1,610 research outputs found
Vibration serviceability of a GFRP railway crossing due to pedestrians and train excitation
This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordData availability:
Electronic format of the data collected in this research can be downloaded freely from the University of Warwick webpages wrap.warwick.ac.uk/136500Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (GFRPs) are a popular option for pedestrian bridges over railway lines as they cause little disruption for installation or maintenance. However, as they are typically lighter and less stiff than traditional materials there is concern about their dynamic response due to human induced actions and train buffeting. Due to a lack of experimental information, further data is needed if such bridges are to be used on future lines, especially with higher speed limits. This paper presents an experimental investigation of the response of a 14.5 m GFRP truss bridge due to pedestrian loading and train induced vibrations. Vibration modes of interest were identified from impact hammer tests. The vibration responses to a range of human loading scenarios, as well as multiple train passes, were measured. The vibration levels remained low under all conditions, demonstrating that this particular type of GFRP bridge is suitable for railway crossings and that further optimisations may be available to designers while meeting vibration serviceability limits. However, consideration of the loadings suggests GFRP bridges may be more susceptible to higher pedestrian harmonics than traditional structures, and that vibrations from train buffeting are likely to be a design consideration for future bridges over high speed lines.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC
A combined AHP-GP model to allocate internal auditing time to projects
The optimal allocation of internal auditing time among competing projects is a multi-criteria problem that includes both qualitative and quantitative factors. This paper discusses an integrated approach where the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to deal with qualitative risk assessments and a goal programming (GP) model to distribute available hours in such a way that risk is minimised. Additional considerations, such as maximum and minimum allowable project hours, risk reducing factors and risk levels, are also taken into account. Following a description of the models and framework, a brief case study is presented in which the framework was empirically evaluated
Immobile indices and CQ-free optimality criteria for linear copositive programming problems
We consider problems of linear copositive programming where feasible sets consist of vectors
for which the quadratic forms induced by the corresponding linear matrix combinations
are nonnegative over the nonnegative orthant. Given a linear copositive problem, we define
immobile indices of its constraints and a normalized immobile index set. We prove that the
normalized immobile index set is either empty or can be represented as a union of a finite
number of convex closed bounded polyhedra. We show that the study of the structure of
this set and the connected properties of the feasible set permits to obtain new optimality
criteria for copositive problems. These criteria do not require the fulfillment of any additional
conditions (constraint qualifications or other). An illustrative example shows that the
optimality conditions formulated in the paper permit to detect the optimality of feasible
solutions for which the known sufficient optimality conditions are not able to do this. We
apply the approach based on the notion of immobile indices to obtain new formulations of
regularized primal and dual problems which are explicit and guarantee strong duality.publishe
Mapping the genetic architecture of gene expression in human liver
Genetic variants that are associated with common human diseases do not lead directly to disease, but instead act on intermediate, molecular phenotypes that in turn induce changes in higher-order disease traits. Therefore, identifying the molecular phenotypes that vary in response to changes in DNA and that also associate with changes in disease traits has the potential to provide the functional information required to not only identify and validate the susceptibility genes that are directly affected by changes in DNA, but also to understand the molecular networks in which such genes operate and how changes in these networks lead to changes in disease traits. Toward that end, we profiled more than 39,000 transcripts and we genotyped 782,476 unique single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in more than 400 human liver samples to characterize the genetic architecture of gene expression in the human liver, a metabolically active tissue that is important in a number of common human diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. This genome-wide association study of gene expression resulted in the detection of more than 6,000 associations between SNP genotypes and liver gene expression traits, where many of the corresponding genes identified have already been implicated in a number of human diseases. The utility of these data for elucidating the causes of common human diseases is demonstrated by integrating them with genotypic and expression data from other human and mouse populations. This provides much-needed functional support for the candidate susceptibility genes being identified at a growing number of genetic loci that have been identified as key drivers of disease from genome-wide association studies of disease. By using an integrative genomics approach, we highlight how the gene RPS26 and not ERBB3 is supported by our data as the most likely susceptibility gene for a novel type 1 diabetes locus recently identified in a large-scale, genome-wide association study. We also identify SORT1 and CELSR2 as candidate susceptibility genes for a locus recently associated with coronary artery disease and plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the process. © 2008 Schadt et al
