Modeling Error Estimation and Response Prediction of a 10-Story Building Model Through a Hierarchical Bayesian Model Updating Framework

In this paper a hierarchical Bayesian model updating approach is proposed for calibration of model parameters, estimation of modeling error, and response prediction of dynamic structural systems. The approach is especially suitable for civil structural systems where modeling errors are usually significant. The proposed framework is demonstrated through a numerical case study, namely a 10-story building model. The “measured data” include the numerically simulated modal parameters of a frame model which represents the true structure. A simplified shear building model with significant modeling errors is then considered for model updating with stiffness of different structural components (substructures) chosen as updating parameters. In the proposed hierarchical Bayesian framework, updating parameters are assumed to follow a known distribution model (normal distribution is considered here) and are characterized by the distribution parameters (mean vector and covariance matrix). The error function, which is defined as the misfit between model-predicted and identified modal parameters, is also assumed to follow a normal distribution with unknown parameters. The hierarchical Bayesian approach is applied to estimate the stiffness parameter distributions with mean and covariance matrix referred to as hyperparameters, as well as the modeling error which is quantified by the mean and covariance of error function. Joint posterior probability distribution of all updating parameters is derived from the likelihood function and the prior distributions. A Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs sampler is implemented to evaluate the joint posterior distribution numerically. Two cases of model updating are studied with first case assuming a zero mean for the error function, and the second case considering a non-zero error mean. The response time history of the building to a ground motion is predicted using the calibrated shear building model for both cases and compared with the exact response (simulated). Good agreements between predictions and measurements are observed for both cases with better accuracy in the second case. This verifies the proposed hierarchical Bayesian approach for model calibration and response prediction and underlines the importance of considering and propagating the uncertainties of structural parameters and more importantly modeling errors

Highly efficient triazine/carbazole-based host material for green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with low efficiency roll-off

Two novel triazin/carbazole-based host materials were designed and synthesized, which demonstrated outstanding EL performance with maximum CE, PE and EQE of 69.3 cd A−1, 54.2 lm W−1 and 21.9%, respectively.</p

Preparation of modified whey protein isolate with gum acacia by ultrasound maillard reaction

peer-reviewedEffect of ultrasound treatment on whey protein isolate (WPI)-gum Acacia (GA) conjugation via Maillard reaction was investigated. And the physicochemical properties of the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment were compared with those obtained by classical heating. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, high-performance size exclusion chromatography and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy provided evidence on the formation of the Maillard type conjugation. Compared with classical heating, ultrasound treatment could accelerate the glycation reaction between WPI and GA. A degree of graft of 11.20% was reached by classical heating for 48 h, whereas only 20 min was required by ultrasound treatment. Structural analyses suggested that the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment had less α-helix content, higher surface hydrophobicity and fluorescence intensity than those obtained by classical heating. Significantly lower level of browning intensity and significantly higher (p < 0.05) level of solubility (under alkaline conditions), thermal stability, emulsifying activity and emulsifying stability were observed for the conjugates obtained by ultrasound treatment as compared with those obtained by classical heating

Spatial-Temporal Variation of Aridity Index of China during 1960–2013

Aridity index, as the ration of potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, is an important indicator of regional climate. GIS technology, Morlet wavelet, Mann-Kendall test, and principal component analysis are utilized to investigate the spatial-temporal variation of aridity index and its impacting factors in China on basis of climate data from 599 stations during 1960–2013. Results show the following. (1) Boundaries between humid and semihumid region, and semihumid and semiarid region coincide with 400 mm and 800 mm precipitation contour lines. (2) Average annual aridity index is between 3.4 and 7.5 and shows decrease trend with a tendency of –0.236 per decade at 99% confidence level. (3) The driest and wettest month appear in December and July, respectively, in one year. (4) Periods of longitudinal and latitudinal shift of aridity index 1, 1.5, and 4 contours coordinate are 10 and 25 years, 6 and 26 years, and 5 and 25 years, respectively. (5) Four principal components which affect aridity index are thermodynamic factors, water and radiation factors, geographical and air dynamic factors, and evaluation factor, respectively

The influence of adatom diffusion on the formation of skyrmion lattice in sub-monolayer Fe on Ir(111)

Room temperature grown Fe monolayer (ML) on the Ir(111) single crystal substrate has attracted great research interests as nano-skyrmion lattice can form under proper growth conditions. The formation of the nanoscale skyrmion, however, appears to be greatly affected by the diffusion length of the Fe adatoms on the Ir(111) surface. We made this observation by employing spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy to study skyrmion formation upon systematically changing the impurity density on the substrate surface prior to Fe deposition. Since the substrate surface impurities serve as pinning centers for Fe adatoms, the eventual size and shape of the Fe islands exhibit a direct correlation with the impurity density, which in turn determines whether skyrmion can be formed. Our observation indicates that skyrmion only forms when the impurity density is below 0.006/nm2, i.e., 12 nm averaged spacing between the neighboring defects. We verify the significance of Fe diffusion length by growing Fe on clean Ir(111) substrate at low temperature of 30 K, where no skyrmion was observed to form. Our findings signify the importance of diffusion of Fe atoms on the Ir(111) substrate, which affects the size, shape and lattice perfection of the Fe islands and thus the formation of skyrmion lattice

Creation of nano-skyrmion lattice in Fe/Ir(111) system using voltage pulse

Magnetic ultrathin films grown on heavy metal substrates often exhibit rich spin structures due to the competition between various magnetic interactions such as Heisenberg exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and higher-order spin interactions. Here we employ spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy to study magnetic nano-skyrmion phase in Fe monolayer grown on Ir(111) substrate. Our observations show that the formation of nano-skyrmion lattice in the Fe/Ir(111) system depends sensitively on the growth conditions and various non-skyrmion spin states can be formed. Remarkably, the application of voltage pulses between the tip and the sample can trigger a non-skyrmion to skyrmion phase transition. The fact that nano-skyrmions can be created using voltage pulse indicates that the balance between the competing magnetic interactions can be affected by an external electric field, which is highly useful to design skyrmion-based spintronic devices with low energy consumption