Connections of Trapezoidal Sheets under Fire

This paper describes two different experiments on connections of trapezoidal sheets under elevated temperatures. The first experiments were tensile tests carried out on four sets of tests with screwed connections under ambient and elevated temperatures. One diameter of self-drilling screws and three different thicknesses of trapezoidal sheets were used. The applied screws were without washers, or with sealed or steel washers. The second experiment was performed in a laboratory furnace to check the catenary action of a thin-walled trapezoidal sheet. The basic theory tested in this experiment was that in the first phase of the fire the sheet behaves as a simply supported beam, while in the second phase the load bearing is transferred by a tension membrane. These experiments will be used to develop a design model of connections at high temperatures. High fire resistance of the trapezoidal sheet, dependent on suitable design of the screwed connection to the bearing structure, was confirmed. The experiment with the simple beam also confirmed catenary action.

Coherent and Incoherent Dynamic Structure Function of the Free Fermi Gas

A detailed calculation of the coherent and incoherent dynamic structure functions of the free Fermi gas, starting from their expressions in terms of the one- and semi-diagonal two-body density matrices, is derived and discussed. Their behavior and evolution with the momentum transfer is analyzed, and particular attention is devoted to the contributions that both functions present at negative energies. Finally, an analysis of the energy weighted sum rules satisfied by both responses is also performed. Despite of the simplicity of the model, some of the conclusions can be extended to realistic systems.Comment: LaTeX, 3 figure

The Assembly of Ecological Communities Inferred from Taxonomic and Functional Composition

Among-site variation in metacommunities (beta diversity) is typically correlated with the distance separating the sites (spatial lag). This distance decay in similarity pattern has been linked to both niche-based and dispersal-based community assembly hypotheses. Here we show that beta diversity patterns in community composition, when supplemented with functional-trait information, can be used to diagnose assembly processes. First, using simulated data, we show how the relationship between distance decay patterns in taxonomic and functional measures of community composition can be used to predict the influence of a given trait on community assembly. We then use the patterns generated by the simulation as a template to show that the sorting of benthic macroinvertebrate metacommunities in headwater streams is likely influenced by different sets of functional traits at regional and local scales. We suggest that functional-trait databases and spatially referenced taxonomic surveys can be used to predict the spatial scales at which different aspects of interspecific functional variation are involved in niche-based community assembly while accounting for the influence of dispersal-based community assembly processes

Inequalities of harmonic univalent functions with connections of hypergeometric functions

Let SH be the class of functions f = h + (g) over bar that are harmonic univalent and sense-preserving in the open unit disk U = {z : vertical bar z vertical bar < 1} for which f(0) = f'(0) - 1 = 0. In this paper, we introduce and study a subclass H(alpha, beta)of the class SH and the subclass NH(alpha, beta) with negative coefficients. We obtain basic results involving sufficient coefficient conditions for a function in the subclass H(alpha, beta) and we show that these conditions are also necessary for negative coefficients, distortion bounds, extreme points, convolution and convex combinations. In this paper an attempt has also been made to discuss some results that uncover some of the connections of hypergeometric functions with a subclass of harmonic univalent functions

