A comparison between the MEXE and Pippard's methods of assessing the load carrying capacity of masonry arch bridges

The Military Engineering eXperimental Establishment (MEXE) method is a long established system of masonry arch load carrying capacity assessment. It has been subject to review in recent years and some shortcomings have been identified. There is now growing consensus that the current version of MEXE overestimates the load carrying capacity of short span bridges, but for spans over 12m it becomes increasingly conservative. In this paper Pippard’s elastic method and the MEXE method are used to investigate the significance of factors such as fill cover, ring thickness and effective width of arch barrel, and their effect upon the load-carrying capacity predictions in short and long span arches. Conclusions are drawn which establish directions of new research and offer guidance to assessors of short and long span masonry arch bridges

Separation and extraction of bridge dynamic strain data (in Chinese)

Through comparing the measured data of dynamic strains due to loading and temperature by the strain gauge and temperature sensor at the same location, the information in the strain data was divided into three parts in the frequency domain by using the defined index named PSD (power spectra density)- ratio. The three parts are dominated respectively by temperature varying, stresses and noises and can be distinguished from the determined values of the separatirix frequencies. Then a simple algorithm was developed to separate the three types of information, and to extract the strain caused mainly by structural stresses. As an application of the proposed method, the influence of strain deformation and noises. As an application of the proposed method, the influence of strain deformation and noises on the fatigue assessment was investigated based on the separated data. The results show that, the determined values of separatrix frequencies are valuable for the monitoring data from other bridges. The algorithm is a multi resolution and hierarchical method, which has been validated as a simple and effective method for data analyses, and is suitable for the compression and pre-processing of the great amount monitoring data and easy to be integrated in the SHM's (structural health monitoring)software system. The strain due to temperature varying attributes only a little to the errors of fatigue assessment. However, the noises or random disturbance existed in the monitoring data have much responsibility for the errors, the main reason is that the random disturbance shifts the real strain/stress amplitude picked up by real structural stress or strain

Experimental and Theoretical Studies of the Environmental Sensitivity of the Absorption Spectra and Photochemistry of Nitenpyram and Analogs

Neonicotinoid (NN) pesticides have widespread use, largely replacing other pesticides such as the carbamates. Hence, there is a need to understand their environmental fates at a molecular level in various media, especially water. We report here the studies of a nitroenamine NN, nitenpyram (NPM), in aqueous solution where the absorption cross sections in the actinic region above 290 nm are observed to dramatically decrease compared to those in nonaqueous solvents. Quantum chemical calculations show that addition of a proton to the tertiary amine nitrogen in NPM breaks the conjugation in the chromophore, shifting the absorption to shorter wavelengths, consistent with experiment. However, surprisingly, adding a proton to the secondary amine nitrogen leads to its immediate transfer to the NO2 group, preserving the conjugation. This explains why the UV absorption of ranitidine (RAN), which has a similar chromophore but only secondary amine nitrogens, does not show a similar large blue shift in water. Photolysis quantum yields in aqueous NPM solutions were measured to be φ = 0.18 ± 0.07 at 254 nm, (9.4 ± 1.6) × 10-2 with broadband radiation centered at 313 nm and (5.2 ± 1.1) × 10-2 for broadband radiation centered at 350 nm (errors are 2σ). The major products in aqueous solutions are an imine that was also formed in the photolysis of the solid and a carboxylic acid derivative that is unique to the photolysis in water. Combining the larger quantum yields in water with the reduced absorption cross sections results in a calculated lifetime of NPM of only 5 min at a solar zenith angle of 35°, typical of 40°N latitude on April 1. The products do not absorb in the actinic region and hence will be long-lived with respect to photolysis

Inbuilt Mechanisms for Overcoming Functional Problems Inherent in Hepatic Microlobular Structure

This paper is funded by an MRC/EPSRC Discipline Bridging Initiative Grant (G0502256-77947) to W. Wan

FirstLight: Pluggable Optical Interconnect Technologies for Polymeric Electro-Optical Printed Circuit Boards in Data Centers

The protocol data rate governing data storage devices will increase to over 12 Gb/s by 2013 thereby imposing unmanageable cost and performance burdens on future digital data storage systems. The resulting performance bottleneck can be substantially reduced by conveying high-speed data optically instead of electronically. A novel active pluggable 82.5 Gb/s aggregate bit rate optical connector technology, the design and fabrication of a compact electro-optical printed circuit board to meet exacting specifications, and a method for low cost, high precision, passive optical assembly are presented. A demonstration platform was constructed to assess the viability of embedded electro-optical midplane technology in such systems including the first ever demonstration of a pluggable active optical waveguide printed circuit board connector. High-speed optical data transfer at 10.3125 Gb/s was demonstrated through a complex polymer waveguide interconnect layer embedded into a 262 mm × 240 mm × 4.3 mm electro-optical midplane. Bit error rates of less than 10-12 and optical losses as low as 6 dB were demonstrated through nine multimode polymer wave guides with an aggregate data bandwidth of 92.8125 Gb/s

