Numerical evaluation of shear strength of CFS shear wall panels for different height-to-width ratios

This paper presents a numerical evaluation of the shear strength of Cold Formed Steel Shear Wall Panels (CFS-SWPs) having 1.33:1 and 1:1 height-to-width aspect ratios with 0.76 mm steel plate sheathing thickness and 1:4,  1.33:1 and 1:1  height-to-width aspect ratios with 0.46 mm steel plate sheathing thickness, which are not provided by AISI S400. For this purpose, shell finite element (FE) models, validated with test results, are completed in ABAQUS v2018 with nonlinear geometry, material and connection. A good agreement is achieved between experimental and numerical results in terms of shear strength-lateral displacement and failure modes.It is concluded that, for a fixed height-to-width aspect ratio, the shear strength of SWPs having different screws spacing varying from 50.4 mm up to 152.4 can be assessed by interpolation using this FE method. However, by interloping the shear strength from 4:1 to 1:1 height-to-width aspect ratio, the shear strength can be underestimated; hence, it is more economical for practicing engineers to use the shear strength assessed by this proposed FE method for 1.33:1 and 1:1 height-to-width aspect ratios. Moreover, the effect of the sheathing thickness having 0.46 mm is evaluated and proposed as it lacks in data provided by the code (i.e., AISI S400)

A set of equations for numerically calculating the interaural level difference in the horizontal plane

The variation of interaural level difference (ILD) with direction and frequency is particularly complex and convoluted. The purpose of this work was to determine a set of parametric equations that can be used to calculate ILDs continuously at any value of frequency and azimuth in the horizontal plane. They were derived by fitting equations to ILDs derived from the azimuthal-dependence data tabulated by Shaw and Vaillancourt [(1985). J. Acoust. Soc Am. 78, 1120–1123] and assuming left-right symmetry. The equations are shown to fit those data to an overall RMS error less than 0.5 dB

Photometric Redshifts with Surface Brightness Priors

We use galaxy surface brightness as prior information to improve photometric redshift (photo-z) estimation. We apply our template-based photo-z method to imaging data from the ground-based VVDS survey and the space-based GOODS field from HST, and use spectroscopic redshifts to test our photometric redshifts for different galaxy types and redshifts. We find that the surface brightness prior eliminates a large fraction of outliers by lifting the degeneracy between the Lyman and 4000 Angstrom breaks. Bias and scatter are improved by about a factor of 2 with the prior for both the ground and space data. Ongoing and planned surveys from the ground and space will benefit, provided that care is taken in measurements of galaxy sizes and in the application of the prior. We discuss the image quality and signal-to-noise requirements that enable the surface brightness prior to be successfully applied.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, matches published versio

New Bifunctional Chelators Incorporating Dibromomaleimide Groups for Radiolabeling of Antibodies with Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Radioisotopes

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging with antibody-based contrast agents frequently uses the radioisotopes [{64}^Cu]Cu^{2+} and [{89}^Zr]Zr^{4+}. The macrobicyclic chelator commonly known as sarcophagine (sar) is ideal for labeling receptor-targeted biomolecules with [{64}^Cu]Cu^{2+}. The siderophore chelator, desferrioxamine-B (dfo), has been widely used to incorporate [{89}^Zr]Zr^{4+}, respectively, in near quantitative radiochemical yield (>99%). Serum stability studies, in vivo PET imaging, and biodistribution analyses using these radiolabeled immunoconjugates demonstrate that both [{64}^Cu]Cu-sar–dtm–trastuzumab and [{89}^Zr]Zr-dfo–dtm–trastuzumab possess high stability in biological milieu. Dibromomaleimide technology can be easily applied to enable stable, site-specific attachment of radiolabeled chelators, such as sar and dfo, to native interstrand disulfide regions of antibodies, enabling tracking of antibodies with PET imaging

Candidates in Astroviruses, Seadornaviruses, Cytorhabdoviruses and Coronaviruses for +1 frame overlapping genes accessed by leaky scanning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overlapping genes are common in RNA viruses where they serve as a mechanism to optimize the coding potential of compact genomes. However, annotation of overlapping genes can be difficult using conventional gene-finding software. Recently we have been using a number of complementary approaches to systematically identify previously undetected overlapping genes in RNA virus genomes. In this article we gather together a number of promising candidate new overlapping genes that may be of interest to the community.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overlapping gene predictions are presented for the astroviruses, seadornaviruses, cytorhabdoviruses and coronaviruses (families <it>Astroviridae</it>, <it>Reoviridae</it>, <it>Rhabdoviridae </it>and <it>Coronaviridae</it>, respectively).</p

Diphosphine Bioconjugates via Pt(0)-Catalyzed Hydrophosphination. A Versatile Chelator Platform for Technetium-99m and Rhenium-188 Radiolabeling of Biomolecules

The ability to append targeting biomolecules to chelators that efficiently coordinate to the diagnostic imaging radionuclide, 99mTc, and the therapeutic radionuclide, 188Re, can potentially enable receptor-targeted “theranostic” treatment of disease. Here we show that Pt(0)-catalyzed hydrophosphination reactions are well-suited to the derivatization of diphosphines with biomolecular moieties enabling the efficient synthesis of ligands of the type Ph2PCH2CH2P(CH2CH2-Glc)2 (L, where Glc = a glucose moiety) using the readily accessible Ph2PCH2CH2PH2 and acryl derivatives. It is shown that hydrophosphination of an acrylate derivative of a deprotected glucose can be carried out in aqueous media. Furthermore, the resulting glucose-chelator conjugates can be radiolabeled with either 99mTc(V) or 188Re(V) in high radiochemical yields (&gt;95%), to furnish separable mixtures of cis- and trans-[M(O)2L2]+ (M = Tc, Re). Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging and ex vivo biodistribution in healthy mice show that each isomer possesses favorable pharmacokinetic properties, with rapid clearance from blood circulation via a renal pathway. Both cis-[99mTc(O)2L2]+ and trans-[99mTc(O)2L2]+ exhibit high stability in serum. This new class of functionalized diphosphine chelators has the potential to provide access to receptor-targeted dual diagnostic/therapeutic pairs of radiopharmaceutical agents, for molecular 99mTc SPECT imaging and 188Re systemic radiotherapy.</p

