Experimental and numerical studies of hollow flange channel beams subject to web crippling under ETF and ITF load cases

This paper presents the details of experimental and numerical studies on the web crippling behaviour of hollow flange channel beams, known as LiteSteel beams (LSB). The LSB has a unique shape of a channel beam with two rectangular hollow flanges, made using a unique manufacturing process. Experimental and numerical studies have been carried out to evaluate the behaviour and design of LSBs subject to pure bending actions, predominant shear actions and combined actions. To date, however, no investigation has been conducted into the web crippling behaviour and strength of LSB sections under ETF and ITF load conditions. Hence experimental studies consisting of 28 tests were first conducted in this research to assess the web crippling behaviour and strengths of LSBs under two flange load cases (ETF and ITF). Experimental web crippling capacity results were then compared with the predictions from AS/NZS 4600 and AISI S100 design rules, which showed that AS/NZS 4600 and AISI S100 design equations are very unconservative for LSBs under ETF and ITF load cases. Hence improved equations were proposed to determine the web crippling capacities of LSBs. Finite element models of the tested LSBs were then developed, and used to determine the elastic buckling loads of LSBs under ETF and ITF load cases. New equations were proposed to determine the corresponding elastic buckling coefficients of LSBs. Finally suitable design rules were also developed under the Direct Strength Method format using the test results and buckling analysis results from finite element analyses.

Probabilistic evaluation of seismic soil liquefaction potential based on SPT data

The performance-based liquefaction potential analysis was carried out in the present study to estimate the liquefaction return period for Bangalore, India, through a probabilistic approach. In this approach, the entire range of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and earthquake magnitudes was used in the evaluation of liquefaction return period. The seismic hazard analysis for the study area was done using probabilistic approach to evaluate the peak horizontal acceleration at bed rock level. Based on the results of the multichannel analysis of surface wave, it was found that the study area belonged to site class D. The PGA values for the study area were evaluated for site class D by considering the local site effects. The soil resistance for the study area was characterized using the standard penetration test (SPT) values obtained from 450 boreholes. These SPT data along with the PGA values obtained from the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis were used to evaluate the liquefaction return period for the study area. The contour plot showing the spatial variation of factor of safety against liquefaction and the corrected SPT values required for preventing liquefaction for a return period of 475 years at depths of 3 and 6 m are presented in this paper. The entire process of liquefaction potential evaluation, starting from collection of earthquake data, identifying the seismic sources, evaluation of seismic hazard and the assessment of liquefaction return period were carried out, and the entire analysis was done based on the probabilistic approach.

Assessment of seismic hazard and liquefaction potential of Gujarat based on probabilistic approaches

Gujarat is one of the fastest-growing states of India with high industrial activities coming up in major cities of the state. It is indispensable to analyse seismic hazard as the region is considered to be most seismically active in stable continental region of India. The Bhuj earthquake of 2001 has caused extensive damage in terms of causality and economic loss. In the present study, the seismic hazard of Gujarat evaluated using a probabilistic approach with the use of logic tree framework that minimizes the uncertainties in hazard assessment. The peak horizontal acceleration (PHA) and spectral acceleration (Sa) values were evaluated for 10 and 2 % probability of exceedance in 50 years. Two important geotechnical effects of earthquakes, site amplification and liquefaction, are also evaluated, considering site characterization based on site classes. The liquefaction return period for the entire state of Gujarat is evaluated using a performance-based approach. The maps of PHA and PGA values prepared in this study are very useful for seismic hazard mitigation of the region in future.

