Elasto-plastic structural stability of arches

The elastic-plastic structural stability behaviour of arches is analysed in the present work.The application of the developed mathematical model, allows to determine the elastic-plastic equilibrium paths, looking for critical points, bifurcation or limit, along those paths, associated to the critical load, in case it comes to happen.The equilibrium paths in the elastic-plastic behaviour when compared with the paths in the linear elastic behaviour, may show that, due to influence of the material plasticity, modifications paths appear and consequently alterations in the values of its critical loads.

Persistence and effectiveness of pyrethroids in plastic strips against Varroa jacobsoni (Acari : Varroidae) and mite resistance in a mediterranean area

An apiary trial was conducted in 1997 in Sardinia, Italy, to verify the effectiveness of fluvalinate in polyvinyl chloride strips and flumethrin in polyethylene strips against Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans. Two indices to evaluate the efficacy of the treatments were adopted: percentage change in mite infestation of worker-sealed brood cells considering only treated hives and percentage change in mite mortality, and the natural variation in mite populations recorded in control hives during the trial. All acaricide treatments reduced the level of mite infestation of both sealed brood and adult bees. However, their effectiveness was slightly reduced in comparison to previous studies because of mite resistance phenomena. Portions of polyethylene strips of flumethrin from treated hives were sampled weekly to determine acaricide persistence using gas chromatography. After 4 wk, a slight reduction (approximate to9%) of the active ingredient content was observed, A laboratory bioassay also was performed to establish the resistance of adult female mites to fluvalinate, Mites were sampled from the experimental apiary and from various Sardinian apiaries which had primarily been subjected to fluvalinate applications in plastic strips or wood inserts for years. Mite resistance varied from 0 to 96%, depending on the acaricide management adopted, the lowest resistance level occurred in an apiary where pyrethroids had never been used, whereas the highest level occurred in an apiary with intensive use of fluvalinate in wood inserts.

Plastic debris collars on juvenile carcharhinid sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii) in southwest Atlantic

Three juvenile Brazilian sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii) caught in gillnets in southeast Brazil, southwest Atlantic, were found with plastic debris rings around their gill or mouth region. The rings caused severe abrasion on the sharks' tissues as the animal grew, the collars probably hampering normal feeding and/or ventilation since two of the collared individuals were emaciated. The rings were identified as detachable lid parts from plastic bottles, likely thrown overboard by fishery and/or recreation boats. As several carcharhinid shark species dwells and reproduce in shallow waters, the impact of discarded plastic debris likely is greater on this shark type. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anelastic relaxation processes due oxygen in Nb-3.1 at.% Ti alloys

In the last 50 years several studies have been made to understand the relaxation mechanisms of the heavy interstitial atoms present in transition metals and their alloys. Internal friction measurements have been carried out in a Nb-Ti alloy containing 3.1 at.% of Ti produced by the Materials Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Lorena (Brazil), with several quantities of oxygen in solid solution using a torsion pendulum. These measurements have been performed by a torsion pendulum in the temperature range from 300 to 700 K with an oscillation frequency between 0.5 and 10 Hz. The experimental results show complex internal friction spectra that have been resolved, into a series of Debye peaks corresponding to different interactions. For each relaxation process it was possible to obtain the height and temperature of the peak, the activation energy and the relaxation time of the process. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermo-optical characterization of tellurite glasses by thermal lens, thermal relaxation calorimetry and interferometric methods

In this work the thermal lens, thermal relaxation calorimetry and interferometric methods are applied to investigate the thermo-optical properties of tellurite glasses (in mol%: 80TeO(2)-20 Li2O(TeLi), 80TeO(2)-15Li(2)O-5TiO(2) (TeLiTi-5) and 80TeO(2)-10Li(2)O-10TiO(2) (TeLiTi-10)). Thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, specific heat and the temperature coefficients of refractive index, optical path length, thermal expansion and electronic polarizability were determined. The use of three independent methods was useful for a complete characterization of the studied tellurite glasses. In addition, our results showed that the thermal expansion coefficient and the temperature coefficient of the optical path length (dS/dT) were significantly modified with the introduction of titanium, which may be relevant for the application of these glasses in the photonic area. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermal annealing-induced electric dipole relaxation in natural alexandrite

Electrical properties of natural alexandrite (BeAl2O4:Cr3+) are investigated by the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) technique. Samples are submitted to consecutive annealing processes and TSDC is carried out after each annealing, yielding bands with different parameters. These bands are fitted by a continuous distribution of relaxation parameters: activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the Arrhenius equation. It has been observed that annealing influences the dipole relaxation behavior, since it promotes a modification of Fe3+ and C3+ impurity distributions on sites of distinct symmetry: Al-1 and Al-2. In order to have a reference for comparison, TSDC is also carried out on a synthetic alexandrite sample, where the only impurity present is Cr3+ ion.

Electrical relaxation in proton conductor composites based on (NH4)H2PO4/TiO2

We report on electrical relaxation measurements of (1-x)NH4H2PO4-xTiO(2) (x = 0.1) composites by admittance spectroscopy, in the 40-Hz-5-MHz frequency range and at temperatures between 303 and 563 K. Simultaneous thermal and electrical measurements on the composites identify a stable crystalline phase between 373 and 463 K. The real part of the conductivity, sigma', shows a power-law frequency dependence below 523 K, which is well described by Jonscher's expression sigma' = sigma(0)(1 + (omega/omega(p))(n)), where sigma(0) is the dc conductivity, omega(p)/2 pi = f(p) is a characteristic relaxation frequency, and n is a fractional exponent between 0 and 1. Both sigma(0) and f(p) are thermally activated with nearly the same activation energy in the II region, indicating that the dispersive conductivity originates from the migration of protons. However, activation energies decrease from 0.55 to 0.35 eV and n increases toward 1.0, as the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles increases, thus, enhancing cooperative correlation among moving ions. The highest dc conductivity is obtained for the composite x = 0.05 concentration, with values above room temperature about three orders of magnitude higher than that of crystalline NH4H2PO4 (ADP), reaching values on the order of 0.1 (Omega cm)(-1) above 543 K.

A Lagrangian relaxation approach to a coupled lot-sizing and cutting stock problem

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Dielectric relaxation and dc conductivity on the PVOH-CF(3)COONH(4) polymer system

In the present paper, the ionic conductivity and the dielectric relaxation properties on the poly(vinyl alcohol)-CF(3)COONH(4) polymer system have been investigated by means of impedance spectroscopy measurements over wide ranges of frequencies and temperatures. The electrolyte samples were prepared by solution casting technique. The temperature dependence of the sample's conductivity was modeled by Arrhenius and Vogel-Tammann-Fulcher (VTF) equations. The highest conductivity of the electrolyte of 3.41x10 (-aEuro parts per thousand 3) (Omega cm) (-aEuro parts per thousand 1) was obtained at 423 K. For these polymer system two relaxation processes are revealed in the frequency range and temperature interval of the measurements. One is the glass transition relaxation (alpha-relaxation) of the amorphous region at about 353 K and the other is the relaxation associated with the crystalline region at about 423 K. Dielectric relaxation has been studied using the complex electric modulus formalism. It has been observed that the conductivity relaxation in this polymer system is highly non-exponential. From the electric modulus formalism, it is concluded that the electrical relaxation mechanism is independent of temperature for the two relaxation processes, but is dependent on composition.

Relaxation-chaos phenomena in celestial mechanics. I. On wisdom's model for the 3/1 kirkwood gap

Sudden eccentricity increases of asteroidal motion in 3/1 resonance with Jupiter were discovered and explained by J. Wisdom through the occurrence of jumps in the action corresponding to the critical angle (resonant combination of the mean motions). We pursue some aspects of this mechanism, which could be termed relaxation-chaos: that is, an unconventional form of homoclinic behavior arising in perturbed integrable Hamiltonian systems for which the KAM theorem hypothesis do not hold. © 1987.

Anelastic relaxation due to OH pairs in NbZr alloys

In the last 30 years several studies have been made to understand the relaxation mechanisms of the hydrogen atoms present in transition metals and their alloys. In this work, we observed the stress-induced ordering of hydrogen atoms around the interstitial oxygen atoms near the niobium matrix atoms. We studied this relaxation process by measuring the attenuation of longitudinal ultrasonic waves. These measurements were made in Nb1.0%Zr polycrystalline alloys at 10 and 30 MHz, pure and doped with 0.7 and 4.2 at.% hydrogen. The results revealed a thermally activated relaxation structure around 202 K and 235 K for 10 MHz and 30 MHz respectively. This relaxation structure increases with increasing hydrogen concentration. © 1994.