Geometric evaluation of stiffened steel plates subjected to transverse loading for naval and offshore applications

This work searched for the optimal geometrical configuration of simply supported stiffened plates subjected to a transverse and uniformly distributed load. From a non-stiffened reference plate, different geometrical configurations of stiffened plates, with the same volume as the reference plate, were defined through the constructal design method. Thus, applying the exhaustive search technique and using the ANSYS software, the mechanical behaviors of all the suggested stiffened plates were compared to each other to find the geometrical configuration that provided the minimum deflection in the plate's center when subjected to this loading. The optimum geometrical configuration of stiffeners is presented at the end of this work, allowing a reduction of 98.57% for the central deflection of the stiffened plate if compared to the reference plate. Furthermore, power equations were adjusted to describe the deflections for each combination of longitudinal and transverse stiffeners as a function of the ratio between the height and the thickness of the stiffeners. Finally, a unique equation for determining the central deflections of the studied stiffened plates based only on the number of longitudinal stiffeners without significantly losing accuracy has been proposed

Evaluation Of The Risk Of A Stripping Perforation With Gates-glidden Drills: Serial Versus Crown-down Sequences

The aim of this study was to evaluatte the remaining dentine/cementum thickness using Gates-Glidden burs in serial and crown-down sequences and to observe which of the two sequences is the safest for preparing mesial roots of molars. Thirty-six left and. right human mandibular first molars were selected. Standard access cavities were made and initially explored with Flexofiles sizes 10 and 15 until the tip was visible at the apex. The teeth were embedded in a muffle speqially developed for this study using a PVC tube with two parallel metal rods An its lid. Each tooth-block was sectioned 3 mm apically to the furcation using a low-speed saw with a diamond disc. The tooth-block was examined under a microscope and an initial image was captured by a digital video system with 8 X and 12 X magnifications. Finally, the tooth-blocks were reassembled in the muffle so that the canals could be instrumented. After instrumentation the area of each mesial canal as well as the smallest distance to the root furcation were measured again. The mesio-buccal canals (crown-down order) and the mesio-lingual canals (serial sequence) presented an average area of 0.46 ± 0.16 mm2 and 0.88 ± 0.27 mm2 (P < 0.01), respectively. The mean values of the smallest distance to the furcation for the mesio-buccal and mesio-lingual canals were 0.66 ± 0.19 mm and 0.39 ± 0.13 mm (P < 0.01), respectively. The remaining dentine/cementum thickness using Gates-Glidden burs was greater in the crown-down sequence than in the serial sequence.2211824Grossman, L., A brief history of endodontics (1982) J Endod, 8 (1), p. 538Mullaney TP. Instrumentation of finely curved canals. Dent Clin North Am. l979;23(4):575-92Taintor, J.F., Use of the gates glidden bur in endodontics (1978) J Nebr Dent Assoc, 54 (3), pp. 10-12Weine, F.S., Kelly, R.E., Lio, P.J., The effect of preparation procedures on original canal shape and on apical foramen shape (1975) J Endod, 1 (8), pp. 255-262Abou-Rass, M., Frank, A.L., Glick, D.H., The anticurvature filing method to prepare the curved root canal (1980) J Am Dent Assoc, 101 (5), pp. 792-794Cunningham, C.J., Senia, S.E., A three-dimensional study of canal curvatures in the mesial roots of mandibular molars (1992) J Endod, 18 (6), pp. 294-300Coutinho-Filho.T, De-Deus G, Guimarães T, Gurgel-Filho ED, Maniglia-Ferreira C. A computer evaluation of the dentin remaining after cervical preparation in curved canals: Gatesglidden drills vs. orifice shaper. Braz J Oral Sci. 2002;1(3):116-20Lim, S.S., Stock, C.J., The risk of perforation in the curved canal: Anticurvature filing compared with the step-back technique (1987) Int Endod J, 20 (1), pp. 33-39Isom, T.L., Marshall, J.G., Baumgartner, J.C., Evaluation of root thickness in curved canals after flaring (1995) J Endod, 21 (7), pp. 368-371Gluskin, A.H., Brown, D.C., Buchanan, L.S., A reconstructed computerized tomographic comparison of Ni-Ti rotary GT files versus traditional instruments in canals shaped by novice operators (2001) Int Endod J, 34 (6), pp. 476-484Schilder, H., Cleaning and shaping the root canal (1974) Dent Clin North Am, 18 (2), pp. 269-296Bramante, C.M., Berbet, A., Borges, R.P., A methodology for evaluation of root canal instrumentation (1987) J Endod, 13 (5), pp. 243-245Bower, R.C., Furcation morphology relative to periodontal treatment. Furcation entrance architecture (1979) J Periodontol, 50 (1), pp. 23-27Kessler, J.R., Peters, D.D., Lorton, L., Comparison of the relative risk of molar root perforations using various endodontic instrumentation techniques (1983) J Endod, 9 (10), pp. 439-447McCann, J.T., Keller, D.L., LaBounty, G.L., A modification of the muffle model system to study root canal morphology (1990) J Endod, 16 (3), pp. 114-115Pilo, R., Corcino, G., Tamse, A., Residual dentin thickness in mandibular premolars prepared with hand and rotatory instruments (1998) J Endod, 24 (6), pp. 401-404Torabinejad, M., Rotstein, L., Stabholz, A., Effect of preflaring on tactile detection of the apical constriction (1995) J Endod, 21 (2), pp. 92-94West JD, Roane JB. Limpeza e modelagem do sistema de canais radiculares. In: Cohen S, Burns RC. Caminhos da polpa. 7th ed. Rio de Janeiro: Guanabara Koogan2000. p. 206-36Abou-Rass, M., Jastrab, R.J., The use of rotary instruments as auxiliary aids to root canal preparation of molars (1982) J Endod, 8 (2), pp. 78-7

Edge effects and vertical stratification of aerial insectivorous bats across the interface of primary-secondary Amazonian rainforest

Research ArticleEdge effects, abiotic and biotic changes associated with habitat boundaries, are key drivers of community change in fragmented landscapes. Their influence is heavily modulated by matrix composition. With over half of the world’s tropical forests predicted to become forest edge by the end of the century, it is paramount that conservationists gain a better understanding of how tropical biota is impacted by edge gradients. Bats comprise a large fraction of tropical mammalian fauna and are demonstrably sensitive to habitat modification. Yet, knowledge about how bat assemblages are affected by edge effects remains scarce. Capitalizing on a whole-ecosystem manipulation in the Central Amazon, the aims of this study were to i) assess the consequences of edge effects for twelve aerial insectivorous bat species across the interface of primary and secondary forest, and ii) investigate if the activity levels of these species differed between the understory and canopy and if they were modulated by distance from the edge. Acoustic surveys were conducted along four 2-km transects, each traversing equal parts of primary and ca. 30-year-old secondary forest. Five models were used to assess the changes in the relative activity of forest specialists (three species), flexible forest foragers (three species), and edge foragers (six species). Modelling results revealed limited evidence of edge effects, except for forest specialists in the understory. No significant differences in activity were found between the secondary or primary forest but almost all species exhibited pronounced vertical stratification. Previously defined bat guilds appear to hold here as our study highlights that forest bats are more edge-sensitive than edge foraging bats. The absence of pronounced edge effects and the comparable activity levels between primary and old secondary forests indicates that old secondary forest can help ameliorate the consequences of fragmentation on tropical aerial insectivorous batsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Optimising bat bioacoustic surveys in human‐modified neotropical landscapes

During the last decades, the use of bioacoustics as a non‐invasive and cost‐effective sampling method has greatly increased worldwide. For bats, acoustic surveys have long been known to complement traditional mist‐netting, however, appropriate protocol guidelines are still lacking for tropical regions. Establishing the minimum sampling effort needed to detect ecological changes in bat assemblages (e.g., activity, composition and richness) is crucial in view of workload and project cost constraints, and because detecting such changes must be reliable enough to support effective conservation management. Using one of the most comprehensive tropical bat acoustic datasets, collected in the Amazon, we assessed the minimum survey effort required to accurately assess (1) the completeness of assemblage inventories and (2) habitat selection in fragmented forest landscapes for aerial insectivorous bats. We evaluated a combination of 20 different temporal sampling schemes, which differed regarding: (i) number of hours per night, (ii) number of nights per site and (iii) sampling only during the wet or dry season, or both. This was assessed under two different landscape scenarios: (a) in primary forest fragments embedded in a matrix of secondary forest, and (b) in the same forest fragments, but after they had been re‐isolated through clearing of the secondary forest. We found that the sampling effort required to achieve 90% inventory completeness varied considerably depending on the research aim and the landscape scenario evaluated, averaging ~80 and 10 nights before and after fragment re‐isolation, respectively. Recording for more than four hours per night did not result in a substantial reduction in the required number of sampling nights. Regarding the effects of habitat selection, except for assemblage composition, bat responses in terms of richness, diversity, and activity were similar across all sampling schemes after fragment re‐isolation. However, before re‐isolation, a minimum of four to six sampling hours per night after dusk and three to five nights of sampling per site were needed to detect significant effects that could otherwise go unnoticed. Based on our results, we propose guidelines that will aid to optimize sampling protocols for bat acoustic surveys in the Neotropics

Feasibility and dominance rules in the electromagnetism-like algorithm for constrained global optimization

This paper presents the use of a constraint-handling technique, known as feasibility and dominance rules, in a electromagnetismlike (ELM) mechanism for solving constrained global optimization problems. Since the original ELM algorithm is specifically designed for solving bound constrained problems, only the inequality and equality constraints violation together with the objective function value are used to select points and to progress towards feasibility and optimality. Numerical experiments are presented, including a comparison with other methods recently reported in the literature

Measurement of Family Management in Families of Individuals With Down Syndrome: A Cross-Cultural Investigation

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability worldwide. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the internal consistency reliability of eight language versions of the Family Management Measure (FaMM) and compare family management of DS across cultures. A total of 2,740 parents of individuals with DS from 11 countries completed the FaMM. The analysis provided evidence of internal consistency reliability exceeding.70 for four of six FaMM scales for the entire sample. Across countries, there was a pattern of positive family management. Cross-cultural comparisons revealed parents from Brazil, Spain, and the United States had the most positive family management and respondents from Ireland, Italy, Japan, and Korea had the least positive. The rankings were mixed for the four remaining countries. These findings provide evidence of overall strong internal consistency reliability of the FaMM. More cross-cultural research is needed to understand how social determinants of health influence family management in families of individuals with DS