An insight into real-time performance assessment of a building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) installation in Bangalore (India)

Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications are gaining widespread popularity. The performance of any given BIPV system is dependent on prevalent meteorological factors, site conditions and system characteristics. Investigations pertaining to the performance assessment of photovoltaic (PV) systems are generally confined to either controlled environment-chambers or computer-based simulation studies. Such investigations fall short of providing a realistic insight into how a PV system actually performs real-time. Solar radiation and the PV cell temperature are amongst the most crucial parameters affecting PV output. The current paper deals with the real-time performance assessment of a recently commissioned 5.25 kW, BIPV system installed at the Center for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The overall average system efficiency was found to be 6% for the period May 2011-April 2012. This paper provides a critical appraisal of PV system performance based on ground realities, particularly characteristic to tropical (moderate) regions such as Bangalore, India. (C) 2013 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Communication-Theoretic Framework for 2-DMR Channel Modeling: Performance Evaluation of Coding and Signal Processing Methods

We develop a communication theoretic framework for modeling 2-D magnetic recording channels. Using the model, we define the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the channel considering several physical parameters, such as the channel bit density, code rate, bit aspect ratio, and noise parameters. We analyze the problem of optimizing the bit aspect ratio for maximizing SNR. The read channel architecture comprises a novel 2-D joint self-iterating equalizer and detection system with noise prediction capability. We evaluate the system performance based on our channel model through simulations. The coded performance with the 2-D equalizer detector indicates similar to 5.5 dB of SNR gain over uncoded data.

Environmental Mechanics Research in China

By recalling mankind's path during past 50 years in the present article, we mainly highlight the significance of environmental issues today. In particular, two major factors leading to environment deterioration in China such as water resources and coal burning are stressed on. Present-day environmental issues are obviously interdisciplinary, of multiple scales and multi-composition in nature. Therefore, a process-based approach for environment research is absolutely necessarily. A series of sub-processes, either physical, chemical or biological, are subsequently analyzed in order to established reasonable parameterization scheme and credible comprehensive model. And we are now in a position to answer questions still open to us, improve existing somewhat empirical engineering approaches and enhance quantitative accuracy in prediction. To illustrate this process-based research approach, three typical examples associated with the Yangtze River Estuary, Loess Plateau and Tenggeli Desert environments have been dealt with respectively. A theoretical model of vertical flow field accounting for runoff and tide interaction has been established to delineate salinity and sediment motion which are responsible for the formation of mouth bar at the outlet and the ecological evolution there. A kinematic wave theory combined with the revised Green-Ampt infiltration formula is applied to the prediction of runoff generation and erosion in three types of erosion region on the Loess Plateau. Three approaches describing water motion in SPAC system in arid areas at different levels have been improved by introducing vegetation sub-models. However, we have found that the formation of a dry sandy layer and biological crust skin are additional primary causes leading to deterioration of water supply and succession of ecological system.

Organic Contaminant Analytical Methods of the National Status and Trends Program: 2000-2006

This document describes the analytical methods used to quantify core organic chemicals in tissue and sediment collected as part of NOAA’s National Status and Trends Program (NS&T) for the years 2000-2006. Organic contaminat analytical methods used during the early years of the program are described in NOAA Technical Memoranda NOS ORCA 71 and 130 (Lauenstein and Cantillo, 1993; Lauenstein and Cantillo, 1998) for the years 1984-1992 and 1993-1996, respectively. These reports are available from our website (http://www.ccma.nos.gov) The methods detailed in this document were utilized by the Mussel Watch Project and Bioeffects Project, which are both part of the NS&T program. The Mussel Watch Project has been monitoring contaminants in bivalves and sediments since 1986 and is the longest active national contaminant monitoring program operating in U.S. costal waters. Approximately 280 Mussel Watch sites are sampled on a biennial and decadal timescale for bivalve tissue and sediment respectively. Similarly, the Bioeffects Assessment Project began in 1986 to characterize estuaries and near coastal environs. Using the sediment quality triad approach that measures; (1) levels of contaminants in sediments, (2) incidence and severity of toxicity, and (3) benthic macrofaunal conmmunities, the Bioeffects Project describes the spatial extent of sediment toxicity. Contaminant assessment is a core function of both projects. These methods, while discussed here in the context of sediment and bivalve tissue, were also used with other matricies including: fish fillet, fish liver, nepheloid layer, and suspended particulate matter. The methods described herein are for the core organic contaminants monitored in the NS&T Program and include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), butyltins, and organochlorines that have been analyzed consistently over the past 15-20 years. Organic contaminants such as dioxins, perfluoro compounds and polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed periodically in special studies of the NS&T Program and will be described in another document. All of the analytical techniques described in this document were used by B&B Laboratories, Inc, an affiliate of TDI-Brook International, Inc. in College Station, Texas under contract to NOAA. The NS&T Program uses a performance-based system approach to obtain the best possible data quality and comparability, and requires laboratories to demonstrate precision, accuracy, and sensitivity to ensure results-based performance goals and measures. (PDF contains 75 pages)

Open Access Business Models for Research Funders and Universities

This briefing paper offers insight into various open access business models, from institutional to subject repositories, from open access journals to research data and monographs. This overview shows that there is a considerable variety in business models within a common framework of public funding. Open access through institutional repositories requires funding from particular institutions to set up and maintain a repository, while subject repositories often require contributions from a number of institutions or funding agencies to maintain a subject repository hosted at one institution. Open access through publication in open access journals generally requires a mix of funding sources to meet the cost of publishing. Public or charitable research funding bodies may contribute part of the cost of publishing in an open access journal but institutions also meet part of the cost, particularly when the author does not have a research grant from a research funding body

Structural Design under Seismic Risk Using Multiple Performance Objectives

Structural design is a decision-making process in which a wide spectrum of requirements, expectations, and concerns needs to be properly addressed. Engineering design criteria are considered together with societal and client preferences, and most of these design objectives are affected by the uncertainties surrounding a design. Therefore, realistic design frameworks must be able to handle multiple performance objectives and incorporate uncertainties from numerous sources into the process.

In this study, a multi-criteria based design framework for structural design under seismic risk is explored. The emphasis is on reliability-based performance objectives and their interaction with economic objectives. The framework has analysis, evaluation, and revision stages. In the probabilistic response analysis, seismic loading uncertainties as well as modeling uncertainties are incorporated. For evaluation, two approaches are suggested: one based on preference aggregation and the other based on socio-economics. Both implementations of the general framework are illustrated with simple but informative design examples to explore the basic features of the framework.

The first approach uses concepts similar to those found in multi-criteria decision theory, and directly combines reliability-based objectives with others. This approach is implemented in a single-stage design procedure. In the socio-economics based approach, a two-stage design procedure is recommended in which societal preferences are treated through reliability-based engineering performance measures, but emphasis is also given to economic objectives because these are especially important to the structural designer's client. A rational net asset value formulation including losses from uncertain future earthquakes is used to assess the economic performance of a design. A recently developed assembly-based vulnerability analysis is incorporated into the loss estimation.

The presented performance-based design framework allows investigation of various design issues and their impact on a structural design. It is a flexible one that readily allows incorporation of new methods and concepts in seismic hazard specification, structural analysis, and loss estimation.

A indústria do conhecimento, o médico e a indústria farmacêutica: uma coprodução de técnicos e técnicas de poder

Este estudo abordou o contexto de uma engrenagem macropolítica, na qual o poder dominante (representado pela indústria farmacêutica) se articula à indústria do conhecimento, condicionando construção e divulgação de conhecimento biomédico à mesma lógica da produção e distribuição capitalista de mercadorias. A indústria farmacêutica tem investido em projetos de pesquisas clínicas, com o objetivo de legitimar, cientificamente, seus produtos. A investigação deste papel financiador de ensaios clínicos baseou-se nos depoimentos de quatro médicos, professores de Medicina, coparticipantes de projetos da indústria farmacêutica. Os resultados evidenciaram que os protocolos das pesquisas são elaborados pela própria indústria, sem participação do médico colaborador; o acesso à íntegra dos dados coletados é de exclusividade dos coordenadores centrais da pesquisa; e, os resultados dos ensaios, apresentados através de resumos, são previamente submetidos a critérios de seleção de dados. Com o objetivo de articular saber médico a expectativas de mercado, o poder dominante se exerce através de técnicas de poder (estratégias de marketing), atribuindo aos médicos o papel de técnicos de poder, a serviço de seus interesses. Essa relativização de valores clama por uma crítica revisão ética.

A escrita alfabética, sua natureza e representação: contribuições à Fonoaudiologia aplicada à Educação

Introdução: Essa pesquisa situa-se no campo epistemológico da Fonoaudiologia Educacional. A prática fonoaudiológica no Brasil tem sua gênese vinculada a medidas de uniformização e normatização da língua. As ações fonoaudiológicas foram, desde a sua origem, influenciadas pelo positivismo e pelo pensamento naturalista, o que se traduziu em uma atuação, marcadamente, clínico-médica e numa concepção normativa de desenvolvimento e aprendizagem da escrita. Esforços têm sido empreendidos para se instituir no campo educacional uma atuação fonoaudiológica diferenciada, que se destitua do caráter curativo e normativo e se volte para a promoção do processo de ensino-aprendizagem. No entanto, apesar dos esforços em busca da modificação e ampliação da atuação fonoaudiológica educacional, esse caráter clínico-médico persiste. Entende-se que tal perpetuação é sustentada por paradigmas enraizados e mantidos até hoje na formação do fonoaudiólogo e do educador. Trata-se de visões que universalizam questões relativas à linguagem e ao processo de aprendizagem da escrita e medicalizam padrões que se apresentam fora do esperado como normalidade. Objetivo: Caracterizar a natureza e a representação da escrita alfabética, visando a contribuir para a superação da cultura naturalística e biologizante na abordagem das questões sobre a aprendizagem e o domínio da língua escrita no campo da Fonoaudiologia Educacional. Metodologia: Pesquisa científica de base teórico-conceitual. Resultados: Essa pesquisa revela que o sistema estrutural da escrita constitui um fenômeno com propriedades gramaticais e representacionais que se distinguem da fala. Evidencia-se que a relação entre a língua escrita e a língua oral não é direta, de tal modo que a escrita alfabética não é uma transcodificação da fala. Além disso, essa tese sustenta que a natureza da escrita não é biológica, mas eminentemente cultural, de tal maneira que sua apropriação e domínio constituem um processo conceitual singular. Tal concepção implica o entendimento de que diferentes sujeitos socioculturais interagem e conceituam a escrita de modos diversos. Essa diversidade ocorre porque sujeitos sociais plurais apresentam modos diferenciados de organização e operação mental que, por sua vez, implicam diferentes formas de interação com o mundo, com o outro e com a escrita, resultando em diferenças individuais na estruturação e no uso da fala e da escrita. A partir desses conceitos, sistematizam-se princípios norteadores para a constituição de uma atuação fonoaudiológica educacional, no campo da escrita, destituída de qualquer caráter clínicomédico. Conclusões: O entendimento de que a apropriação da escrita não tem natureza biológica permite a compreensão de que os diferentes modos de escrita não podem ser validados por regras universais baseadas em um sistema mental apriorístico, nem, tampouco, considerados produtos de uma condição de anormalidade intrínseca ao sujeito. Essa tese demonstrou que a manutenção de uma concepção de um determinismo biológico para as dificuldades na aprendizagem ou domínio da escrita, na verdade, envolve uma questão paradigmática. Enfim, os parâmetros que definem as categorias do que é normal e do que é anormal na estruturação e no uso da escrita não são regidos por princípios biológicos, mas por categorias paradigmáticas. Assim, a ideia de um distúrbio de aprendizagem da escrita se sustenta somente sob determinado paradigma.

Método Pocha: práticas de ensino em performance para cruzadores de fronteiras

A presente dissertação Método Pocha: Práticas de Ensino em Performance para Cruzadores de Fronteiras é uma reflexão sobre possibilidades educativas em performance art. Pesquisa que tem como enfoque o Método Pocha metodologia de ensino em performance desenvolvida pelo coletivo La Pocha Nostra. Nesse sentido, busca-se identificar as propostas metodológicas, procedimentos, temáticas, apontamentos conceituais que sustentam as práticas pedagógicas do La Pocha Nostra, e investigar o processo formativo/educativo por vias da arte da performance. O recorte da presente abordagem prioriza performances que habitem interstícios e espaços fronteiriços. Compreende o performer como um cronista do seu tempo/espaço, que reflete e problematiza os fluxos, formações e composições contemporâneas. As práticas, procedimentos e conceitos desenvolvidos nos programas performativos do coletivo La Pocha Nostra são pensados no contexto da pesquisa enquanto modo de descolonizar nossos corpos e criar complicações em torno de representações vigentes, ampliando noções de identidade e diferença em seu lugar de trânsito: o corpo

Fluxos financeiros em pesquisa e desenvolvimento em saúde de 2003 a 2005: um exame dos investimentos do Ministério da Saúde segundo a Agenda Nacional de Prioridades de Pesquisa em Saúde

A atividade de pesquisa em saúde é uma área de interesse e importância para o desenvolvimento de uma sociedade. Ela pode contribuir no processo de redução das desigualdades na saúde. A constituição de agendas de prioridades em pesquisa, enquanto um instrumento técnico-político indutor de financiamentos de pesquisas alinhadas às necessidade sociais e sanitárias, seria uma das estratégias a serem utilizadas na busca dessa redução. O objetivo deste trabalho foi mapear a aplicação dos recursos financeiros aplicados em pesquisa e desenvolvimento em saúde pelo Ministério da Saúde (MS) durante o período 2003-2005, conforme Agenda Nacional de Prioridades de pesquisa em Saúde (ANPPS), estabelecida em 2004. Utilizaram-se os dados procedentes de pesquisa realizada com a finalidade primária de mensurar os fluxos de recursos investidos em P&D/S no país no período, sendo considerados apenas os investimentos oriundos do próprio MS. Foi computado apenas o financiamento direto em pesquisa e efetivamente pago, excluindo-se dispêndios com salários. As pesquisas forma categorizadas segundo as 24 Subagendas da ANPPS por dois pesquisadores, independentemente, com as discordâncias sendo resolvidas por consenso. O volume de recursos aplicados pelo MS no período foi cerca de R$ 409,7 milhões. Em termos da distribuição dos recursos, segundo as Subagendas componentes da ANPPS, os dado apontaram para uma concentração de fomento em cinco Subagendas principais: Doenças Transmissíveis, Complexo produtivo da Saúde, Pesquisa clínica, Assistência farmacêutica e Doenças não transmissíveis. Somadas, elas representaram investimentos da ordem de R$ 324 milhões para o período 2003-2005. Todas as 24 Subagendas receberam algum tipo de financiamento no período, embora alguns tenham sido de pequena monta. No período sob análise, ocorreram os passos iniciais para a construção e institucionalização da Agenda. Dessa maneira, o estudo realizado pode servir para estabelecer um ponto inicial (como um marco zero) para posteriores estudos sobre o potencial indutor deste instrumento, contribuindo para avaliações acerca da aproximação entre os investimentos em P&D/S no país e as necessidades sanitárias da população e, para o desenvolvimento do SUS.

基于重叠分块的FM-index性能研究与分析

FM-index压缩查询方法结合压缩技术和索引技术,其最大优势是能够在不解开压缩文件的情况下对源文件进行查询。该文通过理论分析和详细的测试数据研究重叠分块对FM-index压缩查询性能的改善。对改进后的FM-index和压缩软件Winrar在压缩时间和文件占用空间上进行分析和比较,进一步证明了重叠分块对FM-index压缩查询性能的改善。