A New Hybrid Methodology According to NSM CFRP Technique for the Flexural Strengthening of RC Beams

The objective of this paper is to propose a new hybrid methodology according to near surface mounted (NSM) technique, using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) reinforcement for the flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. This NSM hybrid flexural strengthening technique combines non-prestressed and prestressed CFRP laminates in the same application in order to provide a good balance in terms of load carrying and ultimate displacement capacity to the strengthened elements. An experimental program composed of six RC beams was carried out to assess the benefits of this NSM hybrid technique when compared to the use of non-prestressed or prestressed NSM CFRP laminates (NSM prestressing technique). For this purpose, the performance of both techniques in terms of crack width, prevailing failure mode, ultimate displacement capacity, energy absorption, and load carrying capacity of the strengthened beams was assessed. The experimental tests were also simulated by executing advanced 3D nonlinear finite element analysis. Moreover, the potentialities of other configurations for the NSM hybrid technique by adopting different non-prestressed CFRP reinforcement ratios were numerically assessed executing a parametric study, and the relevant results are presented and discussed.The study reported in this paper is part of the project "PreLami - Performance of reinforced concrete structures strengthened in flexural with an innovative system using prestressed NSM CFRP laminates", with the reference PTDC/ECM/114945/2009 supported by FCT. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support provided by CLEVER Reinforcement Iberica Company, for supplying the adhesives and the laminates, and Casais and CiviTest for the preparation of the beams

Determinants of responsibility for health, spiritual health and interpersonal relationship based on theory of planned behavior in high school girl students

Background: Adolescence is a sensitive period of acquiring normal and abnormal habits for all of life. The study investigates determinants of responsibility for health, spiritual health and interpersonal relations and predictive factors based on the theory of planned behavior in high school girl students in Tabriz. Methods: In this Cross-sectional study, 340 students were selected thorough multi-stage sampling. An author-made questionnaire based on standard questionnaires of Health Promotion and Lifestyle II (HPLPII), spiritual health standards (Palutzian & Ellison) and components of the theory of planned behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated in a pilot study. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.15 and descriptive and analytical tests (Chi-square test, Pearson correlation co-efficient and liner regression test in backward method). Results: Students' responsibility for health, spiritual health, interpersonal relationships, and concepts of theory of planned behavior was moderate. We found a significant positive correlation (p<0/001) among all concepts of theory of planned behavior. Attitude and perceived behavioral control predicted 35 of intention of behavioral change (p<0.001). Attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predicted 74 of behavioral change in accountability for health (p<0.0001), 56 for behavioral change in spiritual health (p<0.0001) and 63 for behavioral change in interpersonal relationship (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Status of responsibility for health, spiritual health and interpersonal relationships of students was moderate. Hence, behavioral intention and its determinants such as perceived behavioral control should be noted in promoting intervention programs

Assessment of the effectiveness of prestressed NSM CFRP laminates for the flexural strengthening of RC beams

The flexural behavior of RC beams strengthened with prestressed near-surface-mounted (NSM) carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) laminate was investigated in this paper. For this purpose, four RC beams were tested under monotonic four-point loading. One beam was kept un-strengthened, as a control beam, and another one was strengthened with a non-prestressed NSM CFRP laminate. The remaining beams were strengthened with NSM CFRP laminates prestressed at 20% and 40% of its ultimate tensile strength. The prestressed NSM CFRP laminate technique provided a significant increment of the load carrying capacity for deflection levels corresponding to serviceability and ultimate limit states. A numerical strategy was also employed to simulate the flexural behavior of the tested RC beams. The experimental and numerical researches are described and the relevant results are presented and discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Core promoter short tandem repeats as evolutionary switch codes for primate speciation

Alteration in gene expression levels underlies many of the phenotypic differences across species. Because of their highly mutable nature, proximity to the +1 transcription start site (TSS), and the emerging evidence of functional impact on gene expression, core promoter short tandem repeats (STRs) may be considered an ideal source of variation across species. In a genome-scale analysis of the entire Homo sapiens protein-coding genes, we have previously identified core promoters with at least one STR of ≥6-repeats, with possible selective advantage in this species. In the current study, we performed reverse analysis of the entire Homo sapiens orthologous genes in mouse in the Ensembl database, in order to identify conserved STRs that have shrunk as an evolutionary advantage to humans. Two protocols were used to minimize ascertainment bias. Firstly, two species sharing a more recent ancestor with Homo sapiens (i.e. Pan troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla gorilla) were also included in the study. Secondly, four non-primate species encompassing the major orders across Mammals, including Scandentia, Laurasiatheria, Afrotheria, and Xenarthra were analyzed as out-groups. We introduce STR evolutionary events specifically identical in primates (i.e. Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, and Gorilla gorilla gorilla) vs. non-primate out-groups. The average frequency of the identically shared STR motifs across those primates ranged between 0.00005 and 0.06. The identified genes are involved in important evolutionary and developmental processes, such as normal craniofacial development (TFAP2B), regulation of cell shape (PALMD), learning and long-term memory (RGS14), nervous system development (GFRA2), embryonic limb morphogenesis (PBX2), and forebrain development (APAF1). We provide evidence of core promoter STRs as evolutionary switch codes for primate speciation, and the first instance of identity-by-descent for those motifs at the interspecies level. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Evaluation of the performance of full-scale RC beams prestressed with NSM-CFRP laminates

