Simulation and Fast vulnerability analysis of a Chinese masonry pagoda

As an important historical relic of human being, masonry pagoda is the great significance in the eastern and western architectural cultures. Most of the existing masonry pagodas in China which have been seriously damaged urgently need detailed structural safety assessment, repair and reinforcement. The paper choose a Chinese masonry pagoda as a case, conducted a series simulation analysis with Abauqs. Through numerical simulation, the seismic performance of the pagoda can be evaluated, which can not only predict the hidden danger and weak link in its structure, but also provide useful reference for the reinforcement and repair of the pagoda. It also adopts a very convenient 3D CAD method to quickly assess the seismic vulnerability of existing masonry pagoda according the reference

Preliminary study on a novel Optimal Placed Sensors method based on Genetic Algorithm

The safeguarding of the historical and cultural heritage is one of the main research topics that has been addressed in recent years. Particular attention was given to the development of structural health monitoring systems that allowed the real time acquisition of different physical quantities that are stored in a cloud and compared with the health limit values of the structures obtained from numerical analysis previously carried out. One of the major problems highlighted by the use of these systems is related to the position and quantity of smart sensors to be used within the structure to be monitored. To avoid this, in this paper an Optimal Sensors Placement method was applied to a case study located in China. In particular, the positioning of the sensors was identified through an optimization workflow that adopt a Multi Objective Optimization engine called "Octopus"in Grasshopper3D. The identified optimal solutions have made it possible to detect the areas of the structure that will be subject to collapse during a seismic event

Experimental and Numerical Analyses on Sandstone Elements Obtained by 3D Printing

The international cultural and historical heritage is often subject to degradation and damage. The main causes contributing to these phenomena are the chemical and mechanical actions due to acid rain, environmental pollution, and earthquakes. Other causes are the cycles of freezing and thawing that induce the manifestation of internal stresses leading to the deterioration of the material and the collapse of structural parts. In the field of architectural restoration, this problem has been addressed by two main solutions. The first involves cleaning processes that leave the missing parts visible; the second consists of introducing reproductions of the missing parts, creating a clear distinction between pre-existing and new elements. In both cases, the seismic behavior of the structure is modified; in the second solution, the added elements do not contribute to the structural strength since they are made of plaster or stucco. This work aims at presenting a preliminary study on the creation of replacements of missing elements within damaged heritage buildings. The work is structured in two distinct phases. In the first phase, specific cubic specimens, created with a 3D printer, are produced and subjected to uniaxial compression tests. The experimental campaign is carried out in order to provide useful information regarding the 3D material engineering constants that are currently absent in the literature. In the second phase, the experimental results are used in a numerical model to calibrate the mechanical properties of an equivalent homogeneous material

Upregulated Expression of Toll-like Receptor 4 in Peripheral Blood of Ischaemic Stroke Patients Correlates with Cyclooxygenase 2 Expression

AbstractObjectivesAn inflammatory process following stroke in human brains and systemic inflammatory responses after stroke in humans have been reported by numerous investigators. The aim of the study was to investigate if genes involved in the cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) pathway are upregulated at peripheral level in patients after transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and stroke.Design of StudyBlood samples were obtained from two groups of patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. The first group included 25 patients who presented TIA or ischaemic stroke. The second group included 35 patients who had an asymptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis. Total RNA was isolated and the expression of Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4), COX-2, membrane-associated Prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES-1), Prostaglandin E2 receptors (EP3 and EP4) was analysed by real time RT-PCR.ResultsExpression of COX-2 and TLR4 were significantly increased in symptomatic patients (p<0.001). Correlation analysis showed that TLR4 expression significantly correlated with COX-2 expression (R=0.65; p<0.01) in ischaemic stroke patients. This correlation was not observed in TIA and asymptomatic patients.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the peripheral mechanism of inflammatory injury after stroke may be mediated by TLR4 through a COX-2-dependent pathway

Timelike Hopf Duality and Type IIA^* String Solutions

The usual T-duality that relates the type IIA and IIB theories compactified on circles of inversely-related radii does not operate if the dimensional reduction is performed on the time direction rather than a spatial one. This observation led to the recent proposal that there might exist two further ten-dimensional theories, namely type IIA^* and type IIB^*, related to type IIB and type IIA respectively by a timelike dimensional reduction. In this paper we explore such dimensional reductions in cases where time is the coordinate of a non-trivial U(1) fibre bundle. We focus in particular on situations where there is an odd-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime AdS_{2n+1}, which can be described as a U(1) bundle over \widetilde{CP}^n, a non-compact version of CP^n corresponding to the coset manifold SU(n,1)/U(n). In particular, we study the AdS_5\times S^5 and AdS_7\times S^4 solutions of type IIB supergravity and eleven-dimensional supergravity. Applying a timelike Hopf T-duality transformation to the former provides a new solution of the type IIA^* theory, of the form \widetilde{CP}^2\times S^1\times S^5. We show how the Hopf-reduced solutions provide further examples of ``supersymmetry without supersymmetry.'' We also present a detailed discussion of the geometrical structure of the Hopf-fibred metric on AdS_{2n+1}, and its relation to the horospherical metric that arises in the AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: Latex, 26 page

Curvas de embebição em Bromus auleticus Trinius.

Bromus auleticus Trinius, também conhecida por cevadilha-vacariana, é uma gramínea forrageira perene, nativa do bioma Pampa. A presença de dormência pós-colheita nas sementes restringe o seu uso em sistemas produtivos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a velocidade de absorção de água pelas sementes dessa espécie.Editora técnica Claudia Cristina Gulias Gomes

Efeito da densidade de semeadura na produção de matéria seca de Bromus auleticus Trinius.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da densidade de semeadura sobre a produção de matéria seca em Bromus Bromus Bromus auleticus

Ácido giberélico no tratamento de sementes de azevém.

SIEPEX

Densidade de semeadura, estabelecimento e produção de matéria seca de cevadilha vacariana.

SOWING DENSITY, ESTABLISHMENT AND DRY MATTER PRODUCTION OF CEVADILHA VACARIANA. ABSTRACT: Bromus auleticus Trinius or cevadilha vacariana, is a perennial hibernal species native to the fields of southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The slow establishment is one of the problems pointed out in most works as the main difficulty for its use as perennial winter pasture. The present work aimed to study the effect of sowing density on the establishment and production of dry matter in B. auleticus, in the first and second year of pasture production. The applied treatments were sowing densities of 570 (T1), 840 (T2), 1,100 (T3), 1,350 (T4) and 1,700 (T5) viable seeds.m-2. There was no significant difference between treatments for the number of seedlings up to 35 days, nor for plant height up to 100 days after sowing and also for the number of days between sowing and first cut. Dry matter production was not affected by treatments either. In this experiment the sowing density had no influence on any of the evaluated characteristics. It was also not possible to establish an association between number of plants and dry matter production in the first cut in the year of establishment. Keywords: Bromus auleticus; Native forage; Temperate grass; Seed

Ácido giberélico no tratamento de sementes de forrageiras anuais de verão.

Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito sobre a germinação e o crescimento de plântulas, do tratamento com diferentes produtos e concentrações com ácido giberélico nas sementes de espécies forrageiras anuais de verão