Performance of Cold-formed Steel-framed Shear Walls: Alternative Configurations

This report presents the results of twenty shear wall tests that were conducted to evaluate the performance of wall configurations not currently (2002) permitted in the building codes. Ten (10) walls were evaluated under reversed cyclic loading and the other ten (10) under monotonic loading. Brief descriptions of the test program and results are presented in the following paragraphs. The reversed cyclic load tests comprised 4 ft. x 8 ft. 54- and 68-mil framed walls with 7/16-in. OSB rated sheathing on one or both sides of the wall and 33-mil framed walls with 27-mil sheet steel. The sheet steel wall incorporated a horizontal lap shear joint at the wall midheight. The monotonic tests focused exclusively on 8 ft. x 8 ft. gypsum sheathed shear walls with an unblocked configuration, except for two tests. Overall, the OSB tests showed that the No. 8 screws in 54-mil framing and No. 10 screws on 68-mil framing permitted a ductile mode of failure at the connection. In the doubled-sided (sheathing each side) wall tests, the load demands on the 54-mil chord studs exceeded the capacity of studs and the load demands at the holdown attachment to the 68-mil chords studs exceeded the capacity of the screws. As a result, the capacity of the double-sided wall was less than twice the capacity of the single-sided wall. In the sheet steel walls, shear buckling accompanied by diagonal tension resulted in high demands on a few screws at the mid-height joint which caused the panel to unzip prematurely along the joint. Failure in the GWB monotonic tests was characterized by breaking of the wallboard at the location of the fasteners along the “un-papered” edges and screw pull-through along the “papered” edges of the wallboard

Ariel - Volume 5 Number 3

Editor J.D. Kanofsky Entertainment Editors Robert Breckenridge Gary Kaskey Overseas Editor Mike Sinason Staff Ken Jaffe Bob Sklaroff Janet Weish David Jacoby Circulation Editor Jay Amsterdam Humorist Jim McCan

Advanced propfan analysis for the family of commuter airplanes

Advanced propfans were selected to be used throughout the family of commuters. These propulsion systems offer a 25 to 28 percent fuel savings over comparably sized turbofans operating in the 1990s. A brief study of the propulsion systems available for the family of commuters is provided and the selection of the advanced turboprops justified. The propeller and engine designs and performance are discussed. The integration of these designs are examined. Also addressed is the noise considerations and constraints due to propfan installation

Using care plans to better manage multimorbidity

BACKGROUND: The health care for patients having two or more long-term medical conditions is fragmented between specialists, allied health professionals, and general practitioners (GPs), each keeping separate medical records. There are separate guidelines for each disease, making it difficult for the GP to coordinate care. The TrueBlue model of collaborative care to address key problems in managing patients with multimorbidity in general practice previously reported outcomes on the management of multimorbidities. We report on the care plan for patients with depression, diabetes, and/or coronary heart disease that was embedded in the TrueBlue study. METHODS: A care plan was designed around diabetes, coronary heart disease, and depression management guidelines to prompt implementation of best practices and to provide a single document for information from multiple sources. It was used in the TrueBlue trial undertaken by 400 patients (206 intervention and 194 control) from 11 Australian general practices in regional and metropolitan areas. RESULTS: Practice nurses and GPs successfully used the care plan to achieve the guideline-recommended checks for almost all patients, and successfully monitored depression scores and risk factors, kept pathology results up to date, and identified patient priorities and goals. Clinical outcomes improved compared with usual care. CONCLUSION: The care plan was used successfully to manage and prioritise multimorbidity. Downstream implications include improving efficiency in patient management, and better health outcomes for patients with complex multimorbidities