Reciprocal regulation by the CepIR and CciIR quorum sensing systems in Burkholderia cenocepacia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Burkholderia cenocepacia </it>belongs to a group of closely related organisms called the <it>B. cepacia </it>complex (Bcc) which are important opportunistic human pathogens. <it>B. cenocepacia </it>utilizes a mechanism of cell-cell communication called quorum sensing to control gene expression including genes involved in virulence. The <it>B. cenocepacia </it>quorum sensing network includes the CepIR and CciIR regulatory systems.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Global gene expression profiles during growth in stationary phase were generated using microarrays of <it>B. cenocepacia cepR</it>, <it>cciR </it>and <it>cepRcciIR </it>mutants. This is the first time CciR was shown to be a global regulator of quorum sensing gene expression. CepR was primarily responsible for positive regulation of gene expression while CciR generally exerted negative gene regulation. Many of the genes that were regulated by both quorum sensing systems were reciprocally regulated by CepR and CciR. Microarray analysis of the <it>cepRcciIR </it>mutant suggested that CepR is positioned upstream of CciR in the quorum sensing hierarchy in <it>B. cenocepacia</it>. A comparison of CepIR-regulated genes identified in previous studies and in the current study showed a substantial amount of overlap validating the microarray approach. Several novel quorum sensing-controlled genes were confirmed using qRT-PCR or promoter::<it>lux </it>fusions. CepR and CciR inversely regulated flagellar-associated genes, the nematocidal protein AidA and a large gene cluster on Chromosome 3. CepR and CciR also regulated genes required for iron transport, synthesis of extracellular enzymes and surface appendages, resistance to oxidative stress, and phage-related genes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>For the first time, the influence of CciIR on global gene regulation in <it>B. cenocepacia </it>has been elucidated. Novel genes under the control of the CepIR and CciIR quorum sensing systems in <it>B. cenocepacia </it>have been identified. The two quorum sensing systems exert reciprocal regulation of many genes likely enabling fine-tuned control of quorum sensing gene expression in <it>B. cenocepacia </it>strains carrying the cenocepacia island.</p

Determinants of Propranolol’s Selective Effect on Loss Aversion

Research on emotion and decision making has suggested that arousal mediates risky decisions, but several distinct and often confounded processes drive such choices. We used econometric modeling to separate and quantify the unique contributions of loss aversion, risk attitudes, and choice consistency to risky decision making. We administered the beta-blocker propranolol in a double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subjects study, targeting the neurohormonal basis of physiological arousal. Matching our intervention’s pharmacological specificity with a quantitative model delineating decision-making components allowed us to identify the causal relationships between arousal and decision making that do and do not exist. Propranolol selectively reduced loss aversion in a baseline- and dose-dependent manner (i.e., as a function of initial loss aversion and body mass index), and did not affect risk attitudes or choice consistency. These findings provide evidence for a specific, modulatory, and causal relationship between precise components of emotion and risky decision making

Anomalous finite size spectrum in the S=1/2 two dimensional Heisenberg model

We study the low energy spectrum of the nearest neighbor Heisenberg model on a square lattice as a function of the total spin S. By quantum Monte Carlo simulation we compute this spectrum for the s=1/2, s=1 and s=3/2 Heisenberg models. We conclude that the nonlinear sigma model prediction for the low energy spectrum is always verified for large enough system size. However the crossover to the correct scaling regime is particularly slow just for the s=1/2 Heisenberg model. The possibility to detect this unexpected anomaly with finite temperature experiments on s=1/2 isotropic quantum antiferromagnets is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX + 5 encapsulated postscript figure

Exponential martingales and changes of measure for counting processes

We give sufficient criteria for the Dol\'eans-Dade exponential of a stochastic integral with respect to a counting process local martingale to be a true martingale. The criteria are adapted particularly to the case of counting processes and are sufficiently weak to be useful and verifiable, as we illustrate by several examples. In particular, the criteria allow for the construction of for example nonexplosive Hawkes processes as well as counting processes with stochastic intensities depending on diffusion processes

Quantum-Critical Behavior in a Two-Layer Antiferromagnet

We analyze quantum Monte Carlo data in the vicinity of the quantum transition between a Neel state and a quantum paramagnet in a two-layer, square lattice spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The real-space correlation function and the universal amplitude ratio of the structure factor and the dynamic susceptibility show clear evidence of quantum critical behavior at low temperatures. The numerical results are in good quantitative agreement with $1/N$ calculations for the $O(N)$ non-linear sigma model. A discrepancy, reported earlier, between the critical properties of the antiferromagnet and the sigma model is resolved. We also discuss the values of prefactors of the dynamic susceptibility and the structure factor in a single layer antiferromagnet at low $T$.Comment: 11 pages, REVtex file, 5 figures in a uuencoded, gziped file. One citation added