Lifting of Steel Coils in Bore-Vertical Orientation

Lifting of coils with the bore in the vertical orientation could give rise to safety issues if the coil integrity is compromised during the slitting and packing operation. Coil telescoping (whereby the inner wraps of the coil spiral out) is known to occur during lifting, which could pose as a serious threat to the safety of personnel involved. In this type of incident, the coil straps are also broken when their breaking strength is exceeded and the whole coil would unwrap itself at an elevated position. Back tension is applied to the strip while shearing wide strip into narrower slits; this allows sufficient radial pressure to be built up within the bulk of the narrow coils. Upon unloading, the radial pressures at the innermost and outermost wraps decrease to zero but the bulk of the inter-wrap pressure within the coil remains largely unchanged. The interwrap frictional forces developed within the coil enable the coil to retain its integrity under its own weight. It is found that the radial pressures developed within the slit coil play the most crucial role in providing sufficient frictional resistance to support the weight of the coil wraps during lifting with the bore in the vertical orientation. In addition, the inter-wrap pressures near the footprint of the mechanical lifting device, near the bore, have the most significant influence in preventing coil telescoping

Concise theory of chiral lipid membranes

A theory of chiral lipid membranes is proposed on the basis of a concise free energy density which includes the contributions of the bending and the surface tension of membranes, as well as the chirality and orientational variation of tilting molecules. This theory is consistent with the previous experiments [J.M. Schnur \textit{et al.}, Science \textbf{264}, 945 (1994); M.S. Spector \textit{et al.}, Langmuir \textbf{14}, 3493 (1998); Y. Zhao, \textit{et al.}, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA \textbf{102}, 7438 (2005)] on self-assembled chiral lipid membranes of DC$_{8,9}$PC. A torus with the ratio between its two generated radii larger than $\sqrt{2}$ is predicted from the Euler-Lagrange equations. It is found that tubules with helically modulated tilting state are not admitted by the Euler-Lagrange equations, and that they are less energetically favorable than helical ripples in tubules. The pitch angles of helical ripples are theoretically estimated to be about 0$^\circ$ and 35$^\circ$, which are close to the most frequent values 5$^\circ$ and 28$^\circ$ observed in the experiment [N. Mahajan \textit{et al.}, Langmuir \textbf{22}, 1973 (2006)]. Additionally, the present theory can explain twisted ribbons of achiral cationic amphiphiles interacting with chiral tartrate counterions. The ratio between the width and pitch of twisted ribbons is predicted to be proportional to the relative concentration difference of left- and right-handed enantiomers in the low relative concentration difference region, which is in good agreement with the experiment [R. Oda \textit{et al.}, Nature (London) \textbf{399}, 566 (1999)].Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Outcomes of a remote, decentralized health center-based HIV/AIDS antiretroviral program in Zambia, 2003 to 2007

A cross-sectional study of patients living with HIV/ AIDS treated during 2003 to 2007 in decentralized, rural health centers in Zambia was performed to measure virological outcomes after 12 months of antiretroviral therapy and identify factors associated with virological failure. Data from 228 patients who started antiretroviral therapy >12 months prior were analyzed. In all, 93% received stavudine + lamivudine + nevirapine regimens, and median antiretroviral therapy duration was 23.5 months (interquartile range 20-28). Of the 205 patients tested for viral load, 177 (86%) had viral load <1000 copies/mL. Probability of developing virological failure (viral load >1000 copies/mL) was 8.9% at 24 months and 19.6% at 32 months. Predictors for virological failure were <100% adherence, body mass index <18.5 kg/m(2), and women <40 years old. Of those with virological failure who underwent 3 to 6 months of intensive adherence counseling, 45% obtained virological success. In a remote, resource-limited setting in decentralized health centers, virological and immunological assessments of patients on antiretroviral therapy >12 months showed that positive health outcomes are achievable

Effect of periodic parametric excitation on an ensemble of force-coupled self-oscillators