Forest management and wildfire risk in inland northwest

This brief reports the results of a mail survey of forest landowners in northeastern Oregon conducted in the fall of 2012 by the Communities and Forests in Oregon (CAFOR) Project at the University of Colorado and the University of New Hampshire in cooperation with Oregon State University College of Forestry Extension. The mail survey--a follow-up to a telephone survey conducted for the counties of Baker, Union, and Wallowa in the fall of 2011 -was administered to understand who constituted forest landowners in these three coun¬ties and their perceptions about forest management on both public and private land, as well as risks to forests in the area and the actions they have taken to reduce those risks. The respondents indicated that they perceive wildfire as the greatest threat to their lands, and they consider cooperation with neighbors as very or extremely important for land management. Forest landowners believe public lands are managed poorly and see a greater risk of wildfire occurring on neighboring public land than on their own land. Their opinions on land management are not strongly related to background factors or ideology (for example, gender, age, political party, wealth) but may be heavily influenced by personal experience with wildfire

Community and Clinical Epidemiology of Borderline Personality Disorder

Several studies of the prevalence of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in community and clinical settings have been carried out to date. Although results vary according to sampling method and assessment method, median point prevalence of BPD is roughly 1%, with higher or lower rates in certain community subpopulations. In clinical settings, BPD prevalence is around 10-12% in outpatient psychiatric clinics and 20-22% among inpatient clinics. Further research is needed to identify the prevalence and correlates of BPD in other clinical settings (e.g., primary care) and to investigate the impact of demographic variables on BPD prevalence

Modelling the effects of antibiotic usage in livestock on human salmonellosis

Antibiotic usage in livestock has been suggested as a driver of antimicrobial resistance in human and livestock populations. This has contributed to the implementation of stewardship programs to curtail usage of antibiotics in livestock. However, the consequences of antibiotic curtailment in livestock on human health are poorly understood. There is the potential for increases in the carriage of pathogens such as Salmonella spp. in livestock, and subsequent increases in human foodborne disease. We use a mathematical model fitted to four case studies, ampicillin and tetracycline usage in fattening pig and broiler poultry populations, to explore the impact of curtailing antibiotic usage in livestock on salmonellosis in humans. Increases in the daily incidence of salmonellosis and a decrease in the proportion of resistant salmonellosis were identified following curtailment of antibiotic usage in livestock. The extent of these increases in human foodborne disease ranged from negligible, to controllable through interventions to target the farm-to-fork pathway. This study provides a motivating example of one plausible scenario following curtailment of antibiotic usage in livestock and suggests that a focus on ensuring good farm-to-fork hygiene and livestock biosecurity is sufficient to mitigate the negative human health consequences of antibiotic stewardship in livestock populations.ISSN:2352-771

Differential effects of interleukin-13 and interleukin-6 on Jak/STAT signaling and cell viability in pancreatic β-cells

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in islets on 1 March 2013, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.4161/isl.24249Open Access articlePro-inflammatory cytokines are important mediators of β-cell demise in type 1 diabetes, and similar mechanisms are increasingly implicated in type 2 diabetes, where a state of chronic inflammation may persist. It is likely that the actions of anti-inflammatory cytokines are also altered in diabetes. Cytokines are released from immune cells, which may be recruited to the islets in diabetes, but they can also be produced by islet endocrine cells in response to environmental factors, including enteroviral infection. Since enteroviral infection of islet cells may influence the development of diabetes in humans, we examined the actions of two cytokines, IL-13 and IL-6, whose expression are reported to be altered in β-cells during enteroviral infection. Human and rodent islet cells were shown to express receptors for both IL-13 and IL-6, and treatment with either cytokine resulted in the rapid phosphorylation of STAT3 and STAT6. However, while β-cells were protected against a range of cytotoxic insults during exposure to IL-13, treatment with IL-6 enhanced cytotoxicity and western blotting revealed that IL-13 induced one specific isoform of phospho-STAT6 preferentially. Upon incubation with both cytokines together, the isoform of STAT6 that was upregulated by IL-13 alone was again induced, and the effects of IL-6 on β-cell viability were attenuated. Overall, the results suggest that induction of specific isoforms of STAT family transcription factors may underlie the cytoprotective actions of IL-13, and they imply that selective targeting of specific STAT-mediated signaling components could provide a means to ameliorate the loss of β-cell viability in diabetes.Nuffield Foundation - Bursary schemeEuropean Union’s Seventh Framework Programme PEVNET (FP7/2007-2013