Masses of high-z galaxy hosting haloes from angular clustering and their evolution in the CDM model

We examine masses of hosting haloes of two photometrically-selected high-z galaxy samples: the old passively-evolving galaxies (OPEGs) and Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) both taken from the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS). The large survey area of the SXDS (1sq deg) allows us to measure the angular two-point correlation functions to a wide separation of >10 arcmin with a good statistical quality. We utilize the halo model prescription for estimating characteristic masses of hosting haloes from the measured large-scale clustering amplitudes. It is found that the hosting halo mass positively correlates with the luminosity of galaxies. Then, adopting the extended Press-Schechter model (EPS), we compute the predictions for the mass evolution of the hosting haloes in the framework of the cold dark matter (CDM) cosmology in order to make an evolutionary link between the two galaxy samples at different redshifts and to identify their present-day descendants by letting their haloes evolve forward in time. It is found that, in the view of the mass evolution of hosting haloes in the CDM model, bright LBGs are consistent with being the progenitor of the OPEGs, whereas it is less likely that the LBG population, as a whole, have evolved into the OPEG population. It is also found that the present-day descendants of both the bright LBGs and OPEGs are likely to be located in massive systems such as groups of galaxies or clusters of galaxies. Finally, we estimate the hosting halo mass of local early-type galaxy samples from the 2dF and SDSS based on the halo model and it turns out that their expected characteristic mass of hosting haloes is in good agreement with the EPS predictions for the descendant's mass of both the bright LBGs and OPEGs.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Fortran programs used to compute the model predictions in this paper are available at http://optik2.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~hamanatk/OPENPRO/index.htm

Successful new product development by optimizing development process effectiveness in highly regulated sectors: the case of the Spanish medical devices sector

Rapid development and commercialization of new products is of vital importance for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in regulated sectors. Due to strict regulations, competitive advantage can hardly be achieved through the effectiveness of product concepts only. If an SME in a highly regulated sector wants to excell in new product development (NPD) performance, the company should focus on the flexibility, speed, and productivity of its NPD function: i.e. the development process effectiveness. Our main research goals are first to explore if SMEs should focus on their their development process effectiveness rather than on their product concept effectiveness to achieve high NPD performance; and second, to explore whether a shared pattern in the organization of the NPD function can be recognized to affect NPD performance positively. The medical devices sector in Spain is used as an example of a\ud highly regulated sector. A structured survey among 11 SMEs, of which 2 were studied also as in in-depth case studies, led to the following results. First of all, indeed the companies in the dataset which focused on the effectiveness of their development process, stood out in NPD performance. Further, the higher performing companies did have a number of commonalities in the organisation of their NPD function: 1) The majority of the higher performing firms had an NPD strategy characterized by a predominantly incremental project portfolio.\ud 2) a) Successful firms with an incremental project portfolio combined this with a functional team structure b) Successful firms with a radical project portfolio combined this with a heavyweight or autonomous team structure.\ud 3) A negative reciprocal relationship exists between formalization of the NPD processes and the climate of the NPD function, in that a formalized NPD process and an innovative climate do not seem to reinforce each other. Innovative climate combined with an informal NPD process does however contribute positively to NPD performance. This effect was stronger in combination with a radical project portfolio. The highest NPD performance was measured for companies focusing mainly on incremental innovation. It is argued that in highly regulated sectors, companies with an incremental product portfolio would benefit from employing a functional structure. Those companies who choose for a more radical project portfolio in highly regulated sectors should be aware\ud that they are likely to excell only in the longer term by focusing on strategic flexibility. In their NPD organization, they might be well advised to combine informal innovation processes with an innovative climate

Provision of foot health services for people with rheumatoid arthritis in New South Wales: a web-based survey of local podiatrists

Background: It is unclear if podiatric foot care for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in New South Wales (NSW) meets current clinical recommendations. The objective of this study was to survey podiatrists' perceptions of the nature of podiatric foot care provision for people who have RA in NSW.Methods: An anonymous, cross-sectional survey with a web-based questionnaire was conducted. The survey questionnaire was developed according to clinical experience and current foot care recommendations. State registered podiatrists practising in the state of NSW were invited to participate. The survey link was distributed initially via email to members of the Australian Podiatry Association (NSW), and distributed further through snowballing techniques using professional networks. Data was analysed to assess significant associations between adherence to clinical practice guidelines, and private/public podiatry practices.Results: 86 podiatrists participated in the survey (78% from private practice, 22% from public practice). Respondents largely did not adhere to formal guidelines to manage their patients (88%). Only one respondent offered a dedicated service for patients with RA. Respondents indicated that the primary mode of accessing podiatry was by self-referral (68%). Significant variation was observed regarding access to disease and foot specific assessments and treatment strategies. Assessment methods such as administration of patient reported outcome measures, vascular and neurological assessments were not conducted by all respondents. Similarly, routine foot care strategies such as prescription of foot orthoses, foot health advice and footwear were not employed by all respondents.Conclusions: The results identified issues in foot care provision which should be explored through further research. Foot care provision in NSW does not appear to meet the current recommended standards for the management of foot problems in people who have RA. Improvements to foot care could be undertaken in terms of providing better access to examination techniques and treatment strategies that are recommended by evidence based treatment paradigms. © 2013 Hendry et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd