Experimental bond behaviour of GFRP and masonry bricks under impulsive loading

Fibre Reinforced Polymers have become a popular material for strengthening of masonry structures. The performance of this technique is strongly dependent on the bond between the FRP and the substrate. Understanding the strain rate effect on these materials and strengthening techniques is important for proper design and proper modelling of these systems under impacts or blast loads. This work aims to study the behaviour of the bond between GFRP and brick at different strain rates. A Drop Weight Impact Machine specially developed for pull-off tests (single shear tests) is used with different masses and different heights introducing different deformation rates. The strain rate effect on the failure mode, shear capacity and effective bond length is determined from the experimental results. Empirical relations of dynamic increase factors (DIF) for these materials and techniques are also presented.This work was performed under Project CH-SECURE (PTDC/EMC/120118/2010) funded by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology – FCT. The authors acknowledge the support. The first author also acknowledges the support from his PhD FCT grant with the reference SFRH/BD/45436/2008

Water storage of roundwood

A la suite des chablis provoqués par la tempête de novembre 1982 dans la région du Massif central, notamment en Auvergne, un certain nombre d'exploitants forestiers scieurs de cette région ont constitué des stocks importants. Afin de les protéger contre les attaques d'insectes ou de champignons, ces professionnels ont opté pour le mode de conservation par voie humide, soit par immersion, soit par aspersion. Afin d'aider ces professionnels, le Centre technique du Bois et de l'Ameublement a suivi une quinzaine de ces dépôts. Ce suivi a permis d'acquérir une expérience sur les règles à respecter lors de la création d'un stock, durant la période de stockage, et lors du démantèlement du stock. De plus, un bilan financier a pu être réalisé à la suite de ce suivi. L'article mentionne les observations et les résultats obtenus lors de cette expérience.Following the windthrows caused by the storm of November 1982 in the Massif Central region, particularly in the Auvergne, a number of sawmill owners in this region established large stockpiles. In order to protect them from insect or fungal attack, they chose water storage, either by ponding or sprinkler storage. In order to help them, the Centre technique du Bois et de l'Ameublement studied fifteen of these depots. This study made it possible to obtain information on the rules to follow during the establishement of a stockpile, during the storage period and when dismantling the stockpile. It was also possible to carry out a financial assessment as an result of this study. The article describes the observations and the results obtained during this experiment

Using computer-assisted instruction to increase the eye gaze of children with autism

Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty making appropriate eye contact and engaging in joint attention. The current study evaluated a computer-assisted instruction package (pairing visual stimuli with vocal stimuli) as a novel treatment to improve the eye gaze accuracy in 3 elementary school children with autism. The researchers measured the latency from a recorded verbal stimulus to the students making eye contact with pictures of familiar individuals displayed on a computer screen, and the duration for which eye gaze on the stimulus was maintained. An automated infrared camera system for measuring eye gaze was utilized that eliminated the need for an instructor to make subjective judgments regarding participants\u27 eye gaze. For all three participants, duration of eye contact increased, and latency to responding decreased following exposure to the computer-assisted instruction. The implications of these findings for the treatment of individuals with autism are discussed, along with suggestions for future research on the topic

Convergence study for the discrete particle method

The Discrete Particle Method (DPM) is a numerical technique in the class of the discrete element methods for the modeling of cementitious material in the pre- and post-failure regimes. Because the DPM is not based on continuum mechanics, the conventional convergence properties of Galerkin based methods, such as the finite element method, are not expected to apply. This chapter presents the results of a study to assess the convergence properties of the DPM for elastic problems. The DPM belongs to the general class of methods denoted as discrete element methods. The benchmark problem is based on the vibrations of a concrete beam free in space. Axial oscillations are used to adjust DPM model parameters, bending oscillations are used to test convergence characteristics. Results show that the DPM solution converges to the equivalent converged finite element solution

[Thromboprohylaxis in orthopedic surgery and traumatology]

International audienceOrthopaedic and trauma surgery are classified according 3 groups of venous thromboembolic risk. Elective total hip replacement (THR) or total knee replacement (TKR), hip fracture surgery or trauma patients are at high risk. Isolated lower extremity injury with fracture is at moderate risk whereas this risk is low without fracture as well as with knee arthroscopy. In THR and TKR, low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), fondaparinux or melagatran-ximelagatran are strongly recommended. The routine use of other anticoagulants, in particular vitamin K antagonist are not recommended. In patients at high risk of venous thromboembolism as for example trauma patients, optimal use of intermittent pneumatic compression is an alternative option in case of contra-indication to anticoagulant prophylaxis. Graduated compression stockings enhance the efficacy of pharmacological methods. In schedule surgery, initiation of prophylaxis with LMWH may be started postoperatively. To reduce the haemorrhagic risk of anticoagulants, timing of first postoperative dose is essential and is proper to each drug. Duration of prophylaxis depends on the surgical and the individual patients' risk. Extended prophylaxis in THR for up to 42 days with LMWH and up to 35 days with fondaparinux in hip fracture surgery is recommended. However extended prophylaxis after 14 days in TKR has not demonstrated a higher efficacy and should only be considered for patients with additional risk factors. In patients with isolated lower extremity injury or undergoing knee arthroscopy, LMWH should not be routinely used according to a low or a moderate risk and/or the duration of prophylaxis required. But LMWH has to be considered for patients with additional risk factors. Prophylaxis in other orthopedic procedures has not been assessed and will be extrapolated from the above recommendations

Emergency department visits by children with and without autism spectrum disorder: An initial comparison evaluating multiple outcome measures at one urban children\u27s hospital

Hospitals everywhere, especially children\u27s hospitals, attempt to give exceptional care to all of their patients regardless of race, religion, socio-economic class, or intellectual ability. We evaluated data collected in the emergency department of a children\u27s hospital, comparing duration of visit in minutes, chief complaint upon arrival to the emergency department, mode of arrival to the emergency department, method of obtaining patient history, demographic information, medications prescribed, medical testing, laboratory testing, diagnosis at discharge, billing code(s) used by the hospital per visit, and the type of insurance billed for services for patients with and without autism spectrum disorder. Results showed no differences were found between the presenting complaint provided by the caretaker upon entering the emergency department and the medical diagnosis for which the patient was actually treated within the emergency department. The tests also showed that there was a significant association between the categories of presenting complaints and whether or not the patient had autism spectrum disorder. The arrival mode to the emergency department was significantly different between those with and without autism spectrum disorder. There was no significant difference existing between the two groups regarding cost of medical services provided and no significant difference existed between the two groups for the number of laboratory tests, medical tests, or total tests conducted, as well as no significant difference was found between the two groups was found in the length of hospital stay

The functional landscape of Hsp27 reveals new cellular processes such as DNA repair and alternative splicing and proposes novel anticancer targets.

International audiencePreviously, we identified the stress-induced chaperone, Hsp27, as highly overexpressed in castration-resistant prostate cancer and developed an Hsp27 inhibitor (OGX-427) currently tested in phase I/II clinical trials as a chemosensitizing agent in different cancers. To better understand the Hsp27 poorly-defined cytoprotective functions in cancers and increase the OGX-427 pharmacological safety, we established the Hsp27-protein interaction network using a yeast two-hybrid approach and identified 226 interaction partners. As an example, we showed that targeting Hsp27 interaction with TCTP, a partner protein identified in our screen increases therapy sensitivity, opening a new promising field of research for therapeutic approaches that could decrease or abolish toxicity for normal cells. Results of an in-depth bioinformatics network analysis allying the Hsp27 interaction map into the human interactome underlined the multifunctional character of this protein. We identified interactions of Hsp27 with proteins involved in eight well known functions previously related to Hsp27 and uncovered 17 potential new ones, such as DNA repair and RNA splicing. Validation of Hsp27 involvement in both processes in human prostate cancer cells supports our system biology-predicted functions and provides new insights into Hsp27 roles in cancer cells