Seismic Vulnerability of Buried Energy Pipelines in Northern Canada

Permafrost in Canada’s North covers the terrain either continuously or discontinuously. Geological hazards associated with the presence of permafrost are serious barriers against development of the northern hydrocarbon resources. In recent decades, negative effects of geohazards such as frost heave, thaw settlement, slope instability on the safety of northern pipelines are widely studied; however, those of the seismic events are not. During earthquakes, buried pipelines may suffer damage from the induced transient ground deformations (TGD) and/or permanent ground deformations (PGD). While the former is caused by seismic wave propagation, the latter can result from liquefaction, faulting and landslides. This thesis investigates the effects of seismic hazards on the safety of northern pipelines. In discontinuous permafrost regions, the subsurface conditions are complex due to the presence of intermittent scattered frozen areas. Therefore, this case is studied by means of shaking table tests and 2D numerical modelling. It is concluded that the site response at the top of frozen zones is larger than that at the top of unfrozen zones. Consequently, the pipelines in discontinuous permafrost regions are exposed to intermittent differential ground motions during wave propagation. Pipeline response to this type of excitation is investigated using a finite element program developed in Matlab in which soil and pipe nonlinearities, large deformations and cross-sectional ovalization of the pipe are considered. Tensile rupture, local buckling and premature cross-sectional failure are checked and it is observed that the pipes have a margin of safety under TGD. Northern pipelines behaviour subjected to the PGD caused by active-layer detachments, the most common type of landslides in the permafrost regions, is also studied. Considering soil and slope uncertainties and utilizing Monte Carlo technique, probabilistic slope stability analysis is performed first. The probability of exposure to the landslide-caused PGD and the statistical distribution of the PGD zone affecting to the pipelines are computed. The pipeline response to this PGD zone is then calculated utilizing the developed structural analysis program. Finally, effects of PGD zone geometric uncertainties are simulated using Monte Carlo technique and damage functions for the pipelines under PGD are derived

Perturbation analysis of the limit cycle of the free van der Pol equation

A power series expansion in the damping parameter, epsilon, of the limit cycle of the free van der Pol equation is constructed and analyzed. Coefficients in the expansion are computed in exact rational arithmetic using the symbolic manipulation system MACSYMA and using a FORTRAN program. The series is analyzed using Pade approximants. The convergence of the series for the maximum amplitude of the limit cycle is limited by two pair of complex conjugate singularities in the complex epsilon-plane. A new expansion parameter is introduced which maps these singularities to infinity and leads to a new expansion for the amplitude which converges for all real values of epsilon. Amplitudes computed from this transformed series agree very well with reported numerical and asymptotic results. For the limit cycle itself, convergence of the series expansion is limited by three pair of complex conjugate branch point singularities. Two pair remain fixed throughout the cycle, and correspond to the singularities found in the maximum amplitude series, while the third pair moves in the epsilon-plane as a function of t from one of the fixed pairs to the other. The limit cycle series is transformed using a new expansion parameter, which leads to a new series that converges for larger values of epsilon

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Short Beck Depression Inventory with Iranian Psychiatric Outpatients

The short form of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13) is useful for the screening and assessment of depression in clinical and research settings. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian (Farsi) version of BDI-13 in an Iranian clinical sample. The sample consisted of 52 Iranian psychiatric outpatients who received services at psychiatric and psychological clinics at the School of Behavioral Sciences & Mental Health-Tehran Institute of Psychiatry, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) in Tehran, Iran. The study examined the reliability, construct validity, and factor structure of the instrument. The instrument indicated good reliability with Cronbach's alpha of.85 and strong construct validity based on moderate to strong positive correlations with other measures of mental health issues. Using a Principal Component Analysis and Varimax Rotation with Kaiser Normalization, three factors were identified and labeled Affective (F1), Somatic/Vegetative (F2), and Cognitive/Loss of Functioning (F3). The current factor structure suggests that depression is a multidimensional construct in an Iranian clinical sample. This study provides further evidence that the Persian version of the BDI-13 is a psychometrically sound instrument that can be used for clinical and research purposes in Iran. Copyright © 2016 M. Dadfar and Z. Kalibatseva

The effect of Saliva officinalis extract on the menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women: An RCT

Background: The menopausal symptoms are the most common problems in postmenopausal women. Due to the side effects of hormone replacement therapy, the use of medicinal herbs has increased for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Saliva officinal is on the decreasing of the severity of the menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods: The study was performed on 30 postmenopausal women aged 46–58 yr referred to the healthcare center of Darab who experienced various degrees of postmenopausal symptoms. The severity of menopausal symptoms is recorded by a Menopause Rating Scale. Participants received a 100 mg capsule of sage extract daily for 4 wk. The severity of postmenopausal symptoms was compared before and after four weeks of the consumption of sage extract. Results: The results showed the severity of hot flashes, night sweats, panic, fatigue, and concentration had significant differences before and after the consumption of sage extract. Conclusion: It was concluded that Saliva officinal is were effective to change the severity of some of the menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women

