEP) and a model capable of exhibiting pinching in the hysteretic loops (Pinching4). Recommendations are made with respect to modeling the shear walls