Discriminating between natural and anthropogenic aerosol contributions to optical depth over Afro-Asian region

To accurately assess the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on climate, spatial and temporal distribution of its radiative properties is essential. The first step towards separating the radiative impact of natural aerosol from its anthropogenic counterparts is to gather information on natural aerosols. In this paper, we have used data from multiple satellites to derive the anthropogenic aerosol fraction (AAF) over the Afro-Asian region. The AAF was largest during the pre-monsoon season (May-June) and lowest during winter. We have shown that over desert locations the AAF was unexpectedly large (>0.4) and the regionally (and annually) averaged anthropogenic fraction over the Afro-Asian region was 0.54 +/- 0.12. Copyright (C) 2010 Royal Meteorological Society

Dynamic response of a beam on elastic foundation of finite depth under a moving force

In this paper, dynamic response of an infinitely long beam resting on a foundation of finite depth, under a moving force is studied. The effect of foundation inertia is included in the analysis by modelling the foundation as a series of closely spaced axially vibrating rods of finite depth, fixed at the bottom and connected to the beam at the top. Viscous damping in the beam and foundation is included in the analysis. Steady state response of the beam-foundation system is obtained. Detailed numerical results are presented to study the effect of various parameters such as foundation mass, velocity of the moving load, damping and axial force on the beam. It is shown that foundation inertia can considerably reduce the critical velocity and can also amplify the beam response.

Ferrous-iron induces lipid peroxidation with little damage to energy transduction in mitochondria

Addition of ferrous sulfate, but not ferric chloride, in micromolar concentrations to rat liver mitochondria induced high rates of consumption of oxygen. The oxygen consumed was several times in excess of the reducing capacity of ferrous-iron (O: Fe ratios 5�8). This occurred in the absence of NADPH or any exogenous oxidizable substrate. The reaction terminated on oxidation of ferrous ions. Malondialdehyde (MDA), measured as thiobarbituric acid-reacting material, was produced indicating peroxidation of lipids. The ratio of O2: MDA was about 4: 1. Pretreatment of mitochondria with ferrous sulfate decreased the rate of oxidation (state 3) with glutamate (+malate) as the substrate by about 40% but caused little damage to energy tranduction process as represented by ratios of ADP: O and respiratory control, as well as calcium-stimulated oxygen uptake and energy-dependent uptake of [45Ca]-calcium. Addition of succinate or ubiquinone decreased ferrous iron-induced lipid peroxidation in intact mitochondria. In frozen-thawed mitochondria, addition of succinate enhanced lipid peroxidation whereas ubiquinone had little effect. These results suggest that ferrous-iron can cause peroxidation of mitochondrial lipids without affecting the energy transduction systems, and that succinate and ubiquinone can offer protection from damage due to such ferrous-iron released from the stores within the cells.

Composite material and piezoelectric coefficient uncertainty effects on structural health monitoring using feedback control gains as damage indicators

This article addresses uncertainty effect on the health monitoring of a smart structure using control gain shifts as damage indicators. A finite element model of the smart composite plate with surface-bonded piezoelectric sensors and actuators is formulated using first-order shear deformation theory and a matrix crack model is integrated into the finite element model. A constant gain velocity/position feedback control algorithm is used to provide active damping to the structure. Numerical results show that the response of the structure is changed due to matrix cracks and this change can be compensated by actively tuning the feedback controller. This change in control gain can be used as a damage indicator for structural health monitoring. Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to study the effect of material uncertainty on the damage indicator by considering composite material properties and piezoelectric coefficients as independent random variables. It is found that the change in position feedback control gain is a robust damage indicator.

Ricin-membrane interaction: membrane penetration depth by fluorescence quenching and resonance energy transfer

The entry of the plant toxin ricin and its A- and B-subunits in model membranes in the presence as well as absence of monosialoganglioside (GM(1)) has been studied. Dioleoylphosphatidylcholine and 5-, 10-, and 12-doxyl- or 9,10-dibromophosphatidylcholines serve as quenchers of intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of the proteins. The parallax method of Chattopadhyay and London [(1987) Biochemistry 26, 39-45] has been employed to measure the average membrane penetration depth of tryptophans of ricin and its B-chain and the actual depth of the sole Trp 211 in the A-chain. The results indicate that both of the chains as well as intact ricin penetrate the membrane deeply and the C-terminal end of the A-chain is well inside the bilayer, especially at pH 4.5. An extrinsic probe N-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(5-sulfo-1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine (I-AEDANS) has been attached to Cys 259 of the A-chain, and the kinetics of penetration has been followed by monitoring the increase in AEDANS fluorescence at 480 nm. The insertion follows first-order kinetics, and the rate constant is higher at a lower pH. The energy transfer distance analysis between Trp 211 and AEDANS points out that the conformation of the A-chain changes as it inserts into the membrane. CD studies indicate that the helicity of the proteins increases after penetration, which implies that some of the unordered structure in the native protein is converted to the ordered form during this process. Hydrophobic forces seem to be responsible for stabilizing a particular protein conformation inside the membrane.

An experimental approach for non-destructive evaluation of fatigue damage in CFRP composites

Study of fatigue phenomenon in composites requires a dynamic tool which can detect and identify different failure mechanisms involved. The tool should also be capable of monitoring the cumulative damage progression on-line. Acoustic Emission Technique has been utilized in the experimental investigations on unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite specimens subjected to tension-tension fatigue. Amplitude as well as frequency distribution of Acoustic Emission (AE) signals have been studied to detect and characterize different failure mechanisms. For a quantitative measure of degradation of the material with fatigue load cycles, reduction in stiffness of the specimen has been measured intermittently. Ultrasonic imaging could give the information on the changes in the interior status of the material at different stages of fatigue life.