Reliability and factorial structure of the farsi version of the Arabic scale of death anxiety in an iranian middle-aged sample

The present study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) in an Iranian middle-aged sample. A sample of 55 volunteer Iranian persons took part in the study. Cronbach's alpha of the ASDA was found to be high (0.91) and Spearman-Brown and Guttman Split-Half coefficients were 0.86. The factor analysis of the ASDA items yielded five factors accounting for 72.49 of the total variance and labeled (F1) fear of death and fear of dead people; (F2) fear of postmortem events and fear of tombs; (F3) fear of lethal disease; (F4) preoccupation with after death, and death fear in sleep; and (F5) fear of deprivation of own ones. The ASDA has a good validity and reliability, and it can be used in clinical, educational, and research settings. © 2016 Mahboubeh Dadfar and Fazel Bahrami

The Impression of the Originality of Existence Philosophy Concepts in the Dramatic Literature with Emphasis on Three Plays (Nausea, Dirty Hands and the Satan and God)

Jean-Paul Sartre's point of view on the originality of existence philosophy is interleaved with concepts such as: freedom, apprehension, choice, awareness and human presence as well as everything that leading to man's liberation is reflected in his plays. Jean-Paul Sartre puts existence precede to the nature and considered the man as a potential free being that in the way of freedom he is responsible not only for himself but also for others. In the book of "Existence and Non-Existence" he is believes in deconstruction in all social and cultural fields. Sartre sees drama as a window for attitudinize the universe. The concept of existentialism in his plays is under the influence of philosophical and ideological propositions. Moral and political characteristics in the works of Jean-Paul Sartre expressed in such a way that describes a kind of worldview with philosophical propositions and dramatic, artful technique. Therefore one of the questions in this article is how did Sartre's dramatic literature benefit from the philosophy of existentialism? How does existence and non-existence appear in most of Sartre's plays? What does the concept of hell basically mean in his works? In this article, an attempt has been made to demonstrate how existence and non-existence and the critique of dialectical wisdom have been evaluated in his plays

Power Series Solution to a Simple Pendulum with Oscillating Support

The problem of determining some of the effects of a small forcing term on a regular perturbation solution to a nonlinear oscillation problem is studied via a simple example. In particular, we investigate the periodic solution of a simple pendulum with an oscillating support. A power series solution is constructed in terms of c-=( )2 L,where w0 and w are the natural and driving frequencies respectively, a is the amplitude of the support oscillation, and L is the length of the pendulum. These solutions are analyzed for three cases: above resonance (w \u3e wo), below resonance (w \u3c wo), and at resonance (w = wo). In each case, the approximate location of the nearest singularities which limit the convergence of the power series are obtained by using Pad6 approximants. Using this information, a new expansion parameter 6 is introduced, where the radius of convergence of the transformed series is greater than the original series. The effects of primary and higher order resonances on the convergence of the series solution is noted and discussed

In Vitro Comparison of Cytotoxicity and Genotoxicity of Three Vital Pulp Capping Materials

Introduction: Direct pulp capping (DPC) is a treatment for maintaining pulp vitality and its biological function. Ideally, pulp capping agents are expected to induce pulp cells to form hard tissue. This in vitro study assessed the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of three vital pulp capping (VPC) agents naming Biodentine (Septodont, Saint-Maur-des-Fosses, France), mineral trioxide aggregate (ProRoot MTA; Dentsply, Tulsa Dental, Tulsa, OK, USA) and TheraCal LC (Bisco Inc, Schamburg, IL, USA) on human dental pulp fibroblasts. Methods and Materials: Human fibroblasts were exposed to 100 µL of ProRoot MTA, TheraCal LC and Biodentine in 0-1000 µg/mL concentrations and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. Their cytotoxicity and genotoxicity were assessed using the methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) and the comet assays, respectively. The data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test at the level of significance set at 0.05. Results: None of the tested materials had cytotoxicity or genotoxicity. Conclusion: TheraCal LC, Biodentine and ProRoot MTA can be alternately used for VPC treatment of teeth.Keywords: Biodentine; Cytotoxicity; Genotoxicity; ProRoot MTA; TheraCal L

Improvement Transient Stability of Fixed Speed Wind Energy Conversion System by Using Transformer-Type Superconducting Fault Current Limiter

International audienceThe wind turbine generation system (WTGS) is one of the representative renewable energy systems. With the rapid development of WTGS and its increased capacity, the level of short circuit current will increase in distribution systems. The application of the Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL), would not only reduce the level of the short circuit current but also offer a reliable interconnection to the network. The transformer-type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is one of the fault current limiters, and has many advantages such as design flexibility. In this paper, the effect of transformer-type SFCL on transient behavior of grid connected to WTGS is studied. The WTGS is considered as a fixed-speed system, equipped with a squirrel-cage induction generator. The drive-train is represented by two-mass model. The simulation results show that the transformer-type SFCL not only limits the fault current but also can improve the dynamic performance of the WTGS