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) applied according to the Near Surface Mounted (NSM) technique are known as capable of increasing the ultimate flexural resistance of Reinforced Concrete (RC) elements, but for Serviceability Limit States (SLS) the load increment it provides is, in general, relatively limited. Recently, researchers are giving attention towards the possibility of applying prestressed NSM-CFRPs to increase significantly the load carrying capacity of RC elements at SLS. As it is common knowledge, introducing prestress in a RC element produces an initial stress distribution, whose primary effect is, in the case of RC beams, the development of an initial deflection, typically in the opposite direction of loading. This initial stress field is the key factor that triggers most of the benefits of this technology, such as the delay in crack initiation and in steel yielding initiation. In this paper, the results of an experimental program consisting of a series of full-scale RC beams flexurally strengthened with NSM prestressed CFRP laminates up to four different levels (20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) will be presented. The experimental program is described and the main results are presented and discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Influence of prestress level on NSM CFRP laminates for the flexural strengthening of RC beams

This study presents an experimental program to evaluate the influence of the prestressing technique on the flexural behavior of reinforced-concrete (RC) beams strengthened with near-surface-mounted (NSM) carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) laminates. The experimental program was organized to highlight the benefits of this technique for flexural strengthening of RC beams with low reinforcement ratio, susceptible of not respecting serviceability-limit-state (SLS) conditions, namely the deflection limit. For this purpose, five RC beams were fabricated to be tested under monotonic four-point loading. One beam was kept unstrengthened as a control beam, and another one was strengthened with a non-prestressed NSM CFRP laminate. The remaining beams were reinforced with a NSM CFRP laminate prestressed at 20%, 30% and 40% of its nominal tensile strength. Based on the results, applying the prestress force provided an increase of load carrying capacity corresponding to the concrete cracking and steel yielding initiations compared to the non-prestressed strengthened beam. Moreover, the influence of prestress level on the prevailing failure mode of the tested beams was assessed, and the relevant results are presented and discussed. An advanced numerical strategy was also developed to simulate the tested beams, which was demonstrated capable of being used for the design of this type of structures.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Variation Iteration Method for Solving Ethanol and Acetaldehyde Concentrations in a Fixed Bed Laboratory Reactor

In this paper, we investigate the effects of nonlinear behaviour of the dimensionless concentrations of the ethanol and acetaldehyde in a fixed bed laboratory reactor. The work is based on solving the nonlinear differential equation of concentration of the ethanol and acetaldehyde by means of the He’s variational iteration method (VIM). Also, the numerical simulation (4th order Runge – Kutta method) is reported using Matlab software. The analytical solutions are compared with numerical results in order to achieve conclusions based on not only for accuracy and efficiency of the solutions, but also the simplicity of the taken procedures which would have remarkable effects on the time devoted for solving process. The analytical result reported in this work is useful to understand the behaviour of the system. Furthermore, due to the accuracy and convergence of obtained solutions, it is proved that the VIM could be applied through other nonlinear problems even with high nonlinearity

Transmission Power Adjustment Scheme for Mobile Beacon-Assisted Sensor Localization

© 2005-2012 IEEE. Localization, as a crucial service for sensor networks, is an energy-demanding process for both indoor and outdoor scenarios. GPS-based localization schemes are infeasible in remote, indoor areas, and it is not a cost-effective solution for large-scale networks. Single mobile-beacon architecture is recently considered to localize sensor networks with the aim of removing numerous GPS-equipped nodes. The critical issue for the mobile beacon-Assisted localization is to preserve the consumed power to increase the lifetime. This paper presents a novel power control scheme, namely 'Z-power,' for mobile beacon traveling along a predefined path. The proposed scheme takes the advantage of deterministic path traveled by the single beacon to efficiently adjust the transmission power. Based on the extensive results, the proposed power control scheme could successfully improve the beacon and sensors energy consumption about 25.37% and 34.09%, respectively. A significant energy-Accuracy tradeoff was achieved using Z-power, which could successfully keep the same level of accuracy while providing lower energy consumption. Another group of results collected when obstacle-handling algorithm was applied at the presence of obstacles. In this scenario, Z-power improves energy consumption and localization accuracy with the same level of success

Indoor navigation systems based on data mining techniques in internet of things: a survey

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Internet of Things (IoT) is turning into an essential part of daily life, and numerous IoT-based scenarios will be seen in future of modern cities ranging from small indoor situations to huge outdoor environments. In this era, navigation continues to be a crucial element in both outdoor and indoor environments, and many solutions have been provided in both cases. On the other side, recent smart objects have produced a substantial amount of various data which demands sophisticated data mining solutions to cope with them. This paper presents a detailed review of previous studies on using data mining techniques in indoor navigation systems for the loT scenarios. We aim to understand what type of navigation problems exist in different IoT scenarios with a focus on indoor environments and later on we investigate how data mining solutions can provide solutions on those challenges

Investigation of the Impacts of Social Capital on Organizational Entrepreneurship in Tehran Municipality

Entrepreneurship is the symbol of endeavor and success in business, and entrepreneurs play a crucial role in economic and social development of communities. Since Organizational Entrepreneurship (OE) contribute to earning stable finance required for administration of urban affairs, it is very important in the case of municipalities. For this reason, this study aims to investigate the role of social capital (SC) in the development of entrepreneurship in Tehran municipality. Research method was descriptive and non-experimental, and required data were collected through 204 questionnaires distributed among managers and experts of the organization. Stratified sampling was used, in which 37 managers and 167 experts participated. Number of male participants was 147, and number of female participants was 57. The mean age of participants was 41 years, and its standard deviation was 0.765. In order to test the research hypothesis, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. The results of the study showed that social capital and its three dimensions (Cognitive, Relational and Structural dimensions) had positive significant effect on organizational entrepreneurship