Silk films as a repair material for perforations of the tympanic membrane

Large, chronic perforations of the tympanic membrane or eardrum can cause hearing loss as well as a range of secondary health problems. Current methods of repair usually involve grafting a material such as cartilage from another site on the body across the perforation. However, given problems such as possible infections at the graft donor site and the inability to see through the graft to assess infection within the middle ear, there is a need to develop an alternative material that is strong, readily available and transparent. Such a material would allow for less invasive surgery and potentially result in a superior hearing outcome for the patient. Our recent work has identified silk fibroin films as a promising material for this application. This paper reviews the repair of large perforations and compares the mechanical properties of silk with some existing graft materials. It also briefly discusses the difficulties in defining and comparing these properties with such different materials

Moisture susceptibility and fatigue performance of hydrated lime-modified asphalt concrete : experiment and design application case study

Hydrated lime has been recognized as an effective additive used to improve asphalt concrete properties in pavement applications. However, further work is still needed to quantify the effect of hydrated lime on asphaltic concrete performance under varied weather, temperature and environmental conditions and in the application of different pavement courses. A research project has been conducted using hydrated lime to modify the asphalt concretes used for the applications of wearing (surface), levelling (binder) and base courses. A previous publication has reported the experimental study on the resistance to Marshall stability and the volumetric properties, the resilient modulus and permanent deformation at three different weather temperatures. This paper reports the second phase experimental study for material durability, which investigated the effect of hydrated lime content on moisture susceptibility when exposed to a freeze-thaw cycle, and the fatigue life. The experimental results show an improvement in the durability of the modified asphalt concrete mixtures. Optimum hydrated lime contents for different course applications are suggested based on the series experimental studies. Finally, the advantage of using the optimum mixtures for a pavement application is demonstrated

Multi-agent coalition formation in power transmission planning

Deregulation and restructuring have become unavoidable trends to the power industry recently in order to increase its efficiency, to reduce operation costs, or to provide customers better services. The once centralized system planning and management must be remodeled to reflect the changes in the market environment. We have proposed and developed a multi-agent based system to assist players, such as, owners of power generation stations, owners of transmission lines, and groups of consumers, in the same market to select partners to form coalitions. The system provides users with a cooperation plan and its associated cost allocation plan for the users to support their decision making process. Bilateral Shapley Value (BSV) was selected as the theoretical foundation to develop the system. The multi-agent system was developed by the combination of IDEAS and Tcl/Tk.published_or_final_versio

Live Service Migration in Mobile Edge Clouds

Mobile edge clouds (MECs) bring the benefits of the cloud closer to the user, by installing small cloud infrastructures at the network edge. This enables a new breed of real-time applications, such as instantaneous object recognition and safety assistance in intelligent transportation systems, that require very low latency. One key issue that comes with proximity is how to ensure that users always receive good performance as they move across different locations. Migrating services between MECs is seen as the means to achieve this. This article presents a layered framework for migrating active service applications that are encapsulated either in virtual machines (VMs) or containers. This layering approach allows a substantial reduction in service downtime. The framework is easy to implement using readily available technologies, and one of its key advantages is that it supports containers, which is a promising emerging technology that offers tangible benefits over VMs. The migration performance of various real applications is evaluated by experiments under the presented framework. Insights drawn from the experimentation results are discussed

Insights into antimicrobial resistance among long distance migratory East Canadian High Arctic light-bellied Brent geese (Branta bernicla hrota)

This is the final version of the article. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the most significant threat to global public health and ascertaining the role wild birds play in the epidemiology of resistance is critically important. This study investigated the prevalence of AMR Gram-negative bacteria among long-distance migratory East Canadian High Arctic (ECHA) light-bellied Brent geese found wintering on the east coast of Ireland. FINDINGS: In this study a number of bacterial species were isolated from cloacal swabs taken from ECHA light-bellied Brent geese. Nucleotide sequence analysis identified five species of Gram-negative bacteria; the dominant isolated species were Pantoea spp. (n = 5) followed by Buttiauxella agrestis (n = 2). Antimicrobial susceptibility disk diffusion results identified four of the Pantoea spp. strains, and one of the Buttiauxella agrestis strains resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge this is the first record of AMR bacteria isolated from long distance migratory ECHA light-bellied Brent geese. This indicates that this species may act as reservoirs and potential disseminators of resistance genes into remote natural ecosystems across their migratory range. This population of geese frequently forage (and defecate) on public amenity areas during the winter months presenting a potential human health risk.SB is funded by a European Research Councils consolidators grant (STATEMIG: 310820)