Pushover Analysis of GFRP Pultruded Frames

Results of a pushover analysis of GFRP pultruded frames aimed at the evaluation of their overall ductility are presented. It is assumed that the dissipation capacity of the frame structures is concentrated in joints due to their nonlinear behavior induced by progressive damage, while a brittle-elastic behavior is assumed for frame members. A two-storey one-bay GFRP pultruded frame is considered for a case study in which the column-base and beam-column joints are modeled with nonlinear rotational springs with different moment-rotation laws derived from experimental results available in the literature. For comparison, frames with hinged connections and moment-resisting frames are also analyzed. Finally, the results obtained are compared with those for a similar steel frame. The final results bear witness, in particular, to the absence of a significant ductility of pultruded frames and the relevant influence of the characteristics of bracings on their structural response

A newly discovered epidemic area of echinococcus multilocularis in West Gansu Province in China

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a lethal parasitic disease. In Gansu Province of China, all AE cases reported in literature were from Zhang and Min Counties, the southern part of the province. Here, we report the discovery of nine AE cases and one cystic echinococcosis (CE) case from Nanfeng Town of Minle County, in the middle of Hexi Corridor in west Gansu Province. The diagnosis of these cases were confirmed by serology, histopathology, computed tomography, B-ultrasound, immunohistochemistry method, DNA polymerase chain reaction and sequencing analysis. Because eight of nine AE cases came from First Zhanglianzhuang (FZLZ) village, we conducted preliminary epidemiological analyses of 730 persons on domestic water, community and ecology such as 356 dogs' faeces of FZLZ, in comparison with those of other five villages surrounding FZLZ. Our studies indicate that Nanfeng Town of Minle County is a newly discovered focus of AE in China as a CE and AE co-epidemic area. Further research of Echinococcus multilocularis transmission pattern in the area should be carried for prevention of this parasitic disease. Copyright: © 2015 Han et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited