Tensile capacity of FRP anchors in connecting FRP and TRM sheets to concrete

This paper investigates the effectiveness of carbon fiber spike anchors as a means of anchoring externally bonded (EB) fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) and textile reinforced mortar (TRM) sheets into concrete. The investigation employs experimental work, which includes reinforced concrete (RC) columns strengthened with various configurations of EB FRP and TRM sheets connected to RC footings via carbon fiber spike anchors. The fiber spikes have two parts: the anchor part and the fan part. The anchor part is a bar-type dowel component that is epoxy pre-impregnated and inserted into epoxy filled holes within the footing. The fan part was impregnated in-situ and fanned out over and bonded to the EB reinforcement of the column. The connections were tested by pulling the columns upwards, thus applying tensile forces to the connection system. The direct tensile capacity of the anchors was determined for a number of vari- ables including the size and number of anchors, the bonding agent and the type and amount of EB rein- forcement. It is concluded that, with appropriate anchorage into concrete, the carbon fiber spike anchor is an effective anchorage system, and therefore, could be used in a range of strengthening applications to prevent premature delamination of FRP and TRM sheets from concrete surfaces

Selection of Wavelet Subbands Using Genetic Algorithm for Face Recognition

Abstract. In this paper, a novel representation called the subband face is proposed for face recognition. The subband face is generated from selected subbands obtained using wavelet decomposition of the original face image. It is surmised that certain subbands contain information that is more significant for discriminating faces than other subbands. The problem of subband selection is cast as a combinatorial optimization problem and genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the optimum subband combination by maximizing Fisher ratio of the training features. The performance of the GA selected subband face is evaluated using three face databases and compared with other wavelet-based representations.

Carmustine and methotrexate in combination after whole brain radiation therapy in breast cancer patients presenting with brain metastases: a retrospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Since 1999, patients presenting with brain metastases (BM) from breast cancer (BC) are treated in our institution with a carmustine (BCNU) - methotrexate (MTX) combination. We report here our clinical experience regarding this combination.</p> <p>Patients and Methods</p> <p>Patients were treated by a combination of BCNU 100 mg/m² on day 1 and MTX 600 mg/m² on day 1 and 15 of a 28 day cycle. Treatment was continued until progression or unacceptable toxicity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>50 patients were treated between 1999 and 2007. 94% of the patients presented with concomitant extra-cerebral disease. Median number of previous metastatic setting chemotherapy regimens was 2 (0-5). Median number of cycles was 3 (1-20). There were 11 objective responses (23% [95%CI 12-37]) among 48 evaluable patients. Median progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) were 4.2 (95%CI: 2.8-5.3) and 6.9 (4.2-10.7) months respectively, with a one-year OS rate of 32% (20-46). Median Relative Dose Intensity for BCNU and MTX were 0.98 (0.31-1.1) and 0.96 (0.57-1.66) respectively. There were 2 presumed treatment-related deaths. One patient developed febrile neutropenia. Performance status, BS-BM score and presence of liver metastases were associated with OS in univariate analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This combination appears to be effective and well tolerated in good performance status BC patients presenting with BM.</p

Long-range and short-range dihadron angular correlations in central PbPb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

This is the pre-print version of the Published Article, which can be accessed from the link below.First measurements of dihadron correlations for charged particles are presented for central PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76TeV over a broad range in relative pseudorapidity ( ) and the full range of relative azimuthal angle ( ). The data were collected with the CMS detector, at the LHC. A broadening of the away-side ( ) azimuthal correlation is observed at all , as compared to the measurements in pp collisions. Furthermore, long-range dihadron correlations in are observed for particles with similar values. This phenomenon, also known as the \ridge", persists up to at least j j = 4. For particles with transverse momenta (pT) of 2-4 GeV/c, the ridge is found to be most prominent when these particles are correlated with particles of pT = 2-6 GeV/c, and to be much reduced when paired with particles of pT = 10-12 GeV/c