Behaviour of embedded steel plate in composite coupling beams

Plate-reinforced composite (PRC) coupling beam is fabricated by embedding a vertical steel plate into a conventional-reinforced concrete coupling beam to enhance its strength and ductility. Shear studs are welded on the steel plate surfaces to allow for proper load transfer between the concrete and steel plate. The present study focuses on the evaluation of internal load distributions and load sharing on the embedded steel plate as well as at the shear studs in composite coupling beams using the nonlinear finite element package ATENA. The proposed two-dimensional finite element model is able to simulate the overall load-deflection behaviour and internal load distributions of coupling beams subjected to bending and shear forces. The reliability of the model is demonstrated by comparisons with the available experimental results. This is followed by an extensive and carefully planned parametric study using the calibrated finite element model. Numerical results on the effects of steel plate geometry, span-depth ratio of beams and steel reinforcement ratios at beam spans and in wall regions are presented and discussed in this paper. The finite element model provides a better understanding of the behaviour of shear studs as well as plate anchorage in the wall regions and embedded beam region. Based on the numerical results, equations for quantifying the shear stud forces are established and a set of non-dimensional design charts for determining the internal forces of the embedded steel plates is constructed. Both of them are useful for engineers to design PRC coupling beams.     

Locally optimum Bayes detection (LOBD) in signal-dependent noise

The locally optimum Bayes detection (LOBD) framework for nonadditive non-Gaussian noise is applied to a particular additive and signal-dependent noise model where the noise components are correlated. Under the proposed observation model, the performance of the LOB detectors is compared with that of well-known conventional receivers     

Large-scale anaerobic/aerobic treatment of complex industrial wastewater using immobilized biomass in fluidized bed and air-lift suspension reactors

Warm concentrated industrial wastewaters are preferably treated in an anaerobic reactor for reasons of energy generation and low surplus sludge production. Problems to be solved in the practical application concern a low growth rate of the micro-organisms, their low settling rate, process instability and the need for after treatment of the noxious anaerobic effluent which often contains NH and HS^?. The use of biomass immobilized on small suspended carriers (< 0.5 mm) has proven to be a suitable means to overcome most of these problems. Results are presented on pilot and full-scale pretreatment of industrial wastewater in an anaerobic 2-state fluidized bed reactor for CH₄-production and laboratory and pilot scale post-treatment of the anaerobic effluent, which contains NH and HS^? in an aerobic air-lift suspension reactor for the production of NO and SO.     

Weak-Signal DPSK Detection in Narrow-Band Impulsive Noise

The weak-signal receiver for binary differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) in additive noise is derived, and its performance in terms of the error probability in the most general narrow-band impulsive (nonGaussian) noise model, Middleton's class A noise, is analyzed.     

The clinical exchange: The girl who cried every day for 3 years.

The Clinical Exchange invites eminent clinicians of diverse persuasions to share, in ordinary language, their clinical formulations and treatment plans of the same psychotherapy patient—one not selected or nominated by those therapists—and then to discuss points of convergence and contention in their recommendations. This special Exchange focuses on family systems psychotherapy in the case of a family presenting with the identified patient being a 5-year-old who had cried every day for 3 years since the death of her father. Therapists Catherine Fuchs and Pam Fishel-Ingram (psychodynamic orientation with some integration of cognitive–behavioral therapy concepts), George S. Greenberg (brief systemic family therapy with a strategic therapy focus), Patricia Morse (Milan school of family systems therapy), and Scott Griffies (psychoanalytic object relations) are the featured commentators. Finally, Martin Drell, the case contributor, provides a few closing comments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)