Evaluation of damage in foam sandwich components of aircraft

Tn the current set of investigations foam sandwich panels and some components of an aircraft comprising of two layer Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic(GFRP) face sheets of thickness 1mm each with polyurethene foam as filler of thickness 8mm were examined for detection of debonds and defects. Known defects were introduced in the panels in the form of teflon insert, full foam removal,half foam removal and edge delamination by inserting a teflon and removing it after curing. Two such panels were subjected to acoustic impact and analysis was carried out in both time and frequency domains. These panels were ultrasonically scanned to obtain C-SCAN images as reference to evaluate Acoustic Impact Test (AIT) results. In addition both Fokker bond testing and AIT(woodpecker) were carried out on the same panels and also some critical joints on the actual component. The results obtained from these tests are presented and discussed in this paper.

Estimation of low-velocity impact damage in laminated composite circular plates using nonlinear finite element analysis

Nonlinear finite element analysis is used for the estimation of damage due to low-velocity impact loading of laminated composite circular plates. The impact loading is treated as an equivalent static loading by assuming the impactor to be spherical and the contact to obey Hertzian law. The stresses in the laminate are calculated using a 48 d.o.f. laminated composite sector element. Subsequently, the Tsai-Wu criterion is used to detect the zones of failure and the maximum stress criterion is used to identify the mode of failure. Then the material properties of the laminate are degraded in the failed regions. The stress analysis is performed again using the degraded properties of the plies. The iterative process is repeated until no more failure is detected in the laminate. The problem of a typical T300/N5208 composite [45 degrees/0 degrees/-45 degrees/90 degrees](s) circular plate being impacted by a spherical impactor is solved and the results are compared with experimental and analytical results available in the literature. The method proposed and the computer code developed can handle symmetric, as well as unsymmetric, laminates. It can be easily extended to cover the impact of composite rectangular plates, shell panels and shells.

Performance of the generalized delta rule in structural damage detection

The paper examines the suitability of the generalized data rule in training artificial neural networks (ANN) for damage identification in structures. Several multilayer perceptron architectures are investigated for a typical bridge truss structure with simulated damage stares generated randomly. The training samples have been generated in terms of measurable structural parameters (displacements and strains) at suitable selected locations in the structure. Issues related to the performance of the network with reference to hidden layers and hidden. neurons are examined. Some heuristics are proposed for the design of neural networks for damage identification in structures. These are further supported by an investigation conducted on five other bridge truss configurations.

Surface damage of yttria-tetragonal zirconia polycrystals and magnesia-partially-stabilized zirconia in single-point abrasion

Commercially available 3Y-TZP and Mg-PSZ flats mere abraded by a 150 degrees diamond cone at -196 degrees, 25 degrees, 200 degrees, and 400 degrees C. The coefficient of friction, the track width, and the morphological features of the track were recorded. Raman spectroscopy mas used to record the tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation (t --> m) as a function of distance away from the track. The study was undertaken to establish the influence of tangential traction on phase transformation and surface damage.

Comparative study on flexural response of full and partial depth fiber-reinforced high-strength concrete

This study presents the results of an experimental and analytical comparison of the flexural behavior of a high-strength concrete specimen (no conventional reinforcement) with an average plain concrete cube strength of nearly 65 MPa and containing trough shape steel fibers. Trough shape steel fibers with a volume fraction ranging from 0 to 1.5% and having a constant aspect ratio of 80 have been used in this study. Increased toughness and a more ductile stress-strain response were observed with an increase in fiber content, when the fibers were distributed over the full/partial depth of the beam cross section. Based on the tests, a robust analytical procedure has been proposed to establish the required partial depth to contain fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) so as to obtain the flexural capacity of a member with FRC over the full depth. It is expected that this procedure will help designers in properly estimating the required partial depth of fibers in composite sections for specific structural applications. Empirical and mechanistic relations have also been proposed in this study to establish the load-deflection behavior of high-strength FRC.

DEPTH: a web server to compute depth and predict small-molecule binding cavities in proteins

Depth measures the extent of atom/residue burial within a protein. It correlates with properties such as protein stability, hydrogen exchange rate, protein-protein interaction hot spots, post-translational modification sites and sequence variability. Our server, DEPTH, accurately computes depth and solvent-accessible surface area (SASA) values. We show that depth can be used to predict small molecule ligand binding cavities in proteins. Often, some of the residues lining a ligand binding cavity are both deep and solvent exposed. Using the depth-SASA pair values for a residue, its likelihood to form part of a small molecule binding cavity is estimated. The parameters of the method were calibrated over a training set of 900 high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of single-domain proteins bound to small molecules (molecular weight < 1.5 KDa). The prediction accuracy of DEPTH is comparable to that of other geometry-based prediction methods including LIGSITE, SURFNET and Pocket-Finder (all with Matthew's correlation coefficient of similar to 0.4) over a testing set of 225 single and multi-chain protein structures. Users have the option of tuning several parameters to detect cavities of different sizes, for example, geometrically flat binding sites. The input to the server is a protein 3D structure in PDB format. The users have the option of tuning the values of four parameters associated with the computation of residue depth and the prediction of binding cavities. The computed depths, SASA and binding cavity predictions are displayed in 2D plots and mapped onto 3D representations of the protein structure using Jmol. Links are provided to download the outputs. Our server is useful for all structural analysis based on residue depth and SASA, such as guiding site-directed mutagenesis experiments and small molecule docking exercises, in the context of protein functional annotation and drug discovery.