Numerical analyses of crack spacing due to shrinkage in reinforced concrete slabs

Shrinkage cracking is commonly observed in concrete flat structures such as highway pavements, slabs, and bridge decks. Crack spacing due to shrinkage has received considerable attention for many years [1-3]. However, some aspects concerning the mechanism of crack spacing still remain un-clear. Though it is well known that the interval of the cracks generally falls with a range, no satisfactory explanation has been put forward as to why the minimum spacing exists.

Demographic and clinical correlates of comorbid substance use disorders in psychosis : multivariate analyses from an epidemiological sample

Background: While there has been substantial research examining the correlates of comorbid substance abuse in psychotic disorders, it has been difficult to tease apart the relative importance of individual variables. Multivariate analyses are required, in which the relative contributions of risk factors to specific forms of substance misuse are examined, while taking into account the effects of other important correlates. Methods: This study used multivariate correlates of several forms of comorbid substance misuse in a large epidemiological sample of 852 Australians with DSMIII- R-diagnosed psychoses. Results: Multiple substance use was common and equally prevalent in nonaffective and affective psychoses. The most consistent correlate across the substance use disorders was male sex. Younger age groups were more likely to report the use of illegal drugs, while alcohol misuse was not associated with age. Side effects secondary to medication were associated with the misuse of cannabis and multiple substances, but not alcohol. Lower educational attainment was associated with cannabis misuse but not other forms of substance abuse. Conclusion: The profile of substance misuse in psychosis shows clinical and demographic gradients that can inform treatment and preventive research.

Wrapped fragments : Drapery, the eighteenth century portrait bust and the male subject

The depiction of drapery (generalised cloth as opposed to clothing) is a well-established convention of Neo-Classical sculpture and is often downplayed by art historians as of purely rhetorical value. It can be argued however that sculpted drapery has served a spectrum of expressive ends, the variety and complexity of which are well illustrated by a study of its use in portrait sculpture. For the Neo-Classical portrait bust, drapery had substantial iconographic and political meaning, signifying the new Enlightenment notions of masculine authority. Within the portrait bust, drapery also served highly strategic aesthetic purposes, alleviating the abruptness of the truncated format and the compromising visual consequences of the “cropped” body. With reference to Joseph Nollekens’ portraits of English statesman Charles James Fox and the author’s own sculptural practice, this paper analyses the Neo-Classical use of drapery to propose that rendered fabric, far from mere stylistic flourish, is a highly charged visual signifier with much scope for exploration in contemporary sculptural practice.

Land use at privatized Australian airports : classification and analyses

In recent years the air transport industry has experienced unprecedented growth, driven by strong local and global economies. Whether this growth can continue in the face of anticipated oil crises; international economic forecasts and recent influenza outbreaks is yet to be seen. One thing is certain, airport owners and operators will continue to be faced with challenging environments in which to do business. In response, many airports recognize the value in diversifying their revenue streams through a variety of landside property developments within the airport boundary. In Australia it is the type and intended market of this development that is a point of contention between private airport corporations and their surrounding municipalities. The aim of this preliminary research is to identify and categorize on-airport development occurring at the twenty-two privatized Australian airports which are administered under the Airports Act [1996]. This new knowledge will assist airport and municipal planners in understanding the current extent and category of on-airport land use, allowing them to make better decisions when proposing development both within airport master plans and beyond the airport boundary in local town and municipal plans.

The short-term effect of air pollution on cardiovascular mortality in Tianjin, China : comparison of time series and case–crossover analyses

Background: Many studies have illustrated that ambient air pollution negatively impacts on health. However, little evidence is available for the effects of air pollution on cardiovascular mortality (CVM) in Tianjin, China. Also, no study has examined which strata length for the time-stratified case–crossover analysis gives estimates that most closely match the estimates from time series analysis. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to estimate the effects of air pollutants on CVM in Tianjin, China, and compare time-stratified case–crossover and time series analyses. Method: A time-stratified case–crossover and generalized additive model (time series) were applied to examine the impact of air pollution on CVM from 2005 to 2007. Four time-stratified case–crossover analyses were used by varying the stratum length (Calendar month, 28, 21 or 14 days). Jackknifing was used to compare the methods. Residual analysis was used to check whether the models fitted well. Results: Both case–crossover and time series analyses show that air pollutants (PM10, SO2 and NO2) were positively associated with CVM. The estimates from the time-stratified case–crossover varied greatly with changing strata length. The estimates from the time series analyses varied slightly with changing degrees of freedom per year for time. The residuals from the time series analyses had less autocorrelation than those from the case–crossover analyses indicating a better fit. Conclusion: Air pollution was associated with an increased risk of CVM in Tianjin, China. Time series analyses performed better than the time-stratified case–crossover analyses in terms of residual checking.

Evaluations of Process Modeling Grammars : Ontological, Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses Using the Example of BPMN

Business processes have emerged as a well-respected variable in the design of successful corporations. However, unlike other key managerial variables, such as products and services, customers and employees, physical or digital assets, the conceptualization and management of business processes are in many respects in their infancy. In this book, Jan Recker investigates the notion of quality of business process modeling grammars. His evaluation is based on an ontological-, qualitative-, and quantitative analysis, applied to BPMN, a widely-used business process modeling grammar. His results reveal the ontological shortcomings of BPMN and how these manifest themselves in actual process modeling practice, as well as how they influence the usage behavior of modeling practitioners. More generally, his book constitutes a landmark for empirical technology assessment, analyzing the way in which design flaws in technology influence usage behavior.

Can the contra-lateral limb be used as a control with respect to analyses of bone remodelling?

Bone loss may result from remodelling initiated by implant stress protection. Quantifying remodelling requires bone density distributions which can be obtained from computed tomography scans. Pre-operative scans of large animals however are rarely possible. This study aimed to determine if the contra-lateral bone is a suitable control for the purpose of quantifying bone remodelling. CT scans of 8 pairs of ovine tibia were used to determine the likeness of left and right bones. The deviation between the outer surfaces of the bone pairs was used to quantify geometric similarity. The density differences were determined by dividing the bones into discrete volumes along the shaft of the tibia. Density differences were also determined for fractured and contra-lateral bone pairs to determine the magnitude of implant related remodelling. Left and right ovine tibiae were found to have a high degree of similarity with differences of less than 1.0 mm in the outer surface deviation and density difference of less than 5% in over 90% of the shaft region. The density differences (10–40%) as a result of implant related bone remodelling were greater than left-right differences. Therefore, for the purpose of quantifying bone remodelling in sheep, the contra-lateral tibia may be considered an alternative to a pre-operative control.

Statistical analyses of weigh-in-motion data for bridge live load development

This paper discusses the statistical analyses used to derive bridge live loads models for Hong Kong from a 10-year weigh-in-motion (WIM) data. The statistical concepts required and the terminologies adopted in the development of bridge live load models are introduced. This paper includes studies for representative vehicles from the large amount of WIM data in Hong Kong. Different load affecting parameters such as gross vehicle weights, axle weights, axle spacings, average daily number of trucks etc are first analyzed by various stochastic processes in order to obtain the mathematical distributions of these parameters. As a prerequisite to determine accurate bridge design loadings in Hong Kong, this study not only takes advantages of code formulation methods used internationally but also presents a new method for modelling collected WIM data using a statistical approach.

Genetic and gene expression analyses of the polycystic ovary syndrome candidate gene fibrillin-3 and other fibrillin family members in human ovaries

Several studies have demonstrated an association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the dinucleotide repeat microsatellite marker D19S884, which is located in intron 55 of the fibrillin-3 (FBN3) gene. Fibrillins, including FBN1 and 2, interact with latent transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-binding proteins (LTBP) and thereby control the bioactivity of TGFβs. TGFβs stimulate fibroblast replication and collagen production. The PCOS ovarian phenotype includes increased stromal collagen and expansion of the ovarian cortex, features feasibly influenced by abnormal fibrillin expression. To examine a possible role of fibrillins in PCOS, particularly FBN3, we undertook tagging and functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis (32 SNPs including 10 that generate non-synonymous amino acid changes) using DNA from 173 PCOS patients and 194 controls. No SNP showed a significant association with PCOS and alleles of most SNPs showed almost identical population frequencies between PCOS and control subjects. No significant differences were observed for microsatellite D19S884. In human PCO stroma/cortex (n = 4) and non-PCO ovarian stroma (n = 9), follicles (n = 3) and corpora lutea (n = 3) and in human ovarian cancer cell lines (KGN, SKOV-3, OVCAR-3, OVCAR-5), FBN1 mRNA levels were approximately 100 times greater than FBN2 and 200–1000-fold greater than FBN3. Expression of LTBP-1 mRNA was 3-fold greater than LTBP-2. We conclude that FBN3 appears to have little involvement in PCOS but cannot rule out that other markers in the region of chromosome 19p13.2 are associated with PCOS or that FBN3 expression occurs in other organs and that this may be influencing the PCOS phenotype.