We report the synchronization behavior in a one-dimensional chain of identical limit cycle oscillators coupled to a mass-spring load via a force relation. We consider the effect of periodic parametric modulation on the final synchronization states of the system. Two types of external parametric excitations are investigated numerically: periodic modulation of the stiffness of the inertial oscillator and periodic excitation of the frequency of the self-oscillatory element. We show that the synchronization scenarios are ruled not only by the choice of parameters of the excitation force but depend on the initial collective state in the ensemble. We give detailed analysis of entrainment behavior for initially homogeneous and inhomogeneous states. Among other results, we describe a regime of partial synchronization. This regime is characterized by the frequency of collective oscillation being entrained to the stimulation frequency but different from the average individual oscillators frequency.Comment: Comments and suggestions are welcom

Gene dosage compensation calibrates four regulatory RNAs to control Vibrio cholerae quorum sensing

Quorum sensing is a mechanism of cell-to-cell communication that allows bacteria to coordinately regulate gene expression in response to changes in cell-population density. At the core of the Vibrio cholerae quorum-sensing signal transduction pathway reside four homologous small RNAs (sRNAs), named the quorum regulatory RNAs 1–4 (Qrr1–4). The four Qrr sRNAs are functionally redundant. That is, expression of any one of them is sufficient for wild-type quorum-sensing behaviour. Here, we show that the combined action of two feedback loops, one involving the sRNA-activator LuxO and one involving the sRNA-target HapR, promotes gene dosage compensation between the four qrr genes. Gene dosage compensation adjusts the total Qrr1–4 sRNA pool and provides the molecular mechanism underlying sRNA redundancy. The dosage compensation mechanism is exquisitely sensitive to small perturbations in Qrr levels. Precisely maintained Qrr levels are required to direct the proper timing and correct patterns of expression of quorum-sensing-regulated target genes

A Note on the Gauge Equivalence between the Manin-Radul and Laberge-Mathieu Super KdV Hierarchies

The gauge equivalence between the Manin-Radul and Laberge-Mathieu super KdV hierarchies is revisited. Apart from the Inami-Kanno transformation, we show that there is another gauge transformation which also possess the canonical property. We explore the relationship of these two gauge transformations from the Kupershmidt-Wilson theorem viewpoint and, as a by-product, obtain the Darboux-Backlund transformation for the Manin-Radul super KdV hierarchy. The geometrical intepretation of these transformations is also briefly discussed.Comment: 8 pages, revtex, 1 figur

Binary Nonlinearization of Lax pairs of Kaup-Newell Soliton Hierarchy

Kaup-Newell soliton hierarchy is derived from a kind of Lax pairs different from the original ones. Binary nonlinearization procedure corresponding to the Bargmann symmetry constraint is carried out for those Lax pairs. The proposed Lax pairs together with adjoint Lax pairs are constrained as a hierarchy of commutative, finite dimensional integrable Hamiltonian systems in the Liouville sense, which also provides us with new examples of finite dimensional integrable Hamiltonian systems. A sort of involutive solutions to the Kaup-Newell hierarchy are exhibited through the obtained finite dimensional integrable systems and the general involutive system engendered by binary nonlinearization is reduced to a specific involutive system generated by mono-nonlinearization.Comment: 15 pages, plain+ams tex, to be published in Il Nuovo Cimento

Higher Order Potential Expansion for the Continuous Limits of the Toda Hierarchy

A method for introducing the higher order terms in the potential expansion to study the continuous limits of the Toda hierarchy is proposed in this paper. The method ensures that the higher order terms are differential polynomials of the lower ones and can be continued to be performed indefinitly. By introducing the higher order terms, the fewer equations in the Toda hierarchy are needed in the so-called recombination method to recover the KdV hierarchy. It is shown that the Lax pairs, the Poisson tensors, and the Hamiltonians of the Toda hierarchy tend towards the corresponding ones of the KdV hierarchy in continuous limit.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, to be published in Journal of Physics