Finite elements for higher order steel–concrete composite beams

none4noThis paper presents finite elements for a higher order steel–concrete composite beam model developed for the analysis of bridge decks. The model accounts for the slab–girder partial interaction, the overall shear deformability, and the shear‐lag phenomenon in steel and concrete components. The theoretical derivation of the solving balance conditions, in both weak and strong form, is firstly addressed. Then, three different finite elements are proposed, which are characterised by (i) linear interpolating functions, (ii) Hermitian polynomial interpolating functions, and (iii) interpolating functions, respectively, derived from the analytical solution expressed by means of exponential matrices. The performance of the finite elements is analysed in terms of the solution con-vergence rate for realistic steel–concrete composite beams with different restraints and loading con-ditions. Finally, the efficiency of the beam model is shown by comparing the results obtained with the proposed finite elements and those achieved with a refined 3D shell finite element model.openGara F.; Carbonari S.; Leoni G.; Dezi L.Gara, F.; Carbonari, S.; Leoni, G.; Dezi, L

Slab cracking influence in the fatigue assessment of continuous composite decks

The paper analyzes the influence of the slab cracking in the fatigue assessment of continuous composite decks by considering the effects of slab casting sequences and the shrinkage components (thermal, endogenous and drying). A numerical procedure for the stress calculation accounting for the tension stiffening of the slab longitudinal rebars is presented. The long term effects of casting sequences and concrete shrinkage are analysed with a simplified procedure based on the application of the modular ratio method. With reference to a realistic continuous twin girder composite deck the fatigue verification of the longitudinal girders is carried out by considering three different casting modalities. The obtained results show the important role of the slab casting sequences in the stress range calculation and the remarkable influence of the slab cracking in the fatigue assessment

All that jazz: Josephine Baker’s Image, Identity & Iconicity

When Baker was offered an opportunity to move to, Paris, for her dance talents, she did not hesitate to take the chance. Baker arrived in Paris the summer of 1925, during the height of France’s obsession with American jazz music and all things exotic. Immediately after her famous performance on October 2, 1925, Baker appeared in a jazz club wearing an ice-blue dress, cut on the bias. It had been selected for her from a Paris design house. This glamorous side of Baker quickly dispelled the notion of her as primitive. Her body type and cinnamon skin proved to be the perfect model for the masters of fashion. Baker quickly became a woman who others wanted to copy. Josephine Baker, who symbolized the beauty and vitality of African American culture during this time, took Paris by storm personifying many of the modern ideals associated with jazz music. Through private dealings with the masters of various modes whom she attracted, as well as with the pervasive public persona she created, Baker influenced architecture, urban and interior design, fashion, sculpture, graphic arts, painting and photography. This influence establishes her as one of the most famous symbols of the jazz age, the first African American superstar and a universal icon

QCDOC: A 10-teraflops scale computer for lattice QCD

The architecture of a new class of computers, optimized for lattice QCD calculations, is described. An individual node is based on a single integrated circuit containing a PowerPC 32-bit integer processor with a 1 Gflops 64-bit IEEE floating point unit, 4 Mbyte of memory, 8 Gbit/sec nearest-neighbor communications and additional control and diagnostic circuitry. The machine's name, QCDOC, derives from ``QCD On a Chip''.Comment: Lattice 2000 (machines) 8 pages, 4 figure

A comprehensive characterization and expression profiling of defensin family peptides in Arabidopsis thaliana with a focus on their abiotic stress-specific transcriptional modulation

In addition to defensins, plants possess an array of defensin-like peptides that share many of their characteristics, as well as a role in plant's innate immunity. Their involvement in the response to pathogens is well-known but the contribution in the plant response to abiotic stimuli is not fully understood. We have undertaken an in silico analysis to characterize all defensin family genes hitherto found in Arabidopsis, including genes encoding for defensin-like peptides, by detecting several peptides as candidates for further studies aiming to decipher specific responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, as well as to their crosstalk. We performed several analyses, including co- expression and cis-regulatory elements analyses, using transcriptomic data obtained from the ARS database, which integrates more than 20,000 Arabidopsis RNA-seq libraries. In silico analysis showed that jasmonates and ABA, together with transcription factors belonging to WRKY and AP2/EREBP families, modulate defensin and defensin-like gene expression. Indeed, the analysis performed in this study allowed to extract and organize omics data, which finally supported the inducible nature of defensins under both abiotic and biotic stresses. Moreover, in vivo expression analyses confirmed the heat and drought responsiveness of PDF1.4, , ATTI1, , PDF1.1, , DEFL 206, , defensin family genes selected for being upregulated by several abiotic conditions, at transcriptional level. Finally, the co-expression analysis provided information on other biological processes that may be correlated to the defensin induction, such as maintaining ROS homeostasis. Combining the comprehensive analysis of different transcriptional datasets with the integration of in vivo analyses emerged as a robust methodological approach to assess the proposed multi-stress responsive nature of defensin family genes

Possible retardation effects of quark confinement on the meson spectrum

The reduced Bethe-Salpeter equation with scalar confinement and vector gluon exchange is applied to quark-antiquark bound states. The so called intrinsic flaw of Salpeter equation with static scalar confinement is investigated. The notorious problem of narrow level spacings is found to be remedied by taking into consideration the retardation effect of scalar confinement. Good fit for the mass spectrum of both heavy and light quarkomium states is then obtained.Comment: 14 pages in LaTex for

Status of and performance estimates for QCDOC

QCDOC is a supercomputer designed for high scalability at a low cost per node. We discuss the status of the project and provide performance estimates for large machines obtained from cycle accurate simulation of the QCDOC ASIC.Comment: 3 pages 1 figure. Lattice2002(machines

Comparison between in vitro chemical and ex vivo biological assays to evaluate antioxidant capacity of botanical extracts

The anti-oxidative activity of plant-derived extracts is well-known and confers health-promoting effects on functional foods and food supplements. Aim of this work is to evaluate the capability of two different assays to predict the real biological antioxidant efficiency. At this purpose, extracts from five different plant-derived matrices and commercial purified phytochemicals were analyzed for their anti-oxidative properties by using well-standardized in vitro chemical method (TEAC) and an ex vivo biological assay. The biological assay, a cellular membrane system obtained from erythrocytes of healthy volunteers, is based on the capability of phytochemicals treatment to prevent membrane lipid peroxidation under oxidative stress by UV-B radiation. Plant extracts naturally rich in phenols with different structure and purified phytochemicals showed different in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant capacities. A high correlation between phenolic contents of the plant-derived extracts and their ability to prevent oxidative injuries in a biological system was found, thus underlying the relevance of this class of metabolites in preventing oxidative stress. On the other hand, a low correlation between the antioxidant capacities was shown between in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant assay. Moreover, data presented in this work show how food complex matrices are more effective in preventing oxidative damages at biological level than pure phytochemicals, even if for these latter, the antioxidant activity was generally higher than that observed for food complex matrices