Seismic performance of concrete-filled SHS column-to-beam connections with slip-critical blind bolts

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd This paper investigates the use of slip-critical blind bolts to connect I-beams to concrete-filled steel square hollow section (SHS) columns. The strength and stiffness of the resulting joints are determined experimentally for the purpose of classifying them according to the Eurocode. Their suitability for use in special moment frames is also assessed through cyclic bending tests. Three types of beam sections are tested, being a compact welded section, a reduced beam (flange) section, and a reduced beam section with concrete slab at the top. All tested joints are full strength according to the Eurocode, allowing the connected beams to reach their respective plastic moment capacities. In addition, they are rigid for braced and unbraced frames, except for the reduced beam section specimen, which are semi-rigid only for unbraced frames according to the Eurocode. However, all specimens have sufficient ductility to be used in special moment frames, with no pinching effect in their hysteretic moment-rotation curves. Their initial rotational stiffness is dominated by the stiffness of the column flange in bending, which can be conservatively estimated using the formulation presented in this paper

Thermodynamic topological analysis of extractive distillation of maximum boiling azeotropes

This paper provides a feasibility study of azeotropic mixture separation based on a topological analysis combining thermodynamic knowledge of residue curve maps, univolatility and unidistribution curves, and extractive profiles. Thermodynamic topological features related to process operations for typical ternary diagram classes 1.0-2 are, for the first time, discussed. Separating acetone/chloroform is presented as an illustrative example; different entrainers are investigated: several heavy ones, a light one, and water, covering the Serafimov classes 1.0-2, 1.0-1a and 3.1-4, respectively. The general feasibility criterion that was previously established for ternary mixtures including only one azeotrope (1.0-1a or 1.0-2) is now, for the first time, extended to that including three azeotropes (class 3.1–4)

A review of ternary azeotropic mixtures advanced separation strategies

In most multi-component systems, the predominant non-ideality occurs which lead to the occurrence of an azeotrope. The ternary systems classification and study are summarized in first part of this review. The next part covers thermodynamic knowledge of residue curve maps, univolatility and unidistribution curves. A feasibility criterion based on thermodynamic properties of ternary diagram is presented, they are considered as powerful tool for the flow-sheet development and conceptual design. Separation of azeotropic mixtures and close boiling mixtures require non-conventional distillation processes, among which the leading processes are pressure-swing distillation if the composition of the azeotrope changes significantly with pressure, azeotropic distillation, extractive distillation, reactive distillation, and salt-effect distillation. The final section provides an overview of concepts, history, and recent strategies in these non-conventional distillation

Modeling characterization of the vertical and temporal variability of environmental DNA in the mesopelagic ocean

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Allan, E. A., DiBenedetto, M. H., Lavery, A. C., Govindarajan, A. F., & Zhang, W. G. Modeling characterization of the vertical and temporal variability of environmental DNA in the mesopelagic ocean. Scientific Reports, 11(1), (2021): 21273, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00288-5.Increasingly, researchers are using innovative methods to census marine life, including identification of environmental DNA (eDNA) left behind by organisms in the water column. However, little is understood about how eDNA is distributed in the ocean, given that organisms are mobile and that physical and biological processes can transport eDNA after release from a host. Particularly in the vast mesopelagic ocean where many species vertically migrate hundreds of meters diurnally, it is important to link the location at which eDNA was shed by a host organism to the location at which eDNA was collected in a water sample. Here, we present a one-dimensional mechanistic model to simulate the eDNA vertical distribution after its release and to compare the impact of key biological and physical parameters on the eDNA vertical and temporal distribution. The modeled vertical eDNA profiles allow us to quantify spatial and temporal variability in eDNA concentration and to identify the most important parameters to consider when interpreting eDNA signals. We find that the vertical displacement by advection, dispersion, and settling has limited influence on the eDNA distribution, and the depth at which eDNA is found is generally within tens of meters of the depth at which the eDNA was originally shed from the organism. Thus, using information about representative vertical migration patterns, eDNA concentration variability can be used to answer ecological questions about migrating organisms such as what depths species can be found in the daytime and nighttime and what percentage of individuals within a species diurnally migrate. These findings are critical both to advance the understanding of the vertical distribution of eDNA in the water column and to link eDNA detection to organism presence in the mesopelagic ocean as well as other aquatic environments.This research is part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Ocean Twilight Zone project, funded as part of The Audacious Project housed at TED

Investigating knowledge management factors affecting Chinese ICT firms performance: An integrated KM framework

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the Journal of Information Systems Management, 28(1), 19 - 29, 2011, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10580530.2011.536107.This article sets out to investigate the critical factors of Knowledge Management (KM) which are considered to have an impact on the performance of Chinese information and communication technology (ICT) firms. This study confirms that the cultural environment of an enterprise is central to its success in the context of China. It shows that a collaborated, trusted, and learning environment within ICT firms will have a positive impact on their KM performance

PCA-based lung motion model

Organ motion induced by respiration may cause clinically significant targeting errors and greatly degrade the effectiveness of conformal radiotherapy. It is therefore crucial to be able to model respiratory motion accurately. A recently proposed lung motion model based on principal component analysis (PCA) has been shown to be promising on a few patients. However, there is still a need to understand the underlying reason why it works. In this paper, we present a much deeper and detailed analysis of the PCA-based lung motion model. We provide the theoretical justification of the effectiveness of PCA in modeling lung motion. We also prove that under certain conditions, the PCA motion model is equivalent to 5D motion model, which is based on physiology and anatomy of the lung. The modeling power of PCA model was tested on clinical data and the average 3D error was found to be below 1 mm.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. submitted to International Conference on the use of Computers in Radiation Therapy 201

Diatom hotspots driven by western boundary current instability

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 48(11), (2021): e2020GL091943, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091943.Climatic changes have decreased the stability of the Gulf Stream (GS), increasing the frequency at which its meanders interact with the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) continental shelf and slope region. These intrusions are thought to suppress biological productivity by transporting low-nutrient water to the otherwise productive shelf edge region. Here we present evidence of widespread, anomalously intense subsurface diatom hotspots in the MAB slope sea that likely resulted from a GS intrusion in July 2019. The hotspots (at ∼50 m) were associated with water mass properties characteristic of GS water (∼100 m); it is probable that the hotspots resulted from the upwelling of GS water during its transport into the slope sea, likely by a GS meander directly intruding onto the continental slope east of where the hotspots were observed. Further work is required to unravel how increasingly frequent direct GS intrusions could influence MAB marine ecosystems.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1657803 and OCE-1657855) and the Dalio Explorer Fund. H. Oliver was supported by a WHOI Postdoctoral Scholar award

A novel unambiguous strategy of molecular feature extraction in machine learning assisted predictive models for environmental properties

Environmental properties of compounds provide significant information in treating organic pollutants, which drives the chemical process and environmental science toward eco-friendly technology. Traditional group contribution methods play an important role in property estimations, whereas various disadvantages emerge in their applications, such as scattered predicted values for certain groups of compounds. In order to address such issues, an extraction strategy for molecular features is proposed in this research, which is characterized by interpretability and discriminating power with regard to isomers. Based on the Henry's law constant data of organic compounds in water, we developed a hybrid predictive model that integrates the proposed strategy in conjunction with a neural network framework. The structure of the predictive model is optimized using cross-validation and grid search to improve its robustness. Moreover, the predictive model is improved by introducing the plane of best fit descriptor as input and adopting k-means clustering in sampling. In contrast with reported models in the literature, the developed predictive model demonstrates improved generality, higher accuracy, and fewer molecular features used in its development

BMP-2 Up-Regulates PTEN Expression and Induces Apoptosis of Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells under Hypoxia

To investigate the role of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) in regulation of phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) and apoptosis of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) under hypoxia.Normal human PASMCs were cultured in growth medium (GM) and treated with BMP-2 from 5-80 ng/ml under hypoxia (5% CO(2)+94% N(2)+1% O(2)) for 72 hours. Gene expression of PTEN, AKT-1 and AKT-2 were determined by quantitative RT-PCR (QRT-PCR). Protein expression levels of PTEN, AKT and phosph-AKT (pAKT) were determined. Apoptosis of PASMCs were determined by measuring activities of caspases-3, -8 and -9. siRNA-smad-4, bpV(HOpic) (PTEN inhibitor) and GW9662 (PPARγ antagonist) were used to determine the signalling pathways.Proliferation of PASMCs showed dose dependence of BMP-2, the lowest proliferation rate was achieved at 60 ng/ml concentration under hypoxia (82.2±2.8%). BMP-2 increased PTEN gene expression level, while AKT-1 and AKT-2 did not change. Consistently, the PTEN protein expression also showed dose dependence of BMP-2. AKT activity significantly reduced in BMP-2 treated PASMCs. Increased activities of caspase-3, -8 and -9 of PASMCs were found after cultured with BMP-2. PTEN expression remained unchanged when Smad-4 expression was inhibited by siRNA-Smad-4. bpV(HOpic) and GW9662 (PPARγ inhibitor) inhibited PTEN protein expression and recovered PASMCs proliferation rate.BMP-2 increased PTEN expression under hypoxia in a dose dependent pattern. BMP-2 reduced AKT activity and increased caspase activity of PASMCs under hypoxia. The increased PTEN expression may be mediated through PPARγ signalling pathway, instead of BMP/Smad signalling pathway

Study on Resistance Switching Properties of Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3Thin Films Using Impedance Spectroscopy

The Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3(NBT) thin films sandwiched between Au electrodes and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) conducting glass were deposited using a sol–gel method. Based on electrochemical workstation measurements, reproducible resistance switching characteristics and negative differential resistances were obtained at room temperature. A local impedance spectroscopy measurement of Au/NBT was performed to reveal the interface-related electrical characteristics. The DC-bias-dependent impedance spectra suggested the occurrence of charge and mass transfer at the interface of the Au/NBT/FTO device. It was proposed that the first and the second ionization of oxygen vacancies are responsible for the conduction in the low- and high-resistance states, respectively. The experimental results showed high potential for nonvolatile memory applications in NBT thin films