The design-by-adaptation approach to universal access: learning from videogame technology
This paper proposes an alternative approach to the design of universally accessible interfaces to that provided by formal design frameworks applied ab initio to the development of new software. This approach, design-byadaptation, involves the transfer of interface technology and/or design principles from one application domain to another, in situations where the recipient domain is similar to the host domain in terms of modelled systems, tasks and users. Using the example of interaction in 3D virtual environments, the paper explores how principles underlying the design of videogame interfaces may be applied to a broad family of visualization and analysis software which handles geographical data (virtual geographic environments, or VGEs). One of the motivations behind the current study is that VGE technology lags some way behind videogame technology in the modelling of 3D environments, and has a less-developed track record in providing the variety of interaction methods needed to undertake varied tasks in 3D virtual worlds by users with varied levels of experience. The current analysis extracted a set of interaction principles from videogames which were used to devise a set of 3D task interfaces that have been implemented in a prototype VGE for formal evaluation
Electron-Spin Excitation Coupling in an Electron Doped Copper Oxide Superconductor
High-temperature (high-Tc) superconductivity in the copper oxides arises from
electron or hole doping of their antiferromagnetic (AF) insulating parent
compounds. The evolution of the AF phase with doping and its spatial
coexistence with superconductivity are governed by the nature of charge and
spin correlations and provide clues to the mechanism of high-Tc
superconductivity. Here we use a combined neutron scattering and scanning
tunneling spectroscopy (STS) to study the Tc evolution of electron-doped
superconducting Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4-delta obtained through the oxygen annealing
process. We find that spin excitations detected by neutron scattering have two
distinct modes that evolve with Tc in a remarkably similar fashion to the
electron tunneling modes in STS. These results demonstrate that
antiferromagnetism and superconductivity compete locally and coexist spatially
on nanometer length scales, and the dominant electron-boson coupling at low
energies originates from the electron-spin excitations.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, supplementary information include
The origin of life: chemical evolution of a metabolic system in a mineral honeycomb?
For the RNA-world hypothesis to be ecologically feasible, selection mechanisms acting on replicator communities need to be invoked and the corresponding scenarios of molecular evolution specified. Complementing our previous models of chemical evolution on mineral surfaces, in which selection was the consequence of the limited mobility of macromolecules attached to the surface, here we offer an alternative realization of prebiotic group-level selection: the physical encapsulation of local replicator communities into the pores of the mineral substrate. Based on cellular automaton simulations we argue that the effect of group selection in a mineral honeycomb could have been efficient enough to keep prebiotic ribozymes of different specificities and replication rates coexistent, and their metabolic cooperation protected from extensive molecular parasitism. We suggest that mutants of the mild parasites persistent in the metabolic system can acquire useful functions such as replicase activity or the production of membrane components, thus opening the way for the evolution of the first autonomous protocells on Earth
Mycobacterium tuberculosis ClpP Proteases Are Co-transcribed but Exhibit Different Substrate Specificities
PMCID: PMC3613350This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Alcohol consumption and body composition in a population-based sample of elderly Australian men
Background: Alcohol is calorie dense, and impacts activity, appetite and lipid processing. The aim of this study was to therefore investigate the association between alcohol consumption and components of body composition including bone, fat and lean tissue.Methods: Participants were recruited from a randomly selected, population-based sample of 534 men aged 65 years and older enrolled in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study. Alcohol intake was ascertained using a food frequency questionnaire and the sample categorised as nondrinkers or alcohol users who consumed B2, 3–4 or C5 standard drinks on a usual drinking day. Bone mineral density (BMD), lean body mass and body fat mass were measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; overall adiposity (%body fat), central adiposity (%truncal fat) and body mass index (BMI) were calculated. Bone quality was determined by quantitative heel ultrasound (QUS).Results: There were 90 current non-drinkers (16.9 %), 266 (49.8 %) consumed 1–2 drinks/day, 104 (19.5 %) 3–4 drinks/day and 74 (13.8 %) C5 drinks/day. Those consuming C5 drinks/day had greater BMI (?4.8 %), fat mass index (?20.1 %), waist circumference (?5.0 %), %body fat (?15.2 %) and proportion of trunk fat (?5.3 %) and lower lean mass (-5.0 %) than non-drinkers after adjustment for demographic and lifestyle factors. Furthermore, they were more likely to be obese than non-drinkers according to criteria based on BMI (OR = 2.83, 95 %CI 1.10–7.29) or waist circumference (OR = 3.36, 95 %CI 1.32–8.54). There was an inverse relationship between alcohol consumption and QUS parameters and BMD at the mid forearm site; no differences were detected for BMD at other skeletal sites.Conclusion: Higher alcohol intake was associated with greater total and central adiposity and reduced bone quality.<br /
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