Bending Analysis of Folded Laminated Plates by the FSDT Meshfree Method

AbstractA meshfree method is developed in this paper to study the flexure behavior of folded laminated plates. A folded laminated plate is considered as an assembly of laminates. Based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the moving-least square approximation, the stiffness equations of the laminates are derived. A treatment is implemented to modify the equations, and the equations are then superposed to obtain the governing equation of the entire folded laminated plate. No mesh is required in the determination of the stiffness equations of the laminates, and therefore the proposed method is more flexible than the finite element methods. The convergence and accuracy of the proposed method are examined by computing several numerical examples, and good agreement is observed between the present results and those given by ANSYS

Distribution and diversity of Phytophthora across Australia

The introduction and subsequent impact of Phytophthora cinnamomi within native vegetation is one of the major conservation issues for biodiversity in Australia. Recently, many new Phytophthora species have been described from Australia's native ecosystems; however, their distribution, origin, and potential impact remain unknown. Historical bias in Phytophthora detection has been towards sites showing symptoms of disease, and traditional isolation methods show variable effectiveness of detecting different Phytophthora species. However, we now have at our disposal new techniques based on the sampling of environmental DNA and metabarcoding through the use of high-throughput sequencing. Here, we report on the diversity and distribution of Phytophthora in Australia using metabarcoding of 640 soil samples and we compare the diversity detected using this technique with that available in curated databases. Phytophthora was detected in 65% of sites, and phylogenetic analysis revealed 68 distinct Phytophthora phylotypes. Of these, 21 were identified as potentially unique taxa and 25 were new detections in natural areas and/or new introductions to Australia. There are 66Phytophthora taxa listed in Australian databases, 43 of which were also detected in this metabarcoding study. This study revealed high Phytophthora richness within native vegetation and the additional records provide a valuable baseline resource for future studies. Many of the Phytophthora species now uncovered in Australia's native ecosystems are newly described and until more is known we need to be cautious with regard to the spread and conservation management of these new species in Australia's unique ecosystems